An integrated marketing strategy means every element of your marketing plan must contribute towards your goals and objectives, or be cut out of the day-to-day workload

Lack of integration between strategic vision and the tactics needed to get there is a problem I often find when reviewing marketing strategies. That's why I created the RACE Framework as a simple structure to unify your marketing strategy through goals, objectives, and KPIs. You can see examples of integrated marketing goals and objectives planning below. This is true whether I'm reviewing student assignments or mentoring marketers creating real-world marketing strategies. More often than not, I find myself reading about different aspects of marketing objectives and tactics that just don't line up with each other - and leave you questioning why. These issues can be magnified by marketing strategy structure - the way the document is split up into separate sections. Without a unifying framework, it's not…

Consumer mobile usage and adoption. Use our mobile marketing statistics compiled from the best free sources to inform your digital marketing strategy and mobile user experience

It's hard to imagine today that there was a time when smartphones weren't the major device for accessing the Internet. Desktop used to dominate. I recall a headline from back in 2008 when it was forecast by by Mary Meeker, an analyst at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers that "Mobile to overtake fixed Internet access by 2014". That same year, Eric Schmidt of Google exhorted businesses to take a 'Mobile First' approach to designing web experiences, informed by customer-focused smartphone analytics. Our mobile marketing statistics compilation contains 15+ years later, in 2024 understanding mobile engagement of online users is more vital than ever so digital markers can eng2age and influence their mobile audience. Today, the latest research from Statista shows that more than…

4IR means manufacturers are using technology and digital marketing techniques to streamline their marketing strategy

We are living and working in the 4th industrial revolution where increased competition coupled with changing customer expectations translates into a renewed focus on digital marketing for manufacturers. To keep up, manufacturing businesses need to optimize their approach to digital to stand out and defend their market share.

How does the digital era influence marketing for manufacturing?

According to Mckinsey, digital transformations are 'long-term efforts to rewire how an organization continuously improves and changes'. This generic definition is true for all industries but it's particularly prominent in the manufacturing industry right now. For example, this PwC survey of oil and gas executives reported that manufacturing leaders see the most potential in technologies that combine data and analysis. In this insightful report, PwC outlined a framework for digital transformation within the sector. This demonstrates that…

We all know marketing in tech is done differently to other industries, but what makes a great technology company marketing plan?

The IT and High-tech industries are well-known for innovation. But having a great product is only half of the work of a successful go-to-market strategy. Now more than ever, it's crucial for marketers to step up and add value, to help differentiate and stay ahead of the fierce competition in the sector. How do you do that? Read our steps to creating a winning marketing plan for your technology company.

Why invest in marketing for tech?

Worldwide IT spending in 2023 projected to total $4.6 trillion in 2021, an increase of 5.1% from 2022. Your marketing plan is more important than ever in securing your market share of that growth. Clearly, marketing plans for technology companies need to develop to take advantage of all the omnichannel tactics available to the…

Planning how companies communicate with customers has always been an important aspect of marketing strategy. But the introduction of new omnichannel marketing technologies in the era of digital disruption makes it even more crucial today

The pace of innovation continues to drive new options for reaching customers across a number of key channels. Savvy business leaders know that to thrive in this market, they must be ready to adapt and develop their strategies. For example, Omnichannel marketing is now recognized as an essential approach for all businesses with an online presence. But how does omnichannel relate back to your customer? Twenty years ago, when digital channels didn’t have the diversity and importance they do now, the choice of which channel to use and how best to connect with customers didn’t influence customer service outcomes so heavily. Today, however, customers have an astounding number of options for communicating with companies — and businesses…

9 pointers for strategic marketers to implement and benefit from cross-channel marketing

What is cross-channel marketing?

Cross-channel marketing is a customer-focused digital marketing technique used by marketers globally to provide an integrated experience across all paid, owned, earned media, and digital experiences. It is a powerful way of designing your marketing strategy and implementing data and analysis to create omnichannel customer journeys towards your goals. Implementing a cross-channel marketing strategy can be a little intimidating. You need to take care of multiple channels while designing your campaigns. Keeping track of every campaign and integrating their analytics is certainly not an easy task. That's where our RACE Framework comes in. So, before we dive into cross-channel marketing, let’s take a moment to assess your business' marketing needs. Did you know you can book a free 1-2-1 membership consultation to discuss your objectives in the context of our omnichannel…

Marketers, managers, and digitally-savvy customers have all experienced first-hand the effects of Financial Services digital transformation over the last year.

Of course, challenges relating to digital transformation are not unique to the financial sector. As in many industries, COVID-19 was another resounding wake-up call for the financial industry in terms of digitalization. In this blog, I will be making my Financial Services digital transformation recommendations, based on trends and innovation in the sector at present. Even before the pandemic, Financial Services customers were already seeing rapid growth in digital services available online. The digital disruption caused by the events of 2020 only accelerated that. Now, many industry studies are suggesting Financial Services digital transformation will have a lasting effect. So, it's up to Financial Services marketing leaders to ensure their business is reaching, interacting with, converting and engaging customers across all digital touchpoints in the customer lifecycle. This is demonstrated via our popular RACE…

Explore the essentials of a successful e-commerce marketing plan, with real-life examples. Plus find out more about our tools and frameworks to support your strategic planning across the omnichannel retail customer lifecycle

What does a good e-commerce marketing plan look like? What structures and frameworks help e-commerce marketers to accelerate their ROI? In this blog, I'll be covering the essential elements for you to apply to your online retail strategy, including a case-study of Clinique. Plus, find out how the RACE Framework will help you streamline your omnichannel marketing, so you can plan, manage and optimize every customer touchpoint in their journey to purchase. Omnichannel e-commerce marketing planning took the top spot in our recent 2021 e-commerce marketing trends report. Clearly, omnichannel planning is a hot topic for online retail marketers at the moment. But still, so many businesses are not doing it well. In this…

Streamline your digital marketing strategy through omnichannel marketing planning

Knowing where to start and how to structure a plan is often the most difficult part of planning, especially if you aren’t experienced in creating plans. You may already have one plan or several in place and will be thinking you don't need an omnichannel marketing plan on top of that. Depending on the type and scale of business, you may have all kinds of different plans in place - both business-wide and for individual channels where different people are responsible for each. For example: The business plan Marketing plan Digital Marketing plan (may or may not be integrated into the marketing plan) Advertising plan Customer acquisition plan Email marketing plan A retention plan A social media marketing plan Conversion optimization plan That’s a lot of plans and a lot of complexity. All these plans can overlap and even pull in different directions. Omnichannel planning…

Your customer's omnichannel digital experience is key to meeting your healthcare marketing goals. Your ability to prioritize determines how fast you'll get there

Naturally, user experience (UX or CX) applies to just about every marketing sector right now. But, where healthcare marketing comes into its own, is the sheer opportunity for data-driven personalization. Customer-focused healthcare marketing taps into the benefits of digital transformation for manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, healthcare agents, and the patients as end-users. Firstly, let's consider the digital disruption which puts consumers in a researcher's shoes, and making personal decisions about their healthcare, online: 47% research doctors online 38% research hospital and medical facilities online 77% book medical appointments online But how can marketers and managers anticipate and satisfy the needs of healthcare consumers demanding products and services on-demand? In this article, we will look into some elements of digital experience, including recommended resources from our Digital Experience…