From Marketing to Customer Engagement

Marketing is changing because we are changing

The marketing industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation – from mass marketing to

engagement with the individual.  What is driving this change?  

The truth is, it is consumers who are transforming the way that marketers market to them.

Marketing used to be about shouting your message as loudly as possible at customers who, on the whole, did not question this method.

Gradually, through the maturation of direct marketing, the emphasis shifted towards trying to talk to customers individually, but often without listening to them.

Marketing has had to become two-way, and marketers must learn to interact with, and not interrupt, their customers.

But it is not just about listening; marketing needs to engage with its customers, across multiple online and offline channels, in a transparent, timely and consistent manner.

Want to learn more?
View our Customer Engagement Brochure

Marketing needs to integrate around engagement

As the customer demands or expects an individualized, multi-channel customer experience and a two-way engagement with the company, it is incumbent upon agencies and marketers to adapt to better service this customer engagement world.

The focus now is on engaging the individual, driving integration across marketing and agencies which in turn drives customer engagement life cycles and takes the individual from being an unknown prospect to an engaged customer and on to being a brand advocate.

Marketing must now become synonymous with customer engagement, and it is only the organisations which have the complete data and engagement process in place to orchestrate this transformation that will survive, let alone succeed.

Engagement needs to start where Google stops

Google, and search marketing in general, has changed the face of customer acquisition forever. It has made finding products a hyper-efficient marketplace, creating a highly trackable, bid-based environment where increased money spent well really will increase traffic driven to a website.

However, although Google and other search engines are highly effective at driving traffic to the website, it is here that their influence stops.

When the customer arrives on the home page, if there is nothing compelling to engage them, or no process to move them on through the customer life cycle, they will simply return with one click to the list of the site’s competitors detailed on Google. Marketing spend is wasted – regardless of the high volume of traffic figures the website team is keen to present.