The blog

Getting closer to your customers? Companies like Amazon, that leaves one seat open during meetings because it is occupied by their most important stakeholder – the customer – , or Zappos who even created a ‘School of WOW Customer Service Training’, are living proof of the importance of customer centricity. Like Peter Drucker stated so well: “With respect to the definition of business purpose and business mission, there is only one such focus, one starting point. It is the customer (…) any serious attempt to state ‘what our business is’ must start with the customer’s realities, his situation, his behavior, his expectations, and his values.”

New colleagues joining The House of Marketing always get a warm welcome by the THoMunity and immediately feel part of something bigger. However, only after attending the much talked-of Immersion Camp, you feel like a real THoMer.

If the word ‘Bitcoin’ doesn’t ring a bell, then you should probably up your financial and technological knowledge and Google the word urgently. However, there is a pretty good chance that you have heard or at least read something about this disruptive digital currency that is currently shaking up the global financial markets. And maybe you’ve even been one of the lucky early investors who have enjoyed stellar profits on the skyrocketing ride Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has taken since the beginning of 2017.

Anno 2017, almost all marketing gurus are shouting the same message: “Data should be one of your main drivers when determining your (future) business direction”. Unfortunately, it often just remains a good-looking quote and nothing more. Our Yearly Marketing Survey shows that currently only 25% of Belgian marketers personalise their marketing approach and a mere 11% have begun exploring the world of predictive analytics. For those who are currently looking for successful ways and tools to implement data in their strategy, the Netflix story may be a great source of inspiration.

Once the month of September comes, the summery days of empty roads and jam-free commutes are gone. So, faced with the old daily commute, people tend to get creative. There’s the ones who go crazy with Waze and its proposed shortcuts, or the secret opera-singers; then there’s those who incessantly call and the ones who desperately try to get some work done, however possible. Still, no matter which way you cut it, countless minutes seem to vanish into thin air every day.

Indeed, we fully understand your thinking: “Here we go again, another article about GDPR…” Will it be yet another legal firm translating a 300+ page regulation into a slightly more understandable text? Or maybe it’s the next IT company trying to sell you THE solution for being GDPR compliant. Or perhaps it’s the next blogger telling you it’s much ado about nothing?

Now that the holidays are almost coming to an end, companies need to deal with the yearly September struggles popping up. This is a period in which new joiners typically start, some projects and teams might change and it’s time for those sensitive topics of budget and business plans.

We all agree that being agile as an organization is key to remain relevant & competitive, right? The results of our Yearly Marketing Survey 2017 have shown that to be agile as an organization, the role of the senior management team may not be underestimated: 59% of respondents indicated that it’s key that senior management is committed to walk the talk.

Bien que la Belgique se situe actuellement en milieu de peloton au sein de l’Europe en matière de Marketing Automation, elle est dépassée par de grands voisins comme l’Allemagne et la France qui enregistrent une croissance environ 4x plus rapide. C’est ce qui ressort de l’étude “the state of Marketing Automation in Belgium”, réalisée par The House of Marketing sur la base de chiffres de Datanyze comparant 15 pays européens. Il apparaît en outre que les sociétés belges se surestiment au niveau de la maturité en matière de Marketing Automation, selon l’étude « Yearly Marketing Survey », que The House of Marketing mène chaque année auprès de quelque 200 marketeers belges. La Belgique diffère fortement de ses voisins également au niveau des logiciels utilisés. Une prise de conscience et un rattrapage sont nécessaires pour que les entreprises restent compétitives vis-à-vis de la concurrence de l’étranger.

Hoewel België zich momenteel in het midden situeert binnen Europe op vlak van Marketing Automation, wordt het ingehaald door grote buurlanden als Duitsland en Frankrijk die ongeveer 4x zo snel groeien. Dit blijkt uit de studie “the state of Marketing Automation in Belgium”, uitgevoerd door The House of Marketing gebaseerd op cijfers van Datanyze waarin 15 Europese landen vergeleken worden. Bovendien blijken Belgische bedrijven zich te overschatten op vlak van maturiteit aangaande Marketing Automation, volgens de “Yearly Marketing Survey”, een studie die The House of Marketing jaarlijks uitvoert bij een 200-tal Belgische marketers. Ook in termen van de gebruikte software, verschilt België sterk van zijn buurlanden. Een bewustwording en inhaalbeweging is nodig opdat de Belgische bedrijven competitief blijven tegenover de concurrentie in het buitenland.