After careful consideration of the evolving COVID-19 situation, SAS made the decision in March to cancel the in-person SAS Global Forum 2020 conference in Washington, DC. The health and well-being of SAS customers and employees was the company's top priority in making that decision, and while it's unfortunate that we
In parts one and two of this blog series, we introduced the automation of AI (i.e., artificial intelligence) and natural language explanations applied to segmentation and marketing. Following this, we began marching down the path of practitioner-oriented examples, making the case for why we need it and where it applies.
Marketers and brands have used segmentation as a technique to deliver customer personalization for communications, content, products, and services since the introduction of customer relationship management (i.e., CRM) and database marketing. Within the context of segmentation, there are a variety of applications, ranging from consumer demographics, psychographics, geography, digital behavioral
In May of 2016, I expressed my personal excitement for the release of SAS 360 Discover to the SAS platform, and the subject of predictive marketing analytics. Since then, I have worked with brands across industries like sports, non-profits, and financial services to learn about valuable use cases. Before diving
The second part of this series takes us to Rotterdam, main port of Europe and the residence of Veneficus, a 10-year young and ambitious boutique analytics firm. They have already scored accolades in the Dutch FD Gazellen Award for fast growing companies. In addition, they also won a ‘Best Employer’
One of the most powerful sales tools is often something that you can’t foresee or control. Even though customers read papers, visit websites and talk with a salesperson, another factor can make all the difference – a referral from a friend or coworker. Think about the way that sites like
There's no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is here and is rapidly gaining the attention of brands large and small. As I talk to customers and prospects, they are interested in understanding how AI and its subcomponents (cognitive computing, machine learning, or even deep learning) are being woven into various
In the movie Minority Report, while the leading actor walks through the mall and experiences personalized greetings all around him, there is a clear flash of how the future of marketing may look: a customer journey marked by relevant and personalized experiences. Getting back to the reality of today, the typical
In my ongoing quest to connect people's business problems with sources of technology solutions, my work on the TechnologyAdvice Expert Interview Series puts me in contact with some interesting people behind those solutions. Recently, I caught up with John Balla from SAS and got his insights on how marketing automation relates to mobile customers.
Like many people, I had a bit of a break over the holiday, and like many people, I did a little early Spring-cleaning during my time off. But unfortunately, my house is still messy, because the cleaning I did was electronic: After recently merging my four email accounts into Outlook,
Companies like Travelocity, Uber and Yelp have forever changed the way consumers plan their travel and entertainment. Can you remember when you had to book your trips through a travel agency? These innovators have raised the bar for other industries, so can the banking experience be changed in the same way?
Marketing has evolved - thankfully - from the days when everyone just thought of us as the brochures and tradeshows people. Nowadays, we're as likely to be focused on creating digital content that's worth sharing as we are putting a tradeshow sponsorship together, but all of it is data-driven. So what does
It seems like every retailer nowadays has a loyalty program. From the local coffee house to “big box” national retailers to almost any online merchant, everyone has a loyalty program. But do people really want them? It turns out the answer is yes – a resounding yes. But are those programs
The online dating website OKCupid recently posted the results of some real life experiments that they had performed on their user community. The experiments included three tests to evaluate the influence of certain user profile changes in compatibility matching (manipulating compatibility scores, suppressing user profile photos and the impact of
You can always tell when a person is enjoying himself – the bright eyes, the smiling face and the hand gestures are unmistakable. Jim Foreman from Staples is an executive that clearly enjoys talking about both marketing and analytics, which makes his presentations both informative and enjoyable. Recently, Jim shared
As mentioned in a previous post about how we try not to annoy our customers, we really make sure we're not just going through the motions in complying with anti-SPAM laws. And it all has to do with how we regard customer relationships - they're valuable and we want them to be based on mutual
You may notice that marketing is changing. Fewer credit card offers are hitting your mailbox. Fewer coupons for irrelevant products and services. There is a reason for the change. Organizations are beginning to understand that mass marketing alienates customers. Spray and pray doesn't work - so organizations aren't spending their
Have you ever worked on a jigsaw puzzle? You have hundreds of pieces to painstakingly put together and somehow at the end it all fits to make a beautiful picture. Some people love the challenge and others could think of few things more painful. Either way, a jigsaw puzzle is
What does a day in the life of an ad agency look like? In Don Draper’s Mad Men world, it involved creative brainstorming and, yes, a lot of smoking and drinking at the office. Much has changed since the 1960s. With the exponential increase in digital data, today’s agencies are
Fan loyalty is everything in the sports business. So when Major League Soccer (MLS), the top flight pro soccer league in the US and Canada, wanted to deepen customer engagement, it started by getting a better understanding of its fans. MLS wanted to reach out to fans with personalized information that
Today's announcement of SAS once again being named a Best Place to Work is a point of pride for our company. It's our 17th year in a row on this esteemed list and 11th time in the top 10. I can attest that the recognition is well-deserved, and our workplace culture is more than
Every once in a while I stop for a moment and consider how radically different marketing is today compared with just 3 years ago. Looking no further than my desk, it's quite amazing how my job has changed in just that short period of time. Previously, marketing seemed more an art
This blog post focuses on clarifying what's important in integrated marketing managment, as shown in the second of three sections, titled Orchestration and Interaction. Often when I mention this product category – I receive perplexing looks due to the name we have given to this section in the full IMM visual. Previously we
What does the future hold for digital marketing? If you looked into your crystal ball, what would it reveal to you? Where will you spend scarce marketing dollars for maximum impact? Will you allocate the bulk of your marketing budget to traditional campaigns, or to digital channels? We gained an
In the last decade, CMOs have made great strides in elevating their stature. According to the latest SpencerStuart survey, CMO tenure has steadily climbed from 23 months in 2004 to 45 months in 2012. What are the reasons for this improved longevity? Marketers are becoming more strategic-minded, they're taking a
Online marketers all want the same thing - for our customers to get what they want, when they want it, and with the fewest clicks possible. We already know that satisfied customers usually return, and now they share their experiences so the stakes have never been higher to get it
As mentioned in my previous post, there are a number of terms that describe how organizations manage their customer engagements: customer intelligence, customer analytics, integrated marketing management and marketing analytics. It's important to define them, as well as understand what comprises each term and know which SAS solutions apply. It's
I have been fortunate enough to work on some of our various marketing analytics’ implementations. One specific solution I have talked about before is Customer Experience Analytics (CXA), a solution that facilitates the integration of online and offline data for better customer insights and segmentation. It is a key part of our overall
My colleague Matt Fulk and I were looking for a follow up to our white paper, Lead Management Automation Using SAS, which covered our evolution with marketing analytics. One initiative that has really been rewarding to work on has been the internal implementation of our Customer Experience Analytics solution. For me,
It should be no surprise that our marketing department here at SAS has a strong culture of measurement and accountability. As a result, it should shock nobody that we actually use our own customer intelligence solutions to help achieve our continuous improvement. My colleague, Matt Fulk, heads up the team that has been
