In her latest piece for Campaign, Dana Sarkis from Hearts & Science gives advice on how brands need to embrace their data
The relationship between brands and consumers has reached an inflection point. Advertising is no longer a one-way street, and all brands must quickly adapt to this new reality if they are to survive. The path to purchase used to be simple but this journey is rarely linear today. To cater to increasingly demanding consumers and thrive in a highly competitive environment, brands need to look at every step of their customer experience. It starts with real customer intelligence.
Investing in this customer experience calls for much more than recruiting a “chief customer experience officer”. It is what every company should live and breathe as it affects every single aspect of the business. This includes product development, IT infrastructure, supply chain, marketing, sales and even leadership development. All these units need to work together towards one goal: understanding customer gaps, needs and aspirations. Only then will brands be able to stay relevant in both communication and product in order to create a meaningful, lasting customer experience.
For that, some companies might need to take a step back and assess their development compared with the evolution of technology and rank their maturity on that scale. Do they have the right tech infrastructure to scale their business? Or maybe they need to overhaul their business by embracing digital transformation. Ultimately, any organisation needs to be adaptable. Companies that don’t continuously redefine and revamp themselves – in processes, business models and products – are already falling behind.
To find out how, read the full piece here.
