Compete in the digital world with pragmatic strategies for success Digital Sense provides a complete playbook for organizations seeking a more engaged customer experience strategy. By reorganizing sales and marketing to compete in today's digital-first, omni-channel environment, you gain newfound talent and knowledge from the resources already at hand. This book provides two pragmatic frameworks for implementing and customizing a new marketing operating system at any size organization, with step-by-step roadmaps for optimizing your customer experience to gain a competitive advantage. The Experience Marketing Framework and the Social Business Strategy Framework break down proven methods for exceeding the expectations customers form throughout the entirety of the buying journey. Customizable for any industry, sector, or scale, these frameworks can help your organization leap to the front of the line.
The evolution of marketing and sales demands a revolution in business strategy, but realizing the irrelevance of traditional methods doesn't necessarily mean knowing what comes next. This book shows you how to compete in today's market, with real-world frameworks for implementation.
Optimize competitive advantage and customer experience
Map strategy back to business objectives
Engage customers with a pragmatic, proven marketing system
Reorganize sales and marketing to fill talent and knowledge gaps
Today's customer is savvy, with more options than ever before. It's critical to meet them where they are, and engagement is the cornerstone of any cohesive, effective strategy. The technological revolution has opened many doors for marketing and sales, but the key is knowing what lies behind each one-what works for your competitor may not be right for you. Digital Sense cuts through the crosstalk and confusion to give you a solid strategy for success.
Acknowledgments xiii
Foreword xvii
Preface A Tale of Two "Tweeties" xxi
The "Save Our Chiefs" Movement xxix
Optus in Australia xxxiv
The Genesis of this Book xxxvii
Section I Overview 1
1 The Game at Speed 3
Why Your Organization Needs a Digital Sense DNA Layer 3
The Game Has Forever Been Changed 4
Bits of Knowledge 8
Who Is This Book For? 9
2 Influencers, Zombies, and Everything Between 11
The Rise of Digital Transformation 11
Attention and Trust 14
Influencers, Amplifiers, Motivatables, and Zombies 16
Section II Building A Customer-Centric
Organization 23
3 Introducing the Experience Marketing Framework 25
The Framework to Ask Powerful Questions 26
The Experience Marketing Framework 28
Customer Experience Is the Battleground in a Digital World 30
Takeaways from Introducing the EMF 31
4 The Insights Layer 33
The Customer Is the Main Thing 34
Customers, Competitors, and Forces 37
The Customer 38
The Importance of Persona and Customer Journey Mapping 40
Audience Development Exercise 41
Look Honestly at Your Competitive Landscape 43
The Customer Is the Asset 47
"Use the Force, Luke!" 50
The 6 Ds (Phases) as Classified by Peter Diamandis 51
5 Mind over Organizational Matter 61
Mind and Brain Mechanics 101 62
Substance Is All Around Us. We Just Need the Thought. 64
The Stick-Person Explained 67
Understanding the Mind Using the Stick-Person Graphic 69
The Six Intellectual Faculties 74
What to Do When the Zombies Attack 80
Break through Your Comfort Zone 80
Nothing Stays the Same! 81
6 The Vision Layer 91
The Vision Layer + Social Business 93
The Vision Layer Exercises 93
Customer Journeys 98
The Journey Map Touch Point Exercise 100
Scope 102
Takeaways from the Vision Layer 105
7 The Success Layer 107
What Is a Social Business? 110
Begin with the End in Mind 112
Loops, Love, and ROI 115
Optimizing the Operational Loop 120
Audit 1: ROT Content Audit 120
Audit 2: Brand Guidelines Audit 125
Audit 3: Heuristic Audit 125
Good Governance Guidelines 126
Takeaways from the Success Layer 128
Section III Social Business Strategies And Tactics 129
8 Social Business Strategy for Marketing 131
Appropriate Campaign Goals 135
Content Marketing and Paid Media Amplification 139
Case Study: Fort Collins Startup Week Goes Global on $2,500 144
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 145
Key Determinants Impacting Your Organic Search Ranking 146
Enterprise Paid Search 148
Predictive Advertising Management 149
GEO Targeting and IP-Based Advertising 150
9 Social Business Strategy for Sales 153
What Is Social Selling? 154
Why Is Social Selling Important? 154
Goals for Social Selling 154
Who Should Own Social Selling? 155
The Social Selling System 156
Social Selling Implementation 156
Social Selling Challenges 158
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) 158
Case Study: #Closing $Millions for Pennies on the Dollar 160
10 Social Business Strategy for Influencers and Employee Advocates 163
Influencer Marketing Tech Is Fragmented 164
Key Trend 1: Decline of Advertising Due to the Massive Increase in Ad Blockers Globally 164
Key Trend 2: Rise of Influencer Programs Is Leading to Greater Need for Efficiencies and Proving ROI 164
Key Trend 3: CMOs Are Driving the Budget Increase in Marketing Technology Spend 165
Key Trend 4: Four Critical Factors Are Fueling the Chaos in Influencer Marketing 165
The Five Categories of Influencer Marketing Tech 165
Influencer Marketing Platform "5 Capabilities" Model 166
The Influencer Marketing Manifesto 167
Community: Size and Type of Audience 167
Content: Format and Type 167
Channel: Social Networks and Sites 168
Credibility: Topical Relevancy 168
Chemistry: Brand-Influencer Fit 169
Controversy: Lack of Resonance and Transparency 169
Employee Advocacy 169
Employees Are the Most Credible Voices in Your Organization 170
Employee Advocacy Drives Sales 170
Who Is Doing Employee Advocacy Right? 171
11 Social Business Strategy for HR 173
Social Recruiting 173
Use Social Media to Evaluate Cultural Fit 175
The New Face of Social Recruitment 176
Play Sherlock 177
Case Study: #Hirecarlos: How to Get Your Dream Gig with Social Media 178
Case Study: Finding $500,000 Worth of Talent for $250 in Ads 182
Themes for Your Advertising 183
12 Social Business Strategy for Customer Service 187
We All Want the Same Simple Pleasures 188
Social Media Triage 191
Audit Your CX Center of Excellence 193
Where to Begin? 194
Section IV DATA AND AUTOMATION 197
13 Designing Your Ultimate Marketing Stack 199
How to Build a Solid MarTech Stack 200
Bottoms Up 200
CRM 201
Marketing Automation 201
Tag Management 201
Analytics and Tracking: You Need to Track Your Performance, Ads, Technology, and Everything Else 202
Invest in Keeping Your Stack Open 202
Monitoring the MarTech Stack 207
MarTech That Drives Business Growth 211
Agile Is Your Savior 212
Marketing Technology Frameworks and the EMF 212
Always-On Assessment, Evaluation, and Adoption 213
No Single Platform Winner aka "Marketing Operating System" 213
Build, Buy, Or Rent? 214
Mobile Marketing Technology Stacks 214
Drive Internal Buy-In and Stakeholder Influence by Measured ROI 215
Section V Future-Proofing 217
14 Building A Personal Brand, BRO 219
Business Relationship Optimization 219
Ass Kiss It Forward 221
ProSumerTribuDucers 223
15 Avoiding Obsolescence and the Road Ahead 227
Dead Ideas 227
Experts Evolve into Sensemakers! 229
Lifelong Learning as a Habit 229
5G, IoT, AI, VR, and Drones, Oh My! 230
The Fourth Industrial Revolution 231
Virtual Reality Mini-VRcations 232
Virtual Reality Masterminds and Uploadable Consciousness 233
5G Allows Minimal Latency 234
The Dark Side of Drones 235
5G Possibilities 236
Notes 239
About the Authors 249
Index 251
