The Economic Intelligence Unit has released a survey that shows that it is increasingly important to understand how to engage with stakeholders across the board, as a result of the growing popularity of interactive applications such as blogs, wikis, mashups and social networking sites – in other words – Web 2.0

The report is called, ‘Future Tense: The Global CMO’, and it charts the way in which interaction with consumers is taking place increasingly at many points, not just the point of purchase, and as a result, it is crucial that marketers engage sensitively and carefully with all their stakeholders at all times.  Increasing interactivity also means that faster responsiveness is key, and that corporate employees must become faster, smarter and more fully informed concerning their company’s aims and operations, in order that communications with consumers and stakeholders are not undermined by a lack of responsiveness, or a lack of intelligence or understanding of their employer.

Two hundred and sixty-three marketing executives were questioned and of these, 56 per cent felt that their companies were already focussing on customer-interactions across the board. Typical engagements to consider nowadays are with: customers, prospective customers, investors, employees, industry experts, researchers and regulators. Consumers themselves are now able to garner information from many places, and have a great sense of what is a genuine message and what is being hyped.

While currently conferences, events, consumer / business & trade magazines and TV are the most important way to reach people, it seems that opinion is that online content will be the way forward, in addition to these. And in terms of measuring effectiveness, current measures are sales and revenue figures, brand-awareness data and conversion rates, although it is felt that ROI and relevance to the business are very hard factors to track. Online media do provide a greater insight in terms of click-throughs, downloads and sign-ups, however it is important not just to measure these data but also to understand their qualitative meaning.

The report recommends:

Balance global brand awareness with local market relevance – it is important to weigh cost-cutting measures such as centralising marketing functions against the increasing importance of understanding the typically much wider spread of audiences and markets. “‘The simple phrase I use to capture our model is thinking local, acting global’ says Rob Malcolm, president of global marketing, sales and innovation for Diageo, the US$15bn UK-based maker of spirits and beer, with global brands including Baileys, Cuervo, Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, Tanqueray and Crown Royal. Diageo’s approach is the inverse of the think globally, act locally mantra cited by other global CMOs. Whereas many companies create branding and global strategies centrally, Diageo allows regional marketers to tailor their strategies to local markets.”

Marketing must be integrated with corporate communications – audiences are no longer segmented and increasingly, transparency means a holistic approach to corporate communications.

Use the new media – set aside some budget for the more interactive marketing technologies.

Develop new skills, capacities and partners. Understand your company in depth and breadth – and make use of white-labelling products and services from partners to get messaging across faster.

Champion innovation and deeper customer understanding. With so much interactivity, consumer focus and new technology available, there are now a plethora of ways to bring your product to market – this means it is now much easier to be innovative.