Digital Sense: The Common Sense Approach to Effectively Blending Social Business Strategy, Marketing Technology, and Customer Experience

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.

Table of Contents:
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