by Fronetics | Aug 6, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Supply Chain
Integrating marketing and innovation early in development paves the way for new products to succeed.
Highlights:
- In many organizations, marketing is declining and moving downstream.
- Innovation needs marketing to be successful, and the earlier marketers are involved, the greater the chances of success.
- Marketers can help innovations succeed by identifying buyer needs, understanding what makes a product attractive, generating buyer engagement, and more.
With the emergence of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, some companies are putting marketing on the back burner when it comes to allocating resources. While these technologies are invaluable tools for marketers, they should not be supplanting a robust marketing presence. Marketing matters now more than ever, and integrating marketing and innovation is perhaps the best thing businesses can do to create competitive advantage.
Brand-building expert and author Denise Lee Yohn writes that despite the recent decline of marketing and its consequent move downstream, “the full, business-growing power of the marketing function comes way upstream – from creating markets.” This is particularly true when it comes to innovation development. Simply put, innovation needs marketing.
When marketers are involved upstream in development discussions in the innovation process, businesses integrate the power of marketing and innovation. As Yohn puts it, “Strategic, upstream marketing that is incorporated into the innovation development process can clearly define who to sell the new offering to and how to sell it.”
5 ways integrating marketing and innovation leads to greater success
1) Identifying buyer needs
When an innovative design or process hits the market, its success can hinge on whether it meets (or is perceived to meet) an existing unmet buyer need. When marketers are involved early in the development stages of an innovation, they can offer valuable contributions about the needs of the target buyer persona. These contributions can help shape product development, and marketers are in turn able to preemptively drive interest and start generating leads before a new product even hits the market.
2) Understanding what makes a product attractive
Marketers have the knowledge and expertise to analyze buyer trends and address what Yohn describes as “the cultural, social, and psychological dynamics that should be addressed in the development of and communication about an innovative product.” In other words, involving marketers upstream helps shape product development toward marketability.
3) Generating buyer engagement
When engineers or designer talk about a product, they tend to focus on what it can do. When marketers talk about a product, they focus on what it can do for a target buyer persona. Particularly when it comes to marketing breakthrough innovations, buyers need to be educated about why they’re necessary. Marketing and innovation can work hand-in-hand to engage a target buyer segment by emphasizing the aspects of an innovation that make it directly beneficial.
4) Providing context
To illustrate how marketing can help “develop the entire customer experience ecosystem,” Yohn uses the example of the failure of the Sony e-reader as opposed to the success of the Amazon Kindle. Because Amazon integrated marketing and innovation early in the process, when the product launched, “it offered an integrated experience of hardware, software, service, and content.” In other words, marketers can provide necessary context for the launch of a new product to ensure that it launches into a market that’s ready to recognize its value.
5) Shaping go-to-market strategy
When marketers are involved from the development stage of a product, they can begin to develop an optimal go-to-market strategy. Marketers can identify the right channels to ensure that the product gets to the target buyer segment, as well as begin promotional efforts early in the process.
When combined strategically, marketing and innovation share a symbiotic relationship. As Yohn puts it, “Marketing needs to be less about what happens after an innovation is ready to launch, and more about getting it to be ready in the first place.”
Businesses that recognize the value of integrating and embracing marketing organization-wide stand at a significant competitive advantage.
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by Fronetics | Jun 4, 2019 | Blog, Data/Analytics, Marketing
There is a lot marketers can learn from data collection that can be helpful in the buyer’s journey. However, with all this information comes challenges. Here’s how to overcome the challenges of data-driven digital marketing.
Highlights:
- Data is a key component in driving decisions when it comes to digital strategies.
- Try using analytics tools that take into account all of your data activity and tracks it through all of your channels and platforms.
- The key to using data to optimize your marketing efforts is the ability to collect and analyze the data.
Video transcript:
I’m Jennifer Yim, the Director of Strategy here at Fronetics, and today we’re going to be talking about how to overcome the challenges of data-driven digital marketing.
Data is a key component in driving decisions when it comes to digital strategies. And there are a lot of things marketers can learn from data collection. Those can be helpful in identifying opportunities along the buyer’s journey. But all this information comes with its own set of challenges.
Here are the three of the biggest challenges of a data-driven strategy and how to overcome them.
1. Finding the right data and KPIs
There is no point in tracking data if it can’t be used to serve a purpose. Digital marketers need to give the data meaning by utilizing the numbers they’re collecting.
Once you finalize a strategy, start tracking the specific data points that contribute to those KPIs. Some of the most important KPIs are website traffic, engagement rates, and conversions. And remember, time is a key factor in analyzing data.
2. Having the right platforms and tools
As a marketer, you need the right tools to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Try using analytics tools that takes in all your data activity and tracks it through all of your channels and platforms. This will give you a full picture of what is happening throughout the buyer’s journey and will also help you make more informed decisions about tweaking your strategies.
3. Bringing it all together
The key to using data to optimize your marketing efforts is the ability to collect and analyze the data. Keep consistency in how you report and organize your results and use this insight to drive your marketing strategy. What’s working? What can you improve? Constantly be working to make your marketing plan to align with your top performing digital marketing efforts.
You can learn more at Fronetics.com.
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by Fronetics | May 9, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Supply Chain
Putting your audience’s informational needs first when publishing blog content is the only way to guarantee success in the modern marketing landscape.
Highlights:
- Audiences are increasingly ignoring promotional messaging.
- Buyers are seeking value from vendors outside the sales funnel.
- Information is your best asset — publish what you know.
The latest industry research from the Content Marketing Institute indicates that nearly all (90%) of the most successful B2B content marketers have one thing in common: they prioritize their audience’s informational needs over their sales/promotional message. And that’s compared with only 56% of the least successful B2B content marketers.
Materials-handling marketers should take note when making decisions about publishing blog content. We see companies in this sector making this mistake all the time. They want to fill their blogs with information about their products. But to achieve success in today’s B2B purchasing landscape, you need to be prioritizing your audience’s needs over promotional messaging.
Sales pitches get ignored
A large reason for shifting focus is because audiences are increasingly tuning out sales pitches. This generation of buyers has been heavily marketed to their entire lives, and they don’t hesitate to swipe left at the slightest hint of someone trying to sell them something.
Think for a moment about your own personal experiences with email, social media, and even phone calls. The truth is, most of us tune out overt sales pitches, either hitting delete or scrolling past them. We’ve moved beyond a time when marketing is about pushing your products.
Your blog, therefore, should not be another channel for selling. But, what kinds of information should you publish?
Provide value by putting customer needs first
The answer is actually quite simple. What information or expertise do your buyers want? Your most valuable commodity is your unique understanding of the challenges your audience faces. If you begin publishing blog content that answers their questions, they’ll be more likely to find you, remember you, and become your customer.
As you think about publishing blog content, take a step back and think about the questions your buyers ask, either of you, on social media, or elsewhere. Examine industry publications to determine the challenges faced by your target buyer persona.
Does your content answer those questions? Does it offer value in and of itself? And does it inform your audience about how you are there to help them? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you’re taking the right steps toward materials-handling marketing with today’s B2B buyers.
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by Fronetics | Apr 11, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Content marketing is no longer optional. It’s essential in creating brand awareness, educating audiences, and building credibility. Here’s a look at the biggest digital marketing trends for 2019. Highlights: The content marketing industry is expected to be...
by Fronetics | Apr 4, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
The best way to come up with creative and engaging content is to think outside the box and sometimes, take risks. Here are 4 rules to break to produce truly creative content.
Highlights:
- Throw out the template approach to content and start thinking about what makes you stand out.
- Don’t be afraid to showcase what you do best through different avenues, like customer or vendor testimonials.
- When you’re committed to curiosity, you naturally become a learning organization and this learning leads to more creative content.
Video transcript:
I’m Elizabeth Hines, and I’m the Creative Director at Fronetics, and today we’re talking about for more creative content, you have to break these four rules.
With over 4 million blog posts published every day, you have to be really creative with your content in order to drive traffic and win over prospects and leads.
So in order to do so, you’re going to have to break these four rules.
1. Mirror competitors
If you’re in this certain industry, then you have to cover these certain topics. You might think because your competitors are covering this certain topic or that certain topic, you should be covering it as well. Not so. You should be covering the topics that are unique to your business, that your company offers expertise in and the ways you stand out from your competitors.
2. Marketing mindset
While your marketing team has a great idea of what is going on in your, some of the best stories and the best blog content comes from your other teams. Maybe your sales team, sometimes your customers or your vendors have a really good prospective or a really good story to tell. And some of the most creative content comes from those unique prospectives.
3. Keep it obvious
It can be really tempting to do a quick brainstorm, come up with a couple good ideas, things that are obvious and things that stand out about your company. But you’re going to get much more creative content if you dig a little deeper. For example, if your first instinct is to talk about self-driving vehicles, a very popular topic right now, can you offer a new perspective on that topic? Can you talk specifically about the sensors that are involved in that technology? Can you talk about government regulations of that technology? What new perspective can you offer to that often talked about conversation?
4. Repeat success
Now this is a little bit controversial because I do encourage you to look at what’s been successful in the past and try to build on that and try to repeat that. But you should also be taking some risks when you’re developing your content calendar. Build in a healthy mix of what’s worked for you in the past, what resonates with your target audience. Then something new, something different, something totally out of left field, because you need to keep experimenting. You need to keep trying new things because your audience is going to evolve and your content should evolve creatively as well.
For more information, visit our website at fronetics.com.
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