Marketing Automation

Artificial intelligence can identify your target audience in seconds, optimize campaigns in milliseconds, and generate hundreds of creative variations in minutes. Marketing automation has never been more powerful — or more tempting. Yet the marketers winning right now aren't the ones automating everything. They're the ones who know exactly what not to automate. Because while…

Over the last few years, most retail organizations have gone all-in on "digital transformation." They’ve bought the software, hired the data experts, and built impressive tech stacks. But here’s the reality: even with all those tools, many marketing teams still feel like they’re driving a Ferrari on a dirt road. If the data says on…

I once had a boss I thought was kind of ridiculous. A larger-than-life persona topped off with a pair of ludicrous luxury sneakers. You can imagine my surprise when, six months later, I bought the same pair. Those shoes, which I whimsically tried on following a small windfall at work, were comfortable and looked amazing.…

The $472 billion global retail luxury market faces an interesting tension. Shoppers crave the kind of deeply personal experiences that artificial intelligence makes possible, yet they’re cautious about how much data they share. Once loyalty was all about collecting points or signing up for discounts; now it's something more emotional. People don’t want to be…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan speaks with Deanna Ballew, chief product officer at Listrak, a digital marketing automation platform. Listen in as Ballew discusses the current retail marketing landscape of creativity and innovation (3:00) and how Listrak supports retailers, emphasizing the importance of marketing experimentation (5:00). With insight from…

October used to be the quiet before the chaos, the month where retailers finalized promotions, smoothed supply chains, and crossed fingers. Not anymore. The game has shifted. Holiday 2025 is already underway, and the brands that still treat October as a prep month are about to lose share before the season gets into full swing.…

In episode 492 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Debbie Woloshin, chief marketing officer at Stitch Fix, the leading online personal styling service. The interview was recorded at at Shoptalk Fall in Chicago last month. Listen in as Woloshin discusses innovating the product discovery process (1:40) as well as Stitch Fix's "Retail Therapy"…

Wondering what your customers really want? Right now? In 2025? Here it is: Customers want brands to meet them where they are, in real time, with made-for-them messaging that’s genuinely helpful given their unique context. Now, obviously, that’s a tall order. And it’s an order that traditional tactics, like generalized audience segmentation, won’t be able…

The rapid emergence of retail media networks (RMNs) has redefined the digital advertising landscape by offering brands direct access to consumers at the point of sale. Though global RMN ad spending is expected to surpass $106 billion by 2027, the focus on strategic marketing budget planning is still lacking. RMNs use first-party consumer data to…

In the rapidly evolving retail world, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning. They've grown weary of superficial personalization efforts that feel contrived or irrelevant. Instead, they seek seamless, intuitive interactions that demonstrate a genuine understanding of their needs — whether browsing online, checking emails, or visiting a store. In this attention-scarce economy, brands must engage shoppers…