It is the time of year to relax and reflect, so Modern Marketing Today is looking at stories that provide insight and good reading for the holiday! From advice from RedSeal on how to create a successful marketing strategy by focusing on collaboration between sales and marketing, to data-driven digital marketing and how IBM uses artificial intelligence (AI), you are sure to find a few nuggets of inspiration for the New Year in this news roundup.
Different Tactics, Same Goals: Building a Collaborative Relationship Between Sales and Marketing
There are many articles out there — from advice on LinkedIn to academic research on the subject in the Harvard Business Review — on how to foster a positive and collaborative relationship between sales and marketing teams. And for good reason too. If your sales and marketing teams are not in lock step it frequently has a negative impact on a company’s bottom line. When our colleagues at Government Technology Insider recently began an engagement with RedSeal they were impressed by the seamless working relationship of the sales and marketing leads on the engagement. Kimberly Baker, Senior Vice President and GM, Public Sector at RedSeal, and Lauren Stauffer, Director Federal Partners and Marketing at RedSeal, were enthusiastic about sharing what makes their relationship work and distilling advice to help other sales and marketing leaders get into alignment. Learn what makes them a success here.
How IBM is using A.I. for Marketing
IBM is hard at work trying to disentangle the concepts behind artificial intelligence (AI) to clients, explaining to them how the technology makes decisions. Eighty-two percent of C-suite executives it researched said they wanted to use AI but were concerned about unconscious bias and the skills needed. It’s offering AI for a range of services and has implemented it itself in areas such as recruitment where it’s used to make sure there is no bias in how job descriptions are written, according to IBM Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Peluso. “Technology can help to make sure there’s not bias in promotions and the like and so (there is) this grounded belief at IBM that inclusion is part of our ‘brand state’,” she told CNBC’s “Marketing Media Money.” There are several ways marketers can best use AI, and the first is in getting to know customers. Learn more here.
How To Overcome The Challenges of Data-Driven Digital Marketing
Data is a key component in driving decisions when it comes to consumer behavior and marketing strategies. There is a lot that marketers can learn from data collection that can be helpful in creating a concise customer journey and increase conversions. However, with all this information comes challenges. The biggest challenges marketers face when it comes to data include implementing a strategy. For example, the objective of using data to drive marketing is to learn more about your audiences and acquire new leads using historical and real-time data and integrate this data across multiple platforms to have consistency with your marketing. However, deciding where to start and how to use it can be a difficult task for marketers. According to a recent survey, 81% of marketers consider implementing a data-driven marketing strategy to be complicated. Learn about additional challenges and how to overcome them here.
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