By nickjohnson - November 19th, 2013
The Incite Summits we run are different to most conferences.
As well as bringing together an unrivaled speaker list, and a very strong set of attendees, we have fundamentally changed how our conferences are built.
In short, we give you a far more powerful role than any other event. We allow you to vote on the core topics we discuss, to request speakers, and submit specific questions to be asked at the event.
This way, we’ll not only deliver an event more relevant than any other, but one that is completely up to date. Too many conferences stay exactly the same from launch to the show date. That’s sometimes 3 months. And we all know that three months time in marketing is a long time. Lots can happen. Our model ensures we stay up to date.
Happily, this system also allows us to take the pulse of the marketing community several times in the lead up to the conference.
Below is a list of the top issues in marketing right now (suggested through collaboration with our community, and with the attendees of the Incite:East Summit). These have now been ranked by your peers for the last month or so, and we can start to draw conclusions about which are the biggest and most important topics for you in the months ahead:
- RELEVANT AND ENGAGING MESSAGING: Create new, targeted and relevant marketing messages more aligned to consumer need/interest (30% of people put this as one of their top 2 priorities)
- RELEVANT AND ENGAGING MESSAGING: Real-time insights for quick decision-making and responsive marketing (18%)
- EXPLOIT MULTI-CHANNEL: Build a strategy that incorporates many channels and media effectively (14%)
- EXPLOIT MULTI-CHANNEL: Keep up with the pace of change - assess value of new marketing platforms and channels (Vine, for instance) as they appear (12%)
- CLOSER TO CUSTOMER: Change your internal culture to be more customer-centric (12%)
- CLOSER TO CUSTOMER: Evolve your internal organisation and workflows to enable customer-centricity (6%)
- MANAGE BIG DATA: Collect the right data across multiple customer touchpoints. Break down silos for better data-sharing cross-functionally (6%)
- MANAGE BIG DATA: Synthesise multiple data sources and build up a customer insight strategy for a better picture of the customer (2%)
Number one focus: Relevant and engaging messaging
Second on the list is “real-time, responsive marketing”. The advent of social has made this a popular choice, but - as a senior VP of marketing said to me recently - “We all wish we could leverage real-time like Oreo’s “You can Still Dunk in the Dark” messages, but you’ve got to be realistic about resources. We’re striving towards it, but we’re not there yet.”
Multi-channel matters
Understandably, multi-channel issues are high on the list of priorities, too. 25% of our respondents put multi-channel as one of their top 2 issues for 2014. The major focus is to build up a strategy enabling the use of many channels and media types - but following closely behind is a point about speed. New channels are arriving, it seems, weekly. For the marketer to keep up with new developments, and make sensible assessments as to the viability of these new options, is a considerable challenge.
Big data and customer-centricity aren’t high priorities
As you can see, the issues are grouped into four key areas:
- Relevant and engaging messaging
- Exploiting multi-channel
- Getting closer to the customer
- Managing big data
At this early stage, it seems that big data and customer-centricity are both far lower priorities than the first two issues on the list. This seems disappointing - there is a growing consensus that both of these topics are critical for the future of marketing, so there seems to be rather a disconnect between said consensus and the ‘marketers on the ground’.
Perhaps the minutiae of managing big data is beyond the remit of the marketer? Perhaps consumer insight is, too? It would be great to get your point of view in the comments below.
I don’t for a minute assume that the findings above are comprehensive, nor that this ranking will remain as we get closer to May 2014. Marketing is changing rapidly, and the marketing executive role is undergoing considerable turbulence. Please do volunteer your thoughts on these issues here, and let us know if any of your key priorities are not represented.
Your feedback will not only lead to further stats like the above, but the delivery of a tightly-focused, cutting edge Incite:West Summit next May.