Blog Yes & Know

Smartphones as Appliances

The growth of the mobile data marketplace is one of the bright spots for business in the current recession. Mobile carriers report increasing demand for data services, and Apple and Research in Motion both reported strong earnings aided by sales of their smartphone products.

Customers Love Beats Technology Innovation

Public statements notwithstanding, more business plans in Silicon Valley are built around technology than around customer relationships. It’s just the way it is; we’re talking about technology companies, right? The problem is that, given time, all technology either becomes obsolete or a commodity. With the increasing pace of technological change, this is happening sooner rather than later. The risk in building on technology rather than customer relationships is that you are never more than a wrong turn or two away from putting your business survival at risk. Customer relationships provide your business with more options, and strong relationships can be very forgiving of the occasional misstep, meaning your business is more resilient and your plans can be bolder. Further–and perhaps even more important–technology-centric business models limit your offerings and growth potential, so they are associated with lower valuations over the long term.

Digital Slices: Atomizing the Business of Segmentation

Segmentation has always been a key part of marketing. Sorting customers into appropriate segments allows business and marketing types to filter ideas, glean intelligence, set prices, and decide what to offer and what to toss.
Segmentation also allows successful companies to produce just the right thing to address the needs of different slices of the market.

Richness of Relationships

If you believe, as Rubicon does, that excellent sales and marketing revolves around meeting customers’ needs, then this article will develop how that belief can guide the work of you and your team. “Knowing your customer” is not, of course, a new idea in marketing. Today’s market landscape is characterized by pressure for high-volume, reduced transaction costs and e-commerce, ever-increasing specialization in products and needs, and shortened product life cycles. In this context, we are pressured to rely on impressions or memories or articles in the Sunday paper — anything that saves time — to provide a portrait of the customer. Following our beliefs, however, reminds us that it is more necessary to invest the time and energy in meeting, learning and understanding our customers. We want to get so close that the team can explain who the customer is, as a name, a place, and a voice — and know what the customer needs, and think about connecting points to help finish the route-to-market puzzle.