Category Archives: blog

Digital Disruption in Banking – The 5 Most Urgent Priorities For Banks


I’m sure every one of us is looking at how our banks are going to respond to the winds of change. Disruption and disinter-mediation is in the air. The following is a summary of an article on this topic on BAI Strategies. The most important task for banks in the age of Digital Disruption in Banking is to look beyond the traditional […]

The great promise of social media engagement needs a new approach


What happened to URLs such as www.facebook.com/yourbrand? Is the great promise of building a community through social media effectively over? Just as brands were starting to figure out how to improve their social investments ROI, and how to attribute success to their social media efforts, prominent networks such as Facebook have pulled the rug out from under our feet  – […]

What is digital strategy? Really.


The term digital strategy has to be the most confused term ever. Is it digitization where we try to convert existing processes to the digital format? Think document capture, automated workflows etc. Is it development of digital channels such as websites, mobile and social media where everything online or latest is considered the world of digital, and everything else considered “not digital”? Is it […]

3 reasons a mobile app tops the charts, and 6 ways to make it happen!


The world is mobile today, and having a mobile strategy is critical. However, a vast majority of mobile apps see dismal adoption rates. Lets understand why: First, it is critical to understand that every app must provide tangible value to the user. And value comes from primarily two sources – utility, or entertainment. Consider a banking app, the CVS app, Amazon, Facebook, […]

Learnings from the Zero Marginal Cost Society – The Sharing economy


If you have read this book by Jeremy Rifkin (1), then you most likely had extreme reactions in this sequence – a) a sense of awe and wonder b) a feeling that there was something deeply amiss in the logic. Mr. Rifkin did bring out some great points overall about how the sharing economy, automation and the internet of things will change the […]

The Four Digital Marketing Models Enhanced


Booz & company (now Strategy& and part of PwC) published a nice article on how different types of companies can be classified as 4 types of Digital Marketing Models. The article outlined key capabilities that need to be build for each type of model. The four types of firms are: Digital Branders: Firms that relay on advertising and promotions to […]

The new principles of customer experience design


It’s pretty common now to think of user experience (website or mobile design) in terms of customer experience design (how customers experience your overall brand). The Omni Chanel trends have made this even more necessary in today’s world.   The way I think about it is that customers (on the right hand side) have both primary and secondary needs. Traditionally […]

Connect Needs. Deliver innovation.


An article on Forbes.com analyzed the 3 types of innovation outlined in a report by Booz & Company that companies follow. And it was clear that the “need seeker”, the company that tries to seek out and meet an emerging or latent need, wins hands down. The three types of companies and their innovation models were defined as: Need seekers […]

Customer partnership is about going beyond advertising and offers


Recently, a reader of my book asked me about The Principle of External Reinforcement. Her point was that most organizations are now anyway helping people buy what they need. So what exactly is the purpose of this principle? First, if you are already doing that, then its awesome. It doesn’t really invalidate the principle, only helps support it, right? Second, and more […]

How to enhance customer engagement by reinforcing the choices our customers make


We all know that product or service reviews are helpful in positively influencing the propensity of customer to buy.  However, most research in this space has focused on the product and the moment of purchase. Lets evaluate some very important dimensions of customer engagement. If we put ourselves in our customers’ shoes, we realize that a product feature specific review is only partially […]

Loyalty is more than just rewards


Every business needs loyal customers. We need customers to buy from us rather than our competition. Promotions and discounts are universally followed to secure this attention and loyalty – incentivizing customers to buy from us by way of cash value rather than creating any long term differentiation. Sometimes, and much more effective, these offers are a means to get customers to try out or […]

The next step for digital marketing


In the old days (a few years ago), digital marketing was about outreach on digital channels. Get more ad impressions, get more page hits, more Facebook page likes, more clicks on offers, among many other such metrics. The model of marketing was the same although on a different channel – get the word out there and optimize for conversion. Lately, […]

Must Read Strategy books – Beyond Sales and Marketing


Here are some books that I think rise above the noise. While “getting the word out” and conversions are important, these books help you define what to do to actually create a product that customers want, and how to create long lasting customer engagement. These books are about strategy, and how to compete in a changing world. (I’ve read all […]

Making customer engagement a two way street


The digital marketing world has been abuzz with the power of meeting customers where they are, reaching them with targeted, just in time promotions and sending alerts on their mobile right when they are near a store they may be interested in. We are calling it the power of digital. But it doesn’t seem to be about customer engagement at […]

The real social network in a digital world


Back to blog home… Are we thinking the right way about what a social network in a digital world is? Can Facebook really only be the medium to the real social network? Some will argue that its only a platform (brand building, discovering, connecting, learning, researching), while others would stress that its their core network of friends (connecting, sharing). Both […]