The Most Important Eyeballs Are Your Own.

Forget focus groups, quantitative research and ethnography, the future of marketing lies with noise-cancelling headphones. Yesterday, I donned a pair as part of this art installation at St Pancras station and I saw the light.

The idea of the piece was to transpose the characters from the headphones onto the people moving through the station, its retail units and its food outlets. For a while it worked very well, but then I realised I was cancelling out the soundtrack and focusing solely on the silent interaction of the people around me.

Without the overhearings and the hubbub, it was a different sort of noticing - something akin to that experience of being in a country where you don't speak the language, but without the helplessness.

As long as you remember to leave your preconceptions at the door, you can learn a lot from the mass of non-verbal communication that's highlighted by the silence. It's not the future of marketing research, but it is revelatory.

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The Customer Cloud: The Killer App for the Social Enterprise

The old two-step marketing and sales model for customer creation is dead. Today we have a three part model: Socializing, Marketing, and Sales – with socializing taking on increasing importance and marketing being redefined in the process. That’s a good thing for customers but it makes the market more competitive for sellers. Companies have to seek out and engage with both existing and potential customers in radically new ways outside of explicit business contexts with resources previously not thought of as customer facing.

This activity is going on today at a furious pace, but it is highly fragmented. With the introduction by Salesforce.com of Data.com and the social ready rebuild of Database.com at Dreamforce, as well their Chatter and CRM capabilities, customer interactions will come together in what is emerging as the Customer Cloud – the first killer app for the social enterprise.

The Customer Cloud will evolve into the source of record for all account and contact data because it can provide the Holy Grail of the customer creation process – the unified customer record. As a result, it will be the centering point for all customer interactions. It is definitive because:

• It is self-regulating – contacts update their own data via social tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. greatly improving data accuracy and timeliness
• It is real time – individuals have a vested interest in updating their social profiles asap
• It has practically infinite scalability and reach.
• It is equally available to all customer facing functions from marketing to sales, as well as fulfillment, finance, service and support, etc.
• It provides insight into relationships – account contacts can be sustained and expanded even in the face of departures, and corporate hierarchies can be better understood and tracked.

A unified customer record provides the basis for breaking down the discrepancies, decay, and dysfunction that currently plague (or prevent the implementation of) enterprise customer creation processes, especially in B2B. It offers companies the potential to coordinate all of their customer facing activities around a single source of information – the lack of which has been the Achilles Heel in all previous efforts in CRM, data warehousing, and other valiant attempts to unify customer facing functions.

Thus at Dreamforce, the announcements of Data.com and the social data readiness of Database.com are major strategic milestones for Salesforce.com. With the addition of the Radian 6 social monitoring last year, this neatly rounds out a very strong play for leadership in the battle to deliver the Customer Cloud and provide the customer facing infrastructure of the future that will be build upon it.

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Early Look: Italy's Downgrade Priced In

The market was slightly lower in early trading, but has since bounced back into positive territory. Asian markets were lower overnight, but Europe was actually higher this morning.

Europe's rally is somewhat surprising given that Italy had its debt rating downgraded last night by Moody's. Speculation about this downgrade has been talked about since last week, so it wasn't a total surprise. And news that Greece is closer to an austerity plan that will help them secure aid seems to be trumping the news on Italy today.

Healthcare stocks are leading the early action, while industrials are lagging. The dollar is also lower today, helping to push oil prices back towards $86.60 and gold prices back above the $1800 level.

The Fed will start its 2-day meeting today with its latest policy statement tomorrow afternoon. There is a lot of chatter about 'Operation Twist', so we will have to see how much detail the Fed gives us as well as their expectations for what they think this will accomplish.

The SPX is still trading below its 50-day average resistance, currently around 1223. For its part, the Nazz is enjoying its thirds straight day above its 50-day and showing relative outperformance over the SPX recently.

Trading comment: Yesterday, while the overall market was lower there was a growing handful of growth stocks bucking the broad weakness and trading higher. This is a positive sign for the bulls, and could continue into quarter-end as portfolio managers look to add performance after underperforming recently.

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Early Look: Renewed Worries Over Greece

The markets are sharply lower this morning on the heels of overnight losses in Asian markets last night as well as pronounced weakness in Europe this morning. Last week was a nice reprieve to the selling, as the markets bounced back 5%. But this morning there are renewed worries about Greece's ability to meet its debt obligations.

President Obama is set to deliver a speech about balancing the federal budget, which will include some ideas for new taxes on the "rich". Don't expect this to do much of anything to help the markets.

Outside of that, there isn't a ton of news. There was some M&A speculation that Goodrich (GR) will get a bid, and Tyco is set to spit itself up. But most of the days action is simply sentiment driven.

The dollar is higher today relative to the euro and yen. And commodities are lower. Oil prices have fallen back to $85, while gold prices are also lower near $1785.

As for the 10-year yield, is has fallen back below the 2.00% level and currently is hitting 1.96%. The VIX bounced off its 50-day average and is up 12% right now to 34.75.

Trading comment: It was a little uncomfortable to remain so defensive last week as the market climbed higher for 5 straight days. But without any improvement on the fundamental front, it seemed that any bit of bad news to resurface could knock the market right back down. That is the feeling I have this morning, although technically the market is still in this rangebound battle. SPX 1140 has been holding in as support while 1230 has been resistance. As the range narrows, we will get closer to a breakout. The high levels of bearish sentiment support a breakout to the upside, but the fragility of the market make it a tough bet.

long SH

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This week's style, strategy and marketing savvy newsletter - September 19

In this week's style, strategy and marketing savvy newsletter, you'll find:

Original Content:
- Niche marketing ideas that should be music to your ears
- The one competition you can't afford to lose

Plus more success strategies:
- Show us your red lips (4 Facebook contests that worked)
- How consumers are interacting with brands on Facebook
- The four P's of a fully-alive business
- Five reasons why websites still matter
- I already know you're an expert
- Ten principles to live by in fiercely complex times

[Click here] to go to the newsletter and read the articles.

Find more ideas and inspiration, subscribe to e-mails, read my blogs, connect with me on Facebook or visit 12monthsofmarketing.com.

It's going to be a great year!
Elizabeth Kraus

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Early Look: Europe Considering TALF-like Program

The markets have been volatile again in early trading. Coming off the heels of very solid rallies in Asia and Europe, our markets began to climb in the first hour of trading but so far traders have sold into that rally and pushed the indexes back to the flat line.

It's very possible that folks are nervous about going long into the weekend, given that any piece of bad news to surface out of Europe over the weekend could hit the markets come Monday morning. Also, the markets have put in a very nice week already, with the major indexes up roughly 5% for the week so far.

Asian markets rallied overnight after news that the major central banks would provide dollar liquidity to Euro banks. Europe also rallied again today on news that a TALF-like program is also being considered in Europe.

In economic news, the Consumer Sentiment Survey for August actually rose to 57.8 from 55.7 last month. Go figure, someone must be looking at the silver lining out there.

The dollar is higher today, while commodities are mixed. Oil prices are lower near $88 right now, while gold prices are trying to get back to the $1800 level, still trading slightly below that.

The 10-year yield had a nice rise yesterday, and is hovering near 2.07%; and the VIX came all the way down to 30 this morning before bouncing higher as it approached its 50-day average.

Trading comment: A lot of people are watching key technical levels right now. The SPX needs to get above its late August highs at SPX 1230 to signal more upside. So far today it has been unable to hold the upside momentum. As for the Nasdaq, 2600 has been upside resistance of late. But the growth index is actually above those levels this morning, and sitting right on its 50-day average. Looks like we will have to wait until next week to see if the market can build on this week's gains.

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Friday's 5 - Marketing Shorts and Sweets

I'm in denial, and I will thank you to let me live in a space where it cannot possibly be Friday, because I did not get enough done this week. I once commented to a boss that I wished I had 36 hours in each day, so I could get more done. She pointed out that even if I had 36 hours every day, I'd only take on more so it would never be enough.

Point made! So to help you make the most of the hours you have today, here are 5 short and sweet marketing treats for one last bit of inspiration or a head start on the week to come.

[READ] Thanks for the Ideas, Google+! Facebook's New Subscribe Button and Friends Features
Facebook has launched a Subscribe button that lets you follow the public updates of others, regardless of whether you’re “friends.” What’s more, they’ll soon be rolling out new ways for you to manage your contact lists.


[READ] Top 10 Trends from Fashion Week
No matter what line of work you're in, getting a bead on current fashion isn't about vanity, it's about building your personal brand and reinforcing your role as an expert, advisor, mentor and influencer in the lives of your clients and staff. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you dress for success in the coming months.


[READ] "No" -- and 7 Other Things You Shouldn't Say to Customers
Great customer relationships: Hard to establish, easy to ruin — especially when you say the wrong things. Here are eight things you should never say to customers (even if you would secretly love to!)


[READ] 20 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page
Unless you have a built-in audience like big-boy brands Coke or Red Bull, you’ll need to educate your fan base on how to find you on Facebook. Even if you only put a few of these ideas into action, you’ll start seeing growth and increased conversation on your fan page.


[READ] Facebook vs. LinkedIn Smackdown: You Make the Call
This social media “smackdown” infographic can help you decide where to invest for your B2B or B2C focus.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
(T.S. Eliot)

What risk will you take today?



Elizabeth Kraus – 12monthsofmarketing.com
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in book and digital formats.

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