Summary of Brian Solis’s keynote speech at the recent Martechvibe Fest event in South Africa Suparna Dutt DCunha
People keep saying: Everything has changed. As the days spent in our home become blurred, outside of the marketing field, consciousness Is happening.
The pandemic not only teaches marketers about digitalization, but also teaches marketers to use it to bring customers new experiences that are more intuitive, more efficient, more efficient, and more exciting, with empathy. Brian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist for Salesforce. On the second day of Vibe Martech Fest South Africa to talk about integrated marketing and CX In a new economy, he said, ” New economy It is a term I came up with to describe the new normal. This is not the old new normal, nor is it necessarily the new normal. This is a future without a script. “
Solis said that even before the pandemic, customer experience had become an area of differentiation between brands that really did this. Now, in a world where digitization exposes the weaknesses and opportunities of every company, experience is the basis for every company’s survival and prosperity in the new economy.
But what has really changed in 2020 and 2021? How do digital and pandemic pressures affect customer behavior and expectations? What does “brand” mean now? Who owns CX to move forward? What is the new role of marketing now?
Looking ahead, several trends are unfolding, but digital-first consumer behavior tops the list. “This not only accelerates digital transformation, but also accelerates human transformation,” Solis said. He said that by emphasizing that new behaviors bring new expectations and integrate the real world and mixed experiences, “the next major disruption is loyalty, retention rate is crucial, and acquisition is an opportunity.”
Solis is also a writer, former analyst, publisher of more than 60 reports, and an aspiring digital anthropologist. He said last year that he witnessed Generation novel“Basically, they are those holding hands in the new economy. It’s about how numbers change all of us equally. How the internet, social media, apps, games, the online economy, working from home, and learning from home have changed us, And how we use these data-driven insights to let us understand what people like and what people expect.”
The experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. Solis said this is critical. “experience Not transactional. This is emotional. We want people to feel great every time they touch us. This is where subversion becomes a card, a factor in the new economy. “
All over the world, people are trying new brands and new services. McKinsey’s research shows that since the closure, 75% of consumers have tried different stores, websites or brands. Moreover, 60% of consumers want to adopt new brands and new stores in their lives and daily lives after the pandemic.
“Why do people do this? Is it convenient? Is it personalise? Is it innovation? Solis asked. “Brands must prioritize understanding changes in behavior. Customers have been telling us for several years, but now in this pandemic-driven world of anxiety and division, they want us to understand their unique needs and expectations. “
“They want us to show empathy, and they want to be integrated throughout the journey. Now, they emphasize the use of digitalization, not just for digital transformation, but to use it to bring more intuitive, more efficient, more efficient and more intuitive to life. An exciting new experience,” Solis added, who was called “one of the most important people” by Forbes. The creative and talented business acumen of our time”.
Digitalization is imperative
The requirement of digitization is not only digitization. More than 85% of customers want the company to speed up digital initiatives, 69% of customers say that the company should provide new ways to obtain existing products and services, 54% of customers want the company to expand its customer engagement methods, and 54% of customers want the company to innovate and provide new Types of products and services.
A new generation of customers is forming, and with it comes new standards of experience and values. “Generation-Novel now wants brands to show their values and align with their values.” In fact, on the list of customers wanting to see a brand transformation, credibility ranks first. “They want you to represent something that goes beyond corporate social responsibility, beyond sustainable development or people-oriented trends,” Solis said.
According to Solis, brand engagement and experience are opportunities to align with customers. According to a survey, more than 60% of customers have stopped buying companies that are inconsistent with their values. Environmental practices, actions against racial injustice, treatment of employees during the pandemic, and actions against economic injustice are some of the factors that influence customers’ purchasing decisions from the company. “Now, customers are more conscious and sober, and they are using their discovery capabilities,” Solis said.
Customer Experience
So who owns the customer experience?
According to Solis, customers own their experience. “We are just doing our best to provide an experience that we think they will enjoy. Not only to be consistent with it, but to find and tell everyone around.”
Solis said that in terms of customer experience, CMOs play an important role in the transformation. “It’s not just about brand style guidelines, advertising, messages and emails, digital touchpoints and conversions, these are all important, but what really matters is how you use marketing to communicate your position in this new world and why They should keep moving forward with you.”
In the Salesforce 2020 State of Marketing report, nearly 80% of high-performing organizations stated that they lead customer experience programs throughout the organization. “Remember, customer experience is the sum of all interactions that customers have with your organization at each touchpoint throughout the journey. Together, they form the brand from their perspective, from what they see and hear,” Soli Said.
Solis says it’s essential to find out what customers are looking for and innovate what they didn’t know during this journey. “Today, we can fix some of the problems in the journey, and we can also create moments that don’t exist in the journey.”
By using technology as a driver for a better experience, there is an opportunity to innovate anywhere. Based on these experiences, companies must collaborate across functions to deliver, cultivate meaningful relationships, and drive growth. “How we talk, how we send email, how we advertise, how we market, how we deliver information, how we serve, how we sell, all these become part of the experience style guide,” he added.
Marketing leaders must achieve change from the purpose of promoting brands and products to integrating 360-degree customer insights and driving experience innovation.
Solis said that marketers are the agents of change. “When you look in the mirror, would you like to see someone who has the courage to take responsibility even if he doesn’t have power, and starts the process of change? This is an external change, but at the same time an internal change.”
For marketers, it’s important to tell stories about who the new customer is, how they feel, what they think, and how they make decisions. “We must support their voices and wishes. It is important to be a growth center.”
Solis said that while profits are part of growth, so are relationships. “A better experience drives these new relationships, and this is what success looks like.”
Needless to say, the memory of Covid-19 has opened up new connections between brands and consumers. Brands need to understand this changing customer and how it shapes their epoch-making memory.
“These times are not easy. Now, we are all paying attention, in our own way, we are re-evaluating everything. Because these times are far-reaching, they create moments when brands can establish new connections with customers. We are forming memories. They are epoch-making because they are certain and will last a long time.”
Companies can use some opportunities to revive their brand. “It’s time to upgrade, update, modernize and humanize our brand. Not only should it represent fashionable, cool and digital things, but also important things,” he said.
According to Solis, unforgettable brand experiences or new pillars of the new economy include cultural relevance, innovation, purpose, trust, customer unity, digital first, and health. “This is a relationship business, and it is important to define what these relationships should look like. Create mutual exchange value. Create a dashboard with meaningful indicators to measure what is important to customers and what is important to the business .”
Solis introduced the playbook of the new economy, outlining the importance of unifying organization, technology and people around customers, upgrading the brand for modernity, values and aspirations, identifying missing areas of experience innovation, releasing artificial intelligence to achieve personalization and the importance of light channels, and Centralized real-time analysis of trends and insights, etc.
“Every time you contact a customer, it’s not just a time to make a transaction, but also a time to convey empathy, deliver what people want, and deliver magic,” Solis said. “This is the whole point of marketing. Bring it to all the content, sales and service methods you perform. This touchpoint is a moment of ignition, a moment of igniting new relationships in the new economy. And you are the one Champion. The future of marketing starts now, and the future of marketing starts from you.”
On the occasion of parting, Solis said that the brand can now become the lightweight product consumers are looking for.
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Keynote Speech: The New Role of Integrated Marketing CX in the New Economy
Even before the epidemic, Customer Experience It is becoming a differentiated area for progressive brands. Now, in a world where digitization exposes the weaknesses and opportunities of every company, experience is now the basis for survival and prosperity in the post-pandemic economy. But what has really changed in 2020 and 2021? How do digital and pandemic pressures affect customer behavior and expectations? What does “brand” mean now? Who owns CX to move forward? What is the new role of marketing now?Listen to this unmissable conference and gain insights from innovative evangelists around the world Brian Solis.
