A lot of ink has been spilled about the idea of creating a great customer journey. But according to Judd Marcello, EVP of Global Marketing at Cheetah Digital, creating a customer journey is impossible in today's digital world. You simply can't dictate how a customer will come to your brand and go through the buying process. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Judd explains why marketers should instead focus on observing consumer behavior and responding to it. He also talks about coming up with unique, effective customer loyalty programs, his best advice for a first time head of marketing, and much more.   Links: Full Notes, Quotes, & Links: bit.ly/2n0ZXtv Judds’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juddmarcello/ Judd’s Twitter: twitter.com/juddmarcello Cheetah Digital: cheetahdigital.com   3 Key Takeaways: - Customer journeys can't be dictated to the consumer. Instead, marketers should think about observing customers' behaviors and facilitating a great experience from there. - In order to be successful, customer loyalty programs need to offer unique value. It isn't enough to offer a points program that looks like every other customer loyalty program out there. - Every action you take reflects your brand. Everybody in the company is responsible for loyalty, and it will be reflected in everybody's actions.   --- Marketing Trends is brought to you by our friends at Salesforce Pardot, B2B marketing automation on the world’s #1 CRM. Are you ready to take your B2B marketing to new heights? With Pardot, marketers can find and nurture leads, close more deals, and maximize ROI. Learn more by heading to www.pardot.com/podcast. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When Susan Campbell first started creating content for Panasonic USA, it was mostly just email pieces that stood on their own. But as she went deeper into developing content, she realized how much more powerful it could be when it was integrated with what everyone else on the marketing team was doing. As Marketing Group Manager, she now is in a position to make sure that communications, SEO, email marketing, social media, and every part of her marketing organization is aligned behind the content marketing strategy and sharing the same key messages. On this episode of Marketing Trends, she shares how alignment can lead to a unified customer journey and better results.   Links: Full Notes & Quotes: http://bit.ly/2oMRfzy  Susan’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/susankaycampbell Susan’s Twitter: twitter.com/suekaycampbell Panasonic USA: https://na.panasonic.com/us/   Key Quotes: “It wasn't until we came together as an internal group and our agency partners came out of our silos and said, 'let's work across the customer experience and focus on the customer,' that we really started to see content be that fuel.” “Getting into content marketing and having a deeper knowledge of what our customers are going through has helped us develop more content. Because, once you get into that storyline and you understand your customers' job, there is so much more to write about.” “If we want to be integrated marketers and have a unified customer journey, we had to be an integrated marketing team regardless of what organization structure existed.”   --- Marketing Trends is brought to you by our friends at Salesforce Pardot, B2B marketing automation on the world’s #1 CRM. Are you ready to take your B2B marketing to new heights? With Pardot, marketers can find and nurture leads, close more deals, and maximize ROI. Learn more by heading to www.pardot.com/podcast. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.