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Aug 2, 2018, 05:15 AM
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JD Metcalf
Toys R Us has finally closed its doors. And like the sad meme of their mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe waving goodbye the finality has people buzzing and experts (for better or worse) speculating about the future of retail in an increasingly digital world. What could they have done differently?
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May 29, 2018, 11:07 AM
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None
Content is still king, but only if it delivers value to those that engage with it. Nicole Bump, Director of Content Marketing at Harte Hanks, explains how to deliver this value by understanding the buyer's journey.
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May 11, 2018, 15:44 PM
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None
What an exciting and yet challenging time to be in marketing. The demands placed on us as marketers are constantly expanding and are being driven from all areas that impact our customers’ and potential customers’ lives. Perhaps none is more top of mind at the moment than trust. People share their information with us in the two-fold belief that we first will respect it, and second, that we will use it in a way that is genuinely relevant to them.
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May 4, 2018, 09:42 AM
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JD Metcalf
How much more profit would your company generate with a small improvement in new customer retention? For most firms, the answer is, “A LOT.” A simple Google search generates statistics that show it costs between 5X-25X as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain a current customer.
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May 3, 2018, 15:26 PM
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Asha Rangaraj
Omnichannel experience is a multi-channel approach to marketing, selling and serving customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience—no matter how or where a customer reaches out.
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Apr 24, 2018, 13:38 PM
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Michael Behrenhausen
It’s my job to work with our team as we consistently strive to put the human back into our marketing efforts. What that means is we’re seeking to create meaningful conversations and interactions by understanding the context of a client's (or potential client's) placement within the buyer’s journey. Basically, we’re listening for clues and thoughtfully responding in kind—just as you would in a normal conversation with a friend.
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Apr 17, 2018, 15:27 PM
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Thea Crelin
The digital revolution has disrupted industry after industry. Now it’s happening with insurance. There are three good reasons insurance has resisted the digital revolution up to this point—and they must be reckoned with for the industry to progress.
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Apr 12, 2018, 15:44 PM
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None
Let’s start with Toys“R”Us . The childhood icon is closing its doors. What went wrong? How could they have avoided this fate? I’ve brought back a piece from October that explores how Toys“R”Us could have saved its stores. If your brand has a brick and mortar presence, click through to learn from their mistakes.
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Apr 11, 2018, 10:23 AM
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Terry Arnold
Pharmaceutical field sales forces are among the best in any industry. Well-recruited, professionally managed, thoroughly trained, strategically deployed, accurately measured, and driven by carefully designed comp plans.
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Apr 10, 2018, 14:02 PM
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Thea Crelin
Making the most of the investment is simply a matter of focusing efforts on the anticipated opportunities (and risks) an individual company’s change will present. By doing so, even small insurers could compete with mid-sized rivals. To get the most out of segmentation, one must keep in mind that the buyer’s journey for each segment is likely to be different.
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Mar 19, 2018, 16:53 PM
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Michael Behrenhausen
How do banks personalize their customer experiences in the digital age while still maintaining the comfort and familiarity provided by branch locations? That's just one of the questions within the financial services industry we have explored. It's all a part of our efforts to make marketing more human and provide thought leadership in the rapidly evolving world banks and financial institutions are challenged with navigating.
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Mar 19, 2018, 13:49 PM
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Karl Hellman
The following is an interview by Dr. Karl Hellman with Alan Kittle, SVP Creative and Strategy at Harte Hanks. Karl was curious about Alan’s perspective after an extended series of meetings with clients across the USA and Europe. Karl’s question topics ranged from the 5 Pillars of Best-in-Class Marketing to social issue advertising.
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Mar 19, 2018, 11:26 AM
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Nicole Bump
Who would buy a mattress online, you may ask? Well, I would, for starters, and so do a lot of others—the online mattress industry is worth about $1.5B. But because a mattress is typically considered a 'fit product' that customers want to try out in person, these bed-in-a-box companies have had to innovate their customer experience to provide value to the buyer in other ways.
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Mar 15, 2018, 13:43 PM
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Jon Dome
We've established that people will perceive your brand based on their own experiences with it. And if those experiences are unremarkable—or worse, negative—your customers won’t miss you when you disappear. The best way to design a remarkable experience is to design it around the customer’s needs throughout the buyer’s journey.
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Mar 7, 2018, 12:39 PM
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Natasha Silensky
Does this sound familiar? You and your significant other have plans to go out on a Friday night. One of you has a very specific expectation for the date night but wants the other to make the plans on their own, while still meeting some unarticulated expectation. It’s not mind reading but may as well be—the planning partner is playing a guessing game, working off assumptions, which inevitably leads to the anticipating partner’s disappointment.
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Feb 23, 2018, 13:06 PM
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Jon Dome
Understanding your customer’s needs and the value of the customer experience should be common by now. Unfortunately, when you look at many retail organizations, there are still only a handful that really get it.
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Feb 14, 2018, 15:35 PM
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None
You must know your customers and their context more deeply to achieve more human marketing.
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Feb 14, 2018, 15:35 PM
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None
Don't be a creep. You must know your customers and their context more deeply to achieve more human marketing.
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Feb 14, 2018, 15:35 PM
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None
You must know your customers and their context more deeply to achieve more human marketing.
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Feb 14, 2018, 14:35 PM
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None
You must know your customers and their context more deeply to achieve more human marketing.
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Feb 7, 2018, 14:44 PM
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None
We live in the “Age of Me.” Buyers call the shots. Brands don’t control the buying process. Winning share of wallet means winning share of attention. Buyers expect companies to make offers that are interesting and relevant in the moment. Anything less is an unwanted intrusion.
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Feb 5, 2018, 16:06 PM
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Karen Puckett
Some years ago, “…Best Buy’s management team realized a big box filled with stuff wasn’t all that appealing to a lot of people.” This is when the company began to focus squarely on providing customers with a better experience.
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Feb 2, 2018, 15:35 PM
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None
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Jan 30, 2018, 16:14 PM
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Michael Behrenhausen
We recently set up a conversation between Harte Hanks CMO Frank Grillo and Kimberly Whitler, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, to discuss the current and future state of retail both digital and physical. The two ended up having a lively, insightful exchange of ideas.
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Jan 23, 2018, 12:51 PM
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Steve Acuna
Many brands operate under the assumption that their marketing communications and advertisements define the brand. In reality, you can tell customers what your brand is all day, but people will perceive your brand based on their own experiences with it. And if those experiences are unremarkable—or worse, negative—your customers won’t miss you when you disappear.
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Jan 18, 2018, 14:44 PM
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None
This month’s issue of Featured showcases some of our most popular articles from December. Included are 2018 marketing predictions from our Harte Hanks Marketing Advisory Board academic members—including John Deighton, Kim Whitler and others.
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Jan 4, 2018, 09:33 AM
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Michael Behrenhausen
We need to understand our buyers' journeys in order to add value for them every step of the way. A look through our 2017 content showcases a variety of thought leadership on the topic. Below, you'll find some of our most-read, most insightful buyer's journey pieces. Have a look:
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Jan 2, 2018, 14:07 PM
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Jon Dome
Too often customers are forced to search through a warehouse-like environment as they comb over large amounts of inventory to find the products that meet their needs. Racks are stuffed, it's difficult to find sizes, and complementary items are all the way across the store. Helpful product experts and stylists are few and far between—if they exist at all.
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Dec 20, 2017, 09:32 AM
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Michael Behrenhausen
As we wrap up 2017, it's a good time to reflect on the past twelve months—including some of our most-read thought leadership. Here, we take a look at retail, one of the most hotly discussed segments in marketing right now. Will brick and mortar survive? How can you best achieve an in-the-moment, omnichannel experience? Can anyone beat Amazon?
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Dec 1, 2017, 14:35 PM
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None
Understand your customers' buyer's journeys to add value every step of the way.
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Nov 22, 2017, 14:44 PM
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None
Every interaction between a company and a customer needs to bring value. It must engage the customer properly based on what we know about them, where they’re at in their buyer’s journey and what are they looking for.
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Nov 17, 2017, 12:40 PM
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Nicole Bump
The most obvious way Target’s focus on the needs of this underserved segment comes to life is with two separate entrances: “one for time-starved shoppers who only need to pick up a few items, and the other for people who want to leisurely browse the store.”
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Nov 10, 2017, 14:08 PM
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Anthony Ulwick
How to apply strategy and innovation to build a rock-solid foundation for your marketing organization. After decades of analyzing innovation failures, I repeatedly isolate one factor that stands out above all others as the lead culprit. Ironically, it is the customer. More specifically, many innovations fail because they rely on what customers say they need.
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Nov 10, 2017, 10:24 AM
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JD Metcalf
Consumers are demanding a more personalized banking experience. Right now. If banks wait to offer this form of on-demand engagement, they risk being left behind. But many banks, including major brands, don’t have the resources to build a personalized, automated system.
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Nov 3, 2017, 16:00 PM
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Karen Puckett
Philip Kotler recently published an article on MarketingJournal.org called “Will the 4th Industrial Revolution Kill Store-Based Retailing?” In it, he asserts that the internet, mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) have brought us to the point of another industrial revolution—one that is killing brick and mortar retail. He points to closures of stores like J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Toys R Us.
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Oct 18, 2017, 10:32 AM
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Karen Puckett
In his article The shockingly sad but true story of Toys R Us' decline, Roger Hamilton explains that Toys R Us recently filed for bankruptcy after a losing battle with Amazon to be the ecommerce giant’s exclusive toy provider. While many may attribute this bankruptcy to the continued decline of brick and mortar retail, this failure is not a matter of digital versus physical or online versus offline.
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Oct 17, 2017, 15:44 PM
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None
Welcome to our first edition of Harte Hanks Quarterly magazine, showcasing the latest marketing news and views.
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Oct 2, 2017, 16:02 PM
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Nicole Bump
Agile marketing is a hot topic—and for good reason. Customers expect brands to interact with them contextually, in close to real time, and marketers are struggling to keep up with this pace of change. We showcased how Harte Hanks is trying to solve this problem at our most recent Marketing Advisory Board meeting.
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Sep 19, 2017, 15:35 PM
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None
Marketing. It has until now, been viewed as companies pushing their messaging out into the world and trying to get consumers to buy more. That just doesn’t work anymore. Customers are calling the shots. If marketing is going to have any chance at success, it must be delivering value to the consumer and helping to solve the problems this person has set out to solve, in the moment they need to be solved. This goes beyond one-to-one marketing.
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Sep 11, 2017, 13:39 PM
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Karen Puckett
Nordstrom just announced a bold new retail concept called Nordstrom Local, which it will test in West Hollywood starting October 3, 2017. The store features a host of services, but carries no dedicated inventory. Instead, customers can access a variety of services such as: fashion consulting from a personal stylist, lounging with a handcrafted expresso or a glass of beer or wine, selecting merchandise to transfer in for inspection, trying on selections, custom fitting and alterations, or even getting a manicure.
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Aug 28, 2017, 15:35 PM
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None
Frank Grillo, Harte Hanks CMO, discusses the role of personas and the buyer's journey in one-to-moment marketing.
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Aug 18, 2017, 15:44 PM
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None
Significant and varied marketplace disruptions were creating challenges for one of the world’s most innovative and enduring brands. Smartphones and content streaming were eating into this consumer brand’s sales of core product lines like cameras, stereo systems and music players, camcorders, and even TVs. The shift away from physical storefronts, and the rise of dominant online sellers like Amazon, added to the challenge of connecting with customers.
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Jul 13, 2017, 11:53 AM
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Nicole Bump
On June 22, Harte Hanks CMO Frank Grillo and Marketing Advisory Board member Katherine Lemon, Ph.D., were featured as the keynote presentation at Wharton's Consumer Response to the Evolving Retailing Landscape conference.
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Jul 6, 2017, 15:56 PM
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Jon Dome
My last post discussed a question posed at our most recent Harte Hanks Marketing Advisory Board meeting: is there still a need for brick and mortar? The Advisory Board members went on to discuss how mobile is transforming the customer journey.
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Jun 22, 2017, 15:35 PM
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None
A buyer's role and situation plays an important part in determining what his or her journey will look like. As marketers, we must be able to understand this context and engage each person relevantly.
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Jun 21, 2017, 08:49 AM
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Karen Puckett
If you work in retail or consumer industries, you’re well aware of the challenge that ecommerce is creating for brick and mortar stores. Sears, Kmart, Macy’s, JC Penney, and many more brands have announced the shutting of stores this year in response to this pressure.
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Jun 19, 2017, 16:13 PM
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Frank Grillo
Over the past few years, retailers have been increasingly focusing on optimizing their digital channels and online shopping experiences, while many have been closing their physical store locations. After all, brick and mortar is going by the wayside, right?
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Jun 7, 2017, 16:55 PM
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Kylie Peters
If you speak to anyone in a client-facing financial services role you will inevitably hear about the frustration and mystification that comes with dealing with what seem to be irrational customers. When your role is to help your clients make sound financial decisions—be it regarding retirement, refinancing a home or even just opening a savings account—it can be challenging to present the best possible solution only to have them turn it down.
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Apr 20, 2017, 11:59 AM
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Kylie Peters
Synchrony Financial understands that those big buys in life often don’t happen on a whim. Behind every major purchase are real people weighing up their options and deciding to part with their dollars to fulfill different needs based on their individual situations. For lenders, it’s important to understand this buyer’s journey so you can better guide potential customers down the path to purchase (using your dollars).
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Mar 23, 2017, 14:23 PM
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Frank Grillo
Google indicates that mobile had a 20% increase in market share, while time per visit declined 18%. eMarketer predicts that by 2020 mobile will represent 74% of digital ad spending. These and similar findings led Google to conclude that mobile consumers move through their journeys in spurts rather than sessions, and that the “micro-moment” is the new battlefield where brands achieve success or failure.
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Mar 20, 2017, 13:35 PM
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Katie Sweet
Imagine that you’re a marketer currently researching a new martech solution for your team. At the beginning of your search when you land on one company’s website, what are you looking for? If you’re like me, you want to understand what the company does and whether the solution is relevant to your current needs — as fast as possible. You don’t want to wade through pages and pages of website copy and other content to make this assessment.
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Mar 8, 2017, 14:28 PM
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Frank Grillo
McKinsey and Company recently published an article called The new battleground for marketing-led growth that explains in detail why marketers need to “win attention for their brands at the very beginning of a shopper’s journey.”
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Feb 23, 2017, 13:05 PM
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Kylie Peters
Esther Lee, CMO of MetLife, admits that for most financial services companies, marketing is typically equivalent to sales support. When she arrived at the company in 2015, she found that many of her marketers were just “brochure ware people.” Standard volume-based strategies weren’t cutting it.
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Jan 4, 2017, 16:40 PM
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Ryan Moats
Many retailers are beginning to feel like competing with a dominant force like Amazon is a losing battle.
In the recent article “Can your brand win vs. Amazon?,” eBags.com CEO Mike Edwards examines the struggle for vendors and retailers to remain profitable in the shadow of the online retail giant. Amazon offers lower prices, convenience, a wide selection, product recommendations, a range of shipping options and a personalized customer experience. They’ve set the standard for customer expectations, and if you ignore that standard, you won’t succeed.
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Nov 3, 2016, 10:59 AM
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Michele Fitzpatrick
Everything you learned in school and early in your career about marketing and product promotion is now table stakes. It used to be enough to get it right with the product and you’d find buyers. Now, you must get it right with the product AND with the customer experience to be successful in marketing.
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