The fragmentation of today’s marketing solutions is a definite challenge for brands. It is no secret that customers are tuning out from conventional advertising as they hold power when it comes to which ads they interact with, which puts pressure on brands to transform the way they market, from pushing media to building relationships.
Nowadays, brand marketers have to manage an average of 23 channels. They regularly resort to reach and retargeting using distracting advertising, and too often, their actions don’t match their professed values. As many of these brands have been accustomed to working with different agencies for their creativity, media, data, technology and other scopes, bringing everything together through a one-stop-shop kind of agency is becoming an absolute necessity as it helps brands generate tons of efficiencies by navigating the complexed marketing ecosystem on their behalf.
The irony is that although we live in the connected age, people feel more isolated and disconnected than ever before – and the fast evolution of technology has played a significant role in this. Personal devices (or, as I like to call them, the natural extension of our arms) are not only killing off our ‘boredom’, they are increasing our stress levels and adding to the loneliness factor. The constant access to information they provide causes a collective anxiety, and screen time is not really freeing our minds. Instead, it is locking down our opportunities to connect creatively.
Nowadays, the audience demands meaning over distraction, and knowing what people want requires a different type of relationship with brands. 70 per cent of us expect contextualised engagements based on previous interactions, and 63 per cent believe brands should recognise us across touchpoints.
Traditionally, media and customer relationship management (CRM) are held at arm’s length, although both disciplines share the same fundamental goal, which is to create interest amongst the unconvinced and urgency amongst the engaged. Hence, there is a need for a solution built across a diverse set of capabilities that enables us to identify better insights, make stronger connections and drive critical business outcomes. Being wired for marketing transformation offers brands access to all digital marketing solutions to transform their marketing ecosystems within today’s fast-paced action. And, as we connect media with data and technology while creating experiences, our key focus should always be on a single customer view to maximise customer lifetime value.
If done right by syncing data, technology, and strategy, CRM can add depth to the consumer relationship through better interactions. It is more than just analysing customers and personalising communication; CRM assesses what you have to work with and identifies the gaps to get a robust 360-degree view of the customer. CRM stitches together the data sources and applies knowledge to build a robust picture of the customer, acting on what you know about them to make strong brand-to-customer (B2C) connections.
Personalisation at scale is another game-changer in the modern digital world. A common problem we are witnessing is the disconnect in customer experience, primarily due to different tech stacks from various providers. Without the proper technology setup, brands are losing out on opportunities for customer retention and growth. Our role is to integrate these technologies to provide better end-to-end customer experiences, ensuring that the right technology infrastructure is expertly set up to drive better efficiencies from various marketing operations. After all, things like website/app design and development, UX and UI, tech stacking, tagging, and much more are essentials for a seamless customer experience.
This is why modern marketing challenges require a different type of solution, one that brings together diverse capabilities by connecting media with data and technology while creating experiences that help brands win in the moment that truly counts. The customer-first approach should always be built on a data-driven understanding of real-world consumer behaviours, helping connect brands with consumers in meaningful ways by enabling necessary actions and providing the content most likely to engage.
At Digitas, I have witnessed first-hand the marketing transformation of many global, regional, and local brands. This transformation wouldn’t have been possible without the full commitment of our clients, who courageously embraced change across various organisational layers. From our side, we provide a fully integrated infrastructure that works with the speed and scrappiness of start-ups, always listening and always optimising.
