Plan to invent the marketing we need today

A plan to invent the marketing we need today

The field of marketing is/has fundamentally changing due to:
– The rise of emerging economies (e.g. India, China) demand new strategies to reach developing countries
– Technologies are emerging and changing science and society
– Social concern from environmental impact to corporate social responsibility are changing the relationshipsof companies to the societies in which they operate

As a result, the era of a passive consumer is over, new breed of consumers have arisen and they expect:
– Customization (make it mine)
– Communities (let me be part of it)
– Multiple channels (let me call, click, or visit)
– Competitive value (give me more for my money)
– Choice (give me search and decision tools)Empowered consumers are increasingly in control – dramatically changing the role of marketing; this shift in the relationship between consumers and companies is the most fundamental change in the history of marketing

Marketing has emerged as rigorous (= accurate, precise, throughout) field. Tools such as conjoint analysis, economic and econometric modeling, behavioral economics, data mining, andtechniques derived from mathematical psychology have raised the level of rigor and strengthened the insights that marketing can contribute to the company.

Today’s challenge: how to move from using old tools that are focused on solving problems of the past to developing new and rigorous tools that are relevant to the challenges of today and future. In a conclusion, there is a need for rigor(using scientifically valid methods to address marketing problems), and relevance (a true focus on the evolving needs of managers and their organizations).

Seven strategies for increasing rigor & relevance
Increase marketing usefulness and impact on the organization while sustaining its rigor and achieving its desired outcome for all its stakeholders.

1. Bridge the disciplinary silos
–Silos, separating different disciplines, limit both the rigor and relevance of marketing, examples:
o R&D, operations, and marketing are often separated in an organization – yet they must come together for a successful product design
o Finance and marketing in separate worlds, even opposite camps – but measurement of ROI in marketing or measurement of brand equity (vital forimproving these investments) depends upon perspectives from these two worlds
– In addition to these silos within companies, many others limit the relevance and rigor of marketing, including:
o Company & consumer: divisions between the company and its consumers limit the effectiveness of marketing; as empowered consumers become co-inventers, co-producers, and even co-marketers thesebarriers must come down – consumers can actively develop and disseminate marketing messages
o Behavioral & quantitative approaches: marketing is divided between behavioral and quantitative approaches. Markets can be seen through either behavioral or quantitative approach, but to gain more in depth view ideally these two sides should come together
o Academic & practitioner: withexception to few, most marketing organizations hold separate conferences to for academic and industry participants. The more researchers and practitioners are in a separate world, the less impact rigorous academic marketing research and modeling will have on practice. Collaboration offers the best opportunities to ensure academic researchers are focused on the most important questions
oMarketing & other disciplines: fields such as computer science, complexity science, and neuroscience have relevance for marketing, yet their application to marketing is has been very limited because of disciplinary silos
o Analysis & objective judgment: there is a divide between rigorous analysis and objective judgment. Those with more quantitative approach relay heavily on detailed...