Marketing Focus: Digital trends… (yawn)

Wednesday 21 March 2018

In Connect magazine each month, marketing expert Chris Journeaux discusses the current issues facing the industry. This month, he steps into the digital bubble to talk about automation, personalisation and interaction - all in the name of customer service.

"It might seem a little late to be talking about digital trends for 2018, but then that’s because it is late. My trouble in addressing this pressing question is that every time I begin typing ‘trend’, some merciless form of narcolepsy kicks in and I slump forward, repetitively banging my head on the keyboard.

"Straight in at number one we have automation. In part, a reason to sack all the process jockeys in your firm, but also a justification for buying in some funky new software toys. Perhaps because it linked to artificial intelligence and machine learning, it may strike the uninitiated as a complex realm of dark powers to let computers do the clever work. The truth is closer to a way of automating marketing actions that is focused on repetitive processes. No harm in that. Work faster, and with greater accuracy of customer understanding, and you nail ‘process’ and ‘people’ in one fell swoop. Whether it be automated answers to client questions, or emails sent out without human intervention, there is a new and faster way to meet client needs. Success here means competitive advantage, so if you have yet to embrace the marketing concept of the ‘now’, then reach out for some automation.

"Or don’t. At least, not without caution. Automation has a fundamental flaw that the agency touting its virtues may carelessly overlook and leave you holding a pup. Automation is a tool, not a panacea. When it is used to replace all forms of human contact, it starts to miss the customer needs. It is not in the pursuit of something novel that Amazon started to offer real customer service. They came to understand that the bricks and mortar retailers have a point of difference: people. Unless you can annihilate the competition on price, (and even then, it is no guarantee), automation cannot fully replace the benefits of human intervention. Not convinced? Go and ask the sales team. They might be able to help, and if they can’t, sack them.

Pictured: "Rather gallingly it seems that number three needs repetition: the growth in mobile and smartphone usage."

"Number two is, unsurprisingly, the importance of personalisation. This does not eschew automation, in fact it looks to integrate it into a wider consideration of how customer relationship management can be made to work harder. That means an end to generic email marketing, for example, and an acceleration of development for database management that is able to connect with customers in a way that recognises their specific needs: newsletters that tailor content to match segment detail, which plugs in directly to the psychographic features of segment analysis.

"Rather gallingly it seems that number three needs repetition: the growth in mobile and smartphone usage. It has not stopped, or slowed even and that trend continues to dominate. Yet, for far too many marketers, the fact that their business is being met, and initially interacted with, online via a mobile or smart device has driven them only to consider a responsive website. Put simply, this is lazy and potentially suicidal. The dominance of the mobile device does not end with your website because this is only the context and channel. Screens are getting larger with each mobile version, but the real area of concern is the place for the interaction to take place. As WiFi closes in on universal coverage, your business can be accessed at any time of day and, from almost any location.

"There are other trends I could wade through, but they are fast starting to look old ideas, re-hashed. The impact of the changing structure of customer ‘lifestages’ is worth a nod because it needs to shift our strategic approach to the ‘marketing mix.’ Tech is still dominating the external audit for many firms, and for those that feel it doesn’t, we should probably prepare for a few more commercial funerals. There is also more work to be completed on SEO and content marketing integration, before we can truly say that we have understood the needs of our customers, fully. However, when you look at the list of trends, these or any others, it cannot go without note that most, if not all, return to one featured theme: know your customer."

You can read the digital edition of Connect here.