Today, we speak with Jonathan Levitt, the CMO of OpinionLab about listening to customers in a whole new way. Jonathan discusses the blind spots of traditional market research. Historically, a business would see a 30% purchase conversion rate and be pleased with results, but Jonathan points out that what that really means is that 70% of your customers are walking into your store and NOT buying. He discusses how business can improve the customer experience by soliciting feedback from them and measuring it while the customer is in location (in store, website, etc) and use this to make a real impact on sales. If you are either a business owner or a brand marketer, you need to hear Jonathan’s insights.

Here’s a link to OpinionLab.

Bio:
Jonathan has been in the web business since commercialization of the Internet. He has spent over 15 years helping a diverse list of brands understand their audience and leverage technology and data to build better product and customer experiences. He has worked with brands of all sizes including leading global players such as Bank of America, MasterCard, Dell, Procter & Gamble, CBS, The New York Times, Ford and Google. Data-driven to the core, he is a recognized authority in the spheres of web analytics, voice of customer, and social media.
A prolific and sought-after speaker and writer, his unique slant on branding and digital marketing has been featured in several industry publications including 1to1 Magazine, eMarketing & Commerce, ClickZ, DM News, and MediaPost.

About OpinionLab:
OpinionLab is the global leader in Voice of Customer (VoC) feedback innovation, serving a prestigious client list that includes nearly half of Fortune 50 organizations such as Wal-Mart, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, and many more. With real-time listening solutions for every brand touch point, this pioneering VoC platform invites consumers to share input in their own words, at anytime, from anywhere, helping organizations collect, understand, and leverage both structured and unstructured customer data. For over a decade, hundreds of the world’s leading brands have looked to the familiar [+] feedback symbol to better acquire, engage, and retain customers through an approach so streamlined it’s groundbreaking: listen always, listen everywhere. The result is actionable customer insight that sparks foundational improvement to companies’ products, people, and brands.

Today, we speak with Ken Mueller on the beauty of small business, why it is uniquely positioned to reap the benefits of social engagement. We also speak about cause marketing and why aligning with a cause makes sense for businesses (small and large alike). Ken is an active social media blogger and curator, and offers important lessons for all marketers, particularly those of you looking to launch your own businesses.

Here’s a link to Ken’s site and blog for Inkling Media.

Bio:
Ken Mueller is the proprietor of Inkling Media, with 30 years of experience in the media industry. Ken is an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional, after graduating from Inbound Marketing University with honors. He is also a certified Inbound Marketing Educator. He has worked extensively in the radio industry as well as social media. Mueller has a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting as well as a Master’s Degree in Mass Communications. He and his family live in the city of Lancaster, where he can often be found working from his porch. Additionally, Mueller has worked as the Marketing Coordinator in Central PA for Philly based radio station WXPN. He also spent several years as the Director of Media Resources for the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, and spent 13 years as the Radio Curator for the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media). He also spent a number of years on-air at various radio stations, and was an Instructor in the College of Communications at Penn State University. Ken is also an Adjunct Instructor of Marketing at Messiah College. He is also an adjunct at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, teaching continuing education classes in social media and inbound marketing. Ken has written about radio, music, and a variety of other topics for a number of print and online publications. He has been interviewed by numerous local and national media outlets including CNN, FoxNews, USA Today, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and Readers Digest. Additionally, Ken is a big fan of Philadelphia sports, especially the Phillies and Eagles, as well as Penn State football. He also loves history, radio, and reading, and has rather eclectic musical tastes.

Today, we speak with Billee Howard and talk about the shifting role of creativity. We used to think of it as an area of the building (creative floor) or a group of people (art department), but creativity is changing the conversation. Allison & Partners recently conducted a study on this and spoke with hundreds of C-Level executives. Today, we speak with Billee Howard on how creativity is permeating everything we do. It is a really fascinating study and you will look at creativity differently. Billee reveals why this is a paradigm shift, which only has an upside for your brand, agency or business.

Here’s a link to the report and video to the C-Factor Survey.

Bio:
Billee Howard, Creative Development Officer (CDO) and Managing Director of Allison & Partners’ Brand Innovation Group (BIG), has more than 15 years’ experience in brand development, strategic media relations, CEO brand-building, corporate positioning, business-to-business strategy development, and economic and investment promotion. As CDO, Billee works to help define the spheres of influence driving modern-day brand experience and encourage the non-linear thinking required for truly innovative communications. She also oversees the creative direction of the Allison & Partners brand and work closely with client teams to develop new and creative approaches to public relations. Under Billee’s direction, BIG operates in a lab-type environment which provides creative direction, strategic media innovation, brand development and corporate trend spotting to clients across all practice areas and geographies. One of the guiding mantras of the new unit is to assist leading companies in going from ‘good’ to ‘great.’ Prior to joining Allison & Partners Billee served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Weber Shandwick’s Global Strategic Media Group, where she worked with brands such as Pepsi, Samsung and DreamWorks Animation, providing strategic counsel and direction on brand building, trendspotting and global media strategy. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, she served as the U.S. press secretary for H.E. President Fidel V. Ramos. Billee is a winner of PR Week’s ’30 Under 30′ and ’40 Under 40′, and has also won the PR News ‘Media Professional of the Year’ honor twice in the last decade. She is also a co-leader of the American Cancer Society’s Young Professionals Committee, and a member of the National Association of Female Executives. Billee is a cum laude graduate of the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College.

Today, we speak with Gini Dietrich, a top PR professional who is really doing it, utilizing social media as a way to engage, connect and communicate with clients and consumers.  She has taken the digital medium and utilized it as a tool to re-invent her business model. Gini’s strategy has placed her at the top of the digital sphere and has proven to be a success story for many clients, peers, colleagues and communities. In this podcast, Gini shares why listening, monitoring and making sure your brand goes to the audience is so critical, and why you cannot participate online without engaging.  She also shares how the human element can change customer loyalty and create brand ambassadors.   Gini predicts that you have about 24 months to begin re-inventing your own business and personal models because engagement through social media will become a common denominator in all job descriptions.

 Here’s a link to Gini’s Blog Spin Sucks.

 Bio:

Gini Dietrich is the founder and chief executive officer of Arment Dietrich, Inc., a firm that uses non-traditional marketing in a digital world. The author of Spin Sucks, the 2010 Readers Choice Blog of the Year, a Top 42 Content Marketing Blog from Junta42, a top 10 social media blog from Social Media Examiner, and an AdAge Power 150 blog, Gini has delivered numerous keynotes, panel discussions, coaching sessions, and workshops across North America on the subject of using online technology in communication, marketing, sales, and HR.

One of the top rated communication professionals on the social networks, Gini was recently named the number one PR person, according to Klout and TechCrunch, on the channels, and number one on Twitter, according to TweetLevel. She also can be found writing at Crain’s Chicago Business, AllBusiness, and Franchise Times.

There is tremendous data to suggest that social media has fundamentally changed the way we live and communicate. We send out 35MM tweets per day and spend 700B minutes on Facebook per month – really astonishing statistics when you think about it. There is no way that usage could not alter how we are communicating and therefore living. In this podcast, we speak with David Epstein and Steven Revare, authors of Social Butterflies. The process they used to write the book was to speak with the social media mavens who are really shaping how consumers use these mediums. Though the book is not written for brands, we were very curious to ask David and Steven how consumers are reacting to the degree to which brands are utilizing the social media space. I think you will be surprised on what they say.

Here’s a link to download Social Butterflies for free.

Since 1994, Steven Revare has worked on the creative and strategic sides of interactive media for businesses across the country, now as the Creative Director of Egg Studios, which develops branded entertainment and content for businesses in the Midwest. He also founded Slugworth, Incorporated, which created apps and content for online and social media entertainment. Previously, Steve served as E-Business Marketing Director for Compuware Corporation. In early February of 2000, Compuware acquired BlairLake, a company co-founded by Revare. BlairLake developed creative Web and intranet solutions for major brands and organizations like Lee Apparel, Hostess, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and American Century. Immediately prior to co-founding BlairLake, Steve created interfaces, wrote copy, and produced interactive projects, including two with comedian Dennis Miller. His experience also includes several years as an award-winning writer/producer/editor for network-affiliated television stations. Steve earned a BA in English from Indiana University, and an MA in English, Creative Writing, at The University of Missouri Kansas City. Steve had his first novel, Raw, published in September of 2010.

David Epstein has worked in digital media since 1995 as both an entrepreneur and for large corporate entities. Currently he works as President of Egg Social Media. Until 2008, David was the Vice-President of Digital Strategy for NBC Universal. Part of David’s responsibilities were taking on-air television properties for the networks and repurposing and building their presence online. In addition, David served on the Digital Roundtable for NBC, which set and implemented the strategic digital direction for the network. Before joining NBC, David co-founded BlairLake New Media in 1995. An Internet design and strategy firm, BlairLake created web strategies for Fortune 500 companies, magazines, not-for-profit institutions, and startups. A lawyer by training, prior to the formation of BlairLake, David practiced law in Kansas City, Missouri. David has his undergrad degree in Political Science from The University of Kansas and his law degree from Drake University. He passed the bar in Kansas and Missouri, and has lived in New York City since 1998.