AWS CEO Announces Textract to Extract Data Without Machine Learning Skills

AWS CEO Andy Jassy announced Amazon Textract at the AWS re:Invent 2018 conference. Textract allows AWS customers to automatically extract formatted data from documents without losing the structure of the data. Best of all, there are no machine learning skills required to use Textract. It’s something that many data-intensive enterprises have been requesting for many years.

Amazon Launches Textract to Easily Extract Usable Data

Our customers are frustrated that they can’t get more of all those text and data that are in documents into the cloud, so they can actually do machine learning on top of it. So we worked with our customers, we thought about what might solve these problems and I’m excited to announce the launch of Amazon Textract. This is an OCR plus plus service to easily extract text and data from virtually any document and there is no machine learning experience required.

This is important, you don’t need to have any machine learning experience to be able to use Textract. Here’s how it generally works. Below is a pretty typical document, it’s got a couple of columns and it’s got a table in the middle of the left column.

When you use OCR it just basically captures all that information in a row and so what you end up with is the gobbledygook you see in the box below which is completely useless. That’s typically what happens.

Let’s go through what Textract does. Textract is intelligent. Textract is able to tell that there are two columns here so actually when you get the data and the language it reads like it’s supposed to be read. Textract is able to identify that there’s a table there and is able to lay out for you what that table should look like so you can actually read and use that data in whatever you’re trying to do on the analytics and machine learning side. That’s a very different equation.

Textract Works Great with Forms

What happens with most of these forms is that the OCR can’t really read the forms or actually make them coherent at all. Sometimes these templates will kind of effectively memorize in this box is this piece of data. Textract is going to work across legal forms and financial forms and tax forms and healthcare forms, and we will keep adding more and more of these.

But also these forms will change every few years and when they do something that you thought was a Social Security number in this box turns out now not to be a date of birth. What we have built Textract to do is to recognize what certain data items or objects are so it’s able to tell this set of characters is a Social Security number, this set of characters is a date of birth, this set of characters is an address.

Not only can we apply it to many more forms but also if those forms change Textract doesn’t miss a beat. That is a pretty significant change in your capability in being able to extract and digitally use data that are in documents.

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Revenue Marketing Insights from 80 Marketing Leaders

What happens when 80 senior marketing leaders come together to talk about revenue marketing and ROI? Amazing insights, that’s what!

At our Marketing Nation Engage event in London, we hosted a series of roundtable sessions with marketers around the region to discuss hot topics of the day. And nothing was hotter than revenue marketing and ROI. Each of the three roundtable sessions was hugely oversubscribed, and we had standing room only for each!

Here’s what marketing leaders find most challenging about revenue marketing and tracking ROI:

Lead Quantity vs. Quality

Sales teams demand more leads but often complain they’re not the right ones. We know that not all leads are equal, and the challenge is measuring quality, as well as quantity. Expectation setting is also important—with increased lead quality often comes a decrease in quantity.

Measuring ROI Across Channels

Most participants used a mix of digital, events, offline, and sales related channels. But seeing performance across those channels is tough and some, like PR and branding, are particularly challenging to measure.

Sales Loves Events

Of course they do—most of the resource effort sits with the marketer! But many wonder if the resulting revenue impact is enough to warrant the effort, especially when events typically make up the majority of many marketing budgets.

What to Measure

So many things are measurable, but what’s the right thing to focus on? Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) were the most common metric and used by almost all participants, but with no direct link to revenue does this go far enough?

Attribution

Last touch is the most common attribution method used, followed by first touch and multi-touch. It’s acknowledged there are flaws with this approach, but no participants use anything more sophisticated at the moment.

Long Sales Cycles

B2B is tough with so many touches and sales cycles that can last years. Tracking and measuring engagement is seen as key to building a picture of the entire process.

Any of these challenges sound familiar? We found the majority of our B2B marketing leaders shared the same challenges and frustrations irrespective of company, industry, or location. What the group also had in common was a desire to move the marketing story forward in the area of ROI, attribution, and revenue marketing. Everyone knows it’s going to make a real difference not just with marketing efficiency and effectiveness. It will also improve sales and marketing alignment, as well as marketing’s perceived value with the rest of the C-suite and the board.

So, what can marketers do to take things to the next stage? Here are some tips from our experts:

Measure Through the Pipeline

Measure beyond leads. Marketing metrics need to focus on key stages across the combined sales and marketing pipeline, including marketing-sourced opportunities and revenue. Synchronizing between marketing automation and CRM will make sure the source data is the same, so there’s no ambiguity.

Engage the Rest of the C-Suite

Measuring marketing returns in terms of revenue helps you speak the same language as the CFO, CEO, and rest of the C-suite. It proves the value of marketing, and having a few revenue metrics can make all the difference.

Capture All Channels

Digital channels are often the easiest to capture but need to be brought into the same picture as email, offline, events, and sales channels for an all-important single customer view. This way you can really see how each part of your marketing mix is performing, as well as getting a view on the lifecycle of each prospect.

Lead Quality Measures

Introduce lead scoring as a measure of lead quality. Using data enrichment is also a good way to provide more information on a lead, as well as lead routing accuracy. Make sure any useful insights about what a prospect has done are shared with sales to help them refine their pitch. Being able to pass better leads to sales teams, at a warmer stage of the buying process, and including relevant insights, should increase conversion rate.

Link Activity Cost to Results

Include costs of activities in your program reporting so you can more easily analyze the cost per lead/cost per marketing-sourced revenue. This way you’ll be able to demonstrate the impact of each dollar of marketing spend. You can also create a measure of non-financial resource. While this is harder to measure empirically, it’s a great way to identify the activities that cost little but take a lot of effort for very little effect.

One Sales and Marketing Process

If you don’t have one already, it’s vital to get one single lead process across sales and marketing. This needs to be agreed by all parties. SLAs are often useful for keeping leads moving and giving full accountability. This leads to one set of metrics for all teams and can be aligned through synching across CRM and MA. Without this, assigning marketing sourced and influenced leads to the sales funnel often becomes a contentious issue.

Different Metrics for Different Audiences

Marketing can be guilty of measuring too much of the wrong thing. Clicks, likes, and downloads may be useful for measuring activity efficiency but revenue, opportunities and leads generally provide a better indicator of pipeline health and future revenue.

Expand Attribution Models

Some attribution is better than none, and we’d always advise marketers to just get started collecting some data. After that, it’s worth considering what the limitations are and how they could be overcome. Use a model that works for your sales cycle. For example, if it’s a long cycle that has a large number of touches, then a U or W shape attribution can make sure the right touches get the significance. And with the right tools set up, this can be easily tweaked and analyzed as required.

Explain it to Sales

Once they understand that marketing shares the same revenue goals and is focused on the same things, the process eases. It may take a while, but there are often benefits to making sales part of the campaign journey rather than just the recipient of leads.

Keep Measuring

Long sales cycles and multi-touch sales processes mean we need to keep measuring results beyond what many marketers actually do. Reports and dashboards can help, but don’t just measure once and stop, as we know the impact of activities often lives on in a longer sales cycle.

Measuring marketing ROI and taking a revenue marketing approach is not always easy. From convincing others to thinking in a different way, to getting the right metrics for the right audience, there’s a lot to think about. It won’t happen overnight, but measurement is something marketers should be improving all the time. In the end, this will increase the attribution of marketing activities, improve accountability, and make ourselves as relevant as possible to the overall business objectives.

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Still in the Early Days of Cloud Adoption in the Enterprise

We are still in the very early days of cloud adoption in the enterprise says ServiceNow CEO, John Donahoe. Also, something that is often overlooked is that governments are finally embracing the cloud which presents a huge opportunity to all of the big cloud players.

“Governments are now aggressively embracing cloud, not just the US government, but government’s all over the world,” noted Donahoe. “Just like in our consumer lives where cloud-based applications gave us better user experiences, hid the complexity and greater efficiency, the same things now happening in the enterprise and in government.”

John Donahoe, ServiceNow CEO, recently talked about cloud adoption by the enterprise and government in a conversation on CNBC:

Still in the Early Days of Cloud Adoption in the Enterprise

We’re still in the very early days of adoption of cloud in the enterprise. You see it in companies and you see it in governments. Governments are now aggressively embracing cloud, not just the US government, but government’s all over the world. Just like in our consumer lives where cloud-based applications gave us better user experiences, hid the complexity and greater efficiency, the same things now happening in the enterprise and in government. They need to deliver better experiences for their customers and their employees and they need productivity and cloud can deliver all three. If it were a baseball game I would say we’re in the second or third inning.

What I hear from customers is that they want to adopt four to six core strategic platforms, sort of modern tech stack of the future. Typically that includes a Salesforce, a Workday, a ServiceNow, maybe an Office 365, an Adobe, and SAP. They want to put as much as they can on those core platforms and take all that data together and deliver better experiences for their customers and better experiences for their employees. What ServiceNow does, sort of unique among that, is we help build some of the connective tissue across the different platforms.

Very Large Government Entities Embracing Cloud

I see a shift with governments and the cloud. Two to three years ago government’s were suspicious of cloud, they were worried about security and that has changed and that has changed in a powerful way. Governments are under pressure to deliver better services to their citizens, whether it’s the IRS or any other sector, and drive efficiency in productivity.

You see very large government entities embracing cloud. You saw the contract yesterday with Microsoft. We’re seeing it both in the federal government in the US, federal government’s around the world, and many state and local governments, because cloud platforms like ServiceNow enable them to drive tremendous productivity and provide better experiences.

There is Enormous Growth Left with Cloud

It’s the early innings. There is enormous growth left with cloud at the infrastructure level and at the software level. At the infrastructure level where AWS and Azure and Google Cloud play you see that cloud adoption happening around the world. I think there’s going to be a lot of growth for both organizations.

If you talk to customers, customers don’t want to be sole source on this, customers want to have choice. Even in the public cloud, they’re often embracing one or two or three different public cloud providers to make sure that they’re they’re mitigating the risk and they’re getting the best of what each of those platforms has.

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Box CEO: Digital Transformation Driving Global Growth

The digital transformation which has been powering the growth of many technology companies in the US is now starting to drive growth globally according to Box CEO Aaron Levie. He says that Box has a global opportunity where multi-national enterprises want to drive the same digital transformation that has been happening in the US.

Aaron Levie, Box CEO, discussed on CNBC how the digital transformation is key to driving Box’s growth globally.

Digital Transformation Driving Global Growth

As our business gets more seasonally loaded toward the back end of the year as we sell to larger and larger enterprises. That’s what ultimately drives a much higher billings growth outcome in Q4. We continue to move up-market serving larger enterprises like major top ten banks, pharmaceuticals, life sciences companies, as well as the federal government and global manufacturers. That’s what’s driving that surge in Q4 billings and growth rate.

We have a global opportunity where large enterprises, especially multi-national enterprises, want to drive the same digital transformation that we’ve seen in the US. That means everything from changing their business processes to collaborating and working in new ways which leads them to need platforms like Box and other technologies. We are seeing incredible growth in markets like Japan, Canada, Australia, and throughout Europe.

Our Partner Model is Critical to Our Success

We are working with major partners like IBM and other system integrators to be able to reach and enable customers. We are working with technology partners like Microsoft, Google, as well as a much broader ecosystem including companies like Slack, Okta, and others, to ensure that when customers want to modernize their IT environment Box is the system of record for the data and content that they work with.

Partners are core to our strategy both from a technology standpoint to ensure that customers have an integrated experience with their information technology investment as well as helping us actually reach those customers from a distribution and sales standpoint. Our partner model is critical to our success.

We Are Building a Fundamentally Open Platform

Our fundamental belief is that in the digital age enterprises are going to need a platform to help them secure, manage, govern, and drive the workflows around their core business information. That is what the platform is that we’re building. Whether it’s financial documents, digital assets, a pharmaceutical company with their drug trial information, or an ad company with their ad campaigns, we want to be the platform that helps them manage and secure that data.

We will have to work with technology partners like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and others to ensure that the technology that they’re investing in can link to the data that customers store within Box. We are building a fundamentally open platform and whether that is linking up to the artificial intelligence or machine learning technology that IBM, Microsoft, Google, and others are building or the common applications that we use every day we want to ensure that Box can connect to all of those applications so that you can have one source of truth for your data but integrated everywhere.

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Salesforce co-CEO: Who’s Not Going Through a Customer Transformation?

Salesforce is booming and the reason is that virtually every company in the world is going through a huge digital transformation, according to Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff. “The reason why is every company that we’re dealing with is going through a huge digital transformation and every digital transformation begins and ends with the customer,” says Benioff.

Marc Benioff, co-Founder, Chairman, and co-CEO of Salesforce, recently discussed the companies latest financial results and explained how the digital transformation is powering their continued massive growth in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

Fastest Growing Enterprise Software Company of All Time

We see hitting our big goal which is $22 to $23 billion in revenue within two fiscal years. By fiscal year 2022. Now here we are we’re giving fiscal year 2020 guidance for the first time at $16 billion. Salesforce remains the fastest growing enterprise software company of all time and that’s incredible. I don’t think the company has ever been stronger or been in a better position.

These revenue numbers are incredible and way beyond our expectations for the quarter It’s awesome. We had a great quarter, the third quarter was phenomenal. We’re giving phenomenal guidance for the fourth quarter and certainly, we’re all praying and hoping to improve on that by the way and now we can see a strong fiscal year ahead in fiscal year 2020 as well.

Every Digital Transformation Begins and Ends with the Customer

I don’t think the company has ever been stronger or been in a better position. The reason why is every company that we’re dealing with is going through a huge digital transformation and every digital transformation begins and ends with the customer.

Just look at one of the largest deals we did this quarter, it’s a nine-figure deal with one of the largest banks in the world and they’re just rebuilding how they deal with their customers. That’s an amazing story for us just to see everybody go through this transformation. It’s everything that is customer facing for one of the top five financial institutions in the world.

Another one that I can give you the actual name for that is doing something just as exciting is Citibank. Michael Corbat has done a fantastic job as CEO of Citibank. We’ve been working on the retail transformation there and this quarter they opened the door for us and now we’re doing the wealth transformation as well. We couldn’t be more excited about everything that Citibank is doing.

Every Company is Transforming Their Customer Relationship

Every company is transforming their relationship with their customer. We’re going from a world where if you don’t have a digital one-on-one relationship with your customer you’re just not going to be that successful. You can look at some of the huge successes that we’ve had in the quarter. One of the stories that I love is Uber. Uber has a tremendous need to have a relationship not only with you the consumer but also with the driver and their own internal operations. As we’ve been able to improve our relationship with Dara Khosrowshahi and other executives in the company, we’ve seen them really transform their relationships with their customers.

Apple has been a great opportunity for us, we’ve worked on that for so long. Of course, we all use our Apple products all the time at Salesforce. Now we have a strategic alliance with Apple and we’re encouraging our customers to do what we do which is take their information on the road. All of our products work natively now on iOS. We have the ability to automate every enterprise around that incredible platform and we see customers doing that.

ServiceMaster Building a 360-Degree View of the Customer

Another great story during the quarter was ServiceMaster. This is a company that has a lot of brands such as Terminix and many others. This is a huge field service operation but it’s also the integration of their call center, their contact center. They’re trying to build a 360-degree view of the customer, so of course, you’re working with their technicians in the field and they need to have a strong institutional memory of you back in headquarters. That’s a digital transformation that is so exciting for so many companies where they protect their homes.

Who’s Not Going Through a Customer Transformation?

We’re the largest and most important CRM company in the world. We’re number one in CRM by market share and revenue and by revenue growth. It’s a big industry and all the players are doing well because every company is going through this customer transformation. Who’s not going through a customer transformation? Everywhere I go in the world this is happening and it’s been going on and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.

It’s about sales, it’s about service, it’s about marketing, it’s about commerce, it’s about analytics, it’s about applications, it’s about good building community, or in the case of one of the great customers that we have, DuPont, it’s about integration. We had this fantastic acquisition this year, MuleSoft, the ability to integrate everything together. This is so important for us and so many of our customers.

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8 Journalism Concepts to Drive Better Engagement

More and more these days, I find myself searching for “The Magic X.” “The Magic X,” of course, is the fastest way for me to skip all of the useless & irritating things that pop up and get between me and the content I came here to consume. To an advertiser, this is obviously unwanted behavior. But to the content marketer, this could be exactly the behavior you should hope your reader is doing every time they come to your site. But how do you make content that the consumer actually wants to read? The answer is simple and may have been around for generations before “The Magic X” ever existed. That answer is to create the content that your reader is trying to find in the first place.

Nobody knows how to produce quality content that readers actually want to read more than journalists. For years, journalists have been crafting stories—in newspapers, magazines, television, and the internet—that readers actually want to see. So what can the successful content marketer learn from journalists? It’s easy: learn how to tell a good story.

As a former journalist, I’ve put together a list of eight journalism concepts that every content marketer can learn from the age-old craft of telling good stories.

1. Be Relevant and Useful to Your Audience

Business Week writes to business people. Sports Illustrated writes to sports fans. Vanity Fair writes to the vain (just kidding). Journalists write stories that are of public interest and public service. Likewise, your content should be of interest to your readers and provide them value. Serve readers first and yourself second. Readers and search engines can see right through content that is self-serving and not pertinent to your audience.

2. Simplify

Complicated words and complex phrases can confuse your reader. Keep it simple, easy-to-read, and avoid too much unnecessary jargon, without sacrificing your voice as an authority in your field. The greater the complexity, the higher you set the bar, and that means potentially alienating readers. Strike a balance between finding the lowest common denominator and dumbing down your article to the point it is no longer useful.

3. Stories Can Be Told Many Different Ways

Your readers are complex and unique individuals who consume information in different ways. Therefore the more ways you can meet those needs and preferences, the broader your audience base will be. Interesting copy, compelling photography, engaging videos, and informative podcasts are the types of content you can provide.

Keep in mind though that you must use different tools for different jobs. Understand each medium’s strengths and weaknesses and aim to provide the right content on the right platform. For example, dense, long-form copy might not hold a reader’s attention for long, but that same information could be much more easily and passively digested in the form of a more casual, one-hour podcast instead. The why informs the how.

4. Don’t Bury the Lead

While marketing strategy often tries to keep the reader on the site as long as possible, don’t forget to put the reader’s needs and desires first. Burying the lead can frustrate a reader looking for you to “get to the point” and in this age of short attention spans, that could quickly lead to lost readership.

Think of your story like a three-course meal. The appetizer should do just that: appetize. It shouldn’t leave them sated, nor deprive them of what they came for, but rather excite the reader and leave them wanting  more. We call this the inverted pyramid style. Start with the big picture (appetizer), fill out the details (main course), then provide background and context to understand why it’s relevant (dessert). Your job as a storyteller is to intrigue the reader. Open with an interesting premise and the important facts so that they will be compelled to read on. Your content is worthless if nobody is reading it.

5. Work Your Angles

Stories are rarely one-dimensional, and while it serves to be thorough, breaking down the many facets of your story works both to simplify, and give you more potential content without becoming repetitive. Learn to look at your story from different perspectives. Why does this matter, not only to your reader but your reader’s customers, managers, and subordinates? What will make this relevant and useful to them? Look at ways you can tell the story from an analytical angle, but ask yourself how you can flip that same story and address a more human interest angle. Your readers are humans with feelings and experiences, as well as being professionals in their respective fields. Give them something to relate to, someone to root for in one story, and data and numbers and concepts in another.

6. Seek the Truth and Report It

Accuracy is key. Be extremely careful not to misquote your sources to neatly fit words to a different context for the sake of convenience, but try and get your sources to speak directly to the topic you are addressing. Spell names correctly, give people their proper titles, and let no fact be called into doubt. You have a responsibility to represent your sources with the utmost respect and accuracy while still telling a good story. Statistics should be cited, and news stories should be linked to, leaving no room for a reader to question how you came to the conclusion that you assert.

7. Be Curious

Journalists are rarely subject matter experts in a vast majority of topics that they write about. Likewise, when you find that you lack the necessary credentials to speak about a topic, go find someone who does. Ask them all of the questions that your readers are likely to ask themselves. But get it in their own words. If there’s something you don’t know about a topic, chances are some of your readers will not know them either. This gives you an opportunity to seek out those answers and give your readers some new information, useful tips, and interesting facts. Doing this helps to expand the pool of content you can write about, without sacrificing your authority as a source of reliable information.

8. Be Timely

Journalists often report both on trends and unusual occurrences in a given subject, and both are uniquely tied to the times. An analysis of industry trends from 1998 when the internet had yet to reach ubiquity is not relevant to an industry insider of 2018. This is an increasingly important point, given the rapid turnover of popular applications and websites and the constantly changing climates and attitudes toward certain industries.

Be careful about falling for the trap of being the first at the expense of being right. Being first is great, but being accurate is still the number one concern of any good journalist. This requires being deeply attuned to a certain topic or industry, but also far enough back to observe (or at least be aware of) the big picture as it shifts and evolves. It also requires that you be diligent and obsessed with ensuring that what you’re reporting is the truth.

Brand Journalism Defined

The key to being a trusted source of information is to be as impartial as possible. Sometimes that idea seems to run counter to the goals of a marketer, but if you can establish yourself as a credible & realistic storyteller, you can ensure that your readers will continue to trust you as a source of reliable content, rather than someone simply trying to push an agenda or sell a product. Transparency and a commitment to avoiding the perception of bias help to establish you as both a thought leader and a source of trustworthy information.

This doesn’t mean you need to be crediting your competitors for whatever they’ve done right. It means avoiding leaving your readers with the impression that your brand is above reproach. Making light of one’s own mistakes is a great way to provide useful anecdotal information while still giving the impression that your company is, in fact, built upon people, and people are by nature fallible.

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AWS Plans to Reduce Cost of Data Retrieval With New Satellite Connection Service

Amazon Web Services is set to launch a satellite connection service that will make it faster for satellite operators to retrieve and secure their data. This heralds the company’s initial foray into space-linked hardware and will continue Amazon’s endeavors to assist the expanding industry.

Amazon revealed its plans of building twelve satellite transmission facilities in different parts of the world during its yearly re:Invent conference. These “ground stations” are basically outposts equipped with antennas and are essential to transmitting and receiving data from the thousands of satellites currently orbiting our planet.

AWS Ground Station is a fully managed Ground Station as a Service to easily control satellites, downlink & process satellite data on-demand, and innovate rapidly using other AWS services. #reInvent https://t.co/Wdma9PL69R pic.twitter.com/ozfXBnf8xT

— Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) November 27, 2018

AWS will reportedly allow its customers to rent access to the ground stations the same way that access to its data centers is leased. This means companies that do not typically have the financial capabilities to develop and operate their own satellite transmission base can now have access to these services on-demand.

AWS Senior Vice President Charlie Bell explained in a statement how satellite data is vital “for building a wide range of important applications, but it is super complex and expensive to build and operate the infrastructure needed to do so.” But with AWS’ new service, customers can scale their satellite use based on their need.

Once their clients have paid for the access, they can download, process, and save the retrieved satellite data. They can also process their data using AWS services, like for analytics, storage, processing, and streaming. This can simplify the workflow and get the information out to developers quickly.

The new satellite service can open up more opportunities for companies to be more creative with how they leverage information or data. For instance, live concerts or satellite photos of various regions can now be beamed anywhere in the world. Satellite data can also be used to save lives, like rescuing people lost at sea or when fighting ground fires.

The ground stations will certainly make a big difference. Right now, governments and businesses who want to utilize satellite data for communications, weather forecasting, or surface imaging purposes need to invest in expensive infrastructure to do so. But with the AWS Ground Station, the cost of data retrieval and processing will be greatly reduced since the company will handle everything.

There’s no word yet on the exact prices AWS will demand for its services, and Amazon isn’t sharing how much it will cost them to build the satellite stations. But pricing for the use of the stations will reportedly be computed per minute of downlink time, with options to pay for blocks of time in advance set to be offered as well.

[Featured image via Pixabay]

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How Will New USMCA Trade Agreement Affect Small Business?

The United States, Mexico, and Canada finally wrapped up months of negotiations and finalized a new trade deal a few hours short of its Oct. 1 deadline. The US Congress still has to approve the deal but all signs point to its ratification, with the USMCA set to take effect by January 1, 2020. But how will this new agreement affect small businesses?

Key Changes Between USMCA and NAFTA

Taking away all the comparisons being made about NAFTA and the USMCA, the bottom line is that the new trade agreement does have several key changes. The first one deals with the automobile industry. Under the USMCA, 75 percent of a vehicle’s content should come from North America in order to avoid tariffs. This will cut down on the number of parts being imported from Asia. The agreement also states that by 2023, 40 to 45 percent of production should be made by workers who are receiving an average of $16 or more an hour. That hourly wage is definitely higher than conventional salary levels in Mexico.

There are also a number of vital agricultural concessions in the new deal. For instance, Canada will be giving American dairy producers access to 3.6 percent of its market. This change could potentially be worth around $70 million in trade. In return, the US will also give its neighbor increased access to its agricultural market, including peanuts and sugar and all its related products.

The USMCA also introduces a sunset clause. According to this, the countries involved will renew the agreement every 16 years.

How the New Agreement Will Affect Small Businesses and eCommerce

Online retailers and small American businesses will be affected by the deal’s enhanced trade policies. One change that the three countries have agreed on is the increase in their “de minimis.” This refers to the level at which imported products are exempted from taxes, customs documentation, and duty collection.   

Under the USMCA, Mexico will be doubling its de minimis from $50 to $100 and Canada from C$20 to C$40. The U.S’ threshold remains the same. This means Canadian consumers won’t have to pay duty for cross-border online orders that are less than C$150 while Mexican customers will enjoy duty-free online orders for products $117 or lower.

A fact sheet provided by the Office of the U.S Trade Representative shows that the new agreement will also make the processing of shipment orders across the three states go faster, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to engage in more cross-border trading.

SMEs usually don’t have the resources to pay for customs taxes and duties, but they shoulder the compliance costs that low de minimis have on low-value shipments. The policy changes will give SMEs and new traders to Canadian and Mexican markets the opportunity to reach more customers at lower costs. Express delivery carriers will also benefit since they carry the bulk of low-value shipments.

Groups like the National Retail Federation are supportive of the raised de minimis threshold as it can improve sales across the borders. But eBay says that the USMCA’s customs provisions are not enough. It claims that it could lead to confusion among small businesses since express and postal shipments will be treated differently and there’ll be different collection rules based on the value levels.

[Featured image via calendar.in.gov]

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Discovery CEO: We’re Trying To Create a Golf Netflix

In announcing a wide-ranging content deal with golf legend Tiger Woods, Discovery CEO David Zaslav says that what we’re trying to do is really create a golf Netflix. Discovery’s strategy is partnering with high profile personalities such as Tiger and Oprah and others to provide quality non-scripted programming globally. Zaslav says that they’re going to cede this whole idea of scripted, there are loads of people in that space and they’re fighting over it.

David Zaslav, Discovery president and CEO, discussed the companies “Netflix” strategy on CNBC’s Squawk Box (video below):

What We’re Trying To Do is Really Create a Golf Netflix

This is a wide-a wide-ranging partnership with the greatest golfer ever, Tiger Woods. He’s a transformational figure really. It’s a cherry on top of our golf strategy. We were in business with the PGA Tour everywhere in the world. We owned the tour globally with Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour, it’s a long-term partnership. What we’re trying to do is really create a golf Netflix, create an ecosystem where everyone in the world that loves golf can get everything they want on the phone and/or on EuroSport in Europe or on channels around the world.

It’s multifaceted and it fits our strategy. A couple of years ago we got into business with Oprah Winfrey, so we’re in business with Oprah globally. When we bought Scripps, food, HGTV, travel, people thought we bought linear channels but we bought IP. We owned food everywhere in the world, home everywhere in the world, travel everywhere in the world. We have natural history with Discovery.

We really took a big pivot four or five years ago where we went from a traditional nonfiction company to asking ourselves how do we create content that people would want if they could want anything and if they could see anything? It was a world that at that point people thought, why is Discovery getting into sports? Why they buy EuroSport? Why do they own all the cycling and all the tennis in Europe? Why did they do the Olympics?

We’re Going to Cede This Whole Idea of Scripted

We see golf, particularly with Tiger, tennis, cycling, the Olympics, food, home, and natural history. The rest of the media business is in scripted. Disney and Bob Iger, probably the best media company in the world when it comes to scripted and traditional storytelling. Tiger is really an important part of that strategy because people love golf everywhere in the world.

Think about China, two of the best players on the PGA Tour are from China. We own all the golf in China and they love Tiger. Two weeks ago we did a deal with Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper and Magnolia. Two fantastic authentic great personalities, they’re back in our family. So we’re going to cede this whole idea of scripted, there are loads of people in that space and they’re fighting over it.

For us, that’s kind of like the soccer ball on a kids game and we’re the rest of the field. If people love food content or golf I think we have a real chance. We hope that we’re where the ball is going to be. Who’s above the globe? The FANG companies, they’re so powerful because they’re above the globe. They could reach everywhere in the world. The only media company that’s truly above the globe that has IP rights everywhere in the world is Discovery.

We Need to Reach All of These 4 Billion Devices

We haven’t over-invested in content because we do believe that we need to reach these four billion devices and the best way to reach that is to have stuff that people really want. This business started with cable systems around the world, then it went to satellites. The companies that have created the most value for shareholders are the global companies, because of the leverage.

What we’re saying is we think that by owning all of this global IP we can partner up very effectively. We don’t need to sell, we can we can partner up with any one of them. We can do a natural history global business with Google or Apple. We can go into business with Oprah ourselves and we can together reach every regional player in the world.

Our Bet is That We’re Completely Different Than the Rest

People fall in love with great stories and with people. If you think about the media business and the rush to Netflix, HBO, Hulu, those are all great plays. Disney buying Rupert’s company and he’s gonna build a product that looks a lot like it. If you’re sitting at home, whether you’re young or old, and you want to spend ten to fifteen dollars and get scripted series and movies there’s going to be 10 choices for that, and the movies are starting to be commoditized with the same movies are on each platform.

If you want something else, if you want to see golf or if you want to see natural history, that’s our bet. Our bet is that we’re completely different than the rest of the guys and we have superfans that have an affinity for our stuff.  Our content costs about $400,000 to $500,000 an hour, scripted is anywhere from $5 million to $10 million, so it’s a lot more expensive and it’s getting even more expensive. We have a much more efficient model, so we could actually charge less (than Netflix).

In the US we have 18 channels, so we’re the second biggest TV company in America. When you look at our 18 channels the amount that we charge for those 18 channels is less than one regional sports network. So our costs are less but we can make a lot of money even if we charge less, so that’s one of the reasons why we’re on every skinny bundle. We have great channels but we’re also not that expensive.

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Amazon Makes a Serious Bid for Regional Sports Networks

Despite Jeff Bezos recent admission that Amazon will eventually fail, the company plans to stave off its demise by investing in as many markets as possible. Aside from being the world’s largest eCommerce enterprise, Amazon also has its tentacles in sectors like on-demand cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, and even more recently, banking. Now it wants to venture into sports broadcasting. The retail giant has reportedly filed a bid to acquire the 22 sports television networks that Disney is offloading. The move is seen as Amazon’s attempt to further develop its live video offerings.

CNBC reported several companies have placed bids for those sports networks, which were once under 21st Century Fox. Aside from Amazon, Apollo Global Management, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, KKR, Tegna, and The Blackstone Group also made offers.

Amazon has reportedly bid to buy 22 regional Fox Sports Networks from Disney. Why would they do so? Here’s a deep dive look at what the future of sports broadcasting & sports media business could resemble and what Amazon may be thinking: https://t.co/ntn25uetrh

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 21, 2018

Surprisingly, New Fox was not among the first-round bidders. The company was founded after Disney shelled out $71.3 billion to acquire 21st Century Fox’s assets this year. The sports networks were initially among the assets Disney paid for. These assets included the YES Network, which shows games of the New York Yankees, as well as other channels that broadcast regional games from different professional leagues like the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball.

According to reports, the House of Mouse allegedly wanted to partner these networks with their just launched ESPN+. However, the Justice Department ruling required the company to sell the networks before the Fox deal could be completed to avoid antitrust issues.

New Fox was a strong contender to buy back the channels. Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s CEO, had previously confirmed that he was keen on getting back the networks, which made the company’s absence in the bidding glaringly conspicuous. However, Fox might submit a bid in the next round, which is scheduled before the end of the year.

Media companies will be keeping a close eye on Amazon though. The prospect of an additional 22 networks in Amazon’s Prime Video service will boost its live-streaming power and could potentially change the television landscape.

Amazon has been steadily pushing into live sports broadcasting, signaling yet another way the tech industry could shake up the traditional media landscape https://t.co/Mqu2XSmN32 pic.twitter.com/MJwJc4vkrz

— CNN Business (@CNNBusiness) November 27, 2018

More importantly, sports programming still has a strong viewership and brings in massive revenue. In fact, it generates the most revenue for the $70 billion television ad industry. The popularity of live sports also means that having major sports leagues like the MLB and NBA on the roster will enhance the value of the Amazon Prime Video service and could compel more people to subscribe.

Jeff Bezos’ company hasn’t exactly been hiding its interest in incorporating live sports in its streaming offer. Amazon has already closed deals to broadcast Thursday Night Football and 20 of the United Kingdom’s Premier League soccer matches in 2019.

If Amazon does go into sports broadcasting, tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google might also make a move on sporting rights just to remain competitive.

Acquiring Disney’s sports channels also provides a number of opportunities for Amazon. The eCommerce giant can phase out these cable networks and offer the live games either exclusively to Prime subscribers or as an add-on to the Amazon Channel. It also gives Amazon a larger advertising playground. Moreover, they will have a wider market to showcase all their products and services.

Amazon has not made any official comments regarding its foray into sports broadcasting. But it’s guaranteed that the traditional media companies and Amazon Prime subscribers will be watching closely to see if the company will emerge victorious.

[Featured image via Amazon]

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United Technologies CEO on Split: “There’s No Weak Sister Here”

The CEO of United Technologies says they are breaking UTC up into three independent companies because it’s the right thing to do. “There’s no weak sister here,” says Greg Hayes, United Technologies chairman, and CEO. “This is not a spin to get rid of something that doesn’t fit, doesn’t belong. We’re doing this because we think it’s the right thing for our employees, for our customers, and for the shareowners.”

Greg Hayes, United Technologies chairman, and CEO discussed their decision to break UTC up into three independent companies on CNBC:

We Don’t Get Paid for the Diversity the Way We Used To

We can go back and look at any one point in history and say the commercial businesses have outperformed the aero business and over time we always said balance works at UTC. I would tell you that as I’ve gone out and spoken to all of our investors over the last year there is almost unanimity that the businesses would perform better as separate focused businesses. Frankly, we don’t get paid for the diversity and for the benefit of consistent earnings the way we did ten years ago.

Investors Have Told Us… Let Us diversify

What the investors have told us is, let us diversify, if we want to be in aero stock we’ll buy aero stock, if we want to buy a commercial HVAC business we’ll buy commercial HVAC. UTC is so big, and I would tell you complicated because of the different markets that we operate in and different cycles that our businesses go through, it just will be so much simpler for people to think each companies story.

There’s No Weak Sister Here

What is the story around Otis Elevator and the two million elevators that we service every day around the world? What about the Carrier business? Over a hundred million air conditioners installed in the US, we’re going to service those and we’re going to replace those over the next ten years. That’s phenomenal growth. The aerospace business standalone today with Rockwell, $50 billion in revenue. There’s no weak sister here. This is not a spin to get rid of something that doesn’t fit, doesn’t belong. We’re doing this because we think it’s the right thing for our employees, for our customers, and for the shareowners.

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DiDi VP: We Are a Frontrunner in Autonomous Vehicle Technology

DiDi will be one of the frontrunners in autonomous vehicle technology development says Henry Liu, VP and Chief Scientist for DiDi Smart Transportation Initiatives. Liu says DiDi is unique in that it is not just an Internet company and not just an AI company but also is a transportation company.

The CEO of DiDi has long had a high-level focus on autonomous driving technology. “Autonomous driving and artificial intelligence are the future of mobility,” noted Cheng Wei, Founder, and CEO of DiDi. “Vehicles might be the first generation of robots with massive AI technology application.”

Henry Liu, VP and Chief Scientist for DiDi Smart Transportation Initiatives, discussed DiDi’s extensive focus on autonomous vehicles in an interview on CNBC International:

We Are a Frontrunner in Autonomous Vehicle Technology

We have developed this autonomous vehicle technology roughly three years ago and we have development teams in both the US as well as China. We have 40 autonomous vehicles being encrypted with our sensors and we have licenses in both Mountain View, California as well as Beijing, China. We are on our way to developing autonomous vehicles and we also think we will be one of the frontrunners in terms of autonomous vehicle technology development.

DiDi Has a Lot of Advantages in Autonomous Vehicle Development

We’ll start with small areas in terms of testing. DiDi has a lot of advantages in autonomous vehicle development because we have this transportation network and we know where the origin and the destination is and we know if this area is suitable for autonomous vehicle operation as well. If it’s suitable we can send an autonomous vehicle to serve for this trip or otherwise we can send a human-driven vehicle.

An Internet Company, AI Company, and Transportation Company

We are not only an Internet company and we’re not only an AI company, but we also are a transportation company which runs for people from origin to destination. That’s a lot of responsibility and we need to make this safely and efficiently. As a service provider, we utilize our technology conscientiously while we use this AI technology. We also cooperate with the government because our service actually complements public transportation systems.

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LendingClub CEO Working to Turn It Into a Financial Health Club

The CEO of LendingClub, Scott Sanborn, says that they are really looking to make membership in the club mean something and are working to take Lending Club and turn it into a ‘financial health club’ that will help people successfully manage expenses. He says that LendingClub helps by shining a spotlight on credit card debt which is the first step to doing something about it.

Scott Sanborn, LendingClub CEO, discussed the business with Investor’s Business Daily:

A Looming Crisis in People’s Overall Financial Health

We are seeing really an epidemic happening which is incomes have been stagnant for more than 20 years. All of people’s major expenses, healthcare, college, housing, is going up and it’s creating a real looming crisis in people’s overall financial health and it’s something that people just aren’t talking about. Close to half of Americans have credit card debts and they are more than twice as likely to talk about spousal infidelity than they are about the fact that they have credit card debt that they need to manage. We believe that by shining a spotlight on the problem it’s the first step to helping people do something about it.

The first core thing we’re doing is we help people who have credit card debts pay that off with a healthier form of debt. Credit cards are now at a record high-interest rate average of about 19 percent. We allow them to pay that off with a fixed rate, fixed payment installment loan that will be paid off in a defined period of time so that they’re not caught in the minimum payment trap. It’s healthier for their overall credit profile.

Turning Lending Club Into a Financial Health Club

As we’ve been working with consumers to solve this problem we’ve increasingly been finding ways to actually do it even better. We launched last year the ability as part of the loan application to directly pay off the credit cards through the process. Instead of giving you the money, asking you to turn around and take care of it, we do it directly. In exchange, if you elect to do that we’ll give you a lower rate, essentially incent you to do it and make it easy for you to do it.

The bigger picture in the course of time is we’re really looking to make membership in the club mean something and take Lending Club and turn it into really a financial health club and do more for people to help them manage these expenses.

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Ebay’s Scott Cutler: We’ll Sell More Online Than Walmart, Macy’s and Best Buy Combined

The Head of Americas for eBay, Scott Cutler, says that they will sell more online than Walmart, Macy’s and Best Buy combined. Ebay is the number two ecommerce player in the United States behind Amazon. Cutler noted that branded items are extremely hot on the platform with Adidas Yeezy Boost being eBay’s top searched item over the weekend.

Scott Cutler, Head of Americas for eBay, discussed the Black Friday sales weekend on CNBC:

Branded Items Are Hot on eBay

Yesterday was actually a surprising day, $3.5 billion dollars of online sales, most of that was happening on a mobile device. Everybody is searching for the best deals today and things like a Samsung TV, Apple-branded products, a Nintendo Switch, are things that people and consumers are searching to find and the best deal available is actually on eBay… guaranteed.

Branded items are hot. The top searched item on eBay was an Adidas Yeezy Boost. We’re selling a pair of shoes every couple of seconds. Monopoly for Millennials in the toy category has been very popular. Toys, in general, this holiday season is something that’s really exciting. For the first time, we launched our own toy book in Toytopia and we’re trying to highlight those things that are rare, that are retro, and that are right now. You can buy a Magic the Gathering card for $100,000 or an original 1987 Transformer set, but you can also find those things that today like a Funko Pop Doll that is really difficult to find.

We’ll Sell More Online Than Walmart, Macy’s and Best Buy Combined

We’re really just trying to show up for the consumers the best deals. It’s a highly competitive environment and we’re competing incredibly against all the retailers. You have to remember that eBay is the number two ecommerce player. We’ll sell more in online sales than Walmart, Macy’s, and Best Buy combined. It’s an extremely competitive environment and for the consumers, they want to come to a site and know that they’re getting the best deal. Getting it very quickly and free are the themes that we have to play through the holiday season.

We’ve got an amazing array of price points from the low ASP items to the high ASP items. Our differentiation against other retailers is to be able to find those things that you can’t find anywhere else that are uniquely eBay. Some of those things are very expensive but some are that must-have item at a low price point. Giving that selection of opportunity and choice for consumers is really the balance that we’re trying to strike.

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Amazon is Destined to Fail, Says Company CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon will fail. That is the surprising admission that Jeff Bezos made to his employees last week during an all-hands meeting. However, Amazon’s CEO isn’t ready to see that happening anytime soon.

In a recording that CNBC was privy too, 54-year-old business mogul Bezos said that “Amazon is not too big to fail.” He even made a prediction that his company will inevitably fail after an employee asked about his thoughts on the Sears bankruptcy.

“Amazon will go bankrupt,” Bezos said. “If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.”

It’s a little hard to imagine Amazon going under, especially when you consider that it’s valued at almost $3 trillion. However, retail history is against the company. One investor posited that all retailers would eventually go bankrupt. And while certain companies become popular, they would eventually fail to adapt, causing the business to decline and fold. Retailers that have been able to adjust and change with the times are considered exceptions.

Amazon has so far shown its adaptability. It has given consumers what they wanted by effectively utilizing logistics and technology. But as it exceeds its revenue threshold, it will have a harder time finding alternative profit sources. At this point, there aren’t enough people or subscribers left to double their Prime membership. It has to find other avenues that it can bring online instead, like grocery or banking.

Jeff Bezos to employees: ‘One day, Amazon will fail’ but our job is to delay it as long as possible https://t.co/kWicq59UBA

— CNBC (@CNBC) November 15, 2018

Don’t expect Bezos to throw in the towel anytime soon, though. The investor said that Amazon’s goal now is to put off that failure for as long as possible by focusing on the consumers. According to Bezos, if the company starts to “focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end.”

But customer focus is the least of Amazon’s worries, as the company is renowned for their obsession with keeping their clients happy. However, possible antitrust violations and government regulations are fast becoming a concern for Amazon.

Amazon’s HQ2 is an antitrust issue.https://t.co/79PqqXcrgt

— MGZC Media TV (@mgztv) November 16, 2018

Bezos understands this but acknowledges that with Amazon’s size, it’s reasonable to expect that it will be closely scrutinized.

Despite the scrutiny, Amazon’s expansion still continues. The company recently announced the two new locations it has chosen for secondary headquarters. The new “H2s,” as people have dubbed it, will be built in Queens, NY, and in Arlington, VA, with Amazon expected to hire about 50,000 employees.

[Featured image via YouTube]

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Booster Brings On-Demand Business Model to Gasoline

Imagine just clicking a button on an app and having your cars gas tank filled while you are working at the office. That’s what Booster Fuels is currently doing. Booster has brought the on-demand business model to fuel and it’s extremely popular in its launch markets of SF Bay, San Diego, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. Booster Fuels co-founder and CEO Frank Maycroft says that they are selling over $180,000 per day in just those three markets and have plans to expand nationwide.

Frank Maycroft, CEO and co-founder of Booster Fuels, talked about the companies business model and technology on CNBC:

Push a Button for Same-Day Free Delivery Gasoline

Amazon set a new expectation for retail. People want to push a button and get same-day free delivery. What we are able to do now is the same thing for gasoline. When you think about a gas station it hasn’t changed much in 50 years. The concept is really taking the old-world industry and leveraging mobile technology, machine learning technology to allow us to deliver gas to people without any of the inconvenience.

We are the only company quietly roaming through parking lots looking for cars. The truck that does that has to fit within a single parking spot, has to maneuver as well as a small car, has to be connected to the cloud and communicating with all of the other mobile distributed gas stations in the Booster fleet.

A Million Deliveries and $180,000 a Day in Revenue

We’ve done more than a million deliveries company-wide and we will do about $180,000 of revenue in a single day. Anybody can make it so that you can push a button and get gas, but doing that in a way that doesn’t cost more than the gas station is incredibly hard. We didn’t want to have to build a subscription service. We didn’t want to have to charge fees. Our belief is service everyone by charging the same price and focus on where cars go all the time, parking lots.

To really be inventive today you have to start from scratch with the context of what would this have looked like if you started it in the 21st Century? It’s hardware with embedded systems with software that’s communicating to the cloud, it’s procurement of fuel, it’s pricing to customers. When it all comes together that’s where the magic is.

People Spend More on Gasoline Than They Do For All of Ecommerce.

We like to be realists that when you look out your window there are gas-powered vehicles and that’s going to be here for a very long time. Let’s make them 3-5 percent better by improving the supply chain, reducing emissions, and reducing miles traveled.

People spend more on gasoline than they do for all of ecommerce. People spend almost as much on gasoline as they do on groceries as a category. At the same time, we do look at alternative energy solutions. Nothing stops us from doing the same service for electric vehicles or other alternatives. It’s all based on the same technology investment, software, routing, logistics, that works for fuel.

Nine out of ten Americans still drive to work and are either going to or coming from suburbs. Imagine ten years from now not having to think about gasoline or energy in general or things in general just getting to you where it’s most convenient for us to deliver to, most convenient for you to get it, and most cost-effective for the entire ecosystem. I think that is the way that the world is moving.

How Booster Works:

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Former Saks CEO: What’s Fascinating is the Convergence of Online and Stores

The former CEO of Saks, Steve Sadove, says that what’s really fascinating is the convergence that is currently happening with online and brick and mortar stores. You have the Amazon’s of the world adding brick and mortar store options and then you have Walmart and Target and many others growing at 40-50 percent with their online sales.

Steve Sadove, former Saks CEO, discussed the online and physical store convergence on Fox Business:

Brick and Mortar Isn’t Dying

People buy for many reasons and a good part of it is the experience of shopping. About 80 percent plus of shopping is still done in a brick and mortar store. Brick and mortar isn’t dying, people want to touch and they want to feel. Just think about apparel. With apparel, my old company Saks was doing 30-35 percent of the product online but customers still want to touch and feel and meet with the associate and experience it.

What’s Fascinating is the Convergence of Online and Stores

What’s fascinating is this convergence of online and stores. The Amazon’s of the world are now opening up stores. Then you have the brick and mortar guys who are saying buy online and pick up in stores. Walmart is moving much more in the direction of being omnichannel, encouraging online shopping. Amazon is opening up stores. You have the pop-up stores, you have the Warby Parker’s who are online opening up stores.

The Good Retailer Provides the Experience Wherever They Want It

Then you have the brick and mortar people, Target growing 40-50 percent, Walmart growing 40-50 percent with their Internet business. It’s this convergence that really is what the consumer is valuing because they want to buy anytime, anywhere they want to get product. Some of them hate going into a store. Others just want to go into a store. The good retailer is going to provide that experience wherever they want it and they’re going to give them the value that they want.

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5 Tips to Improve Your Omnichannel Marketing

Marketing continues to undergo rapid and major changes. Consumers are turned off by mass selling, and expect personalized, 1:1 communication across the many channels and devices they use. Unfortunately, when it comes to omnichannel marketing, many marketers are still behind. The impetus is on marketing to provide a seamless experience, regardless of channel or device.

In this blog, we’ll explain five ways that you can improve your omnichannel marketing. We’ll show you how to align your content with your buyer journey, how to improve consistency, and how to put the customer at the heart of everything that you do.

1. Consider Content

Like with any campaign, content will be the lifeblood of your omnichannel efforts. Start by surveying your existing content to collect assets that align with the needs and interests of your personas at different phases of the buyer’s journey. Remember that the best content attracts, informs, and engages your audience, while also promoting your brand.

Next, adjust the format and presentation of your content to fit the context of each channel that you are working in. Not only must every piece of content be relevant to the channel it appears in, but there needs to be a consistent experience between channels. This helps smooth the experience for users across channels and devices, making them more likely to get them where they need to be. Lastly, get more value out of your core content by repurposing it across channels. It doesn’t take too much effort to condense an ebook into a whitepaper or extract an infographic from a webinar, so there’s a good ROI in doing so.

2. Embrace Customer-Centricity

In the engagement era, it’s essential that your omnichannel experience is centered around the customer. Start by figuring out your customers’ most preferred channels. If you don’t know where they are, how can you expect to serve them? You need to understand their online presence, including where they do their research, their pre-sales questions, and the type of personalized interactions they expect. Once you’ve laid that foundation, turn your attention to improving response times across the board. Not only do faster responses improve engagement with potential customers, but they reduce churn from existing ones.

Lastly, remember to integrate your customer support channels with your record keeping systems. Having clean records of customer inquiries and concerns—whether they be through email, social media, chat or other—makes it much easier for your customer success team to keep track of and address issues quickly. Not only that, but you can further refine your omnichannel experience based on what you learn about your audience’s preferences.

3. Provide a Consistent Experience

Imagine you send a branded email to a prospect who recently signed up for your newsletter. After reading the email, they click through to your Facebook page, only to be confronted with a profile picture featuring a different logo. At best, they will be confused by the discrepancy, at worst, they will doubt whether the page they’re looking at is legitimate. Not only is visual consistency a priority, but you also need your messaging and language to be aligned across channels. Doing this prevents your communications from sending conflicting messages and keeps campaigns from unwittingly competing against each other.

Remember that familiarity breeds trust, so providing a singular experience across touchpoints is essential. If customers can’t count on you to guide them through a smooth pre-purchase journey, they certainly won’t trust your product or service to meet their needs. If you’re struggling to maintain consistency across brand materials and time zones, consider switching to a centralized model for asset production. When everything you create is in one place, it’s much easier to ensure that you’re telling the same story to your customers, wherever they are.

4. Leverage In-Store Experiences

Optimizing across digital channels is important, but for those with brick-and-mortar stores, the work doesn’t stop there. Customers crave a seamless shopping experience—maintaining consistency in brand and messaging between the digital and physical worlds is vital. Integrating technology into the in-store experience presents an excellent opportunity to maintain the momentum established pre-purchase.

Consider the case of REI, where 75% of their customers visit their website or app to look at items before buying in-store. REI capitalized on that trend by arming their sales associates with mobile devices guide customers through their purchasing decisions and answer any last-minute questions they might have. They also provide free Wi-Fi for customers to access more information on what they’re interested in as they shop. These are small touches, but they can go a long way. REI aren’t the only ones who figured this out—according to eMarketer, 60% of brick-and-mortar stores have introduced tablets into their in-store experience. By continuing the brand story you started online into physical stores, you help create an experience that your customers will appreciate.

5. Integrate Systems

To put it all together and track the success of your various omnichannel campaigns, you need to be able to measure and act on the right metrics. However, this won’t be possible unless all your relevant marketing tools are integrated. Doing this also decreases ambiguity and cleans up your data. Some engagement platforms make this process accessible to companies of all sizes. There’s too much at stake in your business to delay taking the first step any longer. The only way to thrive is to deliver on the promise of a personal, omni-channel experience.

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