A new whitepaper proposes the Customer Mix as a replacement for the 7 P's marketing mix
Global eCommerce and Multichannel consultancy, Practicology have released a new paper for 2016 putting forward their case that the classic 7 P’s marketing mix needs a fundamental overhaul and in its place, the Customer Mix, or the 6 W’s, should be welcomed which is a more fit for a modern marketing, customer-centric framework. You can download the paper here (no registration required). Let us know your views. Do you think the time is ripe for change, or does the 7Ps still have it's place.
Source: Practicology
The traditional marketing mix framework was created in the 1960’s, a bygone era when organisations held the power based on the size of the marketing spend and how they controlled the limited range of…
Introducing the 10 C's of Marketing for the modern economy
Marketing models, whether traditional or digital, are useful frameworks to focus planning and strong mechanisms to enable organisations to develop robust marketing plans that stand the test of time. Some are particularly relevant for the new age of Digital Marketing, and few more so than the 10 C's of modern marketing. Designed specifically for digital marketing by Chartered Institute of Marketing examiner Richard Gay and featured in Online marketing: a customer-led approach, it was originally published in 2007.
What is the 10 C's model?
The 10Cs considers each element of an online marketing framework. This could be internal and used to review an organisation’s website and related marketing communications and how they are managed, or it could be used as an external tool to audit competitors activities. The customer is placed in the centre and each element is reviewed to see how…
We've structured our 140 resources into 15 interactive toolkits to help Basic and Expert members discover the exact tools you need
As Smart Insights has grown and we've developed more and more resources, the range and quality of the resources has increased so that we now cover the full customer lifecycle of marketing activities across our RACE Planning framework. However, as we have developed our library of advice we have suffered a challenge that all libraries, online and offline face - it becomes more difficult to find the most relevant guide. That changes today as we launch a new members area in response to feedback from our customer research that we completed in the autumn.
To help with the findability of our resources and to add extra guidance on developing digital strategies, we've developed a series of interactive toolkits which group our resources around the key areas of digital marketing, or present…
The thinking behind our new summary of the latest, most critical developments in digital marketing
You'll know that Digital marketing develops fast. Really fast. So, it can be really difficult keeping up-to-date on the latest developments from the marketing platforms like Google and the social networks. Businesses and marketers who are agile can take advantage of testing the latest tools, techniques and insights to get an edge on their more laggardly competitors.
Given the rate of change, when we launched Smart Insights, one of our key aims was to help advise marketers on the digital marketing techniques that are most relevant to their personal and business success or, if you prefer, to help prevent you drowning in content. Some updates are critical and will massively affect marketing outcomes, others are interesting to know but unlikely to greatly affect your…
Latest communications from the EU parliament suggest more leniency for marketers than expected
Importance: [rating=3] (For Marketers storing customer data)
Recommended source: DMA- EU DPR agreed
The authorities in Brussels responsible for the new EU data law have undertaken a U turn on the proposed restrictive data law.
The latest official communiqué on dialogue between the EU Parliament, Council and Commission, the bodies responsible for the forthcoming new law, indicates that the current UK marketing data regulation will be the template for what is to come.
The previous official report of progress on talks indicated marketers would face draconian type rules that would prohibit use of tracking data, and no profiling or segmentation without explicit consent. Now any data that cannot directly identify an individual is considered to be within the boundaries of use. However, in terms of profiling there will be the right of…
Should you just live “in-the-moment” or should you plan ahead using different planning horizons?
At Smart Insights we believe that businesses with a more strategic planning approach to their marketing and digital marketing are more likely to succeed in the long-term, despite the fact that many businesses don’t have a long-term digital or marketing plan. We’re not saying that those with a more ad hoc approach aren’t capable of doing great marketing that can get results, they certainly are. Rather, we’re saying that we’ve seen that they may miss out on core “always-on” digital marketing techniques that need to be prioritised and resourced over ongoing campaign activities which become all consuming and still often get the lion’s share of attention.
In our research into how businesses manage online marketing, we were interested to see how marketers plan. We saw that short-term non-strategic planning was most common among businesses who answered.
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Will 2016 be the year of the authentic brand?
The ten-day search for something worth watching on TV during the Holidays is at last over. Time to join what has become an annual crystal ball gazing love fest…
So what’s in store leading up to next year’s channel hopping search for an alternative to The Sound of Music?
Firstly as brand strategies continue to reflect global concerns and attitudes, the importance of brand psychology will become increasingly important in planning and strategy. (In fact, brand psychology affects every aspect of my following predictions).
1. Brand authenticity
Virtually all surveys concur that public opinion regarding the legitimacy of commercial, social, cultural, religious and political leadership, is at an all-time low.
This lack of faith can be directly linked to a list of issues affecting societal norms and shifts. It includes a clear contradiction between what leaders idealistically ‘promise’ and what can actually be realised. This incongruence, comes…
EU data law will be much stricter while the ICO is to hold brand owners directly responsible for agency behavior
The latest reports on negotiations of the forthcoming EU data law strongly indicates bigger challenges lie ahead than was previously thought in becoming compliant, plus there is likely to be a loss of key practices. It includes the fact that there will be greater tightening of consumer opt-in consent levels, and restrictions on web analytics and profiling.
ICO will target brands and hold them to account
However, there is an added incentive for agencies to get compliance preparation right. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO), which enforces data regulation, has now stated that it will target brands as well as third parties if third parties have been responsible for breaching rules. This means any irregularities that occur within agencies while utilising client data will be…
Research reveals how UK marketing consultants and small agencies promote themselves
Over the past few months my team at OST has teamed up with Constant Contact to produce a research report into how UK marketing consultants and small agencies promote themselves. The UK Marketing Consultants: Digital Marketing Report offers a fascinating insight into the marketing activities that experienced, but often time-poor and budget conscious marketing consultants, prioritise.
One of the headline findings is that the top four marketing activities that consultants engage in are: content marketing, social media, SEO and email marketing. This gives a hint (echoed throughout the report) that consultants prefer to use their own knowledge and time than spend their hard-earned cash on marketing.
Another key finding is that while 38% of consultants…
Expert tips for choosing the right Email Marketing Software
Choosing the right email marketing software is tough. There is a jungle of vendors out there and it is often hard to see what all of the vendors exactly do? But before you go out and fire up google for a wild and unsatisfactory search, read on for some crucial tips on the process by Jordie van Rijn.
Jordie is the co-author of the recently published Email Marketing Software Buyer’s Guide, which is officially the biggest research ever on ESP and Marketing automation providers, has some tips for companies starting their selection.
The right order: No cups of coffee based on gut-feeling
Doing through the process in the right order is very important in a selection. The first step is to find out how you will be using the tool. Because only then it becomes clear what to look for in a potential vendor.…
