MediaLift

A data lake is a central storage repository that holds a large amount of raw data for later use. Since data can be stored as-is, your business doesn’t have to waste its effort on converting, structuring, and filing data until it is needed. This allows a data lake to offer much greater flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. On the flip side, though, this kind of flexibility can be data lakes’ Achilles heel. An unmanaged data lake can become a “data swamp” if it is used as a dumping ground with poor integrity, poor quality, stewardship, governance, and data protection. In turn, data lakes have historically failed because they often lack any degree of pre-planning. Instead of building their data lakes in accordance with specific needs, organizations were haphazardly dumping data into them, with much of it being useless and unidentifiable. And while the point of a data lake is to eventually have most of your company’s data available to enable a wide variety of analytics, you mus...

Trust is rapidly becoming the currency of engagement between a consumer and a brand. Consumers have demonstrated that they are willing to provide a brand with personal data provided two conditions are met. First, consumers want assurance that their data will be protected by the organization, not sold to a third party for marketing or advertising purposes. Second, consumers expect that any data provided to a brand will be used to enhance their experience with the brand. A recent Harris Poll survey indicated that 54% of consumers are willing to share personal data with companies to achieve a more personalized experience. Moreover, 73% said it is either very important or essential that a brand reveal how the information is being used, and 71% said that it is up to the customer to provide explicit authorization for how the data can be used. From the customer’s perspective, trust manifests itself with highly relevant, pitch-perfect experiences. Regardless of channel or device, online or off...

Loyalty programs have existed in Las Vegas for decades. They began in the 1980’s when gaming industry executives began to notice how successful frequent flyer programs from several airlines had become. Some of the first loyalty programs were made for slot machines. Players would get pieces of paper that they could trade in for T-Shirts and toasters. The long strips of tickets proved to be a badge of honor for most players, as they were a visual representation to any passerby of how good someone was at the slots. Today rewards programs are everywhere to be found on The Strip and they have evolved beyond simply rewarding players at specific machines or tables. Now some programs actually allow rewards to be spent on non-gaming products and services while others allow members to earn loyalty points through non-gaming channels as well. MGM Resorts International is among the most recent to make high-profile changes to its system. The company launched MGM Rewards last year , doing away with t...

The modern brand faces many challenges. In today’s world consumers exist in multiple locations, across many devices and they have different expectations of what a brand should be. That sets the bar pretty high for most brands forcing them to keep up with a consumer’s fast-changing needs and desires. From personalization to the user interface, the consumer has demanded that brands adapt and communicate with them on an individual level. Big data is helping to meet these needs and create a new kind of brand. In this way, data is becoming the new brand. Most brands understand that data is important to the success of their business. But the brands that are really at the forefront of the digital revolution are the ones that have learned how to make the most of this data. Placing data at the center of business strategy is more important than ever. As the competition gets smarter, those that can find a way to utilize the data that is generated from this fast-changing world will be the ones tha...

The average consumer belongs to 14.8 loyalty programs, so it’s important to set your own customer loyalty program apart from the rest. Not only will that help you achieve better results with the program itself, but you’ll also be able to differentiate your brand, keep customers engaged and build a vibrant online community. Simply put, in today’s modern business, it’s critical to set yourself apart from the crowd. Customers quickly tire of typical programs as they are rarely inspired to make repeat purchases, and this just sours customer relationships. If you want to perform exceptionally well, you must add something new into the mix to build customer loyalty. At Annex Cloud, here’s what we have found to work across categories/industries. Innovate on an Operational Level Loyalty programs are an extension of your marketing strategy. It should be integrated into your systems and marketing platforms,  and  be optimized for all technologies your customers use. That makes it easier ...

Attracting customers and cultivating loyalty, especially under today’s economic uncertainty, is forcing brand leaders to adapt to new customer dynamics. At the same time, intense competition and a degree of loyalty disillusion can bring challenges to any loyalty strategy. If you take a deeper look into a typical loyalty program, members can often be divided into three distinct groups. The significant long tail of members with low engagement is the biggest one. It consumes a lot of loyalty managers’ attention – disproportionate to the commercial return. Call them the “island of hope”. At the other end you have your top segment with very high engagement: the best customers, very loyal and heavily rewarded for it. A brand’s elite members arguably present a different challenge as the objective is to keep the program fresh and engaging beyond miles or points. There is however a third group that represents a potentially rich source of future elite members, often hovering around elite qualifi...