Is your marketing ready for the digital age?
Time to make a new marketing manifesto.
Present-day marketers dare to act differently by redefining marketing as a technology function. This new breed of marketers is taking tasks that were once seen as impossible and unimaginable — quantified ROIs, mass personalization, easy closure of deals, expanding to new markets and more.
Marketing today has joined hands with technology, which means today’s marketing professionals need to be proficient at both marketing and technology. Marketers think creatively, crunch numbers, mine and analyze data, and provide customized customer experience; their role has vastly expanded.
Marketing — Then and Now
Marketers have always played a major part in influencing consumer behavior. But the rapid increase in the number of marketing communication channels and information resources available to the customers is posing a massive challenge for the marketers. Because it has influenced buyer behavior and totally transformed the marketing process that we once knew.
The modern definition of marketing is reaching out to consumers wherever they are and through whatever device they are using. Marketers need to come up with creative means of interaction with the consumers, through smartphones, and social and other digital mediums.
Furthermore, today, people are skeptical about the information they are being fed. They have all kinds of sources to verify an unworthy claim. So, simply creating advertisements that aren’t authentic or real can land marketers in trouble.
With the advent of digital media, buying decisions are taken more quickly than before. Word of mouth in the form of consumer comments and reviews is very influential and about 50% of purchase decisions is made based on it. This makes it important for marketers to tap this important touch point by hiring technical professionals who can help design and execute marketing strategies for the digital world.
Factors that should feature on the manifesto of every CMO
- With the help of technology (analytics and other metrics), it is possible to pinpoint what makes consumers tick. This can be used to draw their attention and drive them exactly where you want them –to your website and app and to more sales!
- Creative marketing isn’t enough. You need technology to support it. Technological analysis will help you respond to personalized consumer needs in real time.
- Content marketing is the new PR. Creating branded content can help engage with consumers and give rise to brand advocates, who can drive your marketing journey ahead.
- Reaching out to consumers on a personal level is essential. Analyzing data across all channels can help marketers understand the customers as individuals instead of segments, identify and predict consumer behavior patterns, and deliver customized solutions.
As the role of salespersons is diminishing, CMOs are expected to come to the fore. They will leverage the software that predicts the buyer behavior and predicts sales, deliver relevant and engaging campaigns, close the deal and acquire long term customer loyalty through continuous engagement and ultimately increase sales.
The full article was originally published on Thinknext by Tarun Mitra
