This paper provides an insight on how marketing practices have adjusted to deep customer engagement. They have explored social media management to integrate better advertising campaigns online, television and in print. Customers do not divide marketing from the product. They do not separate marketing from their in store experience. This shift presents a challenge that everyone is responsible for marketing. However, in reality this problem is identical to the one from the early days of quality movement before it became embedded in the general management. According to Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler CEO, customer involvement currently requires commitment from the entire organization and a redefined marketing organization.
According to this article, the primary audiences are the company executives who impose accountability by creating a new set of associations between the purpose and the rest of the organization. The companies need to be the marketing vehicles while the marketing organization should be the customer engagement vehicle responsible for creating priorities and stimulating dialogue throughout the enterprise. Failure to assign roles clearly limits the comprehension and ability to distribute data that is obtained from customer interaction. According to David C Edelman, “branding in the digital age will cost you money in all the wrong places”. Therefore, content-oriented strategies require creative employees who can feed the consumer’s ever-increasing need for timely, relevant, and compelling content across the variety of media. Additionally, are able to develop productive dialogue regarding the purpose of marketing in relation to other functions. This stimulates engagement in the organization, which is very critical. The new marketing organization will require more marketing councils to boost management coordination with greater representation from other functions.
According to David Halberstam, over two years ago he unveiled the results of a research involving 20,000 customers across five industries, which relied on push advertising and mass media. More and more customers are now using digital video recorders for recordings and posting them on YouTube as it captures more attention, unlike billboards hence accelerate the rate at which the product is being marketed as more people are able to view. The consumer packaged goods company Nestle manages its relationship with retailer Wal-Mart via what is called Nestle team. This unified cross business, cross-functional group is responsible for in-store activity to logistics, promotions, modernization, and product design. The authors note that Wal-Mart makes contact with its largest supplier via a distinct point of contact. This makes it simpler for Nestle to develop its strong relationship with the retailer. Therefore, both companies develop a more clear understanding of engagement regarding packaged goods and consumers.
In order to engage with customers whenever they interact whether in store, on the phone or in response to an email, marketing must pervade the entire organization. Pervasive marketing, a company’ new look and elevation of the consumer insights are always central to effective marketing efforts that give most major companies a crucial source of competitive advantage e.g. Starbucks and Zappos. The major barrier to engagement is organizational rather than conceptual. This is where given the growing number of points customers now interact with companies. Marketing cannot often do what it is needed to do all on its own; thus, CMOs will be required to work together with their marketing counterparts so that their organizations can adapt their organizations to the way customers are influenced by marketing.
Reference
French, T., Laura, L., & Magill, P. (2011). We're all marketers now. McKinsey Quarterly, 1(3),
26-34.
