Responding to the needs of chief marketing officers, IBM Interactive, the Armonk-based company”™s digital marketing agency, this month unveiled a new set of services to help businesses build and expand their digital marketing presence.
IBM officials in their announcement said the company would help businesses use technology to develop more meaningful and personalized interactions with customers across mobile, social media and online points of contact.
In a 2011 study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers (CMOs), IBM found that most top executives recognized a critical shift under way in customer engagement, but felt underprepared to manage the change. The study also found that while 82 percent of CMOs planned to increase their use of social media over the next three to five years, much smaller numbers currently use digital tracking to help shape their marketing strategies. Only 26 percent track blogs, the study found, while 42 percent track third-party reviews and 48 percent track consumer reviews.
“Today, businesses have a unique opportunity to rebrand themselves to become more customer-centered and relevant,” Adam Klaber, managing partner for new markets at IBM Global Business Services, said in the company”™s announcement. “Leading with a data-driven approach, IBM helps CMOs and CIOs (chief information officers) to engage with consumer audiences in a more personalized and authentic manner, to in turn boost brand loyalty.”
With the new integrated services, IBM will quickly assess a business”™ current needs against their future marketing vision and do a gap analysis to evaluate which future capabilities are supported through existing business architecture. IBM consultants will then determine the new processes, technology, data, skills and governance needed for the transformation strategy. IBM will design customized roadmaps for clients built on techniques and methodologies developed in its work with clients worldwide.
IBM executives said analytic techniques would be used to drive customer engagement and to optimize marketing performance. As an example, they cited the challenge faced by retailers, banks, insurance companies and communications providers ”“ to deliver the right offers for their products and services to customers at the right time.
Real-time predictive analytics can ease that challenging task by analyzing the growing volumes of customer information from various data sources to provide key insights into customer preferences, according to IBM. The analytics, when combined with business rules based on knowledge of what offers and actions have succeeded with other customers in a similar situation, can provide personalized recommended actions for that customer.
IBM Interactive already is working with businesses to drive marketing innovation and improved customer experiences.
One IBM client, a major beverage provider, is engaging customers by enabling them to create personal drink recipes and to use their mobile devices to communicate the recipes to the company”™s vending machine.
IBM also designed a new mobile website for the beverage company”™s loyalty rewards program, giving access to more than 16.5 million registered members, or one in every nine households.
A global luxury goods retailer worked with IBM to improve the customer shopping experience for its online channel. To reduce barriers in the checkout process, IBM created a streamlined process for browsing and checkout.
IBM also worked with the retailer to create targeted customer experiences for mobile smartphone and tablet users and helped devise a company strategy to expand its online presence to more countries.
IBM has made its digital mark on the sporting world, too.
It designed, developed and implemented websites for the world”™s leading tennis and gold organizations, including the U.S. Tennis Association, U.S. Golf Association and Wimbledon. The sites enhance the fan experience by bringing together live scores, live steaming video and on-demand clips and provide a way to view scores, news, event activities and photos. IBM ensures that content can be accessed in real time and delivered to multiple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and smartphones.
