ADAM recently hosted a webinar titled The Future of Content in An Analytics-Driven World. The webinar was presented by Dave Frankland with Forrester Research. In his presentation, Dave described how new customer behaviors are placing new demands on marketing programs and marketing content and how customer decision management is emerging as an important marketing discipline for most enterprises.You can view a recording of this important webinar here.
Dave Frankland began his presentation by observing that the source of competitive advantage has evolved significantly since the beginning of the twentieth century. From 1900 to 1960, the primary source of competitive advantage was manufacturing excellence. From 1960 to 1990, the emphasis shifted to excellence in distribution, and from 1990 to 2010, dominating companies excelled at managing information. Since 2010, the companies that have achieved superior competitive results have excelled at delivering exceptional customer experiences.
The challenge is to deliver outstanding customer experiences in a world where a growing number of consumers have virtually constant access to a wealth of online information. For these “always connected” consumers, product research is the new norm. Forrester says that 82% of consumers now research products before they make a purchase, and 54% of consumers rely primarily on digital channels to learn about products and services.
In his presentation, Dave Frankland argued that enterprises need to think in terms of customer decision management rather than in terms of the traditional marketing funnel. Customer decision management is about always being able to “serve up” marketing content that is personally and contextually relevant to individual consumers. Frankland also contends that successful customer decision management will require shifts in marketing strategy, marketing processes, and technology infrastructure.
The Future of Content in an Analytics-Driven World provides many valuable insights for enterprise marketers.
