Many companies turn to newer, hotter media and technology when they want to increase profits. But being successful isn't about tech; it's about effectively engaging customers. Here are three ways to do that. more

The term "Big Data" keeps getting bandied about in business, but what does it mean exactly? And what makes data "big"? The following infographic by Wipro defines Big Data and highlights its importance. more

The retail industry has recognized that critical events in customers' lives can shift loyalties, or serve as opportunities to retain or upsell via event-driven marketing. That approach can also work with B2Bs... more

Though frequently at odds, marketing and IT executives agree that harnessing Big Data is imperative to building a customer-centric corporate culture; they also agree that a lack of alignment, rigid silos, unclear responsibilities, and a lack of leadership impede an organization from using Big Data to its full potential. more

Despite the hype, most organizations have yet to develop and implement a Big Data strategy, and few are taking advantage of product, customer, and other data sources, according to a survey of data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia. more

To find out how businesses are handling the deluge of information that's become available to them, Infogroup Targeting Solutions and Yesmail Interactive sponsored a study, then produced an infographic to highlight some findings. more

Seagate, a leading provider of hard drives and storage solutions, realized that they knew very little about a very big target market: college students. So it conducted focus groups to gain insight. Looking to host your own focus group? Here are steps you can take to put together a program. more

I'm a solo-preneur and a guy, and I run a women's jewelry and accessories store. I needed data to understand women's jewelry-buying habits. So I designed a survey, ran a contest, and marketed it via lifestyle bloggers. All for less than $350. Here's how. more

Google estimates that by 2013 more people will use mobile phones than desktops PCs to go online. After gathering research about the migration of PC users to mobile, Moovweb created this infographic. more

Measurability is the battle cry of every digital marketer. The challenge is how to decide which measurements make sense based on campaign objectives. The ultimate challenge is how to optimize in real time to maximize impact on brand-marketing or direct-marketing objectives. more

People are watching more video content with their mobile devices: The proportion of total time spent watching online video via tablets and smartphones reached 8% at the end of December 2012, double the 4% recorded a year earlier, according to the 2012 Year-End Video Index Report by Ooyala. more

The idea of unlimited customer insights, in real time, guiding every decision, is attractive. But before you embark on a Big Data project, separate the buzz from the reality of turning the hype into insight, business value, and, ultimately, increased revenue. more

Your customers see the world through a lens of comparisons to meaningful reference points. That has repercussions for the design, measurement, and analysis of customer experiences—and, by extension, customer loyalty. more

If you're not deriving customer intelligence from social media to inform your marketing decisions, you're missing an important opportunity to extend the reach and effectiveness of your marketing efforts. more

When Pablo Sandoval faced Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the World Series, each had a season full of data at his disposal: what pitches Verlander tended to throw in certain situations, and which areas of the strike zone Sandoval was most likely to get a hit. We marketers can ... more

Have you heard of the phenomenon of “declared preference” versus “revealed preference?” If you haven’t, you may be in for a scary surprise this Halloween season if you are using “voice of the customer” research to drive the positioning and messaging for your product launch. more

"The key to being a good consultant of any kind is to ask the right questions," Michael Teitelbaum notes in a recent post at Marketing Trenches. "I've seen that the best sales and account managers I have worked with treat initial interactions with prospective clients as fact-finding missions rather than ... more

What causes customers to flock to one brand rather than another, even when their offerings aren't substantially different? The ability to listen to customers. But effective listening is not intuitive: We have to work at it. Here's how. more

"A/B testing is one of the most methodical and sure-fire methods...to gauge the viability of your marketing strategy," writes Ruben Corbo in a guest post at Remarkablogger. With A/B testing—which simply compares two versions of one campaign or creative—you can identify what works, what works better, and what doesn't work at ... more

We've mentioned Pinterest numerous times—enough to show we're Pin-crazy. But we're not the only ones! To back us up on our Pin interest, Compete has published charts about Pinterest's growth and its impact on marketers. Some quick stats: Pinterest has grown from 700,000 to 20,000,000 unique users ... more

Most commonly, market research is viewed as a method to improve advertising and marketing initiatives and to develop products that are friendlier to specific markets. However, the true range of uses for market intelligence is much larger than most businesses think. more

How vital is mobile commerce becoming? Worldwide, mobile commerce is set to hit $119 billion by 2015. The projected amount of retail purchases made online by 2014 is 54%. more

Are those pay-per-click (PPC) ads on search engine results pages (SERPs) effective? Does the average Google searcher even click on them? Seems so... more

To help managers better understand Millennials and their value, The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) partnered with MBA@UNC to share their research about Millennials, who constitute a market (and workforce) numbering 80 million. more

Though online marketing is still a work in progress for many organizations, most corporate management teams are fully supportive of digital investments, driven by the benefits of improved marketing ROI, stronger customer analytics, and richer online engagement, according to a report by the CMO Council. more