Companies pursuing their goal of placing customers at the heart of their business strategy need to focus on three imperatives: the integration of their customer strategy, technology stack and organisational approach, according to Merkle’s 2019 publication.
The latest edition in this long running series builds upon Merkle’s ongoing examination of the key considerations and competencies for marketers in their pursuit of more valuable customer relationships.
Today this approach has evolved into a full-scale, customer-centric business strategy: people-based marketing. In our last Imperatives, we explored the three elements required for its activation:
- Make your advertising addressable
- Make your experiences personal
- Manage your customer relationships over time
The 2019 Imperatives provide CMOs with a roadmap for leading a people-based marketing transformation within their organisation, by integrating their customer strategy, their technology stack, and their organisational approach.
David Williams, CEO and founder of Merkle, says: “Putting the customer at the centre of your business strategy is the goal of many CMOs, but working out how to get there isn’t always clear."
The 2019 Marketing Imperatives:
- Integrate your customer strategy – A foundation of planning will help marketers build a more complete picture of their desired audience, evolving the marketing strategy into a 360-degree customer strategy. The outcome is a roadmap for personalised engagements across media and channels, spanning the entire life cycle.
- Integrate your technology stack – In addition to building this full customer profile, organisations should be focused on fully integrating their technology stack. The resulting data hub is the centralised facility for real-time receipt and distribution of customer data that also allows marketers to execute and modify marketing strategies.
- Integrate your execution – Before embarking on this transformation, ensure the team has a clear vision of the integrated customer experience and enabling technology platform. This forms the basis of the plan, upon which you layer the people and processes required for execution. Remove the walls between organisational silos, while leveraging their unique capabilities. Clearly define, communicate, and measure every role and goal along the way.
Visit the 2019 Marketing Imperatives webpage to download the eBook, and to register for the webinars.
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