groupisd.com
12
Being Best in Using Customer-Focused
Technology
Mobile technology and communication will become even
more important. Already now half of all social interaction
happens on mobile platforms. In consequence all brand
communication must be designed based on a mobile-first
perspective. Responsive design has almost become a basic
requirement, and it’s important to tailor each piece of
content to the device or channel where it will most likely be
viewed by the consumer. Mobile technology will soon replace
all other communication devices as the predominant means.
No doubt, in 2014 we are going to see a huge increase in
location-based marketing.
Other key technologies are Streaming and On-Demand
media. They are rewiring the way consumers think and
process information. People are getting used to having
everything customized and delivered instantly, when and
where they want it.
Also Cognitive Computing will further evolve, i.e. systems
learning and interacting naturally with people. Rather than
being programmed to anticipate every possible answer
or action, cognitive systems are trained using artificial
intelligence and machine learning algorithms to understand
and to predict. Applying this to marketing will help managers
to better understand and communicate with customers.
Being Best in Data-Driven Customer
Experience and Customer Services
Big Data was one of another major buzzword in 2013 in many
organizations around the globe. It´s a fact that with today´s
technology we can collect, analyze, and process tons of
(consumer) data to better understand consumption patterns, to
evaluate commonalities and differences, to anticipate trends,
and to identify new business and product opportunities. The
real task, however, is to use all of these information – and
by respecting possible and legitimate privacy concerns – in a
way as to match them with real consumer wants and needs
in order to improve the experience of your customers: e.g.
new wearable devices like Samsung´s Galaxy Smart Watch
to improve personal health.
The key is not merely measuring what happened, but trying
to predict future outcomes, i.e. to understand why and how it
will play out in the future. Analytics have to go from passive
to active.
Moreover, collected and stored data need to be used to
establish personal, trustworthy, and – most importantly –
respectful relationships with existing and new customers. Big
data needs to to be seen as a vehicle to dramatically boost
an organization´s customer obsession and not its capability
to spy on consumers and customers. Companies must
implement whichever needed security measures to avoid
discussions like currently happening at Target.
Being Best in Corporate Social
Responsibility
Companies clearly should make some 2014 resolutions to
ensure their CSR and sustainability efforts start off on the
right foot in the new year. While it’s more or less standard
practice for companies to address the environmental and
carbon impacts (e.g. resulting from their operations and
products) time has come to take a closer look at how climate
change (e.g. storms, floods, resources scarcity) could impact
the company from the outside in and across their entire
supply chain.
With the gradual depletion of many resources some
organizations are e.g. intensively searching for novel
alternatives to the materials currently used in their products.
An evolution and necessity which will need to be more widely
applied. One example is Nike which already some time
ago has started to research for more sustainable textiles by
partnering with the U.S. State Department, NASA, etc. Other
good examples are Coca-Cola and Nestlé.
Leading brands will further stimulate employee engagement
around CSR by having already started turning to gamification
or micro-volunteerism to make engagement easy, fun and
personalized. German airline Lufthansa has been running
for some years a company-wide initiative called HelpAlliance
which supports nearly 40 projects in 19. Responsibility for
a project of this kind is always assigned to an employee of
Lufthansa. These employees donate their free time to helping
people in developing economies. In return they receive some
support from the company for THEIR project.
Finally: The Need of Having the Right
Organization, Processes, and People in
Place
Misaligned organizational structures and processes often
hinder the flow of information and know-how across across
brand, marketing, and business goals. There needs to be
a close integration between traditional marketing programs
and digital initiatives on the one hand and between marketing
and other departments on the other hand. As brand managers
for the most part are responsible for the overall performance
of a brand, and most recently also for an increasing volume
of content and messaging, moving forward they should also
have the digital marketing managers within their teams and
having them report into brand management.Brands need
more active senior leadership support and focus than ever.
Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are in an ideal position to
help facilitate and advance these efforts.
There is also a strong need for an improved alignment and
reorganization around agency selection and management.
It is known that more traditional agencies often still lack
digital expertise (which normally they would not admit). As
a consequence brand marketers are managing not rarely
various agencies at the same time. In the future this would
need to be simplified and streamlined to improve efficiency
and effectiveness of the marketing teams.
Last, but not least, when hiring for marketing