Boss Craig stumbled across the following article from a fellow Kiwi, and thought it would be fun to share and see what you think. In this so-called "digital age", should we really start to put all of our eggs in one basket, and head down a very strong digital marketing / PR direction, or should we still realise that not everyone is as 'connected' as we expect, and traditional mediums still hold considerable weight. Regardless, the same skills apply - marketing is a form of story-telling, and we need to be great story-tellers to convert shoppers into customers.
Do share your perspective on this in the comments section.
The New Marketing Strategy? Spend Big on Perfecting Your Mobile and Online Channels
Xero CMO Andy Lark says companies that provide the best customer experiences will win in the connected era.
Andy Lark of Xero suggests enterprises ditch “old marketing tactics” and spend their money instead on perfecting their mobile and online channels.
“Get your mobile and online experience perfect, and then reinvent the overall client experience,” says the chief marketing officer of the cloud-based small business accounting software provider. "Marketing is largely a crutch for those who build lousy products," says Lark.
Companies that provide the best [customer] service experience wins, says Lark in his keynote on ‘change in the connected era’ at Xerocon Auckland.
 |
| Photo Credit: www.etherspeak.com |
“Nobody is safe in this environment,” he states. “There is a radical reinvention going on here. How do you create the best experience so you have a huge competitive advantage?”
Increasingly, this customer experience happens on a mobile device.
He says people spend more time on mobile apps than web browsers.
“We do not have a phone in our pocket, we have a fully functioning computer,” says Lark.
He says an important question for businesses today is: “How good are you on a mobile phone or tablet?”
“If you are not there, you are not anywhere,” he adds.
 |
| Andy Lark at the 2015 Xerocon in Auckland |
"Nobody is safe in this environment." Andy Lark, Xero
He cites the case of bookstores which are now closing down due to the inroads made by online retailers such as Amazon.
Amazon will deliver a book on the same day you order, to your hotel, for $5, he states.
He imagined a meeting of the bookstore executives as Amazon and online retailers were starting to expand: A 'geek in attendance would be saying they needed a website, but the executives would respond by saying they must refurbish the stores. He says the death of the bookstores is a fate that could hit other industries.
He says the early movers and adopters of the mobile technology did not just adopt it — “They changed the way they live, work and play.”
The lesson here, he says, is “technology is an unstoppable force, it is the trigger for huge industry wide change.”
“So how do you deal with change, how do you actually change, how do you transform using these technologies?”
 |
| Photo Credit: www.usselfstorage.com |
In the case of mobile technology, he says among the biggest users of smartphones are aged 16 to 34.
“They do not live on the browser, they live on their phones,” he says.
“A new bunch of customers [is] coming your way who want to do business differently with you. You have to drive a shift if you want to be here in 10 to 15 years.”
No comments:
Post a Comment