Today’s customers hunt information about a product in their own way and decide which product will satisfy their needs. So, an organization needs to know about their customers before they create content. This is where CRM comes into the picture. A CRM solution can help to build marketing strategies tailored to a prospect’s specific needs. Susan J. Owens (An analyst with Studio B), writes in her article about some ways a CRM system can help you understand the prospective sales, in turn making content marketing creation more accurate and targeted. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-helps-you-build-a-content-marketing-program-that-works-73916

Most of companies are facing problem with big data. The top 5 Big Data problems are: - To get correct insights from the data, Data silos make it time consuming to draw conclusions from it, Unreliable data, Speedy technology, and Lack of skilled personnel. Thus, if decisions are not taken at a high pace it can affect the outcome as Big Data is fast data. The solution to the above problem is Data Integration. This allows to get deeper insight from Big Data. This will also increase the trustworthiness of the data. Now to integrate data it is of utmost importance to use clean data. This can be done by removing duplicates, verifying and updating data on a timely basis and implementing consistent data entry.

To read more follow: http://www.business2community.com/big-data/top-5-problems-big-data-solve-01597918#f8ZXhxxChp3ySQwP.97

To protect a company’s valuable data it is of utmost importance to know about cyber attacks and cyber crime. Most industrial and manufacturing firms are victims of practices such as a/c hijacking, SQLi attacks, Distributed denial of Service Attacks(DDos)and maladvertising. Thus, they should keep these 8 points in mind:-

1. Hackers steal the data primarily for monetary gains.

2. Cyber criminals are interested in debit and credit card numbers.

3.  Instead of internet they access Darknet(also known as deep web) so that they do not leave any digital footprint behind.

4. Companies make huge losses due to these cyber attacks.

5. All the company data must be protected by purchasing breach insurance and by using cloud storage.

6. Companies can take prevention by training staff members on basic and critical policies.

7. Efforts must be made in the field of cyber security. This can be done by identifying the baseline( i.e., identify normal network activity before an intrusion). This is helpful as it makes the identification of attack vector easier and also helps to improve the data security.

8. New threats keep evolving.

By keeping these points in mind company can take prevention against the unfortunate cyber crimes or network breaches to some extent. To read more follow: - http://www.business2community.com/cybersecurity/cyber-attacks-8-things-company-need-know-01601714#WhGV91IDu2rTGu9V.97

There are three reasons why specialized CRM must be implemented in business. They are: - 1.It requires less customisation. 2. Provides a more intuitive explanation. This is truly beneficial in case where the industry requires a deeper insight into their customer behaviour and thus improving their products. 3. Expertise in the industry plays a key role when selecting the CRM platform.

Thus, vertical CRM solutions can be considered as a boon to industries looking for an innovative idea to grow and prosper. To read more, follow: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/vertical-crm-systems-and-your-business-3-reasons-to-consider-a-specialized-crm-implementation-73898

A provider of loan portfolio and risk management solutions to bank and credit unions, has declared the integration of the solutions to their clients with the popular CRM systems. This reduces the no. of errors made by the loan departments as they no longer will enter the same data into multiple systems. U.S banks and credit unions are already taking advantage of these applications like Workflow, Credit Analysis and Loan administration which enables them store and analyse all loan and borrower information. To read more follow: - http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-system-integration-offered-by-bank-software-provider-73886

Customer relationship management (CRM) plays an important role in the sales department. 

The B2B CRM features include:

1. Vast lead development:-this feature allows easy delivery to build a strong relationship between the customer and the company.

2. Provides a platform for multiple decision makers rather than creating separate records for each individual.

3. It helps to deal with the complexities of sale processes.

4. Provides tailor-made products to satisfy the customers

5. To maintain and maximize the client lifetime value, one-to-one account management is an important feature.

The B2C CRM features include:

1. The amount of leads dealt with in B2C CRM is far greater than B2B CRM.

2. It also provides integrated customer service.

3. B2C prospects can be viewed easily by the latest social media updates from the CRM

4. Quick follow-ups with the consumers.

5. It requires real time data to stay updated about their customers. 

Both B2B and B2C CRM has its own advantages so the application must be selected which is best suited to the requirements.

To read more: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/the-differences-between-b2b-and-b2c-crm-solutions-73757

Columnist Mike Sands reveals three retail strategies which may help the retailers:-

1. Use first party data to get better customer insights. These data helps the retailers know their customers well and plan their strategies accordingly.

2. Provide omnichannel shopping experience. This makes the shoppers life easier when they shop in a very busy time schedule.

3. Digital advertising plays a key role in promoting sales. But it should be kept in mind that the ads should be designed based on the known facts of the customer. This will help to attract customers in a short span of time.

To read more follow: http://marketingland.com/3-retail-strategies-beat-amazon-holiday-season-182228

Domain Level Metrics has released a beta version of its tool for mining aggregate metrics and provides an API (Application program interface) aggregate data from marketing analytics provider Moz, search analytics firms SpyFu and SEMrush and web stats provider Alexa. The benefit is that one does not require subscription to access the data on these platforms. To use this data it can be exported to a .csv file as the domain metrics itself is not available via an API. To read more: http://marketingland.com/new-dashboard-offers-metrics-selected-search-web-analytical-tools-184464

Many companies, over the years, have made significant investments, from data warehouses to analytics programs and have pursued the promised benefits of big data and advanced analytics. Data-analytics investments significantly increased value-added or operating profits, the simple revenue impact for consumer companies was considerably lower. The time frame of the analysis is important, since broader performance improvements from large-scale investments in data-analytics talent often don’t appear right away. B2B companies appear to confirm the intuition of executives struggling to uncover simple performance correlations. Read more at: http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/big-data-getting-a-better-read-on-performance

All salamanders are not amphibians now! Scientists have developed a robot using x-rays that can mimic the salamanders in the way they move and swim. This robot can shed light on the evolutionary leap that vertebrates made from the water to the land and could also one day be used for search-and-rescue missions or inspection operations. The Pleurobot, as it is called has fewer bones and joints than real-life salamanders. The robot can serve as a scientific tool to investigate how a newer mode of locomotion, walking with limbs, can be added to an older mode of locomotion, swimming. Read more at: http://www.livescience.com/55265-robot-salamander-can-really-move.html

Satisfying the customers mean retailers needs to be more accurate on the business context, needs more granularity in terms of data and insights, and the ability to respond closer to or in real time. This is where big data technologies provide practical solutions that deliver performance and economies at scale. Understanding customer behaviour and its impact on shopping decisions is a relatively underutilized science, therefore only a combination of big data, machine learning and predictive & prescriptive analytics can tap into the real potential of how organizations understand and respond effectively to customer needs today. Read more at: http://www.computerworld.in/interview/big-data-machine-learning-and-analytics-can-help-us-understand-customer-needs-seema-agarwal-manthan

Though influencer marketing is the new kid in the block, the current level of media coverage and discussion surrounding it ensures 2016 is going to be a big year for the strategy. Accepting something new can be a difficult process for an organization irrespective of its advantages. But the market is already past the point of early adoption and brands already vested in influencer marketing are achieving results. Near and long term benefits can influence the momentum towards influencer marketing. Assessment of proper team skills and openly discussing the repercussions of this shift in digital marketing strategy can make the transition much smoother. Authenticity is the criteria that appeals most to a modern consumer. By working with the right influencers and giving them permission to be themselves and deliver the message as they see fit, can be a huge step towards the success of influencer marketing. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/30284/three-tips-for-building-internal-support-for-influencer-marketing

Stepping into the shoes of a video content creator can be a scary proposition. Many of us are unfamiliar with the equipment, relevant software or what kind of content our brand/product needs. Analysts predict that most of future content consumption is going to be in a video format. So to do it just grab your smartphone camera. A modern smartphone is good enough for a beginner to start producing quality video. Watch YouTube videos on how to edit clips and add effects to make your videos appealing. Use the freeware available to you like windows movie maker to get yourself off the ground. Go for Simple formats like customer testimonials, Q&As, product demonstrations, executive introduction. While creating the video you should keep in mind the target audiences and the platform it will use. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/30276/a-beginners-guide-to-creating-video-content

Jacob Baadsgaard (Founder & CEO of Disruptive Advertising) shows how to determine and track the contribution margin in order to make the marketing initiatives profitable. Basically contribution margin is the difference between the amount of money made from the sale and the variable cost associated with that sale. The easiest way to predict the success of the marketing efforts is by following the rule of thumb.

§  1X contribution margin:- making extreme loses

§  2X contribution margin:- making losses

§  3X contribution margin:- breaking even

§  4X contribution margin:-  starts making profit

§  5X contribution margin:- accelerates the progress of the company

So, higher the contribution margin higher is the profit made by the company. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to get rid of non-profitable aspects of marketing. To know the contribution margin of a company it is essential to know the customer lifetime value, marketing sales and marketing spend. Read more at: http://marketingland.com/contribution-margin-tell-marketing-makes-cents-180717

Larry Page, the CEO of Alphabet (Google's parent company), is funding two different self-driving car startups. He spent a whopping amount of $100 million in order to bring his passions together. Larry Page has also been personally funding one such startup which aims to create self-driving vehicles-Zee. Aero, launched in 2010. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/06/09/googles-larry-page-is-spending-100-million-to-build-flying-cars/#21084c5c5855

32 million Twitter passwords were sold for whopping 10 Bit coins (around $5,775). Though Twitter denies the hacking fact, but as far as sources are concerned, the fact is real. The major fact that can be concluded from this is that it's not tough to hack one's account. Some steps can be taken to insure that your tweets do not fall in the hands of those who would use them for spam links. One step is to get a password manager, like LastPass, who would generate a random password for you which is difficult to hack as the passwords undergo the process of hashing. The second option is going for an OTP along with your normal password for every time you log in. Hacking can only be achieved if you lose your device. Twitter, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, all provide this under the 'Security Privacy' tab. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/06/09/32m-twitter-passwords-sale-password-manager-two-factor-authentication/#735a5e622073

In order to build your brand effectively using social media, there are few things that you need to keep in your mind. When branding, one must be smart to choose the right platform out of hundreds of social media platforms. In order to make a social brand effective, one must be on his toes all the time. One shall try and engage with its customers other than just mechanically promoting the brands. Including attractive pictures in your posts and being consistent helps your social brand to reach out to more people effectively. Taking help of already established social media participants can help you to pocket a goal really fast. Read more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/278628

To make the data presentable, data visualization is of utmost importance. According to columnist Paul Shapiro data visualization plays a crucial role for marketers because by just looking at large datasets, we can’t get an idea about the pattern of the data. This can be easily done with a help of a scatter plots, bar charts, pie charts, etc. This data visualization makes our data analysis more effective. Here comes in the concept of preattentive attributes. These attributes are those aspects of a visual that our iconic memory picks up, like color, size, orientation, and placement in a few milliseconds. To read more, follow: -http://marketingland.com/brief-introduction-data-visualization-theory-marketers-184112

Financial professionals nowadays is managing price risk to handle many challenges like low price, randomness, oversupply and unpredictable swings. You should always be prepared for an unanticipated rise and drop in prices. You need to be foresighted to be good at managing risks. Having no hedging strategy is a risk in itself. Always have a plan according to your needs and experiences in your mind. Heterogeneity is also crucial for overall risk management. Self-made options, currency hedging and structured products are other important solutions to it. Taking an integrated approach is always a good idea. Gone is the time when the companies used to seek help from large banks. A new trend of working along with non-bank organizations to achieve their hedging goals is gaining popularity. Along with regulatory requirements, it ensures to provide a stable balance sheet and reputation. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/cargill/2016/06/08/manage-risk-with-confidence/#7104ea8f6bd1

According to columnist Brett Middleton the 3 best ways to remarket are as follows:-

1.      Try for conversions by bringing users back: - Users who are showing interest in your website or even a few pages on your website must be targeted to convert.

2.      Go for upselling of current customers: - the current customers are likely to visit your website again and again. So try offering them a higher service or subscription to increase your revenue.

3.      Providing information to the customers as well as retaining the customers is the most important step.

Thus we can say that these will surely arose interest among people (current customers as well as new customers) and the business will prosper.

To read more follow: http://marketingland.com/3-types-remarketing-trying-183494