Digital Transformation Success

Introducing Jennifer Lu, the driving force behind REI's and customer engagement strategies. With innovative approaches, she navigates the complex landscape of digital transformation, omnichannel marketing, generational gaps, diversity and inclusion and more, emphasizing collaboration across teams and disciplines. At REI, Jennifer leads the customer research team, tackling enterprise-level questions to gain insights that shape decision-making and strategy. Her passion lies in understanding customers from diverse backgrounds, ensuring inclusivity and representation in REI's initiatives. Aligned with REI's mission to make the outdoors accessible, Jennifer shares an example of collaboration with Outdoor Afro. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of creating a safe space for authentic perspectives through collaborations and partnerships. Switching gears, Priscilla explores Jennifer's role in evaluating REI's digital experience. Seamless online interactions, especially for digitally savvy customers accustomed to platforms like Amazon, are of the utmost importance. Recognizing the prominence of REI's website in customer discovery, Priscilla and Jennifer discuss the delicate balance between in-person and online experiences. Understanding the entire customer journey, both in-person and online, allows Jennifer and her team to identify areas for enhancement and provide valuable insights to elevate the digital experience. Looking ahead, Jennifer shares her enthusiasm for AI and automation, as well as the importance of synthesis in insights generation, a topic that resonated with her at IIEX. Envisioning streamlined processes and improved efficiency through AI, there still lies the irreplaceable role of human judgment in deriving meaningful insights from AI-generated data. Jennifer Lu’s expertise and experiences shed light on the importance of collaboration, inclusivity, and seamless experiences in driving successful strategies at REI. IIEX Panel Mention: It Takes Two: Decision Making is a Team Sport panel at IIEX 2023 with Oded Netzer, Vice Dean of Research at Columbia Data Science Institute, Christopher Frank, Vice President of American Express, Paul Magnone, Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Google, and Gregg Archibald, Managing Partner at Gen2 Advisors. Episode Sponsor Highlight:  Priscilla McKinney, CEO at Little Bird Marketing, is thrilled to announce the release of her book, "Collaboration is the New Competition: Why the Future of Work Rewards A Cross Pollinating Hive Mind and How Not to Get Left Behind." The book's chapters are designed to be time-efficient, ensuring busy professionals can easily integrate these transformative ideas into their workflow. From discussing the state of affairs in business to providing fundamental strategies and seven practical anchors for staying on course, this book offers a fresh perspective and a competitive advantage in today's complex business landscape. Visit priscillamckinney.com for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is that a person or a bot behind the survey? Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney, welcomes Data Scientist and Co-Founder of NAILBITER, Amishi Takalkar, onto the Digital Transformation Success podcast to have a conversation about this pressing issue of authenticity in market research data. In case you’ve never heard of them, here’s the 30,000 ft overview of this innovative tech company: NAILBITER is a cutting-edge video analytics platform that revolutionizes data collection for clients in the shopper insights space. By capturing shoppers in action through shopper-created videos, NAILBITER moves beyond traditional recall-based methods, providing real-time insights into consumer behaviors. The primary objective is to unravel the complexities of brand loyalty and decode the intricate decision-making processes that consumers undergo. Through meticulous analysis of these captivating videos, NAILBITER provides brands with invaluable knowledge, that encompasses consumer preferences, optimal product placements, influential drivers of purchase decisions, and deterrent factors. Due to the ubiquitous use of smartphones and people’s comfort in taking videos, Amishi unpacks how quantitative behavioral videometrics capture consumer behavior and turn videos into actionable metrics. She emphasizes the significance of adapting to evolving consumer mindsets and preferences, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and dynamic economic landscapes. She talks about how continuous in-the-moment data collection and analysis serve as a compass for clients, enabling them to stay attuned to shifting trends and identify untapped opportunities for growth and innovation. Episode Sponsor Highlight:  Join us at Insights Marketing Day in Chicago on September 28, 2023, for an incredible day of powerful speakers, essential tips, and actionable advice to enhance your marketing skills. From social influencing to web blogging, our proven authorities in digital marketing will cover a wide range of topics, ensuring a comprehensive and interconnected marketing plan. Build your personal brand, marketing prowess, and game-changing skills for the digital age at Insights Marketing Day. Visit https://littlebirdmarketing.com/insights-marketing-day for more information. Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience explicitly designed to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world is your research playground! Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney, introduces Kathryn Topp, an award-winning researcher and co-founder of Yabble, an AI platform that provides key tools for every stage of the market research process and more. Through advanced AI, NLP and NLG technologies, Yabble extracts real-time business intelligence from new and existing data, providing innovative brands with meaningful insights in minutes - not days or weeks. Their conversation dives into the importance of speed to insight in today's fast-paced digital landscape. Kathryn emphasizes the need to eliminate manual tasks and free up researchers' time to focus on strategic thinking and applying their expertise. Yabble’s AI tools are specifically designed to accelerate the research process, offering revolutionary solutions for data coding, theming, and processing.  You can’t talk about AI right now without at least mentioning ChatGPT. Kathryn highlights that ChatGPT is a general AI tool and then businesses should seek out and utilize more specialized tools that are catered to each company's specific needs. “The world is a lot bigger than ChatGPT,” notes Kathryn. The largest concern for enterprises is data privacy and protection. Kathryn explains how systems like ChatGPT are open source with the data itself used to train the AI models and what that means about the real risk of the data falling into your competitors' hands. But with the Yabble chatGPT plug-in, the data is safe and ensures the confidentiality and security of sensitive intellectual property and competitive intelligence. Kathryn also introduces some of the various tools Yabble has created such as the Yabble ChatGPT plugin, a tool that augments the knowledge of ChatGPT by incorporating additional layers of data, and  This plugin facilitates a streamlined and efficient process for generating insights by leveraging sophisticated search algorithms to identify relevant trends and conversations. Warning: It can be addictive!  Kathryn Topp and Yabble are both committed to saving time, freeing researchers' minds, and delivering valuable insights in the rapidly evolving digital world. As AI truly changes hour-by-hour, Priscilla noted that checking back in with Kathryn in three days should be enough time for there to be something new and groundbreaking to discuss. Let’s keep moving forward! Join us at Insights Marketing Day in Chicago on September 28, 2023, for an incredible day of powerful speakers, essential tips, and actionable advice to enhance your marketing skills. From social influencing to web blogging, our proven authorities in digital marketing will cover a wide range of topics, ensuring a comprehensive and interconnected marketing plan. Build your personal brand, marketing prowess, and game-changing skills for the digital age at Insights Marketing Day. Visit https://littlebirdmarketing.com/insights-marketing-day for more information. Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience explicitly designed to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Digital Transformation Success Podcast, Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney, introduces award-winning multi-startup founder and CEO and Founder of Moving Beyond, Aparna Rae, an educator, innovator, and disruptor, who shares her insights on digital transformation and its impact on diversity, equity and inclusion. Digital transformation should focus on people rather than just technology, as it can perpetuate existing inequities if not approached with care. With Aparna’s expertise as the founder and CEO of Moving Beyond, a company that provides data-driven solutions to empower HR and DEI leaders in making transformative people investment decisions, she is an indispensable voice in the realm of digital transformation and its profound influence on diversity, equity, and inclusion. ​​ The conversation delves into the challenges faced by female founders, with Aparna discussing the shocking statistic that only 2% of female founders achieve over a million dollars in lifetime revenue. Aparna's passion for addressing this inequity is evident as she talks about her experiences and her commitment to empowering underrepresented groups. Aparna has also founded, co-founded or supported others to help women, people of color and other marginalized communities overcome the many hurdles of starting, and running, a business. Aparna discusses her vision of helping leaders act boldly with integrity. She reflects on the consequences of leaders lacking integrity and stresses the importance of addressing smaller pieces of integrity within one's sphere of influence. Aparna encourages making choices that align with integrity, despite any potential short-term negative consequences, as a means to create a more equitable and just society. She also talks about being an activist in all you do and focusing on what you can change within your own sphere of influence and in your own lifetime. The agreement is that the task at hand, to make digital technology equally accessible, is a matter of clarity on what you are trying to achieve and never losing focus on HOW you go about doing it. This podcast episode explores the intersection of digital transformation, equity, and inclusion, with Aparna Rar offering valuable insights into her experiences and strategies for creating meaningful change in the digital landscape. Heather Krause, Founder of We All Count, was mentioned in this podcast. If you’d like to get to know her work at We All Count, click here. Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor Fieldwork. Searching for a research partner to handle the details of your next qualitative project? When we say Fieldwork can handle it all, we mean it. From world-class facilities to low-incident recruitment, their team of experts handles the details so you can stay focused on the research. Say goodbye to traditional focus group rooms and recruitment tactics. As market research has grown from the standard focus group to incorporate other innovative methodologies and technologies, Fieldwork has expanded along with it with facilities nationwide and sophisticated global recruitment services. Their detail-oriented staff partners with you to achieve great insights. Focus on the research Fieldwork will do the rest.  Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience designed specifically to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AI seems to be at the absolute top of everyone’s minds these days. With the news circling back to this topic weekly, if not daily, and updates being released nearly as quickly, we’re all left in a constant state of apprehension about the ethics and impact of generative AI. Scot Pansing, a veteran in the field of creative tech and communications/policy, shares his insights into the promises and perils of generative AI with Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney. The reality is that while AI has enormous potential to revolutionize industries, there is also a pressing need for ethical considerations and regulations to mitigate its potential negative effects. This episode touches upon several key concerns, such as the risks of bad actors misusing AI for fraudulent or malicious purposes, the challenges of ensuring the responsible use of chatbots, and the implications of AI-generated content for intellectual property and copyright. In addition, the conversation also delved into the potential dangers of AI-generated fake images and the need for awareness and fact-checking systems to prevent their spread. Ultimately, Priscilla and Scot both emphasized the importance of responsible use of AI and the need for a framework to ensure it is being deployed ethically. It is a call to action saying that we are all responsible and it is important to have thoughtful, nuanced conversations about AI’s impact.  For more nuggets of AI facts, listen to Scot Pansing’s podcast, AI Quick Bits and his Substack summary of show content. A Little Experimenting was referenced along with this LinkedIn post he made that was truly terrifying and should not be missed.  Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor Fieldwork. Searching for a research partner to handle the details of your next qualitative project? When we say Fieldwork can handle it all, we mean it. From world-class facilities to low-incident recruitment, their team of experts handles the details so you can stay focused on the research. Say goodbye to traditional focus group rooms and recruitment tactics. As market research has grown from the standard focus group to incorporate other innovative methodologies and technologies, Fieldwork has expanded along with it with facilities nationwide and sophisticated global recruitment services. Their detail-oriented staff partners with you to achieve great insights. Focus on the research Fieldwork will do the rest.  Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience designed specifically to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the face of so many people saying that brand loyalty is dead, there is so much evidence that a smart take and a carefully thought-through plan can actually cut through the noise in today's digital market and create an incredible bond between consumers and brands—  but it is not easy. To quote Frank Zappa and Mike Ridgewell, “Loyalty’s not dead. It just smells a little funny.”  Little Bird Marketing CEO, Priscilla McKinney, is joined by Denmark Street Marketing Founder, Mike Ridgewell, on this episode where they discuss the intricacies of brand loyalty in today's disruptive digital landscape. With a track record of solving massive problems for industry giants like Disney, Mike brings his expertise and a powerful five-step plan to help you build a strong foundation of brand loyalty. Make a plan Have a strong and sustainable value proposition Align resources Build the tech stack Launch and refine They unpack what looks like a simple step-by-step plan. But with Mike’s expertise with over 30 years of working in senior marketing roles there is nuance he shares to how he has made this plan successful many times. He built enterprise-level loyalty programs for some of the biggest names, including The Walt Disney Company, Marvel, NBCUniversal and confidential Denmark Street Marketing clients. He has held leadership positions in D2C / CRM and Digital Marketing globally, boosting revenues and profits through new consumer acquisition and increased engagement. He graciously gives insights in this episode to help you rethink brand loyalty and loyalty programs that work.  Ready to transform the way you present yourself online and achieve career-changing breakthroughs? Little Bird Marketing's 12-week social selling course can give you the practical, hands-on experience you need to build lasting relationships at scale. Unlike quick-fix "tips and tricks" programs, our course is a true commitment to changing the way you present yourself online and achieving career-transforming breakthroughs. Expert instruction is delivered in small, personalized cohorts, with one-on-one coaching tailored to your unique needs. We'll teach you how to build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and establish yourself as the go-to authority in your area of expertise. Enroll in our social influence course today and start your journey toward unparalleled success. Visit https://littlebirdmarketing.com/social-influence-course/ to learn more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disruption. It’s what’s for breakfast. It can be overwhelming, no matter what industry you’re in. It moves so quickly that overwhelm can settle in and temptation to bury your head in the sand gets stronger and stronger. So, how do we face a world that is about to be disrupted, mid-disruption and ripe for disruption in so many different ways? Join Henry Hays, Founder and Managing Partner of Henry Hays Consulting, and Priscilla McKinney, CEO of Little Bird Marketing, as they unravel the art of disruption and innovation. Their conversation is an act of conversational volleyball— they volley confessions, anecdotes, and insight back and forth at breakneck speed. The knowledge they drop here is REAL knowledge, with REAL world examples. They talk about how and why companies like Kodak and BlockBuster failed, and how businesses like Uber and DoorDash took off. Wondering which industries are ripe for disruption? Airlines, health care, the education system, and law just to name a few… Then, they get personal.  It’s time to pop the hood on your business and look at: Market Complacency Customer Frustration Tension Points Henry unpacks the terminology and then explains how you figure this out for your own business and action on what you find— from customer advisory boards to honesty campaigns, to not only treating the problems that you have but also looking at the things that are successful and forecasting how those successes could turn into pitfalls.  Hays is the Founder and Managing Partner at Henry Hays Consulting, where he specializes in working with legacy businesses helping them transform by developing radically different business models. When he’s not consulting, he’s keynoting his talk on Disruptive Innovation. Prior to his work at Henry Hays Consulting, he was the Senior Executive Vice President for MPower Health, a Dallas-based healthcare company focused on delivering innovative value-based care. He also served as National Sales Director for Avanir Pharmaceuticals and was a founding member of their original sales organization. Over the course of 20 years in biotech and pharma he ran sales teams specializing in launching novel drugs. Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience designed specifically to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. It’s the way to face disruption head on in the professional social influence space. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more at https://littlebirdmarketing.com/social-influence-course/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Putting your brand in the hands of somebody else is scary. Is that person the right person to represent your brand? Could there be any backlash? Have they been vetted properly? While social influencers can help brands reach their audience, which is hopefully also your target audience, there are many challenges that companies face in leveraging influencers effectively. That’s where Dino Delić comes in. Dino Delić, Director of Analytics and Insights at Meltwater, has over a decade of experience consulting communication and marketing professionals working with companies globally to create and improve their marketing strategies. Dino has worked with brands such as H&M, GE, Hyatt, UPS, Fox Sports, Caesars, MARS, Fidelity, LG Electronics, and more. His focus is to help brands optimize their social media marketing efforts, understand their global target audiences, and utilize the data Meltwater provides for strategic insights. In his conversation with Priscilla McKinney, CEO of Little Bird Marketing, on the podcast they discuss: Being data-driven in communications and PR Influencer marketing Micro-influencers and nano-influencers Brand and reputation measurement Marketing and PR measurement Consumer insights and trends Humanizing your brand Don’t do something identical to your competitor. Don’t do something that you’ve already done before. Stop for a minute. There are amazing tools, like the ones Meltwater offers, that can help you create something bigger and better by identifying precisely who has the authority, credibility, and authenticity with your target audience. If you are wondering what the possibilities are in the realm of influencer marketing, this is the conversation for you. Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience designed specifically to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is this Futurama episode centered around the idea that we have the technology, we just don't have the budget. A character had lost his leg, and because they had the technology to do so, they were able to replace his leg… with a mop and a bucket. With digital transformation, your company may have the technology to mine the data, but if that data isn’t accessible, well, you're going to be walking around with a mop and a bucket for a leg. Join CEO Priscilla McKinney as she welcomes Thor Olof Philogène, CEO and founder of Stravito, to the show. Thor’s company helps organizations centralize and democratize access to market research and insights through the use of their AI-powered knowledge management platform for market research and insights. Say goodbye to mops and buckets, horrendously long email threads, dozens of log-ins, and the endless search for data that maybe Carl had access to, or was it Suzanne….   On the podcast, Thor walks us through why data management and democratization are necessary for companies to get data out of silos, increase efficiency, build narratives around key business topics, and improve high-level strategic decision-making. As Thor says, “This has created a single source of truth within organizations that achieves clarity in terms of a common thread.” Best news ever? Market research and insights delivered to you via a Google-like search experience. Stravito is absolutely a company to keep an eye on, and Thor’s podcast, The Consumer Insights Podcast is a must-listen. Don’t let the learning stop here. Little Bird Marketing’s 12-week social selling course is a practical hands-on experience designed specifically to help you network effectively and at scale, build rapport with targeted audiences, expand your influence, and become the go-to authority in your area of expertise. So this is not a quick “tips and tricks” for LinkedIn's success flash in the pan. It's a commitment to changing the way you show up online and experience career-shifting breakthroughs. This is expert instruction in small cohorts with personalized one-on-one coaching. If you're interested, learn more at https://littlebirdmarketing.com/social-influence-course/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When brands like Google, Starbucks, Shopify and GE want to decode the future, they call Mitch Joel. We called him too. Mitch Joel is the Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that empowers companies with personalized and bite-sized thought leadership from the best thinkers in the world, and His first book, Six Pixels of Separation, named after his successful blog and podcast, is a business bestseller.  Join your host, Priscilla McKinney, CEO of Little Bird Marketing as she shares an impactful and inspiring conversation with Mitch Joel about asking the important questions about digital transformation. As an early adopter of prolific blogging and prolific podcasting, Mitch has been on the forefront of digital transformation for decades. At the center of his professional endeavors is the question, “How do I use technology to connect better to audiences?” paired with his genuine curiosity for humans having the human experience.  They explore the idea of digital transformation as an equalizer for diversity. They consider if there is an “open playing field” of sorts for new ideas and a kind of all-access pathway unfolding. Along with this dreaming, they offer up a few cautionary tales of what the digital world could do to further alienate minorities and more. Mitch offered up some hard truths about what was true, and what is now true-ish. Though, as Mitch says, “It’s always been a snake pit.” But the balance of the conversation comes back to hope - hope for a digitally-enabled world that makes for a better experience for humans.  In terms of the biggest challenge to digital transformation, Mitch Joel named tech stack. Artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, metaverse, virtual reality, and augmented reality are huge hurdles for businesses and brands to understand and effectively figure out how to integrate. They discuss small ways people can make steady progress toward a more digitally transformed work and life experience. At the end of the business day, as Mitch says, “It's not about accomplishing business differently, it's about being willing to look at things differently and being willing to change ourselves.” If you think you need a social media influence course… you do. Our 12-week Social Influence course will more than do the trick! We would also be happy, quite thrilled actually, to discuss what digital transformation could look like for your team!  On the hunt for powerful content marketing and strategy resources? Come under our wing. Resources, people, and books mentioned: Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify Mike Evans, Founder of GrubHub and Author of Hangry Seth Godin Charlene Lee Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Keepsake ChatGPT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices