As a business owner, you’re already aware that your customers are the lifeblood of your business. And that’s why it’s important that you engage with them. The problem is there are plenty of companies out there who just don’t understand the importance of engagement and insist on shoving sales pitches down the throats of their customers. The successful brands who engage their customers understand that customers want to interact with their peers and learn something of value – which has never been as easy thanks to technology. Still looking for ways to engage your customers? Give these eight strategies a try. 1. Develop Emotional Connections There’s been research from the likes of Forrester and The Corporate Executive Board and Google that have explored the importance of building strong emotional connections with your customers. To get to know what your target audience connects with, you can work with a company like Searchmetrics (I personally use them) to get the market analysis you need. When brands accomplish this, they are able to increase consumer loyalty and charge premium prices. One of the

With opposition to diesel gathering momentum, automobile makers in Germany, one of the biggest consumers of the fuel in Europe, are preparing to head out to Electric Avenue. That was the loud and clear message at the ongoing 67th edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show: “Electric is the future.” And, that autonomous cars driven by artificial intelligence are closer than ever before. The Volkswagen group, Daimler Group and BMW Group have committed investments in excess of 50 billions euros to develop electric cars (EVs). Volkswagen, the world’s largest car maker, has declared its intent of being the largest EV maker by 2025, aiming to overtake rival Renault-Nissan, which already has a head start. “The Volkswagen Group is launching its largest electrification initiative in the automorive industry – first, we are going to fine tune and step up our production”, Matthias Muller, global CEO of the group, told the media. “The group is going to electrify its entire model line-up, which means that by 2030, there will be at least one electrified variant for over 300 group models across all rands

  It’d represent a big shift in how Tesla handles your in-car experience. Ever since Tesla took the wraps off the Model S, its electric cars have had NVIDIA hardware powering the infotainment system and the giant touchscreen that controls it. However, it’s apparently breaking with tradition: Bloomberg sources hear that the automaker has switched to Intel. Reportedly, the Model 3 and new versions of other cars will be the first to make the leap. It’s not certain what prompted the move (Intel, NVIDIA and Tesla have all declined to comment), but it’s a huge coup if true.For the most part, NVIDIA’s deal with Tesla has been more about prestige than raw numbers. As a luxury EV maker, Tesla wasn’t about to sell in huge volumes. That’s changing with the Model 3 — when Tesla has hundreds of thousands of pre-orders, the bottom line suddenly matters a great deal. Intel is hopping aboard right as Tesla’s unit sales will make a significant difference for component partners. Combine that with Intel’s other victories, such as its Waymo deal, and it’s quickly