Wvu Marketing Communications Today

  It’s time to look in the digital mirror. Do you like what you see? What does your “digital-first impression” say about you? And why should you care? Whether it’s your company website or your social pages, your web presence makes a bigger difference than you think. In this episode, our guest Andy Crestodina makes the case for investing in your digital presence right now, to make the impact you want tomorrow. He also shares tips on how your digital content must adapt to stay competitive, engaging and relevant. Join us! About our Guest: Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, an award-winning 40-person digital agency in Chicago. Over the past 20 years, Andy’s provided guidance to 1000+ businesses. He’s written hundreds of articles on content strategy, SEO and Analytics. He’s also the author of Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing. Top 10 Online Marketing Experts, Forbes Top 50 Marketing Influencer, Entrepreneur Magazine Top 25 Content Marketers, Express Wri

  Some changes are so subtle you don’t recognize them when they are happening, but then – BAM - you get a wake-up call. That is what our guest, Jay Baer, says about the customer experience. Today CX is all about how you make the customer feel and brands who succeed in the future will excel at understanding, meeting, and exceeding the expectations of their customers. Join us as Jay lays out the roadmap for what you should be doing now to meet the future needs of your customers. Jay is a marketing and customer experience expert and 7th-generation entrepreneur. He is the author of 6 best-selling business books and the founder of 5 multi-million dollar companies. His newsletter, thebaerfacts.com is also chock full of tips and insights on the convergence of marketing+CX. About our Guest: Jay Baer is a Hall of Fame keynote speaker who teaches business growth through customer experience and marketing innovation. He is also a popular virtual emcee and event host, New York Times bestselling author of six books, a

  Early in the pandemic, David Meerman Scott saw marketers struggle to take their in-person events virtual, and concluded that we were approaching the problem from the wrong mindset altogether. He published a 6-minute video explaining the right way to reimagine events for the virtual world. On our podcast, David not only provides a 7-point set of action steps to liven up your virtual and hybrid events, but he also shares what it will take to create the successful events of the future. Join us for an instructive 30 minutes! About our Guest: David Meerman Scott spotted the real-time marketing revolution in its infancy and wrote five books about it including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, now in a 7th edition, with more than 400,000 copies sold in English and available in 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese. Now David says the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications. Tech-weary and bot-wary people are hungry for true human connection. Organizations have lea

  Are your models annoying or delighting your consumers? Marketers have been using machine learning for years to help create advanced models, but that is not going to cut it in the future. Too many personalization efforts today rely on algorithms that are turning people off. And our attempts at automated personalization engines are forcing consumer audiences to simply tune brands out. In this episode, we explore the connection between models, analytics, and even Eric Clapton with our guest, Stephen Yu. As a songwriter, musician, and master modeler, Stephen brings a unique perspective to data science and a cautionary message as well: Those who rely solely on automated analytic solutions will be the first to be replaced by the machine! About our Guest: Stephen H. Yu is a world-class database marketer with a proven track record in comprehensive strategic planning and tactical execution, effectively bridging the gap between the marketing and technology world with a balanced view obtained from over 30 years

  In this special edition of Marketing Horizons, hosts Ruth Stevens and Cyndi Greenglass review the 2021 marketing trends they believe will have a significant impact on marketers in the year ahead. Some fads have already faded, but some new ones will continue to disrupt and drive business results in 2022. And a bonus: Are you thinking about how to uplevel your career this year? Ruth and Cyndi also give us a preview of the exciting careers emerging for marketers. WVU Marketing Communications Today: Horizons is presented by the West Virginia University Reed College of Media, which offers renowned online master’s degree programs in Marketing Communications.  

  Direct marketing —an approach that uses all types of advertising media to motivate a response, which is tracked and stored in a database—is fast becoming indistinguishable from modern marketing today. Join us as Ron Jacobs, one of the preeminent authorities on this topic, explains the evolution of direct marketing thinking and where it’s headed over the horizon. Hint: Some marketing challenges are not likely to be solved anytime soon, but Ron says new tools and technologies are on the way. About our Guest: During the last 35 years, J&C founder, Ron Jacobs, has been blazing the trail and establishing the best ways to interact with consumers. Through honed tactics and techniques, Ron has defined the best ways to start, manifest and sustain relationships with customers. He shares his insights and strategies as the author of many articles and books, through works with clients and organizations in the U.S. and around the world, and across the globe as world-renowned public speaker. Ron Jacobs literally

  Learn about the exciting job role of product management in tech markets from our guest, Laura Marino, Chief Product Officer at TrueAccord. While tech product managers have little direct authority, they hold great responsibility to represent the needs of the customer and influence others in the firm—engineering, marketing, finance—to deliver products to market at a profit. The future is bright for these professionals, as Product-Led Growth becomes a strategic imperative. Tune in especially as Laura names four characteristics of a successful product. About our Guest: Laura Marino is the Chief Product Officer at TrueAccord, a fintech company reinventing debt resolution. She is passionate about scaling companies and product organizations. Prior to joining TrueAccord, Laura built and led product teams in small and large organizations including SAP Labs, Nuance, Tellme Networks/Microsoft, Intapp, and Lever. Laura holds two Master of Science degrees from Stanford. She is a guest speaker at the Stanford Techn

  Technology continues to disrupt, enable and challenge the world of marketing. Join Scott Brinker, founder of the influential blog Chief Martech, as we discuss the future of marketing technology. When—if ever—will its growth plateau? How can companies prepare for the changes to come? Do you have to be a technologist to be a successful marketer today? Scott’s answers will surprise you. About our Guest: Scott Brinker is VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, helping to grow and nurture the company's community of technology partners. He writes the chiefmartec.com blog and serves as the program chair of the MarTech Conference. He is the author of the best-selling book Hacking Marketing, published by Wiley. Previously, he was the co-founder and CTO of ion interactive. He holds degrees in computer science from Columbia University and Harvard University and an MBA from MIT. Connect with him on Twitter @chiefmartec. WVU Marketing Communications Today: Horizons is presented by the West Virginia University Reed Colle

  Leaner staffs, fewer journalists in the newsrooms, and a growing suspicion regarding the integrity of earned media have placed the PR profession in potential peril. But today’s guest, Bridgette Borst Ombres, remains optimistic about media relations. Some things have not changed in the profession, she says, including the ongoing challenge of attribution and measurement. But join us, as we explore what has changed in media relations including AI, the rise of live audio, niche publications, and paywall journalism. About our Guest: Bridgette Borst Ombres is a former TV news reporter turned PR and marketing professional with nearly 15 years’ experience working in communications across agency, corporate and nonprofit. Bridgette has media trained more than 350 spokespeople for organizations around the country and has consulted for brands such as Google, LG, Angry Birds, Vestas, Boy Scouts of America and Earth Day Network. Bridgette heads up The Commsultant, a boutique PR agency specializing in communication

  Heads up to agencies: Your business model needs an update. The needs of the workforce have changed—resulting in hundreds of vacant positions. The “pyramid” staffing structure itself is passe. Our guest Scott Gillum founded a new type of agency, for B2B markets, where employees are empowered to schedule their own workdays and trusted to produce their work “on demand.” He sees an agency like a professional sports team, where free agents sign up to deliver on specific client expectations. The result? Faster, lower-cost marketing results, enviable 86% client retention rates, and 100% employee satisfaction ratings on Glassdoor. Join us to learn the philosophy behind this new model, which could be a blueprint for the agency of the future. About our Guest: R. Scott Gillum is the founder of Carbon Design, a marketing services firm that specializes in personality-based marketing. Prior to founding Carbon in 2017, he founded and lead the Washington, DC office of gyro. The largest B2B agency in the world and Ad A

  Phone reps are no longer the front line of customer service. Customers now reach out to their suppliers first through digital channels. In turn, companies worldwide view their call centers not only as a cost center but also as a revenue opportunity. AI across the customer lifecycle is driving innovation in prediction, conversation and analytics, backed by a combination of cognitive engines and human assistance. Listen to our conversation with one of the leaders in what is being called AI-driven conversational engagement. Seb Reeve, EMEA Director of Strategy & Business Development at Nuance, is responsible for defining and evangelizing the Nuance customer care proposition worldwide – sharing how companies can create extraordinary automated experiences. If you are skeptical about the importance of this trend, consider that Microsoft is about to acquired Nuance for an estimated $19 billion, the 2nd largest acquisition in Microsoft history. Join us to learn about what’s new in customer engagement, and

  The tools needed to manage your customer data have changed dramatically since the days of “database marketing” in the 1980s. The latest iteration is a CDP, or customer data platform, the subject of our stimulating discussion with David Raab, a leading expert and founder of the CDP Institute. He explains how the tech landscape has become quite complex and continues to morph. The number of systems continues to grow, fed by a proliferation of channels, declining development costs, and easily available funding. Listen in to understand the customer data landscape, why it’s critical to marketing success, and where the technology is going in the future. About our Guest: David M. Raab is the founder and CEO of the Customer Data Platform Institute, a vendor-neutral organization with over 10,000 members, which educates marketers and technologists about customer data management. Mr. Raab was named the Customer Data Platform category in 2013. Mr. Raab has a long history as an independent consultant helping market

  The role of the PR professional is changing fast. No longer limited to media relations or crisis management, these days PR people have evolved into larger and more strategic roles as “communicators,” who handle multi-channel messaging to a variety of important audiences, or “publics.” Our guest, Bonnie Harris, explains what’s driving this change, and where it’s likely to go next. About our Guest: Bonnie Harris is the founder of Wax Marketing, Inc. an integrated marketing agency based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Harris and her team designed and implemented IMC strategies for clients across the United States, focused primarily on midsized companies in the healthcare, technology and manufacturing industries. Prior to founding her IMC practice, Harris worked in the technology industry for 16 years, eventually rising to the role of vice president, where she oversaw sales, marketing and operations for nine profit centers in eight states. She received her master’s degree from the West Virginia University IMC pro

  Bot-generated fraud on digital advertising will waste $42 billion by 2022, according to Jupiter Research. A shocking sum. Our guest, Dr. Augustine Fou, explains why and how ad fraud is perpetrated, and what can be done about it. Listen in to learn how we marketers must change our thinking about ad metrics, and update our media buying strategies altogether. About our Guest: Dr. Fou has been on the front lines of digital marketing for 25 years. It is from that vantage point that he studied and documented the nexus of cybercrime and ad fraud. As an investigator, Dr. Fou assists government and regulatory bodies; as a consultant he helps clients strengthen cybersecurity, and mitigate threats and risks, including the flow of ad dollars that fund further criminal activity. Dr. Fou was the former Group Chief Digital Officer of Omnicom's Healthcare Consultancy Group, a $100 million group of 8 agencies serving pharma, medical device, and healthcare clients. Dr. Fou also taught digital strategy and integrated ma

  The marketing world has embraced loyalty programs ever since the launch of the American Airlines AAdvantage program in 1981. But these transactional rewards programs are headed for the trash heap, says our guest Ajay Row, a longtime authority on retention and loyalty, based in Mumbai. Join us to learn the strategy behind loyalty marketing programs and the strategy that is likely to replace them. The key lies in figuring out who’s valuable to you, what’s valuable to them, and how you can deliver and extract more value in the relationship. About our Guest: G. Ajay Row Entrepreneurial executive with 35 years’ experience in data-driven, digital, loyalty, analytics and CRM across a variety of industries and several countries. Launched among the first CRM, loyalty and data-driven marketing programs globally in the 1980s, have since implemented programs across 65+ countries. Built several companies, two to exit, and numerous case studies. 11 years with the Taj and then the Tata Group responsible for CRM. 5 ye

  Why do walled gardens exist in the first place? The answer is quite simple, because they can. When it comes to advertising, giant firms like Facebook and LinkedIn hold all their own cards. And with the demise of 3rd party data and cookies, the amount of data they have on users who readily allow access to personal information is unprecedented. But we are learning that this may spell bad news in the future for us marketers. Listen in to this episode with Heather Blank on how Walled Gardens will impact the future of advertising. About our Guest: Heather Blank Heather Blank has over 20 years of experience scaling and innovating the go-to-market strategies of digital enterprises. A background in both client-side and in-house technology roles gives her a unique perspective and solutions-oriented approach to product innovation. Heather started her data career running the first digital CRM program for PETCO Animal Supplies and has worked to build successful data businesses for Responsys, Oracle Data Cloud, Dat

  In this provocative episode, database management expert Theresa Kushner explains why she believes that the marketing profession as we know it today is obsolete. What does this mean for the future of the marketing discipline, and for organizations as a whole? Listen here to find out. About our Guest: Theresa Kushner Theresa Kushner turned her master’s degree in journalism from UNT into a career in high technology. For over 25 years she has led companies – like IBM, Cisco Systems, VMware, Dell/EMC, and NTT DATA – in recognizing, managing, and using the information or data that has exploded exponentially. Using her expertise in journalism, she co-authored two books on data and its use in business: Managing Your Business Data: From Chaos to Confidence (with Maria Villar) and B2B Data-Driven Marketing: Sources, Uses, Results (with Ruth Stevens). Today, as the “Data as an Asset” lead for NTT DATA, Theresa continues to help companies gain value from data and information. For her efforts in leading analytics,

  During the pandemic, we’ve all be watching with horror as stores close and shopping behavior has turned upside down. Amazon’s sales are up 40% in the last 12 months. What’s the future of retail, we have to ask? Join us for an engaging discussion with Paul Leinwand and Samrat Sharma from PriceWaterhouseCoopers’s as they discuss the future of consumer markets and where the consumer shopping experience is headed. Paul Leinwand is global director of the Strategy& unit of PwC based in Chicago and teaches strategy and management as an adjunct at Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Samrat Sharma also works at Strategy& and has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon. About our Guests: Paul Leinwand Paul Leinwand is a thought leader on strategy, growth, and capability building for Strategy&, PwC's strategy consulting group. Based in Chicago, he is a principal with PwC U.S. Paul advises clients on the topic of strategy, growth, and capability building, with a focus on the consumer product and retail sectors.

  Design thinking has been around a while, and it sounds alluring, but there’s still some confusion about what it means to marketers. Roger Mader sets us straight in this podcast, explaining the skills and tools of design thinking that apply to marketing practice, and how it can be used to improve marketing results. In short, he describes a process for predicting your customers’ future needs and interests and serving them better than the competition. Join Roger, Managing Partner at Ampersand and professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York, to hear where design thinking can take marketers, on the sub-series, Marketing Horizons. About our Guest: Roger Mader is on a mission to “make better”—to equip leaders and entrepreneurs, experts and students to change the world. Declare purpose. Make a promise. Act on principle. Measure performance. Learn. Grow. Roger serves as the Managing Partner of Ampersand, a global team of partners who help big companies act small, and small companies get big. Ampersand us

  Behavioral science is a relatively new field, with huge implications for marketing. Neuromarketing can actually help you develop more persuasive communications that will increase your response rates. Join Nancy Harhut, Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing, as she explains how she persuades her target audiences successfully, using the lessons of behavioral science, on the sub-series, Marketing Horizons. About our Guest: Getting people to take action is what Nancy’s all about. Her specialty is blending best-of-breed creative with decision science to prompt response. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Nancy’s shared her passion with audiences in London, Sydney, Moscow, Madrid, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, Berlin, and all over the US, including SXSW. Along the way, she's been named Online Marketing Institute Top 40 Digital Strategist, Ad Club Top 100 Creative Influencer, and Social Top 50 Email Marketing Leader. Prior to co-founding HBT Marketing, Nancy held senior creative management positions with H