CMO.com Highlights – The Continuing Evolution of Marketing
Last week’s exclusive engagements on CMO.com were focused on the adaptations both organisations and consumers often must adopt as the world and marketing conditions continue to evolve. Adjustments may include changing strategies when the current approach has been discovered to harm more than hurt, as you’ll see at both the beginning and ending discussions from last week. Sometimes a company needs to adapt its approach to stay relevant, and other times a company needs to learn from others marketers whose strategies are working well. Marketers also encourage consumer adaptation when it serves both the consumer and the organisation better.
Dan Brotzel, Content Director at Sticky Content, began the week by inviting senior managers and marketers to consider the ways in which they may be potentially harming their organisation’s content marketing strategies. In a new survey designed to explore the UK’s content culture, it was revealed that senior management often has an adverse impact on content quality. Brotzel challenges marketers to give more clear guidelines of exactly what their senior managers are being asked to sign off on. Clear guidelines can go a long way in getting content to go live in a quicker manner.
Last week’s CMO.com interview was with Pete Markey, CMO at Post Office. Markey shared the challenges that Post Office faces in being seen as relevant in today’s economy. He realizes that many people see Post Office as a business that offers a lot of great services for a lot of people, but there’s a risk that individuals may not personalize that perception to see what Post Office can do for them. Post Office approaches this challenge by knowing their audience and selling their strengths. Markey also shared how he sees marketing evolving with more of a focus on “data, insight and intelligence.”
Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ, shared some of the most valuable insights European CMOs can gain from rising brands in the Asia. A recent BrandZ report from India and Indonesia, the two largest democracies in Asia, revealed that brand value in those markets has increased by doing three things. First, brands should find and embrace the contradictions at the core of a brand’s message. Second, brands can develop deeper customer loyalty by building authentic brand trust. Finally, brands are encouraged to develop mobile strategies where the digital and physical meet. As Asian markets continue to grow, European marketers would do well to learn from them.
The Adobe Digital Index 2015 Holiday Shopping Predictions report found that online shopping during the holiday season would be about the same as last year for Europeans. It also found that online retailers are taking this important shopping period as an opportunity to encourage consumers to do more of their year-round shopping online. A driving factor in persuading consumers to adopt more online shopping is the ease of stress that it provides over traditional shopping though mobile seemed to be more stressful than desktop. A variety of products and product reviews were also necessary.
The week ended with Thomas Barta, CMO Adviser and Managing Director of Actvance | Global Leadership Advisers, sharing some insightful tips for building a winning marketing team. Barta shared that many companies make the process of finding team members too complex. Instead, they should focus on the extraordinary skills their marketing team needs. Then the focus can move to finding people with those skills. It’s also important to keep the list of traits and skills small because the more complex an organisation’s list becomes, the less likely they are to find someone that meets their criteria.
Please spend some time this week engaging with our exclusive content on CMO.com and learn from some the top marketing leaders. Don’t forget to let us know what you think.