Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze

STITCH POINT-OF-VIEW Braze 101 Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze

Braze 101 Why does Stitch Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze have a point-of- view on Braze? What is Braze? Stitch is a marketing technology consultancy comprised of folks who Braze is a leading comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers have built our careers as marketing interactions between consumers and brands they love. With Braze, global brands technologists and strategists. can ingest and process customer data in real-time, orchestrate and optimize contextually relevant, cross-channel marketing campaigns, and continuously evolve From working on in-house services their customer engagement strategies. Braze integrates into other data platforms, teams for well-known marketing clouds, creating dynamic customer experiences powered by data insights and analytics. to leading internal teams of powerhouse marketers, to building global marketing TL;DR consultancies, we’ve seen and done it all. Braze is a customer engagement platform that enables marketers to engage with their customers across channels using real-time data — all in a single platform. And frankly, we were getting tired of being pigeonholed into either the clunk of legacy If you’re describing Braze to your parents marketing clouds or the little engines of Braze helps brands message their customers online — and then helps collect channel-centric engagement tools. We meaningful data about their customers to create even better experiences for them. wanted something better. So we set out to find it. Enter: Braze. Now let’s dive into some of the key features that make up the Braze platform. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 2

Braze Features - Messaging At its core, Braze helps businesses engage with their customers through various messaging channels, including: Email is one of the most powerful and longstanding engagement Content Cards, proprietary to Braze, are persistent messages that channels and continues to drive significant results for brands across appear within an app and/or web experiences. Brands use them to send industries. Braze offers a flexible, dynamic email builder and the ability to a highly targeted stream of rich content to their customers without incorporate email into cross-channel journeys or as single sends. interrupting the experience. Push notifications (web & mobile) are one of the best channels to Feature Flags allow brands to remotely enable or disable functionality push time-sensitive messaging to customers. Push messages are short, within their app or website for specific audience segments - without sweet, and engage your customers with urgency. additional code deployment or app store updates - and coordinate messaging accordingly. SMS, or text messaging, is available natively within the Braze platform Webhooks give marketers the ability to extend their use of Braze beyond and allows marketers to own end-to-end campaign setup and execution the platform by sending events to external systems, CRMs, or other — without requiring technical resources. platforms. This makes integrating your own activation channel or 3rd party provider easy. In-app and in-browser messaging allows brands to meet their WhatsApp messaging in Braze is a game-changer for global brands, as customers in the moment as they browse. With customizable templates, WhatsApp is a popular messaging platform used across the world for brands can use them for a variety of interactions, such as capturing conversational messaging. emails, pushing surveys or promotions, or sharing app updates. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 3

NOTE: The brand represented here is entirely ficticious, and all use cases are hypothetical. But this visual is meant to show just how powerful Braze is - In-app or in-browser enabling marketers to power messages entire digital experiences. Feature Flags SMS Push Content Cards Email International House of Pizza Your pizza is on the way! Brand Store Get 20% off a plain white shirt WhatsApp Local Coffee Poetry slam TOMORROW! Movie Theater Free popcorn with tix... Stitch Mix We have something we think... Grandma Jones FWD: FWD: FWD: A young Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 4

Braze Features - Platform Capabilities In addition to a robust catalog of messaging channels, Braze also offers capabilities such as: Liquid is an open-source template language developed by Shopify and Campaigns give marketers the ability to execute single-send messages written in Ruby used to personalize messaging in Braze. across channels. Canvas is the Braze journey management tool — offering a drag- Currents is the platforms’ continuous, high-volume data streaming and-drop interface to design, orchestrate, deploy, and measure technology, giving brands the ability to access, analyze, and act on first- sophisticated, multi-step, multivariate journeys. party data in real-time. Analytics are built in to the platform, allowing marketers to access and Segments is a robust audience segmentation tool within the Braze optimize their campaign, audience segment, and user data in real-time platform — and gives marketers the ability to create, manage, and analyze and through visual dashboards. Braze also has several integrations with their audiences with easy-to-use filters. robust analytics platforms for brands looking to go even deeper. Connected Content can be used to pull dynamic content from other Catalogs enable marketers to import and reference non-user data from external systems via API or Webhook into Braze messages at send-time. imported CSV files. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 5

Braze Features - Platform Capabilities In addition to a robust catalog of messaging channels, Braze also offers capabilities such as: Integrations Sage AI As a modern marketing platform, Braze was built intentionally to be Braze has incorporated many AI features into their platform over able to flexibly integrate with a variety of tools and technologies that recent years, in tangible ways that marketers can use today (and connect marketers into the rest of their organizations, arm them with have been using). This includes: access to the data they need to be successful, and create operational efficiencies. In addition to their roster of Braze Technology Partners, Predictive Suite - With capabilities like Churn Prediction model, two of the key integrations within Braze include: Purchase Prediction models, and AI recommendations (in beta), brands can build deeper audience segments and target their SDK - SDKs, or Software Development Kits, are libraries that Braze messaging accordingly. provides to enable brands to collect session data, identify users, and record activities on their websites or mobile apps. Intelligent Suite - The Intelligent Suite offers tools like Send Time Optimization and Channel Optimization to help brands achieve the API - Braze’s flexible API (or Application Programming Interface) right channel and the right time. allows brands to integrate and automate the transferring of data between Braze and external platforms. Image Generation and Copywriting Assistant - Accelerate the creative process using built-in generative AI tools. Braze also offers AI-powered QA capabilities. The Braze platform is powerful and comprehensive — giving marketers the tools they need to build and manage robust The takeaway? customer engagement programs. Its modern integration capabilities, vast array of messaging channels, and easy-to-use interface are what set it apart from other martech platforms. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 6

Who is Braze best suited for? THE MODERN MARKETER CREATIVE EXPERIENCE-ORIENTED AGILE EXPERIMENTAL DATA-DRIVEN COLLABORATIVE Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 7

Who is the modern marketer? Challenges of a modern marketer Navigating the inherent complexity of modern customer engagement While marketing tactics have evolved over time, the goals of the marketer have Marketing is already complex enough, but now with online engagement, customers can engage largely remained the same: meet your with your brand at any time of the day and at any point in their lifecycle - meaning customer engagement is no longer linear. Opting for clunky tech stacks with a bunch of integrated point customers where they are and create solutions (or worse, legacy marketing clouds that pretend to be all-in-one, but are really also just unique experiences that differentiate loosely integrated point solutions) doesn’t help. your brand — all with a focus on driving growth. Having too much data, or not enough How that’s done today looks a lot Data is the fuel for any and all customer engagement programs. From customer data, to inventory data, to geographic data, having access to all of the data you need in a way that’s user-friendly different than it did 20 years ago - or is a major challenge. But often times, as a response to this challenge, marketers will over-collect even half a decade ago. Today, robust data and end up with more than they need. digital engagement strategies that transcend channels are a cornerstone Respecting customer privacy for modern brands. A simple email marketing strategy isn’t going to cut it With ever-evolving regulations on how companies collect and use customer data, marketers are expected to be cognizant of governance needs — while also being asked to leverage anymore. Now, your brand needs to offer personalization (which requires customer data to execute effectively) to drive more results with consistent experiences across email, their engagement strategies. web, social, app, SMS, and beyond. Responding to constant change To build and execute a modern marketing strategy is complex. And to add to the From volatile economic conditions (which lead to increasing cost and market uncertainty), to rapidly evolving technology, to changing consumer expectations, there’s always *something* complexity, modern marketers face a marketers are having to adapt to, adopt, or change that affects their day-to-day execution. unique set of unprecedented challenges. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 8

There is no magic solution to fix all Challenges of a modern marketer of marketers’ (+ how Braze makes it easier) problems. Navigating the inherent complexity of modern customer engagement How Braze makes this easier: Being able to engage with your customers where they are is But having the right tools a cornerstone of modern customer engagement. This means you need not only real-time at least makes it easier to capabilities, but also multi-channel engagement strategies. Braze offers both. be a modern marketer. Having too much data, or not enough At Stitch, we’ve been working with How Braze makes this easier: Braze’s data ingestion capabilities enable marketers to harness marketers and helping manage their data from across the organization from tools like CDPs or data warehouses, but also collect real- tech stacks for... awhile. And after time user data through their SDK. Braze also charges by data usage - forcing marketers to be thoughtful and intentional about how and what they collect on their customers. spending some time going deep with other platforms - particularly legacy Respecting customer privacy marketing clouds - we sought out to find ‘easier,’ because we knew that couldn’t How Braze makes this easier: Not only does Braze’s pricing model encourage marketers to be be it. thoughtful and intentional about how and what they collect on their customers, but they make it easy to do things like mask PII data within their platform. We chose to focus on Braze because it is well-positioned to help marketers adapt Responding to constant change to many of these challenges and give How Braze makes this easier: Braze was built to be an adaptable and scalable platform - adding them what they need to run successful new channels and capabilities very often, and giving marketers freedom to integrate it with other customer engagement programs. tools as needed. Braze’s pricing is also flexible based on customer engagement - meaning that you’ll pay less for unengaged customers. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 9

What makes Braze different? All marketing and customer engagement platforms can make claims about their scalability and cool features. While we can promise that you’ll be wowed by Braze when you schedule a demo, here are a few more things that make us so confident in Braze as the best solution for modern marketers across industries: It’s a platform born from and built for the modern age. A lot of the Braze messaging centers around being a mobile-first marketing platform, but that doesn’t mean it’s only a mobile marketing platform. What it means is that it was built for the modern world. We talked about what a modern marketer is, and now, we’ll talk about what a modern marketing platform looks like. Braze (which started as AppBoy in 2011 and was rebranded to Braze in 2017) was originally founded from the realization that rapid rise and adoption of mobile phones — which permeated the globe faster than the introduction of electricity — was going to change everything, including how brands engage with their customers. Thus, it began by filling the immediate gap in the market — offering brands a way to engage with their customers via mobile, which included push, SMS, and in-app messaging. It then rapidly evolved into a comprehensive, full- service customer engagement platform that offers brands the means to engage with their customers online. While the platforms’ earliest adopters were mobile-first, modern brands that were born in the new age, Braze is also a platform built for legacy brands who are positioning themselves for the customers of today and tomorrow. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 10

Their leaders want Braze is playing the long game. to be on the right Look at any legacy marketing cloud today, and what you’ll ultimately find is a frankensteined‘suite’ platform side of history. that was piece-mealed through acquisitions. But, when you seek alternatives to these platforms, as many In an interview with Braze CEO and marketing leaders are, you’ll mostly find smaller, channel-centric platforms that lack the maturity they’re co-founder Bill Magnuson, he shared looking for. that they have made intentional product decisions to be “on the right Or, there’s Braze. Braze offers brands the comprehensive features of a legacy marketing cloud, but within side of history” — especially when a product that has been purpose-built with intention. Braze has not made any product acquisitions, but it comes to privacy. While Braze is rather has thoughtfully evolved their product overtime with best-in-class engineering and development eager to adopt and expand their principles. The platform is not only comprehensive, but it’s cohesive and user-friendly. technological capabilities, they do so with a global awareness of both While Braze has grown immensely since its inception, it’s grown thoughtfully — with a focus on playing the governance and consumer sentiment. long game and staying true to their mission of helping brands engage their customers in the modern world. This drive to be on the right side A visual representation of the types of marchitecture needed involved in orchestrating customer of history trickles down to their experiences: customers — making sure they’re Legacy marketing clouds Braze Point solutions armed with powerful technology to engage their customers, but doing so in a way that’s helping to build long-term relationships and engagement strategies that respect their customers. Stitch POV Braze 101: Why Smart Marketing Leaders Are Moving to Braze 11

How do I get started with Braze? While Braze is a particularly exceptional platform when it comes to being a user- friendly tool for marketers, working with a partner like Stitch to help migrate off your existing platform and implement Braze to meet your business needs is a great way to ensure you hit the ground running with the platform. As a marketing technology consultancy exclusively focused on Braze, we are focused on helping maximize ROI and help ensure long-term success with the platform for marketers using Braze. Want to learn more about how Braze can help you meet your customer engagement goals? We’d love to chat and work with you to develop use cases specific to your business needs.