They say data is the new oil. Companies want to invest in tools to activate that data and gain powerful insights that give the business a view into how and where to gain return on investments. But is it better to start with the former or the latter? Activation or insights? There are two prominent toolkits in this space:

1. Customer data platforms (such as Adobe’s RT-CDP) for activation

2. Customer journey analytics (CJA) for insights

When searching for leading examples of one-to-one marketing, experience personalization, and customer engagement channels, few would start with B2B companies. In many key areas, B2B organizations have lagged more than other business models and industries with digital transformation maturity.

Our Loyalty Barometer Report covers emerging loyalty topics and examines how consumer mindsets are shifting, so brands can ensure their loyalty strategies are current and relevant. In the fifth annual report, we took an expanded view of loyalty, looking at how consumers feel about loyalty programs and understanding their view of loyalty within the customer experience and brand messaging.

Traditionally B2B organizations would support nurture, growth, and retention marketing through marketing automation platforms (MAP). However, this traditional method is limited because they cannot store a regularly updated 360-degree view of the customer. This collectively meant low-performing campaigns and missed opportunities for cross-selling products or for retaining customers.

In recent blog posts, we’ve written about the important role of data in B2B marketing. We explored what comprehensive data capture looks like and how to curate that data once you have it. This third and final installment will focus on intelligent B2B experiences as a means to both use that data and continue to capture more of it.

Identity is a must for B2B organizations to best reach key buyers in a privacy-safe way. Historically, organizations would manage lead generation efforts separately from their nurture, growth, and retention efforts. This resulted in disjointed teams, disjointed messaging, and cold-start problems that could be avoided if all efforts were being coordinated through one platform. At the same time, lead generation efforts largely depended on third-party cookies, which are going away.

There’s an increasing need for brands to oversee and understand their artificial intelligence (AI) processes as they’re used more and more across organizations. Ethical AI, or explainable AI, provides the foundation for doing just that. Though AI oversight might immediately make one think of a chief data officer or chief technology officer, in actuality, all members of an organization play a key role in ethical AI.

Inflation is top-of-mind for all consumers this year, causing marketers to question how best to adapt. I recently discussed inflation and its related marketing challenges on a webinar hosted by eMarketer and have pulled out some of the top questions brands are asking right now.

Over 11,000 attendees experienced the Snowflake summit in Las Vegas earlier this summer. If anyone is wondering if the industry is ready to attend in-person events, the answer was a resounding yes as evidenced by this event.

In part one of our three part video blog series with Merkle's Beth Billingsley and ActionIQ's James Meyers, they'll share how account-based everything (ABX) plays a key role,