November 2018

Context Marketing: what is it?

Marketing has an essential role in the building of a consistent and long-lasting relationship between customers and a business or brand. Every day, we talk about how important Digital Marketing is, but what is Context Marketing?

Focused on the relationship between customers and a business (or brand), Context Marketing is nothing more than delivering the right content to the right individual, at the right moment and through the most appropriate channel, based on previous behaviours (interactions) and needs.

Considering these aspects, we may say that Context Marketing works like an evolution of Content Marketing, since the latter’s mission is to bring that content to the right person, at the right moment.

Basically, Context Marketing is a new approach in Digital Marketing which needs, in order to work 100% effectively, a symbiotic relationship between tools such as a blog, social network or SEO optimization. To be able to build a Context Marketing campaign, a business first needs to know its audience, its customers, its target. To know its audience, their first name is not enough. Data such as the industry and business where they work, their area of interest, their preferred content, their country and even through which channel they enjoy content are essential to be able to deliver highly customised content.

In order to know your audience, there are two actions you may want to:

  1. Insert forms on your website (for example, completing the form gives access to premium content; this way you can get information on the leads to which you will effectively be delivering relevant content);
  2. Develop personas based on existing customers in order to attract prospects.

To be able to build an efficient Context Marketing campaign, you should provide:

Adequate content and workflows

Emails sent have to be highly segmented, and approach interesting subjects that can relate to the right person. Workflows will help deliver all this content, since the decision of which content to send is automated.

Smart forms

It is important to make sure that a person who has already completed a form on your website is not asked to complete it again. This way, the conversion rate is improved, and visitors are not annoyed.

Communication at the right moment

Take advantage of time periods, trends and hottest topics to communicate relevant content at the right moment.

Content optimisation

Choose the most researched keywords at the given moment and incorporate them in your content. An invisible website will never be discovered.

We know that, in marketing, “content is king”. However, the fact is that context is, right now, the jewel in the crown.

Sitecore: the tool for omnichannel marketing

Real-time is the only time that counts” is a Sitecore statement. According to data from Microsoft Corporation, our max attention span period has fallen from 12 seconds (in 2000) to just 8. This means that, to always be ahead of the competition and for a brand to keep being relevant, it has to deliver the right content, to the right person, at the right moment.

The number of existing devices, the amount of current information and the growing needs of individuals transform today’s customers into extremely demanding people. It is necessary to include a Context Marketing strategy to keep customers interested in the business or brand, by building a relationship based on interactions between the two parties. One interaction builds the next, and so on.

Sitecore is a very comprehensive marketing tool, since it reconciles a Content Management System (CMS) and omnichannel Marketing Automation, allowing businesses to manage all their content on their website and social networks, and to reach customers when and where necessary.

Moreover, Sitecore also has Context Intelligence systems, which allow gathering important data such as behavioural patterns about customers, therefore providing important insights to define future strategies.

Ana LamelasContext Marketing: what is it?
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Web Summit 2018: an overview of the most technological week of the year

The 10th edition of Web Summit – “The best technology conference”, according to Forbes – has ended and, as promised by the organising committee, it was the biggest edition ever!

Lisbon was, for the third year in a row, the main stage for the exhibition of the most innovative start-ups, most inspiring lecturers and some of the best worldwide companies acting in the fields of technology, sports, fashion or even social media. In total, it was 3 days completely focused on nowadays’ most divisive issues, but also on the hottest trends for the future: this is the overview of the most technological week of the year!

Web Summit in numbers

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Visitors

For Xpand IT, participating in Web Summit 2008 was a success not only for the networking with partners and current customers, but also for the doors that have been opened to new projects. Most of the success we achieved was also a result of the presentation of the Sentiment Meter, an app developed by Xpand IT, based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically, Azure Cognitive Services of Microsoft. Its aim is to show the relatively simple way the role an AI can have in everyone’s daily lives. In this case, the gamification component helped achieving this success, since whoever were able to perform the raffled emotion with a facial expression, would win a prize.

More than 800 participants tried their luck at the Sentiment Meter, and, on the course of the three days, there was always a line to try the game! Even the media present showed interest in this Artificial Intelligence solution. We had a visitor from the magazine Visão, and even from Lourenço Medeiros, from Sic! Here are some pictures:

Web Summit

Main topics

One of the main topics that marked  Web Summit 2008 was, without a doubt, Artificial Intelligence (and machine learning). AI was present in talks and in the dynamics presented on stands from various companies. For example, Google brought a solution based on facial recognition, that would match the faces from people in pictures and a painter, or a figure in an old painting. On the other hand, Microsoft, using their cognitive services and also based on pictures, would match our faces with the face of a celebrity.

However, Artificial Intelligence goes way beyond entertainment. According to Brad Smith, President of Microsoft Corporation, it can actually help cure diseases, such as cancer, in the upcoming decade. This thought seems to be shared by Young Sohn, President of Samsung, who states that AI can have a very positive role in society and life, therefore being possible to be applied to fundamental areas such as Biology and Medicine.

Sustainability was also one of the main subjects talked about throughout this week, where the policy on zero plastics was thoroughly followed and accomplished by the organization. Reusable metal bottles were distributed amongst participants – an offer from Mirpuri Foundation – and plastic cups were replaced by paper cups. In various talks, the need to create a better and more sustainable world was supported, even in technology. Apple, for example, promised to cut down on aluminium when manufacturing its products.

And if technology is the main focus of this world conference, web safety starts to be a point of honour, transversal to all sectors. Tim Berners-Lee, considered to be the father of the internet and current director of the World Wide Web Foundation – an international association that promotes safety on the web – came up with the idea of creating a Magna Carta for the World Wide Web. This idea fell right into place with Garry Kasparov, ambassador for Avast safety, that said that technology “needs to start being in accordance with Human rights”. This is evidence that the subject on data protection and online privacy is trendy, or the most offered goodies by the companies would not have been webcam covers for laptops.

Long story short, this was definitely one of the most interesting editions of Web Summit so far, not only because of the topics covered, but also because the event is going to be staying in Lisbon for the next 10 years and promises to get bigger and bigger! This is an excellent opportunity to present new ideas and projects, just like it happened with Sentiment Meter. We are looking forward for taking the next steps.

Here are some of the pictures from this week!

Web Summit
Ana LamelasWeb Summit 2018: an overview of the most technological week of the year
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5 reasons to visit Xpand IT’s stand at Web Summit

Web Summit is back to Lisbon from the 5th and 8th of November! As one of the biggest worldwide summits on technology, the number of participants, lecturers and partners increases every year. In 2018, the organizers are waiting for over 70 thousand participants and they promise this one will be the “biggest and better” edition ever.

For the third year in a row, Xpand IT will be present as an exhibition booth. The goal is to reinforce its position as an IT leading company not only in Portugal, but also in the United Kingdom, highlighting its competences and specializing in Nearshore services. Similar to last year, Xpand IT will be on Pavilion 1, stand E144. However, if you are asking yourself why you should pass by our stand at Web Summit, we give you 5 good reasons to convince you:

1. Xpand IT’s new AI Solutions Center

The subject of Artificial Intelligence is, in fact, the center of our priorities to countless companies and organizations throughout the world. And, for Xpand IT, it could not go any different. Therefore, we launched an Artificial Intelligence center that seeks to work in proximity with the customers, in order to create truly useful solutions for the users. Come meet us, talk to our experts and get to know everything about the new AI Solutions Center and about the solutions that can be implemented in your company. If you got curious, we suggest you jump to point 5.

2. The best job opportunities

In order to deliver the best projects, we need the best experts. If it was already on your plans to take advantage of the networking that Web Summit provides to find new job opportunities, Xpand IT stand is the right place. Here, you can talk to our recruitment team and know which offer better applies to what you are looking for. We are waiting for you!

3. Our Success Cases

If, on the other hand, you are at Web Summit searching for the right partner to begin a project in your organization, you can also visit us. In our booth, you can find the answers and advice you are looking for through networking with one of our experts. Xpand IT has countless examples of success cases from leading companies, national or international, and you can get to know them better by coming to our stand E144.

4. Our team

Besides being highly specialized in all technologies we work with, we are also very nice. Come visit us to talk about possible projects, ask technical questions, clarify any doubt about our business areas or just to say hi and win one of our prizes!

5. Sentiment Meter

Last but certainly not least (quite the contrary)! If you came here directly from no. 1, we assure you that you will not be disappointed. If you got to this point by the natural flow of the article, welcome.

Sentiment Meter will be the main focus on our stand and it is one of the simple examples of how Artificial Intelligence can be implemented in many different solutions.

Sentiment Meter is a game in which an emotion is taken at random and the participants only have to make that same emotion, using facial expressions. According to their effort, each player gets a score and the player wins the correspondent prize.

We do not know how you feel about acting, but the only assurance we can give you is that you will always win!

For more information on Microsoft’s Cognitive Services and on Sentiment Analysis, check out this blog post.

Ana Lamelas5 reasons to visit Xpand IT’s stand at Web Summit
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