Blog: Forrester

Showing blogs: 1–13 of 13

3 Steps to Building a Strong Mobile Commerce Foundation

Sep 15 2011

mobileAlthough mobile commerce is expected to reach some $31 billion by 2016, at a compounded annual growth rate of 39%1, the channel remains a huge missed opportunity for most brands. Even traditionally marketing-savvy brands are struggling to leverage the space-partially because the slow internal procedures of the biggest corporations can hardly keep up with the pace at which mobile capabilities are evolving. The core issue however, is that most companies simply don't know how to enter or lead the new mobile-commerce space: the channel is unproven, customer data is sparse, and ROI is difficult to prove. But with Google reporting that 79% of consumers now say they use a smart­phone to help with shopping2, the mobile space has become a tremendous customer influencer that can no longer be ignored.

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Quaero Founder Naras Eechambadi Featured in BtoB Magazine Virtual Roundtable

Apr 7 2011

Database face-to-face
B2B Magazine's expert panel discusses how information integration across all sales and marketing channels has created new opportunities and challenges
  
Recently, Forrester Research released “The Forrester Wave: U.S. Database Marketing Service Providers Q1 2011.” To take the pulse of the direct and database marketing industry, BtoB East Coast Bureau Chief Christopher Hosford conducted a virtual roundtable discussion with executives from companies identified in the report as industry leaders to discuss the rapidly evolving abilities of marketers to gain better customer insights for more precise targeting and revenue production. Participating in the virtual roundtable were Naras Eechambadi, senior-VP and general manager at Qauero; Dennis Kooker, president-COO of KBM Group; Bob Moorhead, VP-general manager, client services at Epsilon; Tim Suther, CMO of Acxiom; and Mark Wright, president-CEO of Targetbase.

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Forrester's Marketing Forum 2010 - are you planning to attend?

Apr 14 2010

Later this week, I'll be heading to Los Angeles to attend Forrester's Marketing Forum, Adaptive Marketing: How to Design a Flexible Organization to Thrive on Change.  As a silver sponsor of the event, Quaero will have a presence in the network showcase and is hosting a themed break (with prizes! and food!) on the 22nd.

Will the event be enjoyable?  Of course. It always is; Forrester's event team works hard to make sure attendees have a good time.  But, will it be useful? Absolutely.  I would argue that this year's event could be the most important and best yet. Here is why:

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The challenges (and occasional perils) of blogging

Apr 5 2010

Blogging is a staple in the B2B marketer's toolbox and has helped many a small business elevate its presence and client base.  Here at Quaero, we have an active blogging community. We use blogs to provide thought leadership while engaging with both prospective and current clients.

But blogging and its younger cousin, microblogging (i.e., Twitter), have their drawbacks. Many companies continue to question their value.  Let's look at why and how corporate blogs are scrutinized:

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Requiem for the NCDM?

Dec 15 2009

I attended the recent NDCM (National Center for Database Marketing conference) in Las Vegas last week, after a gap of many years, the triggering event being the fact that I was on a keynote panel being moderated by David Frankland of Forrester Research.  Attending the event after this multi-year hiatus and, particularly,  on the tenth year anniversary of a keynote address I had given there after I had started Quaero in 1999, I was struck by the changes in the conference over the years.    It is, to state the obvious for those who have been attending for many years, much smaller than it used to be.   I would guess a fourth or even a fifth of the size that it was ten years ago.  When you consider the fact that there used to be two NCDMs a year at that time versus just one this year, that is quite a precipitous fall.  Given the revolutionary changes in marketing over the past ten years, one would have expected quite the opposite.    The NCDM has always been focused on the technology aspects of direct marketing and technology has been the driver behind many of the changes in marketing in recent years.   

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Interactive Marketing Spend

Sep 10 2009

Forrester recently released the five year forecast for the interactive marketing spend. The interesting trends from the report reflect the changing investment in interactive marketing.

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Monetizing Online Content

Jul 10 2009

Online content providers have always been challenged to find new ways to increase brand traffic, monetize their content and lure advertisers.  And while we are still in the midst of a recession, the news for online content providers is not all bad.  In fact, Forrester Research estimates that US online consumers will spend $4.7B on entertainment content in 2009 alone (Who Pays for Online Content, by Sarah Rotman Epps).

Figuring out the monetization model and actually executing it can be difficult, though.  Should you adopt a "free-mium" model, one in which willing consumers subscribe to premium content while others receive the base service and are subject to ads?  What about a pay-as-you-go model?  Or an advertiser-subsidized model?   Each is difficult to implement on its own, but applying more than one model to support the needs of a varied audience can be highly complex and costly. 

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Digital Marketing Growth in 2009

Jun 8 2009

Digital Marketing or Interactive marketing spending will hit $25.6 billion this year -- up 11% from $23.1 billion in 2008, despite being flat, as marketers shift money from traditional media to digital channels based on latest Forrester study.  See Forrester Anayst Shar VanBosKirk's blog.

So what does interactive or digital marketing encompass?

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How do you know your Website is working if you don't "sell" anything?

May 27 2009

I was speaking with a fellow marketer in the not-for-profit space the other day and he asked me how we evaluate the success of our Website, speicifcally, "you don't sell anything online, so you can't look at purchase behavior.  How do you know if your site is working for you?"

It's a great question and one we sought to answer long before the site was built, content was written, and wireframes were approved.  Essentially, we had to determine what the site needed to do for us - what role it would play in the prospect lifecycle (i.e., awareness - education- consideration - purchase.)  Ultimately, we developed the site strategy to influence the education and consideration phases of the lifecycle and to drive conversion.  The design just followed naturally.

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Forrester Marketing Forum 2009: A brief review

May 4 2009

I recently attended the Forrester Marketing Forum held at the Walt Disney Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Orlando, Florida. Click here to read the official Forrester blog post.  I'd like to provide some highlights from a few of the more interesting speakers, with a focus on observations that were not obvious:

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Gearing up for Forrester's Marketing Forum

Apr 15 2009

As you may know, Quaero, a CSG Solution, is sponsoring the upcoming Forrester Marketing Forum, Using the Down Economy to Catalyze Marketing Change.  Held at the Disney Yacht & Beach Club, April 23-24, 2009, this year's conference promises to be the most relevant yet, with an agenda that speaks directly to the marketers' most urgent challenge:  how to spend wisely and make every dollar count.  

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Out with the Old; In with the New.

Dec 2 2008

Lisa Bradner, senior analyst at Forrester Research kicked off day two of Forrester's Consumer Forum with a thought-provoking session on the future of consumer marketing. Entitled Consumer 2018 - Separating Fact from Fad, Lisa's presentation discussed what B2C companies need to know about consumers to drive their business in the next ten years.

So what *do* you as marketers need to know? Well, duh, the 4Ps, right? Not quite so fast. Brader suggests that we need to think beyond the traditional marketing mix with which we're all familiar - product, pricing, promotion and placement. Instead, marketers need to consider and integrate into their planning a whole new set of consumer-driven Ps - permission, proximity, perception and participation.

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Forrester's Next Big Idea

Dec 1 2008

The Forrester forums are generally content-rich events featuring top-notch keynotes by Forrester analysts and highly influential business leaders. The Consumer Forum, held October 28-29 in Dallas, TX, did not disappoint. In fact, almost all presenters provided valuable insight, best practices and/or big ideas that should shape how marketers think about and communicate with their customers.

The Day One highlight was most certainly James McQuivey, (Twitter: @jamesmcquivey) whose presentation, Satisfy Consumers for the Next Decade and Beyond, introduced the next Forrester Big Idea: People share a set of universal needs - connection, uniqueness, comfort and variety; satisfy those needs with convenience and you will win.

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