Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy

Chapter 2 Macro-Trends

A Perfect Storm of Big Data, Digital, and Direct Consumer Engagement

I believe there is a perfect storm brewing in marketing today, as the worlds of direct-to-customer engagement, big data, and digital media collide. Customer relationship marketing falls squarely into the center of it. As the marketing landscape has evolved at breakneck speed, I've been studying the forces that have brought about today's age of the customer. Three key trends are evident, driving change in the ways brands market to customers and creating enormous opportunity for marketers: the digitization of media and channels; the proliferation of social media networks at scale; and the mobility of virtually all available media and channels. These are the disruptive forces that are creating vast opportunity for marketers to establish a position of competitive differentiation.

MACRO-TRENDS

Digitization of Media and Channels

It's clear that technology is having a material impact on how consumers and brands interact. Far and away, the most important factor affecting the way consumers are marketed to today is the digitization of media and channels—and the resulting proliferation of customer touchpoints. The digital tracks left behind by constant consumer movement among outbound digital media (brand to consumer) and inbound digital channels (consumer to brand) reveals an abundance of data that enables unprecedented analysis and targeting capabilities.

Digital progress has made it possible and ...