industry thoughts from Clarteza

In today’s digital world where the consumer is king, marketers are no-doubt challenged with navigating the tough road of brand development and coming to terms with a shifting balance in power.  With the rules of the road changing dramatically over the past few years, where real-time is the new time-frame, big companies are finding it particularly difficult to adapt.   If you find yourself nodding your head, here are five thoughts to help keep you, and your brands, on course:

1. It’s Okay to be a Little Naked: If the universal influx of reality TV didn’t give us a clue that pretenses are out and full-on transparency is in, nothing else could.   And the world of marketing is no exception, where respect for the consumer hinges today on representing your brand honestly and empathetically.  Consumers have instant access to a bounty of information about brands, and appreciate brands for behaving in a way that demonstrates integrity.  (And will ambush and condemn brands that do not!)  Dominos took this to heart by launching their month-long promotional campaign in July 2011 that involved live-streaming in Times Square of customer feedback (good and bad) via Twitter.

2. Strike Up a Conversation: Consumers expect and demand constant conversation and immediate feedback from marketers.  A brand’s participation in this dialogue empowers consumers to be brand ambassadors and ultimately reinforces the brand’s consumer-centric mentality.  As does allowing consumers to help shape the brand — consumer-driven content is becoming more and more common with even the most traditional brands opening their portals.  Who would have thought that Ladies Home Journal, a 128 year old publication, would relinquish much of its written content to readers?   Beginning in March it will happen.

3. Engage With Insight:  Media consumption on consumer terms means consumers can decide where, when, and how they consume media and its brand messages.  With everyone colliding for attention, the control that technology affords consumers enables them to self-select and opt in or out of messaging at any given time.  So never has it been more important to truly connect with the consumer, in a way that reinforces how your brand and its values are consistent with consumers’ own views.   The Sharpie brand is a great example of how this was done well.

4. It’s Not Over ‘til It’s Over: Google has coined the term “Zero Moment of Truth” to represent the notion that consumers are constantly seeking out, and able to access, information critical to their decision making process, right up until the point-of purchase.  And in 2012, this moment is going to be further enriched by visuals, with the advent of technology such as Google Goggles that will provide consumers with “instant visual gratification” in their decision-making.  To win, brands must populate this final, decisive moment for consumers with the most relevant, most persuasive content possible help seal the deal.

 5. The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: With the ubiquity of screens in today’s media landscape, a marketer has the opportunity (and the responsibility) to tell an integrated brand story across multiple consumer touch points.  Marketers simply cannot view media vehicles (and corresponding communication strategies) in isolation, but instead must understand that the consumer experience is holistic and all consumer touch points are inter-related.  A brand story that is told with a respect for the role each contact point plays in telling that story is one your consumer can really hear.  Importantly, integration needs to take place internally as well, with marketers structuring their teams not in silos, but in a way that facilitates the seamless and synergistic development of brand strategy and communication of brand stories. This is a big one, we know, as it means messing with the infrastructure of your company.  But it is a critical one.

What have we missed?  What observations and challenges do you have regarding success on today’s superhighway of marketing? How are you going to steer your brand effectively in the age of omnipresent, interactive screens that dominate consumers’ reality?  Please share your thoughts …

Sources:

http://trendwatching.com/trends/12trends2012/?flawsome

http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/ladies-home-journal-lets-readers-write-magazine/231966/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage

http://adage.com/article/special-report-americas-hottest-brands/america-s-hottest-brands-sharpie/231178/

http://trendwatching.com/trends/12trends2012/?pointknow

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Were_all_marketers_now_2834