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Can you share some insights about your professional background and career leading up to the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Acxiom, and your experience and expertise in the field of customer intelligence?
I joined Acxiom, now part of IPG, as a marketer 26 years ago. Before that, I started my career as a Royal Naval Officer, before my eyesight was no longer up to the mark. So I turned to business, working for Ernst & Young, then Mercury Communications, a large telecommunications company, and then Acxiom.
At Acxiom, he moved between marketing and account management leadership positions in the EMEA region. From managing major CPG, communications, technology and media clients to leading Acxiom’s major acquisition, Claritas and Consodata rebranding. In 2018, Acxiom became part of his IPG, I joined the global marketing team, and in 2019 he had the exciting opportunity to take on the role of CMO.
In my experience, consumers are still in control of marketing, and rightly so. Ultimately, consumers either respond to marketing or they don’t, leading marketers to invest more or less in specific strategies and channels. But marketers who take a data-driven approach can create and leverage customer intelligence (CI) to provide people with a better experience, ultimately increasing engagement and reducing marketing waste. , leading to brand growth.
How do you define “customer intelligence” and its importance in today’s rapidly evolving marketing environment?
At the highest level, we believe that customer intelligence is using marketing technology and data to truly understand people and create better customer experiences. The brands that grow the most are almost always the ones that understand their customers the best. When analyzed, he finds four main pillars necessary for the creation and use of CI.
- Strategy and thinking
- data health
- Analysis and validation
- Operations and Support.
In short, CI is a holistic endeavor. It’s about technology and data, but it’s also about people, skills and culture, ensuring customer intelligence is part of overall strategic thinking and planning.
How does customer intelligence play a key role in shaping a creative agency’s efforts in an overall media strategy? What are some examples of how it transforms the creative process? Do you have something?
Customer intelligence must deepen, enhance, and accelerate creative excellence. This is part of the mindset, instead of thinking creative inspiration and customer intelligence, we need to inspire creativity based on a true understanding of the customer. The human brain functions best when its left and right hemisphere characteristics work together. As businesses, we need to operate in a similar way.
When it comes to the well-deserved hype around AI and creative, the fact remains that the best brands are the ones that understand humans. We need to embrace and leverage AI in the right way. Companies that don’t take this seriously risk being left behind. But most brands also have the potential to leverage data at their fingertips to better understand the customers they love and want and create engaging experiences.
Audience selection is important in targeted marketing. Can you elaborate on how customer intelligence enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of audience selection for various campaigns?
At Acxiom, we consider the term “targeting” to be part of an old school of thought. Rather, we believe we are moving to a world where people expect marketing that is tailored to them, marketing that is done with them and for them, rather than to them. We recognize that sometimes we need to work on an individual level rather than an audience level. It’s important to use data and technology to understand your customers well enough to understand the difference. For example, a brand that sells gum may have less customer intelligence about its audience than a banking brand. But our goal is to get the right level of data-driven customer intelligence for individuals and brands, the right level of advertising gum and the right level needed for long-term relationships with banks.
Customer intelligence goes beyond raw data. Provide insight into Acxiom’s approach to leveraging customer intelligence to develop consumer-centric solutions that effectively connect with targeted target audiences.
Indeed, customer intelligence is more than just raw data. Customer intelligence describes a data-driven approach that includes not only technology and data, but also strategy, culture, processes, partners, and people. Acxiom’s exclusive His CI research reveals our approach and uses real industry insights to reveal the gap between the importance people place on the elements of His CI and their maturity. Generally, a brand knows that he needs CI, but lacks the ability to fully implement it. We call this the customer intelligence gap. We found that some of the highest brand maturity scores were in the areas of data health and operations. This suggests that many companies are aware of the need to collect data and are taking steps to do so. However, lower maturity in other pillars suggests that companies are less clear about what to do with data once they have it. At Acxiom, our job is to help brands bridge this gap.
Learn more about how integrating customer intelligence into your media strategy can help your company stay competitive and capture greater market share.
As I mentioned earlier, the Data Health CI pillar is where brands seem to be the most mature, but even within that pillar there is still a lot of opportunity. Perhaps the biggest single element of data health is identity, the ability to recognize which data needs to be connected to which other data, and the ability to assemble true customer understanding that fundamentally shapes media strategy. . However, we found that only 9% of companies strongly agree that identity differentiates them. The potential exists, but reality lags far behind.
This report highlights the need for deep customer intelligence to help businesses keep up with their competitors. Please provide a summary of the key findings of Acxiom’s consumer intelligence report.
As mentioned earlier, brands are fundamentally recognizing the importance of customer intelligence to their overall marketing strategy and growth. However, knowing and doing are two different things. It’s not that we’re not interested or trying, it’s just that we live in a time of disruption: new technology, changing regulations, and rising customer expectations. Being at the helm is tough for any brand.
When it comes to the customer intelligence gap, 56% of companies agree that their customer insights function is primarily focused on achieving the company’s key goals, but Only 7% said they were actively supported. Another great example is that while 63% of companies say they have a CI center of excellence for sharing best practices across the business, many organizations have a real-time collaborative data platform that all teams can access. Only 22% have
The bottom line is that only 4% of brands are making the most of CI as a key differentiator. Brands are doing a lot of things right, but in an increasingly data-driven world, CI is more important than ever.
Can you share your views on how integrating customer intelligence into media strategy can help small and medium-sized businesses gain a competitive edge and secure greater market share based on your approach?
Customer intelligence is a great equalizer. The principle is fundamentally simple: Understand your current and potential customers and use that intelligence to create experiences that people love, which ultimately leads to sales and growth. However, while it is basically simple, we know that it is not easy. There is more technology and data than ever before, so the question becomes how well can we leverage it? While larger companies may have more purchasing power and scale, smaller companies are considered less complex, less distracting, and more capable of creating and implementing his CI across the four pillars. Masu. Again, customer intelligence is more than technology and data, and many people recognize and appreciate the examples of small businesses doing this well, such as boutique hotel chains and local stores. And I think you are.
As customer expectations continue to evolve, how can businesses leverage customer intelligence to not only keep up but also lead in delivering personalized and relevant experiences?
Customer expectations will certainly continue to evolve. A brand that truly understands its customers across the various segments that inevitably exist will be a brand that can curate experiences that people love. This is what builds trust over time. This allows brands to stay in touch with someone and ensure they’re there when they’re ready to buy. For example, engagement frequency preferences alone can vary widely from one audience to another. I know record labels whose artists have polarizing audiences. Fans of one artist may find anything more than monthly updates to be excessive, while fans of another artist need daily messages to feel the love. It’s about understanding what each viewer wants and expects. There is no one-size-fits-all method. That’s why actionable customer intelligence is essential to get the right information for you and your audience.
Finally, what advice would you give to marketing professionals and business leaders who want to harness the power of customer intelligence to drive their media strategy and overall business growth?
Remember the basics. It’s simply about creating a true understanding of people so you can provide a better experience. Next, consider the four pillars. Because it’s not about adding more technology or data, it’s an integrated approach that delivers real results and growth for your brand. But don’t wait for perfection, start the journey. It will probably never be perfect, but it will get you where you need to go. This will help you win the hearts of your customers and stay ahead of your competitors.
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