• 3 Strategies for connecting with consumers

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Consumer preferences have changed drastically since the Covid-19 pandemic, led by the twin culprits of convenience and availability. The unprecedented act of quarantining, temporarily confining ourselves to our homes for weeks on end, didn’t stop people from shopping ...

  • How medicare programs can improve onboarding and retention

    Shane Kimsey, Group Account Director, KERN Health

    divider

    According to a recent survey, 80% of health plans consider member engagement to be a top priority. This percentage is an indication that most health plans recognize the increasingly competitive nature of the insurance marketplace. Especially when it comes to Medicare, today’s consumers know that ...

  • Getting to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Why Marketing Assessments Are Critical to Launching a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy. Where are you with your personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing strategy? If you’re not sure, you’re far from alone. Marketing organizations on both the client side and agency side have a mixture of ...

  • Seven Keys to Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    The Seven Components of Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing. Consumers have changed. They no longer buy in the same ways. They no longer decide what to buy in the same ways. And, more importantly, they no longer hold the same expectations of a brand that they held even yesterday. In fact ...

  • Moving to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Now Is the Time to Move to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach. With the recent, rapid changes in shopping habits and media diets, and as customer expectations and values take on a multitude of new forms, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are finding themselves ...

  • The Personalized Marketing Blueprint

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Personalized Marketing has long been one of the biggest challenges for marketers — using data to reach the right person with the right message at the right moment, automated at scale — but now it’s experiencing renewed urgency and focus.

  • How COVID-19 Has Reshaped Holiday Shopping

    Savannah McGushion, Associate Director, Strategy

    divider

    Will COVID-19 Help the Grinch Steal Christmas This Year? COVID-19 has completely reshaped the world, and those effects will continue to be felt this holiday season. With financial turmoil and fears of social interaction, it’s a holiday stage even the Grinch himself couldn’t have imagined. Both consumers and retailers will rely heavily on technology to pivot effectively and retain some ...

  • Marketing In An Election Year

    Gabriel Gonzalez, Group Account Director

    divider

    Consumers already have a lot to consider in 2020, what with a global pandemic and social unrest. So, adding who will be our next commander in chief will carry a lot of weight for most. More than ever, brands must be timely and relevant to ensure their messages are heard and considered. Is Your Marketing Plan Ready? As we gear ...

  • The POWER of Progressive Persona Profiling

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

    divider

    Access deeper insights into your Medicare audience for more effective communications. It seems like once a person hits 65, they’re lumped into one stodgy category: SENIORS. It’s a most unflattering term, and one this group dislikes, by the way. The Medicare audience isn’t one big homogenous group of mature adults. There are different segments that are influenced by backgrounds, education ...

  • Xoomers: The Not-So-Micro-Generation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Say hello to Xoomers, born between 1956 and 1964, who are breaking the mold for what over-50 looks like. Making up over 38% of the over-50 population, Xoomers are a not-so-micro-generation you can’t afford to miss. Not only are they a hefty share of the U.S. older adult population, they’re also responsible for almost a quarter of consumer spending in ...

  • How to Leverage Social Listening for Reputation or Crisis Management

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Social listening has a variety of applications to help businesses meet their business and marketing goals. It provides marketers with the ability to monitor awareness levels, the competitive landscape, consumer segments, product features and brand sentiment. Social listening also provides marketers with access to near real-time online discussions and posts to quickly address reputation or crisis management issues. As marketers, ...

  • Trigger Communications in the Auto Industry

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

    divider

    The decision to buy, and how a brand might influence that choice, is a code we are constantly trying to crack for our clients. Lately we’ve been exploring triggered communications based on actions a prospect might take and all the factors that go into a successful triggers campaign. Today I’ll share a few trigger ideas for auto dealerships looking to ...

  • 5 Ways to Empower the Loyalty Loop

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    In the age of the empowered consumer, buying journeys are rarely linear. This means that the traditional purchase funnel isn’t aligned with the modern customer experience, and it’s time marketers adapted their view to drive conversions.

  • How to Leverage Behavior-Based Customer Segmentation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle—80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers—but RFM is the best way to determine the actual makeup of your customer base and gain insights to help improve your targeting, messaging and marketing ROI. RFM analysis is the first step in helping you define customer segments ...

  • Triggered: Tips to Get Started with Automated Email

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Triggered emails are outperforming standard direct marketing emails but make up only 7% of marketing emails delivered. These vastly underutilized campaigns boast an average of more than 50% compared to the 20% cross-industry average open rate. They can also drive two to five times more revenue than standard emails. While the results speak for themselves, setting up a trigger campaign ...

  • Driving Long-Term Functional Value in the Experience Economy

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    20+ years ago, B. Joseph Pine II wrote about our entry into the experience economy—an economy in which growth strategies including the orchestration of events and experiences drive product value beyond the functional value of the product itself. But what is it about experiences that enable a company to attract and retain customers over time? This question is particularly important ...

  • “Hello < FNAME >”, 5 Tips to Create Personalized Experiences That Drive Sales

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    We all know that personalization increases customer engagement, loyalty and sales because people naturally connect with brands that create relevant experiences which address their wants and needs, but it’s not always easy to get it right. Here are 5 tips to help you improve customer communications that lead to stronger relationships. Think of your customers as individuals. Start by determining ...

  • Push Clients Up the Loyalty Ladder

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    The cost of acquiring new customers is 5 to 25 times higher than retaining existing customers. If you want loyal customers, you have to do more than sell. You need to provide them with highly relevant experiences. If consumers can’t find added value through your brand, they’ll go somewhere else. Knowing where your customers are on the ladder will help ...

  • Catch Gen Z While You Can: Email Marketing Tactics to Grab their Attention

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Marketer, meet Generation Z. Not just a Millennial spinoff, this generation born 2001 and on is a new breed of consumer, and it’s vital that marketers give them the attention they need, and want, to drive conversions. Download your free whitepaper and gain email marketing insights and tips to help catch the attention of this up-and-coming generation.

  • Back to Basics

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

    divider

    At KERN, we periodically ask ourselves, “what’s next?” Summer 2017, there was a heavy focus on what we could do with technology partners and APIs. We spoke to partners like Movable Ink, Iterable and Foursquare to bring together new ways to market our client’s products and services. As we continue these conversations and create innovative solutions for our clients, it’s ...

  • Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons The CTA button is a critical part of your email—if you’re not getting clicks, you’re not getting conversions. Best practices can vary by both industry and target audience, and the best way to determine what works is to test, test, test. We have identified three main factors to consider in determining the ...

  • Top 10 Loyalty Program Dos and Don’ts

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Today, informed customers know they have choices. If your loyalty program isn’t firing on all cylinders, your customers will find something better. You don’t have to outspend the competition, you just have to outthink them. Download your free white paper.

  • Build CRM with Inbound Marketing

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Today’s consumers are no longer responding to the hard sell the way they have in the past. They now look to brands to be educated about products and services that make their lives easier when making buying decisions. They seek out informative content, and inbound marketing is made to meet this modern buyer’s behavior. The more content you create and ...

  • 5 Ideas for Program Innovation + A Bonus

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Welcome to the Age of the Customer. The fastest-growing companies are focused on improving their customer relationships. With competitors just one click away, it’s essential to build loyalty and trust with every customer interaction. Here are five principles that will help you build better relationships with your customers. Download your free white paper.

  • Learn Fast – The New Mantra for Enterprise Growth Hacking

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    From acquisition through loyalty, growth hacking is strategically used throughout the customer journey, with a key focus on rapid and continuous growth. Startups thrive on this practice and have cleverly developed marketing strategies that allow them to make quick decisions and optimize their marketing programs. Many innovative cultures are flourishing from their ability to take strategic risks while rapidly testing and ...

  • 10 Proven High-Performance Email Tactics for CRM Program Leaders

    Jennifer Stevens, Sr. Digital Producer

    divider

    If used effectively, your CRM email program can be one of the most powerful marketing tools you have for building ongoing, profitable growth. Your program can help you stay in touch with a range of customer segments, providing each of them with unique value while strengthening their relationship with your brand. To make your CRM email program more effective, here ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Evaluate Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    As we move through the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, we’ve identified not only the consumer’s mind-set but also how brands can combat potential consumer anxieties, and suggested marketing strategy and channels to better reach a target audience. We have followed our subject, Tara, along her buying journey purchasing a new laptop. Tara has had concerns about both the price and ...

  • It’s all about the open rate

    Noah Michel, Senior Copywriter

    divider

    They’re short, they’d better be sweet and they can make or break an email. Of course, we’re talking about subject lines. Most of us have found out the hard way that it doesn’t matter how much strategy, creativity and work goes into an email—if it’s not paired with the right subject line, it’s not going to get read. There is ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Search for Solutions & Seek Vendor Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Last week, we reviewed stage 2 of the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, “Need Recognition.” Our subject, Tara Technology, recognized a need days after she experienced her initial distraction in stage 1 due to monetary concerns. We learned that while in both stage 1 and 2, it was important for brands to target customers through pre-determinded personas to communicate brand benefits ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Recognize Need

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    We continue our weekly series traveling through KERN’s Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage journey. The 10-stage journey was developed based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. Stage 2: Recognize Need After the distraction stage, the consumer recognizes a need which brings them into stage two. ...

  • What to Know for CRM in 2018 from KERN’s 2017 CRM Leadership Survey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    A comprehensive look at what CRM leaders across industries experienced in 2017, what they will prioritize and how partners can help them enhance CRM program effectiveness.

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Distraction

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    KERN developed the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. In this weekly series, we take a deeper look at each of the stages in this journey, what each means for brands and takeaways to act on each stage. ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    The modern consumer is ever-changing. Armed with advancing technology, their mind-set has evolved and no longer fits traditional personas. KERN recognized this problem and sought to develop a solution that would fit modern needs for marketers. Recognizing that the convergence of faster connection speeds on both mobile and home devices, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the ...

  • The Future of CRM Marketing: Eight Big Trends and How They Will Affect You

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    A detailed look at forecasted 2018 CRM Marketing trends, from technological advances to shifts in the structure of marketing departments. This white paper provides information to aid in rethinking strategies and incorporating the best resources to optimize results and achieve 2018 goals.

  • For the People, By The Proprietary Software

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Big data has advanced the development of AI systems that can take information from a variety of inputs, identify relationships among them and make predictions that humans could never dream of making. Let's take a look at what the recent advances in AI technology mean for content marketing. In 2018, 20% of All Business Content Will Be Authored by Machines ...

  • A Digital Beginning

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    The late Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” This is sound advice for life and for ending the procrastination around when your Medicare marketing organization should begin to create a digital strategy. “Go for it now.” Let’s address the elephant in the room: Every Medicare marketer has numbers to make. It ...

  • Marketing to the Empowered Buyer Is Impacting Marketers

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

    divider

    We’ve come from a world in which our audience was addressable through a mass effort, rather than the precise pinpointed effort that we need today. The most challenging complexity that modern B-to-B marketers face is creating “individualism” within a mass-media framework. To speak to individuals, marketers require a model that directly addresses customer needs, wants and desires. We have evolved ...

  • 3 Strategies for connecting with consumers

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Consumer preferences have changed drastically since the Covid-19 pandemic, led by the twin culprits of convenience and availability. The unprecedented act of quarantining, temporarily confining ourselves to our homes for weeks on end, didn’t stop people from shopping ...

  • How medicare programs can improve onboarding and retention

    Shane Kimsey, Group Account Director, KERN Health

    divider

    According to a recent survey, 80% of health plans consider member engagement to be a top priority. This percentage is an indication that most health plans recognize the increasingly competitive nature of the insurance marketplace. Especially when it comes to Medicare, today’s consumers know that ...

  • Getting to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Why Marketing Assessments Are Critical to Launching a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy. Where are you with your personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing strategy? If you’re not sure, you’re far from alone. Marketing organizations on both the client side and agency side have a mixture of ...

  • Seven Keys to Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    The Seven Components of Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing. Consumers have changed. They no longer buy in the same ways. They no longer decide what to buy in the same ways. And, more importantly, they no longer hold the same expectations of a brand that they held even yesterday. In fact ...

  • Moving to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Now Is the Time to Move to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach. With the recent, rapid changes in shopping habits and media diets, and as customer expectations and values take on a multitude of new forms, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are finding themselves ...

  • The Personalized Marketing Blueprint

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Personalized Marketing has long been one of the biggest challenges for marketers — using data to reach the right person with the right message at the right moment, automated at scale — but now it’s experiencing renewed urgency and focus.

  • How COVID-19 Has Reshaped Holiday Shopping

    Savannah McGushion, Associate Director, Strategy

    divider

    Will COVID-19 Help the Grinch Steal Christmas This Year? COVID-19 has completely reshaped the world, and those effects will continue to be felt this holiday season. With financial turmoil and fears of social interaction, it’s a holiday stage even the Grinch himself couldn’t have imagined. Both consumers and retailers will rely heavily on technology to pivot effectively and retain some ...

  • Marketing In An Election Year

    Gabriel Gonzalez, Group Account Director

    divider

    Consumers already have a lot to consider in 2020, what with a global pandemic and social unrest. So, adding who will be our next commander in chief will carry a lot of weight for most. More than ever, brands must be timely and relevant to ensure their messages are heard and considered. Is Your Marketing Plan Ready? As we gear ...

  • The POWER of Progressive Persona Profiling

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

    divider

    Access deeper insights into your Medicare audience for more effective communications. It seems like once a person hits 65, they’re lumped into one stodgy category: SENIORS. It’s a most unflattering term, and one this group dislikes, by the way. The Medicare audience isn’t one big homogenous group of mature adults. There are different segments that are influenced by backgrounds, education ...

  • Xoomers: The Not-So-Micro-Generation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Say hello to Xoomers, born between 1956 and 1964, who are breaking the mold for what over-50 looks like. Making up over 38% of the over-50 population, Xoomers are a not-so-micro-generation you can’t afford to miss. Not only are they a hefty share of the U.S. older adult population, they’re also responsible for almost a quarter of consumer spending in ...

  • How to Leverage Social Listening for Reputation or Crisis Management

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Social listening has a variety of applications to help businesses meet their business and marketing goals. It provides marketers with the ability to monitor awareness levels, the competitive landscape, consumer segments, product features and brand sentiment. Social listening also provides marketers with access to near real-time online discussions and posts to quickly address reputation or crisis management issues. As marketers, ...

  • Trigger Communications in the Auto Industry

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

    divider

    The decision to buy, and how a brand might influence that choice, is a code we are constantly trying to crack for our clients. Lately we’ve been exploring triggered communications based on actions a prospect might take and all the factors that go into a successful triggers campaign. Today I’ll share a few trigger ideas for auto dealerships looking to ...

  • 5 Ways to Empower the Loyalty Loop

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    In the age of the empowered consumer, buying journeys are rarely linear. This means that the traditional purchase funnel isn’t aligned with the modern customer experience, and it’s time marketers adapted their view to drive conversions.

  • How to Leverage Behavior-Based Customer Segmentation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle—80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers—but RFM is the best way to determine the actual makeup of your customer base and gain insights to help improve your targeting, messaging and marketing ROI. RFM analysis is the first step in helping you define customer segments ...

  • Triggered: Tips to Get Started with Automated Email

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Triggered emails are outperforming standard direct marketing emails but make up only 7% of marketing emails delivered. These vastly underutilized campaigns boast an average of more than 50% compared to the 20% cross-industry average open rate. They can also drive two to five times more revenue than standard emails. While the results speak for themselves, setting up a trigger campaign ...

  • Driving Long-Term Functional Value in the Experience Economy

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    20+ years ago, B. Joseph Pine II wrote about our entry into the experience economy—an economy in which growth strategies including the orchestration of events and experiences drive product value beyond the functional value of the product itself. But what is it about experiences that enable a company to attract and retain customers over time? This question is particularly important ...

  • “Hello < FNAME >”, 5 Tips to Create Personalized Experiences That Drive Sales

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    We all know that personalization increases customer engagement, loyalty and sales because people naturally connect with brands that create relevant experiences which address their wants and needs, but it’s not always easy to get it right. Here are 5 tips to help you improve customer communications that lead to stronger relationships. Think of your customers as individuals. Start by determining ...

  • Push Clients Up the Loyalty Ladder

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    The cost of acquiring new customers is 5 to 25 times higher than retaining existing customers. If you want loyal customers, you have to do more than sell. You need to provide them with highly relevant experiences. If consumers can’t find added value through your brand, they’ll go somewhere else. Knowing where your customers are on the ladder will help ...

  • Catch Gen Z While You Can: Email Marketing Tactics to Grab their Attention

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Marketer, meet Generation Z. Not just a Millennial spinoff, this generation born 2001 and on is a new breed of consumer, and it’s vital that marketers give them the attention they need, and want, to drive conversions. Download your free whitepaper and gain email marketing insights and tips to help catch the attention of this up-and-coming generation.

  • Back to Basics

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

    divider

    At KERN, we periodically ask ourselves, “what’s next?” Summer 2017, there was a heavy focus on what we could do with technology partners and APIs. We spoke to partners like Movable Ink, Iterable and Foursquare to bring together new ways to market our client’s products and services. As we continue these conversations and create innovative solutions for our clients, it’s ...

  • Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons The CTA button is a critical part of your email—if you’re not getting clicks, you’re not getting conversions. Best practices can vary by both industry and target audience, and the best way to determine what works is to test, test, test. We have identified three main factors to consider in determining the ...

  • Top 10 Loyalty Program Dos and Don’ts

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Today, informed customers know they have choices. If your loyalty program isn’t firing on all cylinders, your customers will find something better. You don’t have to outspend the competition, you just have to outthink them. Download your free white paper.

  • Build CRM with Inbound Marketing

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Today’s consumers are no longer responding to the hard sell the way they have in the past. They now look to brands to be educated about products and services that make their lives easier when making buying decisions. They seek out informative content, and inbound marketing is made to meet this modern buyer’s behavior. The more content you create and ...

  • 5 Ideas for Program Innovation + A Bonus

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Welcome to the Age of the Customer. The fastest-growing companies are focused on improving their customer relationships. With competitors just one click away, it’s essential to build loyalty and trust with every customer interaction. Here are five principles that will help you build better relationships with your customers. Download your free white paper.

  • Learn Fast – The New Mantra for Enterprise Growth Hacking

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    From acquisition through loyalty, growth hacking is strategically used throughout the customer journey, with a key focus on rapid and continuous growth. Startups thrive on this practice and have cleverly developed marketing strategies that allow them to make quick decisions and optimize their marketing programs. Many innovative cultures are flourishing from their ability to take strategic risks while rapidly testing and ...

  • 10 Proven High-Performance Email Tactics for CRM Program Leaders

    Jennifer Stevens, Sr. Digital Producer

    divider

    If used effectively, your CRM email program can be one of the most powerful marketing tools you have for building ongoing, profitable growth. Your program can help you stay in touch with a range of customer segments, providing each of them with unique value while strengthening their relationship with your brand. To make your CRM email program more effective, here ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Evaluate Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    As we move through the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, we’ve identified not only the consumer’s mind-set but also how brands can combat potential consumer anxieties, and suggested marketing strategy and channels to better reach a target audience. We have followed our subject, Tara, along her buying journey purchasing a new laptop. Tara has had concerns about both the price and ...

  • It’s all about the open rate

    Noah Michel, Senior Copywriter

    divider

    They’re short, they’d better be sweet and they can make or break an email. Of course, we’re talking about subject lines. Most of us have found out the hard way that it doesn’t matter how much strategy, creativity and work goes into an email—if it’s not paired with the right subject line, it’s not going to get read. There is ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Search for Solutions & Seek Vendor Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Last week, we reviewed stage 2 of the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, “Need Recognition.” Our subject, Tara Technology, recognized a need days after she experienced her initial distraction in stage 1 due to monetary concerns. We learned that while in both stage 1 and 2, it was important for brands to target customers through pre-determinded personas to communicate brand benefits ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Recognize Need

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    We continue our weekly series traveling through KERN’s Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage journey. The 10-stage journey was developed based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. Stage 2: Recognize Need After the distraction stage, the consumer recognizes a need which brings them into stage two. ...

  • What to Know for CRM in 2018 from KERN’s 2017 CRM Leadership Survey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    A comprehensive look at what CRM leaders across industries experienced in 2017, what they will prioritize and how partners can help them enhance CRM program effectiveness.

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Distraction

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    KERN developed the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. In this weekly series, we take a deeper look at each of the stages in this journey, what each means for brands and takeaways to act on each stage. ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    The modern consumer is ever-changing. Armed with advancing technology, their mind-set has evolved and no longer fits traditional personas. KERN recognized this problem and sought to develop a solution that would fit modern needs for marketers. Recognizing that the convergence of faster connection speeds on both mobile and home devices, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the ...

  • The Future of CRM Marketing: Eight Big Trends and How They Will Affect You

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    A detailed look at forecasted 2018 CRM Marketing trends, from technological advances to shifts in the structure of marketing departments. This white paper provides information to aid in rethinking strategies and incorporating the best resources to optimize results and achieve 2018 goals.

  • For the People, By The Proprietary Software

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    Big data has advanced the development of AI systems that can take information from a variety of inputs, identify relationships among them and make predictions that humans could never dream of making. Let's take a look at what the recent advances in AI technology mean for content marketing. In 2018, 20% of All Business Content Will Be Authored by Machines ...

  • A Digital Beginning

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

    divider

    The late Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” This is sound advice for life and for ending the procrastination around when your Medicare marketing organization should begin to create a digital strategy. “Go for it now.” Let’s address the elephant in the room: Every Medicare marketer has numbers to make. It ...

  • Marketing to the Empowered Buyer Is Impacting Marketers

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

    divider

    We’ve come from a world in which our audience was addressable through a mass effort, rather than the precise pinpointed effort that we need today. The most challenging complexity that modern B-to-B marketers face is creating “individualism” within a mass-media framework. To speak to individuals, marketers require a model that directly addresses customer needs, wants and desires. We have evolved ...

  • 3 Strategies for connecting with consumers

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

    divider

    Consumer preferences have changed drastically since the Covid-19 pandemic, led by the twin culprits of convenience and availability. The unprecedented act of quarantining, temporarily confining ourselves to our homes for weeks on end, didn’t stop people from shopping ...

  • How medicare programs can improve onboarding and retention

    Shane Kimsey, Group Account Director, KERN Health

    divider

    According to a recent survey, 80% of health plans consider member engagement to be a top priority. This percentage is an indication that most health plans recognize the increasingly competitive nature of the insurance marketplace. Especially when it comes to Medicare, today’s consumers know that ...

  • Getting to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

    divider

    Why Marketing Assessments Are Critical to Launching a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Strategy. Where are you with your personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing strategy? If you’re not sure, you’re far from alone. Marketing organizations on both the client side and agency side have a mixture of ...

  • Seven Keys to Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

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    The Seven Components of Superior Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing. Consumers have changed. They no longer buy in the same ways. They no longer decide what to buy in the same ways. And, more importantly, they no longer hold the same expectations of a brand that they held even yesterday. In fact ...

  • Moving to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

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    Now Is the Time to Move to a Personalized Continuous Revenue Marketing Approach. With the recent, rapid changes in shopping habits and media diets, and as customer expectations and values take on a multitude of new forms, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are finding themselves ...

  • The Personalized Marketing Blueprint

    Russell Kern, CEO/Founder

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    Personalized Marketing has long been one of the biggest challenges for marketers — using data to reach the right person with the right message at the right moment, automated at scale — but now it’s experiencing renewed urgency and focus.

  • How COVID-19 Has Reshaped Holiday Shopping

    Savannah McGushion, Associate Director, Strategy

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    Will COVID-19 Help the Grinch Steal Christmas This Year? COVID-19 has completely reshaped the world, and those effects will continue to be felt this holiday season. With financial turmoil and fears of social interaction, it’s a holiday stage even the Grinch himself couldn’t have imagined. Both consumers and retailers will rely heavily on technology to pivot effectively and retain some ...

  • Marketing In An Election Year

    Gabriel Gonzalez, Group Account Director

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    Consumers already have a lot to consider in 2020, what with a global pandemic and social unrest. So, adding who will be our next commander in chief will carry a lot of weight for most. More than ever, brands must be timely and relevant to ensure their messages are heard and considered. Is Your Marketing Plan Ready? As we gear ...

  • The POWER of Progressive Persona Profiling

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

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    Access deeper insights into your Medicare audience for more effective communications. It seems like once a person hits 65, they’re lumped into one stodgy category: SENIORS. It’s a most unflattering term, and one this group dislikes, by the way. The Medicare audience isn’t one big homogenous group of mature adults. There are different segments that are influenced by backgrounds, education ...

  • Xoomers: The Not-So-Micro-Generation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Say hello to Xoomers, born between 1956 and 1964, who are breaking the mold for what over-50 looks like. Making up over 38% of the over-50 population, Xoomers are a not-so-micro-generation you can’t afford to miss. Not only are they a hefty share of the U.S. older adult population, they’re also responsible for almost a quarter of consumer spending in ...

  • How to Leverage Social Listening for Reputation or Crisis Management

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Social listening has a variety of applications to help businesses meet their business and marketing goals. It provides marketers with the ability to monitor awareness levels, the competitive landscape, consumer segments, product features and brand sentiment. Social listening also provides marketers with access to near real-time online discussions and posts to quickly address reputation or crisis management issues. As marketers, ...

  • Trigger Communications in the Auto Industry

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

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    The decision to buy, and how a brand might influence that choice, is a code we are constantly trying to crack for our clients. Lately we’ve been exploring triggered communications based on actions a prospect might take and all the factors that go into a successful triggers campaign. Today I’ll share a few trigger ideas for auto dealerships looking to ...

  • 5 Ways to Empower the Loyalty Loop

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    In the age of the empowered consumer, buying journeys are rarely linear. This means that the traditional purchase funnel isn’t aligned with the modern customer experience, and it’s time marketers adapted their view to drive conversions.

  • How to Leverage Behavior-Based Customer Segmentation

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle—80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers—but RFM is the best way to determine the actual makeup of your customer base and gain insights to help improve your targeting, messaging and marketing ROI. RFM analysis is the first step in helping you define customer segments ...

  • Triggered: Tips to Get Started with Automated Email

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    Triggered emails are outperforming standard direct marketing emails but make up only 7% of marketing emails delivered. These vastly underutilized campaigns boast an average of more than 50% compared to the 20% cross-industry average open rate. They can also drive two to five times more revenue than standard emails. While the results speak for themselves, setting up a trigger campaign ...

  • Driving Long-Term Functional Value in the Experience Economy

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    20+ years ago, B. Joseph Pine II wrote about our entry into the experience economy—an economy in which growth strategies including the orchestration of events and experiences drive product value beyond the functional value of the product itself. But what is it about experiences that enable a company to attract and retain customers over time? This question is particularly important ...

  • “Hello < FNAME >”, 5 Tips to Create Personalized Experiences That Drive Sales

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    We all know that personalization increases customer engagement, loyalty and sales because people naturally connect with brands that create relevant experiences which address their wants and needs, but it’s not always easy to get it right. Here are 5 tips to help you improve customer communications that lead to stronger relationships. Think of your customers as individuals. Start by determining ...

  • Push Clients Up the Loyalty Ladder

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    The cost of acquiring new customers is 5 to 25 times higher than retaining existing customers. If you want loyal customers, you have to do more than sell. You need to provide them with highly relevant experiences. If consumers can’t find added value through your brand, they’ll go somewhere else. Knowing where your customers are on the ladder will help ...

  • Catch Gen Z While You Can: Email Marketing Tactics to Grab their Attention

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Marketer, meet Generation Z. Not just a Millennial spinoff, this generation born 2001 and on is a new breed of consumer, and it’s vital that marketers give them the attention they need, and want, to drive conversions. Download your free whitepaper and gain email marketing insights and tips to help catch the attention of this up-and-coming generation.

  • Back to Basics

    Andre Avanessian, VP, Analytics

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    At KERN, we periodically ask ourselves, “what’s next?” Summer 2017, there was a heavy focus on what we could do with technology partners and APIs. We spoke to partners like Movable Ink, Iterable and Foursquare to bring together new ways to market our client’s products and services. As we continue these conversations and create innovative solutions for our clients, it’s ...

  • Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    Factors to Consider when Placing Email CTA Buttons The CTA button is a critical part of your email—if you’re not getting clicks, you’re not getting conversions. Best practices can vary by both industry and target audience, and the best way to determine what works is to test, test, test. We have identified three main factors to consider in determining the ...

  • Top 10 Loyalty Program Dos and Don’ts

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Today, informed customers know they have choices. If your loyalty program isn’t firing on all cylinders, your customers will find something better. You don’t have to outspend the competition, you just have to outthink them. Download your free white paper.

  • Build CRM with Inbound Marketing

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    Today’s consumers are no longer responding to the hard sell the way they have in the past. They now look to brands to be educated about products and services that make their lives easier when making buying decisions. They seek out informative content, and inbound marketing is made to meet this modern buyer’s behavior. The more content you create and ...

  • 5 Ideas for Program Innovation + A Bonus

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Welcome to the Age of the Customer. The fastest-growing companies are focused on improving their customer relationships. With competitors just one click away, it’s essential to build loyalty and trust with every customer interaction. Here are five principles that will help you build better relationships with your customers. Download your free white paper.

  • Learn Fast – The New Mantra for Enterprise Growth Hacking

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    From acquisition through loyalty, growth hacking is strategically used throughout the customer journey, with a key focus on rapid and continuous growth. Startups thrive on this practice and have cleverly developed marketing strategies that allow them to make quick decisions and optimize their marketing programs. Many innovative cultures are flourishing from their ability to take strategic risks while rapidly testing and ...

  • 10 Proven High-Performance Email Tactics for CRM Program Leaders

    Jennifer Stevens, Sr. Digital Producer

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    If used effectively, your CRM email program can be one of the most powerful marketing tools you have for building ongoing, profitable growth. Your program can help you stay in touch with a range of customer segments, providing each of them with unique value while strengthening their relationship with your brand. To make your CRM email program more effective, here ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Evaluate Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    As we move through the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, we’ve identified not only the consumer’s mind-set but also how brands can combat potential consumer anxieties, and suggested marketing strategy and channels to better reach a target audience. We have followed our subject, Tara, along her buying journey purchasing a new laptop. Tara has had concerns about both the price and ...

  • It’s all about the open rate

    Noah Michel, Senior Copywriter

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    They’re short, they’d better be sweet and they can make or break an email. Of course, we’re talking about subject lines. Most of us have found out the hard way that it doesn’t matter how much strategy, creativity and work goes into an email—if it’s not paired with the right subject line, it’s not going to get read. There is ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stages: Search for Solutions & Seek Vendor Solutions

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    Last week, we reviewed stage 2 of the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey, “Need Recognition.” Our subject, Tara Technology, recognized a need days after she experienced her initial distraction in stage 1 due to monetary concerns. We learned that while in both stage 1 and 2, it was important for brands to target customers through pre-determinded personas to communicate brand benefits ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Recognize Need

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    We continue our weekly series traveling through KERN’s Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage journey. The 10-stage journey was developed based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. Stage 2: Recognize Need After the distraction stage, the consumer recognizes a need which brings them into stage two. ...

  • What to Know for CRM in 2018 from KERN’s 2017 CRM Leadership Survey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    A comprehensive look at what CRM leaders across industries experienced in 2017, what they will prioritize and how partners can help them enhance CRM program effectiveness.

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey; Progressive Persona Stage: Distraction

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    KERN developed the Modern Buyer’s 10-Stage Journey based on rapidly changing human patterns, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the proliferation of social networks and always-on communication abilities. In this weekly series, we take a deeper look at each of the stages in this journey, what each means for brands and takeaways to act on each stage. ...

  • The Modern Buyer’s 10-stage Journey

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    The modern consumer is ever-changing. Armed with advancing technology, their mind-set has evolved and no longer fits traditional personas. KERN recognized this problem and sought to develop a solution that would fit modern needs for marketers. Recognizing that the convergence of faster connection speeds on both mobile and home devices, the accelerated adoption of online searching and sharing, and the ...

  • The Future of CRM Marketing: Eight Big Trends and How They Will Affect You

    Curt Kaneshiro, SVP, Strategy

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    A detailed look at forecasted 2018 CRM Marketing trends, from technological advances to shifts in the structure of marketing departments. This white paper provides information to aid in rethinking strategies and incorporating the best resources to optimize results and achieve 2018 goals.

  • For the People, By The Proprietary Software

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    Big data has advanced the development of AI systems that can take information from a variety of inputs, identify relationships among them and make predictions that humans could never dream of making. Let's take a look at what the recent advances in AI technology mean for content marketing. In 2018, 20% of All Business Content Will Be Authored by Machines ...

  • A Digital Beginning

    Sajid Patel, SVP, Analytics & Marketing Technology

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    The late Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” This is sound advice for life and for ending the procrastination around when your Medicare marketing organization should begin to create a digital strategy. “Go for it now.” Let’s address the elephant in the room: Every Medicare marketer has numbers to make. It ...

  • Marketing to the Empowered Buyer Is Impacting Marketers

    Boni Peluso, Associate Creative Director, KERN Health

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    We’ve come from a world in which our audience was addressable through a mass effort, rather than the precise pinpointed effort that we need today. The most challenging complexity that modern B-to-B marketers face is creating “individualism” within a mass-media framework. To speak to individuals, marketers require a model that directly addresses customer needs, wants and desires. We have evolved ...