We’ve been following the discussion arising from the Marketing2020 study that has already drawn on the opinions of 350 CEOs, CMOs, CMO peers and agency leaders, and several thousand marketeers from around the world. Here is a good place to start if you’d like to read about it yourself: (Forbes.com)
The headline findings of this study noted very early on, the changing role of marketing in the social age, specifically the need for marketing and HR to be working together. Higher performing companies in the study were more focused (than the under-performing companies) on engaging not only their customers, but also their employees around their brand’s purpose.
Anyone immersed in B2B markets or retail would express little surprise at these findings as, the notion of ‘our people are our brand’ is self-evident where employees connect directly with customers. However, in the social age, the importance of engaging employees in the brand promise is inescapable even when there isn’t necessarily ‘direct’ interaction between employee and customer, as the social circles of both employees and customers widen and collide.
See also (wfanet.org) and (ana.net)
JUL
2014