Star ratings, consumer reviews, online user forums and upstart bloggers – they all shape the way today’s consumers evaluate products and services online. In fact, all types of online user-generated content have redrawn marketing boundaries and shifted the power into the hands of the consumer. Organisations have an important role to play in this dynamic, and the ones that get it right foster loyal customers. A consumers’ online experience is largely based on trust, since there

Technology and innovation have touched all aspects of business and we are operating in a rapidly changing and complex world; a VUCA environment. The term VUCA, which stands for “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity”, originated in the US Army War College in the late 1990s, but spread to the business world as there are striking similarities in terms of rapid change and uncertainty. The digital age has helped accelerate the evolution of business and has helped disr

Digital disruption has been happening at a frenetic pace. How do we equip rising talent to cope with uncertainty and change?

Consumers are notoriously fickle and, in today’s world, armed with a mobile phone and more data, they are empowered and emboldened to make a switch. Brand and retailer loyalty is at an all time low as online shoppers are trying to get the best deal in terms of price and convenience. So if this is the case, why do retailers keep on trying to push consumers to use their mobile app? According to research conduct by commerce platform Mozu, 50.3% of retailers believe that consumer

Today’s social media habits have rewritten the rules of sports marketing and now teams must engage with fans long before the game begins as well as after it ends. In fact, the shape of the fan’s customer journey has changed considerably over the last few years, resulting in a larger window of opportunity for a sports team to stay top of mind. By understanding who their fans are and using their preferred social media channel to regularly communicate with them, a sports team ca

Today’s modern marketer understands the value of business-to-business (B2B) content marketing; it is the backbone of a successful inbound marketing strategy. According to Forrester’s 2016 B2B Marketing Mix Survey, content marketing is the most popular and most effective marketing tactic for businesses. The Forrester report also highlights the fact that modern B2B marketing isn’t successful without solid content and that means creating content that customers really care about.

An interesting blog about the future of mobile was hosted by Forrester and it made some very good points about what shoppers expect from their digital device. In the article “2016 Mobile Predictions: Alternative Ecosystems Beyond Android and iOS Will Emerge”, Forrester states that mobile experiences have become static and brands are too complacent in serving customers in an online environment that most benefits the user, where they already are. Why do brands assume that consu

Recently Facebook announced that it would give free beacons to US retailers that sign up to participate in its Place Tips program. Place Tips is a feature in Facebook that allows users to explore more about a place they are visiting, whether it’s exploring their friends’ photos or moments about which they have written. These locations can be stores or businesses and this connection is what Facebook is looking to exploit. Hence, Facebook is connecting the user to the store not

Alibaba was recently named the most valuable brand in the world by BrandZ’s global annual ranking, but how did it get there? And how did it get there is such a short period of time? The answer lies in what a recent Harvard Business Review article highlighted, it’s their ability to self-tune. According to the @HarvardBiz article called The Self-Tuning Enterprise, Alibaba continually reinvents itself and continuously self-tunes in algorithmic-style thinking. As with a self-tuni

It’s not very often UK consumers can snub their noses at their consumer cousins across the pond and say, “You mean you don’t already have that?” However, the US only recently announced a single loyalty programme where consumers can earn points across multiple companies ranging from paying phone bills to buying groceries. It’s called Plenti (@plenti)and it is part of AmEx, although you don’t need an AmEx card to participate. In the UK we may not now have a coalition government