Brian Solis's Blog, page 36

The Future CMO: Driving the Seamless Customer Experience with Seth Godin and Brian Solis

The role of CMOs globally has been on a continuous path of transformation. The digital era has created new ways for businesses to connect with audiences on a deeper level, and in turn deliver more seamless, personalized customer experiences at scale. Today’s CMO is uniting brand, sales, commerce, service, and loyalty to own the end-to-end customer journey.

Join Seth Godin, Brian Solis, and Canadian business leaders as they discuss how the role of the CMO is becoming more dynamic, strategic, and innovative to drive the customer experience of the future.

Speakers:

Seth Godin, Entrepreneur & Best-Selling AuthorBrian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist, SalesforceDuri Alajrami, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, MonerisNicole Tapscott, Chief Marketing Officer, Mejuri

Moderated by: Shachin Ghelani, AVP Marketing Cloud Canada, Salesforce

You can watch the conversation here for a limited time.

 

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PhocusWire: A new age for customer engagement in travel

Via PhocusWire

There is no time like the present to consider whether or not you engage your customers in the best and most valuable way.

Travel brands are desperate to be doing the right thing for passengers or guests, at the same time as getting operations running smoothly and efficiently once more.

Social media is one element of that effort but customer engagement through any channel has a lot more potential now than ever before.

This is due to the digital transformation of both society and the business world, coupled with the acceleration of technology and ease of use that has occurred due to the pandemic.

Brian Solis is a high-profile figure in the world of digital transformation, having been one of the early users of social media in the mid-2000s, writing numerous books on business innovation and generally understanding the social context behind so much of the development of technology in society.

He joined Kevin May, PhocusWire Editor in Chief,  as part of PhocusWire Pulse: A New Age For Social Media this week to share his perspective on the evolution of social media and the development of new tactics and, more importantly, requirements around customer engagement.

The full interview is available below…

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2021: 11 Digital Trends Shaping CX and Marketing

Credit: @Photo

Written by Martechvibe staff based on Brian Solis’ presentation at Brand Innovators CES on “11 Digital Trends Shaping CX and Marketing in 2020” which can be found on SlideShare. Presentation embedded below…

Times, tastes and trends always change. We live in an era of digital Darwinism, the evolution of technology and markets and its impact on norms and behaviours. To better compete, we need to see the world through the eyes of the customer. This is why I believe that when we discuss “customer experience” as an imperative, we should shift perspective, add “’s” and explore solutions and innovation from the “customer’s experience.”

The Emotional Cost

Customers live an incredibly demanding online life in addition to every other aspect of their day-to-day activities. Without even realising it, people feel increased pressure to keep up, to consume and to share content. They unwittingly compare themselves to everything and everyone. The cognitive load of trying to balance everything creates undiagnosed anxiety and stress. Now add to this all of the polarisations in social media and the exhausting news cycles fighting for our attention and emotion. This is the pervasive mindset, and the feeling customers bring to decision-making, and it affects their sentiment and the resulting experience and journey.

Truth

We live in a “post-truth” era, yet the truth is what we all need to feel safe and directed. The trust economy is upon us once again. Customer truth requires every brand to become a data-centric (and human) organisation. Execution must be personal and value-added and mind the “creepy” line. Customers need to feel their truth in every way you engage them. Ironically, AI can humanise engagement beyond simply automating it. This is a time to be human, even if through technology.

Every company must become an empathetic, human-centred data company. CX and marketing innovation must prioritise cross-functional, organisational collaboration. Without doing so, assembling the pieces that from 360 customer truth will be incomplete and elusive.

I share the trends (and hopes) I would love brand executives to embrace in the new year

Trend 1: The role of search is more important than ever before

Position Zero in search is a new Holy Grail, but it isn’t the only window to discoverability. The key is to be discoverable via targeted contexts and platforms…then guide a personalised journey to their desired next-based action. Think voice (Google Home, Alexa), AR (Google Lens), Amazon, and Youtube.

Trend 2: Ignite Moments become the “embrace” in important touchpoints and moments of truth

An immediate opportunity exists for marketers to become the light that customers crave. Marketers that create a productive and gratifying customer journey, one that prioritises customer truth and positive engagement, will build trust and meaningful long-term relationships. #IgniteMoment

Trend 3: Native UX and UI and customer journeys are now mission-critical in customer experience

Next-generation CX must be designed as native experiences for emerging voice, mixed reality and 5G platforms. The future is about discoverability. You have to be present in ways that are relevant to customer moments, intentions and devices. That’s the context for engagement. From there, dedicated and personalised experiences, how you talk, what you show, what you say, become the differentiation that sets you apart. But if you don’t show up the right way, at the right time, on the right device, then you’re by default out of contention in the customer journey. Without discoverability, whether that’s text, voice or visual, there can be no consideration.

Trend 4: 5G offers a new canvas for experience design and analytics

5G unlocks new opportunities to design richer, more immersive and personalised customer experiences. On the back end, 5G also transmits more data than marketers are prepared to analyse and execute against.

Trend 5: AI and machine learning offer ability to prioritise “humanisation”

AI and machine learning can identify patterns in customer behaviours to power real-time and even predictive analytics, but when pointed in the right direction, we can start to recognise patterns of humanity and aspirations to deliver more meaning.

Trend 6: The future of connected TV marketing/advertising is unwritten

The future of TV advertising is an entirely new ecosystem of planning, buying, distribution, performance/ influence and measurement. Desired households and audiences can be specifically targeted. Ad creative and placements are data-driven, to be more effective in connecting with distracted audiences in new formats.

Trend 7: Location intelligence unlocks geospatial data to empower understanding, insight, decision-making, and prediction

This is next-level, real-time customer experience. LI add layers of data, including demographics, traffic, and weather patterns to make sense of location behaviour to then predict and optimise physical experiences, i.e. events, travel, hospitality, retail.

Trend 8: AI empathy + ethics takes a front and centre role in marketing/CX

Innovation, Empathy and AI Ethics become the differentiators for #DDNs (Data-Driven Networks). Prioritise human experiences.

Use clean data, shift from legacy biases and embrace a growth mindset will lead to personalised and innovative experiences and more accurately predict what’s next.

Trend 9: Brands will take a stand on ambient advertising in social media and gaming

Programmatic advertising is placing brands in toxic and unsafe (but popular) environments that affect user experiences (especially youth). Brands are “guilty by association” just by being present. Brands must align together to convince platforms to employ AI-driven moderation to protect the community and brand experience.

Trend 10: Shift from growth and vanity metrics to CLV

Prioritising retention, loyalty and advocacy help brands measure what matters to customers.

These efforts become pillars for the BRAND EXPERIENCE. Growth and CLV are outcomes.

Trend 11: Experience style guides will complement brand style guides

Customer experience needs a style guide to serve as the standard for excellence, sentiment and outcomes, i.e. “the experience” in each touchpoint and throughout the journey.

Experience innovation is a differentiator. When innovation succeeds, customers win.

There are certainly more than 11 trends to follow, but in the context of this conversation, I focused on the convergence of AI, customer empathy, digital distractions and intentions, and the technology that connects the dots to native, end-to-end experiences.



11 Digital Trends Shaping CX and Marketing in 2020 – Live from CES from Brian Solis

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21st Century Business Forum: John Gordon Interviews Brian Solis on How Businesses can thrive in a digital environment

How can your business thrive in a digital environment? Join Salesforce Global Innovations Evangelist @briansolis for the 21st Century Business Forum at noon Eastern on July 14, 2021. Please register here.

The 21st Century Business Forum is a FREE webcast presented on the second Wednesday of each month. Bestselling author Jon Gordon will interview entrepreneurs, CEOs, authors, coaches, and thought leaders as they share their insights, ideas, and experiences of success as well as lessons learned.

July 14, 2021: Featuring Special Guest Brian Solis

The program will begin at 11 AM for folks living in the CST, MST, and PST regions.

For those living in the EST, your program will begin at 12 PM

This eight-time bestselling author and international keynote speaker is a world-renowned digital anthropologist and futurist who serves as the Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce. Forbes described him as “one of the more creative and brilliant business minds of our time.” ZDNet labeled him “one of the 21st century business world’s leading thinkers” and he was recently named a “Top Futurist Speaker” by Read/Write.

Be our guest and register now!

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HelpSquad: 25 Customer Experience Blogs to Add to Your Weekly Reading List

Via HelpSquad

If you’re looking to improve your relationship with your customers through the power of reading, look no further. Here are 25 customer experience blogs to add to your weekly reading list.

From podcasts and events to interviews with industry experts and insightful articles, Brian Solis’s blog is your go to source for everything CX. Solis is Salesforce’s Global Innovation Evangelist and global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), so it’s safe to say that he’s been around the CX block a time or two. His original content typically has a strong focus on the future of CX, digital transformation, and employee experience. It’s the varying mediums he uses that makes this blog perfect for the busy professional because you can listen, watch or read on-the-go.

Please continue reading for the full list…

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BizTech Magazine: Small Business IT Influencers to Follow in 2021

via @Keara Dowd, BizTech

These are the leading voices on the hottest trends affecting small businesses today.

After a year full of disruptions and an explosion of new trends, small businesses are settling into a new working routine. This includes a remote workforce that will need to collaborate with onsite employees, a human resources department tech savvy enough to build company culture remotely and a growing emphasis on data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. What’s more, small businesses need to navigate it all with an eye toward business objectives and growth.

These are areas of expertise for this year’s crop of top small business IT influencers. These executives, speakers and podcast hosts know how to use tech to take smaller organizations to the next level — and how to do it in today’s unprecedented working climate. From Twitter to LinkedIn and YouTube, here are 30 small business IT influencers to follow in 2021.

During the pandemic, technology has been used to connect people in new ways, allowing humanity to flourish despite social distancing restrictions. This is Brian Solis’s area of expertise. The bestselling author and keynote speaker explores digital trends and their impacts on various industries. Small businesses can gain useful insights into emerging digital strategies.

Please continue reading for the full list…

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Five Cybersecurity Experts on Protecting Your Brand on Social Media

via Safeguard Cyber

For many businesses, the use of social media and collaboration apps is essential for staying connected to customers and employees alike. From Facebook to LinkedIn to Slack, these apps let us connect on any device and are especially important in the new age of remote work.

Every business needs social media. It’s a critical part of transacting in the modern world, whether you’re selling on Facebook or networking on LinkedIn. And while social media is critical to customer engagement and growing a business, it also opens an organization to security risks. These networks are among the easiest platforms to exploit.

Cybercriminals routinely use social media for carrying out spear-phishing attacks or conducting research into potential victims for use in targeted social engineering. While social media is a powerful, important force in growing a brand, it can create a cybersecurity liability.  To protect themselves, businesses must manage the new digital risks on social media by gaining enhanced visibility into official and unofficial channels as part of an overarching security strategy.

What are some of the ways you can secure your social platforms and everything connected to them? Here’s what five industry experts and thought leaders have to say about protecting your brand’s social media accounts.

Brian Solis, Author, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design & Lifescale
LinkedIn | Twitter

A Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, Brian Solis’ presence in the world of business tech is even bigger than this title suggests. He’s the author of eight books about the relationships between business and evolving technologies. As a result, Brian knows a thing or two about social media’s role in success. His insights on social media for businesses stem from anthropological study of these channels. In an article published on his personal blog, Brian writes:

“Social media opened a door for businesses to become more social. But social isn’t just about technology, it’s a way of life. It’s a series of digital platforms that form social constructs that also introduce new social contracts. To earn relevance requires ‘social’ to become a pervasive philosophy, to participate in these new social contracts willingly and with added value. It becomes a way of business and a way of life.”

When we consider social media becoming an integral part of modern business, protecting a brand’s identity and reputation becomes paramount. An account hack could deplete any social currency your business earns and leave you with a lack of trust from followers.

Read on…

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The Future of Retail is Now: The Shift to Digital-First, Customer-Centered Engagement

To meet post-pandemic expectations, retailers are challenged with transforming their operations, accelerating digital transformation, and modernizing their workforce management strategies to better empower their service agents and store associates.

With 80% of customers agreeing that experience is as important as product or service, it’s imperative that you take a customer-first approach to enhance your customers’ end-to-end shopping experience and achieve new levels of loyalty.

Becoming a digital-first business is a commitment to your customers. Leveraging data to understand shopper habits during times of change allows businesses to pivot their processes, products, and services seamlessly to meet and exceed customers’ expectations.

Join Brian Solis, a world-renowned digital anthropologist, 8x best-selling author, and futurist who serves as Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, to learn how to accelerate service innovation for Generation-Novel (a cross-generational market majority of digital-first customers), and how retailers can transform their post-pandemic operations into a seamless customer engagement engine to drive business growth and loyalty.

RSVP here

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Salesforce Canada Explores the Future CMO with Seth Godin and Brian Solis

The Future CMO: Driving the Seamless Customer Experience, June 16 2021 – LINK

The role of CMOs globally has been on a continuous path of transformation. The digital era has created new ways for businesses to connect with audiences on a deeper level, and in turn deliver more seamless, personalized customer experiences at scale. Today’s CMO is uniting brand, sales, commerce, service, and loyalty to own the end-to-end customer journey.

Join Seth Godin, Brian Solis, and Canadian business leaders as they discuss how the role of the CMO is becoming more dynamic, strategic, and innovative to drive the customer experience of the future.

Speakers:

Seth Godin, Entrepreneur & Best-Selling AuthorBrian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist, SalesforceDuri Alajrami, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, MonerisNicole Tapscott, Chief Marketing Officer, Mejuri

Moderated by: Shachin Ghelani, AVP Marketing Cloud Canada, Salesforce

Watch the video on-demand here.

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Principles for Thriving in a Post-Pandemic Economy

What is the Novel Economy and Generation-N and why is it important in a post-pandemic economy?

Tune in for this Global Masterclass featuring Brian Solis, a world-renowned digital anthropologist and futurist who serves as Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce. Brian is an 8x best-selling author and international keynote speaker. Over the past 20 years, he has dedicated his work to understanding innovation and digital transformation.

Following the disruption brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, global businesses are squinting their eyes through the dust of the aftermath. Little has prepared them for what Brian Solis calls the “Novel Economy”. Yet despite all the uncertainty and hardship, Brian remains upbeat that opportunity abounds, and that “anything is possible” – especially if companies centre their response around the safety and evolving needs of customers and employees.

Brian will be sharing his best practices and secrets on what you as a business leader can do to successfully navigate yourself through a post-pandemic economy, knowing transformation and innovation starts with a shift in mindset.

Reserve your free seat for this Masterclass with Brian Solis on the 16th of June, where you among many things will learn…

– How to thrive in a post-pandemic economy
– How the pandemic has changed customers permanently
– How businesses need to change permanently to adapt to the new normal

The Global Masterclass Series is hosted by Presidents Summit – Northern Europe’s leading business conference. Our annual conference attracts 3,000+ executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers that benefit from lectures by some of the world’s foremost business experts and have the opportunity to network with a diverse, high-level international audience.

Wednesday June 16, 2021, 8 a.m. Pacific Time

Register here.

Brian Solis
Brian Solis is a world-renowned digital anthropologist and futurist who serves as Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce. Brian is also an 8x bestselling author and international keynote speaker. Forbes has called him “one of the most creative and brilliant business minds of our time,” ZDNet said that Brian is “one of the 21st-century business world’s leading thinkers” and Read/Write just named him a “Top Futurist Speaker.”

Over the past 20 years, Brian has dedicated his work to understanding the impact of Digital Darwinism on businesses, markets, and society. His research explores innovation, digital transformation, experience design, the cognitive enterprise, and technology’s effects on human behaviour. He has a unique gift of humanising these trends to make change and innovation purposeful and inspiring to help leaders reimagine the future.

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