Category: Blog

A Digital Runway

Posted on by annaktaylor
spool-of-purple-thread-needle-thimble

 

My love for digital commerce is much like a clothing designer’s passion for trendy wearables.

Outfitting a company for digital growth requires several garments such as data, business intelligence, automation, agile project execution, iterative campaigns, multi-device performance, interactive media and omnichannel experiences.

Like fashion itself, one’s digital ‘style’ says everything. Engagement, activation and triggered events occur when your presentation is undeniably attractive.

An effective digital strategy requires stitching together meaningful touch points, including social channels, editorial sources, search engines, web platforms, communication avenues, micro moments, and brand experiences.

Much like apparel that has a myriad of patterns, countless brands and endless fads, a target audience is wide-ranging with unique needs, interests, requisites and restrictions. Motivation to make a purchase is best understood by defining the persona of the buyer and tailoring your message to activate their reasoning and response.

In digital marketing, being vogue means knowing if the spectators have an appeal to bohemian, chic, grunge, casual, vintage, or couture. A sensory connection is critical, as well as having the brand’s value proposition sewn into the fabric. The aim is to be digitally distinctive.

The real catalyst for any consumer is believing your brand is the right fit. Generating enthusiasm and instigating a sale, service or subscription requires skillfully shaping an influential and value-driven experience.

To be optimally executed, digital initiatives rely on a foundation of tools, techniques and technologies. The past practice of threading together promotions, taglines and incentives won’t cut it.

Bottom-line, use this period of digital transformation to assess your IT wardrobe. Empty the closet and start re-assembling the technology stack piece-by-piece, maintaining a clear goal of raising efficiency, expanding capability, strengthening security, and reducing costs.

Be ambitious and a little audacious. Every Monday is the digital start of fashion week!

10 Steps to Accelerate Agility

Posted on by annaktaylor
digital landscape

 

The buzz is everywhere. Broadly described as “digital transformation”, companies of all sizes are contending with the need to shift their model and way of doing business. 

The concept itself is dynamic, with complex features such as cognitive technologies, distributive data, cloud services, rapid iterations & experiments, workflow logic, business intelligence and a stack of software solutions.

For many, this pivot appears daunting, lengthy, expensive and uncertain.

My suggestion is to take a micro-to-macro approach. This begins with incremental steps towards an agile culture.  Once agility is achieved, there will be far greater confidence and competency to facilitate the transformative process.

Continue reading “10 Steps to Accelerate Agility” →

Two Drivers of Innovative Growth: IT and Marketing

Posted on by annaktaylor
steel cogs team goals plan develop

 

Often departments are structured as silos with very little common ground or joint efforts.  Digital transformation requires intersecting disciplines and removing traditional barriers. The ethos of a company depends upon shared ownership of functional, operational, strategic and innovative capacities.

IT is a company’s heartbeat, overseeing technology and securing scalable internal systems.

Marketing is its persona and customer conduit, designing a value-driven brand experience.

Making headway in your digital presence, engagement and earnings relies on an alignment and synergy between these sources.

At the core of the two branches is data.

  • IT = how data is assembled, structured, stored, secured and dispersed
  • Marketing = how data is utilized, analyzed, modeled, made actionable and measured

Strengthen your Infrastructure and Marketing by developing blended strategies, projects and metrics. And optimize your investment by no longer operating them as cost-centers, but instead as engines for revenue augmentation.

Continue reading “Two Drivers of Innovative Growth: IT and Marketing” →

Head in the Clouds? Insights & Tips for Cloud Services.

Posted on by annaktaylor
panoramic-clouds-and-lake

 

Cloud services and computing are rapidly becoming a major part of how organizations operate, manage data, and perform digital transactions.  IaaS (Infrastructure as a Software) provides broad opportunities for small companies and mid-size enterprises to take advantage of capabilities that would normally be unavailable or too costly within an integrated backend system.

The benefit of moving to a cloud includes a significant reduction in costs by utilizing shared resources, greater efficiencies with on-demand usage, and a wider pool of services for auto-scaling.

The greatest challenge is understanding the range of cloud services in order to select the best framework for both your current state and future state.

Key considerations are:

  • What is the business case for modifying the current infrastructure by partially or entirely moving to the cloud?
  • What are the critical requirements that must be met based on the company’s business model, technology stack, data composition, system complexity, budget, resources, etc.?

To fully define needs and essential services, start with an audit and evaluation of the following:

  • Storage and Usage Patterns
  • Interface
  • Applications and Computing Needs
  • Databases
  • Operations
  • Systems and Processors
  • CPU, Physical RAM and Virtual Memory
  • Network and APIs
  • Users and Accesses
  • Governance and Security

Continue reading “Head in the Clouds? Insights & Tips for Cloud Services.” →

Profit-Producing Projects – Beyond the Buzzwords

Posted on by annaktaylor
Marketing Strategy Street Sign

 

Marketers have a pivotal role and a fundamental responsibility to contribute to bottom-line numbers. To be an earnings asset, a marketing leader must execute auspicious projects.  

Attaining an optimal ROI requires advanced planning and a rigorous process of framing the initiative.  When creating a campaign, producing new content, generating a channel mix, preparing a go-to-market plan or designing an experience, the team must first tackle the ‘why’.

Finish the statement – We are investing time and resources in this project because ….

Be clear on the answer, which should include the benefit to the company and the value to customers.

Next is alignment. Does the project support business objectives and current priorities?  Is there alignment to the buyer’s reasoning and requisites? There needs to be specific orientations, meaning that you define the project alliance with company objectives and customer intent, and identify the priority association.

Continue reading “Profit-Producing Projects – Beyond the Buzzwords” →

Brand Anatomy – The Brand Lens (Part II)

Posted on by annaktaylor
black-sunglasses-with-water-droplets

 

The Brand Lens

These the elements that shape and influence how people perceive your company through a variety of communication practices, forms, networks and conduits. 

The key component is to infuse points of parity with a distinguishing presence, which set a precedence for profitable interest through targeted engagement.

First step is a Brand Audit to evaluate and compare existing assets, equity, angles and content mix.

A good exercise is a candid SWOT Analysis – of just the brand, not the business.  Identify only 2-3 for each quadrant [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats]. List them in order of priority and then set strategies for reinforcement and optimization.

Continue reading “Brand Anatomy – The Brand Lens (Part II)” →

The Brand Anatomy (Part I)

Posted on by annaktaylor

 

Brand Foundation

First, take time to create your Mission, Vision and Purpose. While some consider this exercise to be ‘fluff’, there is a strategic gain from articulating the ‘who, what, where, when… and most especially why’. 

Defining these statements forces a clear delineation of intent, direction, target audience and a “North Star” conduit. It characterizes the company in comparison to the competition which obligates differentiation. Lastly, it sharpens the view for the team.

Simply put, it takes a world map and narrows it down to a profit-bearing destination.

A straightforward example for context:

‘Bob’ and ‘Mike’ are both creating a software program for kids about the game of soccer.

Bob’s ambition may be to teach soccer skills that require focus and repetitive practice, educate the players on tactics and techniques, and help them to better their physical and mental capabilities to play the game.

Mike’s aspiration could be to demonstrate the value of working as a team, help each player to strengthen their confidence and competencies about the sport, and make sure they gain critical perspectives on winning and losing with grace and undiminished determination.

Their objectives are entirely different. Being able to promote their Mission, Vision and Purpose will ensure that they build a meaningful program experience, attract the right audience, and meet the expectations of every young person who participates.

Continue reading “The Brand Anatomy (Part I)” →

Business Use of Lean and New Technologies

Posted on by annaktaylor
coding-computer-data-depth-of-field

 

The engineering of a company’s digital commerce is more important than ever before.  Making prudent and progressive infrastructure decisions, while also strategically being lean and competitive, is a new kind of approach which doesn’t occur by happenstance. 

It requires widening your time-honored, long-established lens and committing to an unwavering technology stewardship, along with the following:

  • significant planning
  • objectivity and exploration
  • outcome modeling
  • high-level disciplines and standards
  • continually maturing team insights and ingenuity

Some simple recommendations are to avoid hype, do not be swayed by the claims from technology firms, reps or self-described pros, evaluate a diverse number of methods and pathways, and amplify value and efficiency at every stage.

Why ‘value’ and ‘efficiency’? Because those are the foundations of lean principles.  By creating capabilities-driven production with waste-reducing workflows, the aim is to reach more effective and profitable performance.

Continue reading “Business Use of Lean and New Technologies” →

Innovate Your Customer Experience through Digital Transformation

Posted on by annaktaylor
close-up-photo-of-gaming-mouse

 

‘Design Thinking’ is a business methodology – and ultimately an attitude – being used by companies that have embraced digital transformation, re-orienting their strategy towards innovation and experimentation. To be on the front end of this, there are essential changes to how an organization reasons and rationalizes its way of doing business.

Fundamental to Design Thinking and Digital Transformation

  • Be open to new information and uncommon ideas
  • Embrace uncertainties as part of exploring and exploiting opportunities
  • Experiment: hypothesize and employ rapid testing and iterations for validation
  • Understand that trial n’ error actions are constructive
  • Make it a priority to be data-informed for forecasting, identifying patterns and better pathways
  • Socially listen to gauge sentiments and to capture real-time interests, motives and preferences of customers
  • Perform journey mapping across the customer’s ecosystem (not your own)
  • Be channel agnostic
  • Require that customers will benefit from the outcome of every decision

Shifting the collective mindset of a company in order to gain from design thinking can be fraught with obstacles and resistance.  You must be patient and persistent, providing ample time to stir curiosity, foster esteem, inspire cultural growth, and build momentum among team members.

Continue reading “Innovate Your Customer Experience through Digital Transformation” →

Art of Persuasion: Optimize Communications and Brand Messaging

Posted on by annaktaylor
black-and-gray-microphone-with-stand

 

A brand’s value is its voice. Authenticity strengthens brand authority. A communication strategy institutes the concrete foundation of customer engagement, trust and loyalty. The style and true essence of your messaging has a significant influence on buyer confidence. What matters is relevancy, precision, compelling expression, vivacity and a positive experience. Detouring outside ‘customary’ content and daring to be expressive and novel are how today’s innovators deviate from the standard bearers. To be resonating requires the art of persuasion.

We are experiencing a major health crisis across the globe which impacts businesses of all sizes and requires clear and constructive messaging.  

 An organization is judged by how it performs in both thriving and volatile moments, placing the greatest weight on how effective they share information, reveal their confidence and character, encourage and motivate, and focus on progress and positive momentum.

Continue reading “Art of Persuasion: Optimize Communications and Brand Messaging” →