The real measure of a marketing automation system to me is how fast the marketer’s solution can be built, how flexible the solution is so that it is easily modifiable, and how agile the solution is in terms of integrated marketing in multi-channel environments. Continue reading

Readers of my blog will know that I am always going on about how easy marketing automation is using Customer State Marketing. Hard to believe that it could get even easier, but it is true! Continue reading

With customer state marketing these technology concerns are a thing of the past. As a result I should now be spending more time blogging. However, the old simplicity of blogging now seems relatively more... Continue reading

It seems that whenever I meet a new prospect or client and ask them if they do relational marketing they nod their heads, smile and say emphatically “Yes, we group our customers into four segments and send each one of them a personalized message.” If I am foolish enough to follow that question up with... Continue reading

The B2B sales cycle focuses on the sales funnel. The B2C sales cycle focuses on the buyer’s journey. Customer State Marketing focuses on the context of the customer event/action dynamic. Continue reading

the true test of a marketing automation solution is the ease of use when building complex scenarios. Customer state has the distinct advantage of being easy to understand, is simple to implement, and is significantly faster to market that decision tree-based solutions. Continue reading

David, for years, has been asking his boss to invest in a marketing automation solution to simplify marketing operations. David argues that an integrated solution would be so much easier to use and would avoid costly mistakes and reduce head count (although he will not commit to it until he can assess the impact of the new solution). David’s boss consistently responds that there is no ROI to support the cost and effort involved to implement a marketing automation solution. Continue reading

...wield emerging apps and digital media as a strategic marketing capability. Continue reading

The challenge for the agile marketer who is looking to automate marketing is that there are few tools available for that purpose. Continue reading

Marketing automation calls for a big up-front investment in training and implementation that result in a tough-sell ROI proposition. The purpose of automation is to simplify and speed up processes ̶ not complicate things! Marketers need and want a quick and efficient way to automate Continue reading

Marketing, like most other corporate department in 2012, is facing significant budgetary restraint, if not to say restriction, as part of corporate focus on cost cutting and the bottom line. Continue reading

I was recently asked to produce a Customer State Marketing ecosystem for an online retailer. In less than five minutes I designed a marketing ecosystem that does three things... Continue reading

If I think back to the way that I used to work, it would take me a minimum of a week to automate such a complex program. Thanks to Customer State Marketing I am done in no time, not to mention the agility to make changes at any time. Continue reading

Marketing automation vendors are using “The same flow charts that Frank Gilbreth introduced in 1921”. Continue reading

What amazes me the most about customer state marketing is the speed of development and implementation! Continue reading

In a marketer’s fast-paced world, the number and types of customer touch points are expanding constantly. Continue reading

In the age of digital marketing advertising agencies must compete in a multimedia cross-channel ecosystem for client marketing budget. In order to be successful... Continue reading

Here is a comment that I posted to this question in the Focus group. I am blogging it because I think it is true, and I am interested in comments. What do you think? "Imho, hype and hope! The hype out of the MA sector today is amazing, though no... Continue reading

If I were a retail marketer planning this fall’s Back-to-School campaign one of my goals could be to improve next year’s media spend by identifying the most responsive media, and by taking the opportunity to use the information to compile a list of optin email addresses. Ideally, I would also like to run a couple of A/B splits on the creative and the offer to get a better lift next year. What I need is a way to rapidly tie together the systems I need to achieve my simple campaign goals. Continue reading

As a CMO or Director of Marketing, you face an uphill battle looking for an integrated marketing solution. Continue reading

I just got back from a two week vacation and there are hundreds of emails in my inbox?@!# As I sit here deleting most of them, and ... Continue reading

More relevant and sophisticated marketing targeting their individual needs as marketers move closer and closer to true one-to-one marketing. Continue reading

An interesting challenge that arises with customer state marketing is that the analysis and the design phases are so short when compared to the traditional approach that it takes you by surprise. Continue reading

Cloud computing offers an inexpensive way to distribute and obtain services. You want email services, surveys, CRM, database, Social CRM, SQL query, etc.; whatever you want to do is already or will soon be available on the cloud. Continue reading

The growth of the marketing automation industry makes it attractive for many new players to enter the market. The future will see a new generation of marketing and process automation solutions that take innovative approaches... Continue reading