Marketing Continuum 2014 was organized on 10th August, 2014 with a reflecting the current trends and challenges faced by the Marketing Managers. In an era where customer wants are continuously evolving, Marketers have to be vigilant and agile in order to match their expectations. In the evolution of Marketing, from delivering values to delivering experience, the role of customer touch points has been very significant. Considering the increasing significance of customer touch points in today’s competitive markets, and the need for its effective management to achieve customer engagement, Marketing Continuum was themed as follows: “Managing Customer Touch points – a Road to Engagement” Following luminaries participated for delivering lectures at Marketing Continuum 2014 at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay:
Some of the key topics for discussion: ‘Managing Customer Touch points: Next Generation Digital Marketing’ It wasn't so long ago that social media analytics meant looking at one-off engagements - fans, followers, likes and using this info to make major campaign decisions. That was the first generation of social marketing. Today, we’re entering the third generation, and the landscape has never looked more exciting. The realms of both digital marketing and customer care have moved beyond the Web to social media, and marketers have incredibly advanced technologies at their disposal. Business leaders are asking for ROI and getting it thanks to social data. ‘Customer Relationship Management: From Differentiator to Necessity’ The customer is being rediscovered today with customer centricity fast becoming a key enterprise theme for most organizations. From Customer Loyalty to Customer Advocacy and now Customer Experience, deep and targeted customer engagement through all customer interactions has become a necessity. The ability to map and manage customer interactions through multiple channels and across the customer life cycle is fast becoming the biggest differentiator for most B2C companies. It is Customer Experience Management that has become the tangible differentiator today, the next frontier in CRM. ‘Customer Engagement in Pharma – New Medicine in Old Bottle’ The new pharma era breeds customer centricity, innovation, and engagement with patients, physicians, and all partners in the healthcare ecosystem.The good old days of the blockbusters are gone. The pharmaceutical industry has to adapt to a new reality and the changes that come along with it. The patent cliff is no longer years away, it is here now. Healthcare reform, changing customer expectations, technology advancements, and cost containment signal that pharma companies must rethink the traditional industry paradigm. ‘Managing Customer Touch Points – A Road to Engagement’ It’s clear to those of us who live at the intersection of technology and customer relationships that customers have radically changed the way they interact with brands. Traditional CRM tools are no longer sufficient because it’s not about managing customer relationships anymore—it’s about creating and optimizing engagement across a vast range of digital touchpoints.For marketers, the upsides of the new customer journey are huge, but so are the challenges. Like it or not, brands and marketing teams need to rethink everything and begin utilizing resources that are better at facilitating and strengthening connections across a constantly growing list of engagement opportunities. ‘Challenges in the Traditional Marketing and the present era of Emotional Marketing’ The world today is increasingly digital. At work, home, and play, people are constantly connected through the internet via a variety of devices and networks. This digital connectivity raises new opportunities--and challenges--for organizations striving to manage their customer communications to create customer and brand value. While marketers now have more means than ever to reach, engage with, and influence customers, knowledge of and expertise in managing these data-intensive tools is essential for success. A tried and true tenet of effective communications is that it is not what you say that builds relationships, but how you say it. Or in marketing communications terms, it is not the rational message that builds brand relationships, but the emotional creativity. Human behavior is heavily influenced by emotions, not solely by reason. Consumers are often highly emotional and intuitive in their behavior, operating through the emotional centers of the brain, dictated by their “heart” or “gut feeling” and often independent of conscious control. |
Continuum 2014 >