Last week I spent two days at Digital Summit, a premier digital strategies conference here in Denver. I learned many new tactics and strategies to bring back to the COHN digital team. Here are a few of my takeaways.
Data, Data, Data
Terabytes, Petabytes, and Zetabytes, oh my! Big data is no longer just a buzzword, but an actionable tool to improve the customer experience. It’s time to dive in, but don’t get overwhelmed. Keep the customer at the center and ask yourself: We have this data, how can it be applied to make the customer’s life easier, how can we use it to anticipate needs?
The Digital Natives are Coming Here
We’ve still got our eye on the millennial, but we can’t overlook the always sharing digital natives, who have grown up with Snapchat, Yikyak and Spotify. They’re tech savvy and require a content strategy entirely their own. They suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) and want to experience brands in authentic situations that use visuals to tell the story.
Everyone is a VIP
The concept of the “everyday VIP” came up in several sessions this week. Consumers want the hotel clerk to anticipate their needs, they want their retail emails personalized with suggestions based on their last purchase, and why shouldn’t they? Use the large amounts of data at your disposal to find ways to make the customer feel like a superstar.
“Glance-able” Content
Twitter, Vine, Snapchat… they’re not going anywhere soon. One thing they all have in common is a strict content limit. Twitter limits their posts to 120 characters, Instagram videos are 15 seconds, Snapchat videos are 10 seconds and Vine videos are limited to 6 seconds. Tell your story, tell it fast, and make it useful.
Personas and Funnels 2.0
The value of completing a customer persona exercise and building a detailed customer funnel is supplemented by data. Digital marketers should be applying their data to customer personas and actively seeking ways to gather more. Getting the most accurate picture of the customer’s wants, needs, and purchasing process will improve marketing efforts and the customer experience.