[2011 trends] Measuring marketing success in a mass-customised fragmented world

Marketing is about mass customisation

There are market segments, and then segments within segments within segments within segments, down to the individual. Technology now provides us with access to not only identify these segments within segments but to be able to customise content, messages and communication with each of these at a personal level.

It is this mass customisation that builds brands and ultimately sales.

Data is king, but insights will be god

To make mass customisation possible requires "knowing" the segments and individuals, which requires data. But data is just the tool.

The real value is in the insights derived from this data. Much like any tool, the value comes from the skill of the tradesperson using it. Therefore, insights are the holy grail of data.

Increasingly a world of media, channel and audience fragmentation

Much has been written about the fragmentation of media, but the fragmentation in audience segments has seen a corresponding increase in specialist service providers.

As a result, marketers now engage with multiple disciplines, multiple segments and multiple markets, resulting in increased complexity, which only continues to grow.

Glocal will become mainstream

Global or local communication strategies? The fact is it is now both - glocal. No local brand can be local only, what with the Internet providing a global audience to any brand with an online presence.

Likewise, we have found that one size does not fit all in a mass-customised world, with global brands now requiring localised customisation.

Customer experience surpasses customer awareness

While the traditional role of advertising was to drive awareness and consideration, the customers' experience of the brand builds a deeper relationship.

The interactive environment creates opportunities for customers to experience the brand and share that experience with others as an advocate for the brand.

Small ideas will become the big idea

Many marketers are often fixated on the "big idea" but, in the world of mass customisation, the big idea is the brand strategy and the advertising execution is becoming a succession of small ideas aligned to the big band idea, customised to the various and increasingly fragmented segments, down to the ultimate one-to-one conversation.

All will be digital but not all will be online

Many marketers still think of digital as the Internet, but digital technology has impacted on every level of communications. Digital out-of-home, digital television, mobile, APIs are all creating new ways for consumers to access information, control flow and content, and contribute to the conversation.

So the same technology that has enabled mass customisation has also added to the complexity of the process, providing increasing numbers of channels for interacting with customers.

Aligning to the customer is essential

In the face of this increasing fragmentation, the greatest challenge for many organisations is how to align to the customer. But, in the face of siloed business units, multiple geographic markets, cultural differences, increasingly specialised and diverse service providers, the ability for organisations and brands to be customer-centric is challenged.

Add to this the fragmentation of the customer segments and you can see why it is essential for marketing to align its activities to the customer.

Marketing will continue to be held more accountable

Return on investment (ROI) is the catch cry of marketing accountability, but sales results alone are a short-term business view of marketing investment. A customer-centric company should be measuring ROI based on metrics such as share of wallet and lifetime customer value.

Marketing is about creating, building and developing the customer relationships that move beyond simple initial acquisition and looking at the longer-term value of customers to the organisation.

Remuneration for marketing service providers (agencies) will be results-based

Just as marketing is more accountable than ever before, suppliers and agencies are also being called to account. The issue is that, in many cases, the value of their contribution is often ill-defined and obscured.

Often, the agency is seen as a cost-to-business and the pressure to reduce this cost continues to be applied. Marketing service providers and agencies that can prove their value will move to a results-based remuneration, where they increasingly share in the financial value created.

Production will continue to be under commodity pressure

In a digital world, production of marketing content is converging, yet the service providers are fragmenting with an increased number of specialist providers.

Companies which have identified this trend are increasingly looking for ways to consolidate the production function to achieve economies of scale on a local, regional and global basis.