New Series: Decoding Modern Marketing

Companies that managed to slide by through the recession without more sophisticated marketing are waking up to new dangers. But there is still time to get up to speed. This monthly series is an executive guide for brands ready to usher their marketing into the digital age.

Midsize companies are waking up to new dangers.

During the recession, while consumers sharpened their digital buying skills and the Fortune 100 raced ahead, many midsize companies took advantage of the competitive lull and avoided the investments necessary to keep up with the digitally empowered consumer.

Cut to 2016: Consumers, both B2C and B2B, have become sophisticated buyers. They have the tools to make smart, fully informed buying decisions every time. They are demanding, digitally savvy and unforgiving of brands that do not serve them well, especially on social media. They expect easy, enjoyable experiences in store, online, and with the products and services they buy.

In a nutshell, they want it good, fast, and cheap, and if they don’t get it from you, they’ll find it somewhere else.

At the same time, competition is brewing even in the sleepiest of verticals. Companies are realizing that if they don’t superserve their consumers, one of their competitors will or already is. And the quality of such an experience has been set not by the sleepy competition, but by the world’s top brands, so the bar is very high.

While the big companies have used the recession years to shift their focus to connect with the modern consumer, midsize companies are only now waking up to the need to get their marketing and consumer experience up to speed. But time is running out. Nimble new brands are finding ways to disrupt almost every industry with product innovation and better consumer experiences, and big companies, like Amazon, are spreading their enormous wings with even more innovation, making it ever harder for laggards to get into the game.

With a relatively stable economy under our feet, we have entered the fat part of the snake, where many midsize companies are ready to catch up. That means acting now to shift to a consumer-centric orientation in which everything that touches consumers is designed with them in mind.

Midsize companies that have managed to slide by without more sophisticated marketing and just manufacture and distribute will have to become marketing companies now, which is a daunting prospect for many. But the alternative is worse. As a big-box retailer recently said to a longtime brand on its shelves: “What I want from you is a brand, and that means you have to get good at marketing. If I want a product, I’ll make it myself.”

The good news is that even though time is short, you can quickly build a modern marketing machine that will superserve your consumers and future-proof your brand. That’s what IQ’s forthcoming 10-part series, “Decoding Modern Marketing,” sets out to do. This monthly series is an executive guide for midsize brands ready to usher their marketing into the digital age. That said, “Decoding Modern Marketing” is applicable to brands of all sizes, large, midsize, and small.

Click through the following presentation, below or on SlideShare, for an overview of the entire series. We’ll see you next month with Part 1.