how sitecore made an agency eat its own dogfood

How Sitecore 8’s personalization features

made us eat our own dogfood

We are The Reference

Cobbler’s kids, etc. so it’s time for a new website goddammit.

The setting

We are The Reference

Cobbler’s kids, etc. so it’s time for a new website goddammit.

The setting

“It’s just a website”

Further deepen knowledge of Sitecore 8

Improve on current situation by using S8 features:

More power in the hands of the marketeers

Personalization

Website project goals

Personalization

“It’s just a website.” with a dash of personalization

added to it

Perform our usual website building

magic

The journey towards the launch as we imagined it

Prepare for and implement personalization

Personalization

Relevance is simply the noun form of the adjective "relevant," which means "important to the matter at hand."

What is important for our customer?

What is our customer’s matter at hand?

Relevance =

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that there’s minimal need for oversight/management/procedures.

Fact is:

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that there’s minimal need for oversight/management/procedures.

Fact is:

Which is what our clients struggle with

too.

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that there’s minimal need for oversight/management/procedures.

Fact is:

Which is what our clients struggle with

too.

Which is what we help our clients with

e-ver-y day.

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that there’s minimal need for oversight/management/procedures.

Fact is:

Which is what our clients struggle with

too.

Which is what we help our clients with

every day.

And yet we thought we knew better. You know, it’s just a website.

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that there’s minimal need for oversight/management/procedures.

Fact is:

Which is what our clients struggle with

too.

Which is what we help our clients with

every day.

And yet we thought we knew better. You know, it’s just a website.

It’s not that we don’t know…

… it’s that we have to get everyone on the same page so that they can make this a success without needing oversight/management/instructions.

So…

Who is everyone?

Business analyst (KPI’s, goals, …)

Information architect, interaction designer, functional specs designer

Visual designer

Functional analysts

Technical architect and analysts

Developers

Testers

Online marketeers (copy guidelines, dashboarding, SEF, …)

Content producers

Who is this “everyone”?

Implementation ExploitationBusiness consultants for continuous optimization re business goals and changing contexts

Implemenation team for continuous improvement

Online marketeers for tactical operations and hard data reporting

Content marketeers feeding the engine

BUT ABOVE ALL: THE REST OF THE COMPANY (sales, operations, C-level, …)

Business analyst (KPI’s, goals, …)

Information architect, interaction designer, functional specs designer

Visual designer

Functional analysts

Technical architect and analysts

Developers

Testers

Online marketeers (copy guidelines, dashboarding, SEF, …)

Content producers

Who is this “everyone”?

Implementation ExploitationBusiness consultants for continuous optimization re business goals and changing contexts

Implemenation team for continuous improvement

Online marketeers for tactical operations and hard data reporting

Content marketeers feeding the engine

BUT ABOVE ALL: THE REST OF THE COMPANY (sales, operations, C-level, …)

Everyone.

Getting everyone on the same page

Things we need to clear out first

Search online Google

Hungry, don’t want to cook, home alone pizza.be

Need running shoes Nike

Improve career Vlerick

… The Reference

“The matter at hand”

Strike the right balance between relevance and distinctiveness for our target customers

Things we need to clear out first

Define what we want to personalize for

Business goals

Marketing objectives

Engagement goals

(and not the other way around)

Increase market share

20% must be decision taker

Increase sign-up for whitepapers and collect DMU & role

Features & functionalities

For content and its promotion;

For delivering relevance;

For continuous improvement;

For configuring the experience management tools (S8)

We now have a blueprint

Continuous optimization

Perform our usual website building magic

The real journey

Define the digital value proposition

Touchpoint mapping Touchpoint journeys Experience design

Content marketing

Sales / Account Management / Marketing / HR / Operations / C-level

Goals & KPI’s (incl.

personalization)

The “shiny new toy”-trap is STRONG;

Even if you are conscious of it, you can will still fall victim to it.

What did we learn?

Even if we’re doing this every day, we shouldn’t think we “just know” how to do it.

We know perfectly well how to use the tools, but we need to take the time to explicitly define what to use them for.

What did we learn?

Sitecore facilitates and enables us in reaching our goals; i.e. no technological restrictions to our business endeavours.

What did we see validated?

Thanks!

www.reference.be@TheReference

mdhondt@reference.be