Future of Marketing, The

Nick Johnson is founder and CEO of the Incite Group, a leading business intelligence firm that provides highly relevant, research-based insights on customer experience for the marketing, communications, and advertising communities. He has worked closely with chief marketing officers and other senior executives from major brands since founding his first company, Useful Social Media, in 2009

• Introduction     1 Who Is It For?     2 Research and Development     4 A Note on Contributors     5 PART I:  WHAT’S CHANGED?    9Chapter 1  The 4 P’s Are Passe     11 Power Has Changed Hands     12 How Has the Brand/Customer Relationship Changed?    15 A Brief History of Online Marketing     15 A Free Loudspeaker for All!    17 New Competitors + More Noise = Need for Relevance     18 Noise Levels Are Increasing     19 Digital Has Changed the Game Marketers and Consumers Are Playing     20 How Has the Changing Media Landscape Changed the Marketer’s Role?    21 How Media Disruption Has Impacted Marketers     23 A Fragmented, “Transmedia” Landscape     25 Things Are a Lot Harder Than They Were Back in the 1990s     28 It’s Not All Bad...    29 How Does the “Flood” of Customer Data Impact the Marketer’s Role?    29 From Art to Science     30 More Data = More Accountability     31 The Democratization of Your Brand     32 Your Customers Have More Choice and Power     33 Backstory Is More Important Than Tagline     34 The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis     34 Brand Is a Conversation Between Companies and Their Customers     35 Not Everything Has Changed: The Fundamentals Remain the Same     37 ART Means Major Changes Must Be Made     41 The New Customer Contract: Authenticity, Relevance, and Transparency     41 The New Customer Contract: Authenticity     42 The New Customer Contract: Relevance     44 The New Customer Contract: Transparency     45 How ART Will Impact the Future of Marketing     46 Endnotes     48 Chapter 2  What Is a Customer Journey, and Why Does It Matter?    53 The Customer Journey Means Expanded Roles     56 Endnotes     56 PART II:  HOW ARE COMPANIES COPING?    59Chapter 3  How Are Companies Doing Right Now?    61 The Marketer’s Expanding Role: Confusion on Next Steps     62 Internal Structures Are Beginning to Change     62 Collaboration Is Key     63 Departure Lounge     66 Marketing Is Under Pressure to Increase Speed     68 1. Customers Expect Responses to Queries Far More Quickly     68 2. Customers Reward Marketing Campaigns That Are Closely Linked to Developments in the World Around Them     70 3. New Platforms Reach Maturity (and Huge User Bases) More Quickly Than Ever     70 4. Data and New Measurement Methodologies Quickly Give Marketers Usable Insight into Campaign Success     72 How Are Marketers Beginning to Increase the Speed?     73 Media Fragmentation Is Tough to Deal With     74 Things Are Changing Fast     76 Marketers Must Mix Paid, Earned, and Owned Channels     76 Delivering a Consistent Brand Message Is Increasingly Challenging     77 The Speed with Which Channel Fragmentation Is Taking Place Is a Challenge All Its Own     79 Most Companies Are Not Fully Leveraging Customer Data for Better Customer Insight     80 A Long Way to Go—But There’s Increasing Clarity on the Route to Take     82 Next Steps     83 Endnotes     84 PART III:  BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE     85Chapter 4  Brand Management and Storytelling     87 Managing a Brand in Collaboration with Customers     87 Experience Supersedes Logo     87 Brand Is How a Company Acts As a Corporate Citizen     88 How Can Brand Storytelling Help?    89 This Isn’t a New Coat of Paint—It’s Deeper Than That     92 How Can You Build Storytelling into Your Marketing Campaign?    93 The Battle Between Art and Science Isn’t Over Yet     94 Endnotes     94 Chapter 5  Getting Your House in Order: How Internal Buy-In Impacts External Marketing     95 Consistent Experience Across Multiple Channels Is Hard but Essential     96 Transparency Makes Consistency Essential     98 Build Your Corporate Onion     98 Internal Is Where This All Begins     99 Step 1: Build from the Ground Up, Not the Top Down     100 Step 2: Build a Clear Role for the Individual and Highlight the Benefits of That Role     100 Step 3: Immerse Your Employees in the Journey to Reassure Them     101 Step 4: Focus on the Long Term, Not the “Year of Customer Experience”    103 Endnotes     103 Molson Coors Case Study     104 Chapter 6  How an Evolved Internal Structure Drives Authentic, Relevant, and Transparent Marketing     119 The Chief Marketing Officer’s Evolution     120 From Part of the Matrix to a Leadership Role     121 Why a Centralized Marketing Community Is Critical     122 Should Marketing Expand Itself Out of Existence?    124 Splitting the Marketing Department     124 New Roles and Responsibilities     126 Focus on Agility     127 Why IT, Data, and Marketing Departments Need to Work Together     128 Breaking Down Silos for a More Comprehensive Customer Picture     130 Unification of Information     131 Internal Data     132 Uniformity of Response     133 Randstad Case Study     134 Endnotes     137 Chapter 7  Data for Relevance and Agility     139 Importance of Data and Science     139 1: The Scale Is Incredible     139 2: The Opportunity Is Enormous—and the Imperative Is Unavoidable     140 3: You’re Now Competing with Digital Natives     141 4: Data Helps You Spot Problems     142 Setting Up for Data     143 1: Hiring the Right People and Evolving the Marketer’s Role     144 2: Build the Right Organizational Model     144 3: Set Clear Goals Aligned to Overall Corporate Goals     145 4: Find the Signal in the Noise     146 The Benefits One Can Expect from a Comprehensive, Forward-Looking Approach to Data Management and Analysis     147 Better Understanding for More Relevance     150 Finally, a Replacement for Focus Groups     151 Enhanced Relevance: Building Better Campaigns—and Better Products     152 Examples of Brands Using Data for Better Marketing     153 Data for More Agility: Insight at Speed for On-the-Fly Campaign Evolution     156 Data Is Not a Miracle Cure. There are limits to its Utility     157 Allowing Data to Replace Creativity     158 Are We Headed for a Data Drought?    158 Avoiding Creepiness     160 Conclusions     161 Endnotes     162 One Medical Group Case Study     164KidZania Case Study     170Land O’Lakes Case Study     180 Chapter 8  Why Multichannel Matters     183 You’ve Got to Spread Yourself Thin     185 Work out Which Channels Are Worth the Money to You     186 Define How to Use Channels Appropriately     187 You’ve Got to Make Sure That Channels Work in Some Form of Harmony     188 Multichannel As a Foundation     190 Endnotes     190 Hiscox Case Study     180 Chapter 9  Content Marketing to Drive Engagement     197 Create Content of the Requisite Quality     200 Relevance: Appealing Directly and Engagingly to Your Customers     201 Content That Is Useful     201 Content That Is Entertaining     202 Disseminate Content in the Right Way     203 Measure Impact and Track Success     204 Endnotes     205 Chapter 10  The Imperative—and Opportunity—of Conversation     207 How Conversation Drives Authenticity     210 Conversation Isn’t Optional     211 Set Up for Social     213 7 Elements of Successful Conversational Marketing from Brands Who’ve Done It Well     214 1: Strike a Chord That Appeals     214 2: Be Ready to Listen     215 3: Get Everyone Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet     216 4: Ensure That Data Has Been Shared and Silos Have Been Eradicated     216 5: Expose the “Latently Happy”    217 6: Don’t Just Talk about Your Products     217 7: Don’t Cause a Scene     218 Endnotes     226 PART IV:  A PROPOSED NEW DEPARTMENT     229Chapter 11  The Marketing Department of the Future     231 How Will Companies Deliver on Art?    233 1: The Marketing Department Will Put Customer Experience at the Center of Its Operations     233 2: A Simple Structure to Enhance Agility     236 3: New Skill Sets for a New World     239 4: The Walls between Employees and Customers Come Down     241 Final Conclusions     243 Endnotes     244 Index     245  Reinvent marketing for today’s radically new customers and business environment – and tomorrow’s!