RealMarketing managers must deal with increasingly demanding consumers on one hand, while grappling with increasing efficiency and profitability pressure for the company on the other. To meet the expectations of both groups, marketing technologies must be fully exploited and listening to the voices of the customers has to become second nature.

It’s essential to give your customers a lot of attention to reach them with the right messages at the right time and meet your expectations regarding marketing performance and ROI. Here are some tips on how modern marketing technologies can help you to perform this balancing act:

  • Approach customer journey management strategically: CMOs that tackle the entire purchase decision process of the customer in an integrated way are more successful than marketers who consider the different phases separately or control their customer interactions ad hoc. It doesn’t matter, whether a customer has canceled the purchase process after a brief research or put something into the shopping cart but never ordered: Keep the entire customer journey in view to have an appropriate strategy for every conceivable situation at hand. Only then is it possible to address the customers instantly and in a personalized way, with relevant content.

  • Create a uniform database: Despite all the rhetoric about the importance of integrated teams and working methods, data silos are still a reality in most companies. However, a uniform database is the basis of any holistic marketing strategy today. CMOs can only orchestrate a customer journey successfully in real-time if they have the correct information and understand both the customer and its context. To achieve that, they need data from other areas, such as customer service, marketing, or social media. First, a central data platform has to be established, which then forms the centerpiece of the marketing work.

  • Make cross-channel the modus operandi: More and more mobile devices mean a growing number of channels that are used by consumers to do research or compare offers prior to a purchase. Most companies recognized that fact and pin their hopes today on a variety of channels to interact with existing and potential customers. However, whoever nowadays just spreads standardized content via various channels, passes up the golden opportunity that lies in cross-channel marketing, namely offering the customer a consistent and personalized brand experience across all channels. The first step is therefore to understand that effective cross-channel marketing requires planning and a subordinated command center where it all comes together. Only that way, consistency and personalization can be ensured cross all channels.

  • Invest in good content and the team: The fast pace of the Internet challenges everybody - and CMOs in particular. That campaigns can be adjusted in real-time and played on all channels today means in the reverse conclusion that good content has to be quickly developed and implemented. To keep up with volatile customer preferences, CMOs should provide their team with the appropriate tools to be able to create relevant content nimbly and without technical knowledge by themselves, rather than outsourcing the production. Thus, they promote not only agility, but also creativity: Whoever can respond quickly to trends is usually also doing it more often.

  • Use innovative marketing technologies to stay on the road to success: Customers expect an attractive and personalized shopping experience that satisfies their demands, while shareholders and CFOs rather aggregate numbers, which stand for a lasting positive ROI. Marketing managers should therefore use their extensive data base and the possibilities of modern marketing technologies, such as automation and Big Data Analytics, to demonstrate that one calls for the other. Because only those who know how to make use of the various marketing activities across all channels, and can confirm this value to the corporate objective, makes not only the customers but also the shareholder happy.


By Daniela La Marca