Nick Heys, Founder, Emailvision
There has never been a more challenging, or more exciting time to be a marketing leader. In response to consumer expectations, organizations are shifting from a business-centric perspective to a customer-centric one.
Why? In a world where your customer can instantly access a host of different options through websites, instant advertising, apps, reviews and social commentary… brands that provide a quick and valuable customer experience will most certainly gain competitive advantages.
Marketing has always been appreciated in business, but with such a close understanding of the customer relationship, marketing leaders will be absolutely pivotal in managing this customer-centric view.
One of the keys to success rests on the marketing team’s ability to capitalize on their customer data. The concept of ‘data’ being on any CMO’s top 5 list may sound odd, but for marketing professionals, it’s the source of powerful information about customer behaviour. Personalized and relevant marketing isn’t a nice to have, it’s the new imperative. In YouGov survey commissioned by my company, a massive 75 percent of respondents reported that they would resent a brand after being bombarded by online marketing.
The balance of power between the customer and the business
Not only does this reflect a growing sensitivity to marketing noise, it also reflects a rise in customer expectations. The digital revolution has officially reversed the balance of power between the customer and the business. Customers have immediate access to numerous choices while businesses face more traditional and non-traditional competitors every day.
Against this backdrop, there is very good news for marketing leaders. Thanks to significant investment and innovation in marketing technologies, businesses of all sizes can cost effectively provide personalized brand experiences across multiple sales channels. Marketing leaders and their teams should tap into new marketing analytics technologies like ‘Customer Intelligence’ to deliver actionable insights gained from customer behavior. Every interaction a customer has with your business… from a browse on the website, to the open and click on an email, to the tweet, or the in-store purchase… can be captured to generate valuable data.
Today we’re seeing a new generation of marketing technology that’s dedicated to helping businesses understand this data so they can put customer needs, preferences and experiences at the center of the marketing plan.