Customer-centricity in a world without cookies: omnichannel strategies to protect your brand

The world changes fast. Today’s evolutions are more like revolutions — paradigm shifts in the ways we live and work. The steady stream of technological advances over the past few decades combined with the circumstances of the past few years have irrevocably changed how we shop, travel, socialize, learn, and more. As a result, organizations across retail, healthcare, and financial sectors have been consistently tasked with adopting and adapting to new ways of doing business and delivering services. And marketing is often at the center of it all.

Marketing supports internal stakeholders like leadership, sales, and HR, as well as every facet of the customer-facing business — communicating messages, garnering and nurturing leads, building brand loyalty, and gathering the insights that turn into actions. From creative services and campaign management to tech and analytics, marketing has become the fulcrum of many organizations.

But for those without the resources, staff, or technology to effectively create, execute, and analyze campaigns and projects, the challenges can be overwhelming. With omnichannel strategies becoming the gold standard and cookies going away, there’s never been a better time for marketing departments to take a long, hard look at what is and isn’t working for them.

81% of companies rely on third-party data and 55% of companies say they are not fully ready for a world without cookies.*

Traditional marketing used to be about the “four Ps” (Product/Price/Performance/Placement). The focus was on functionality, value, and relevance with metrics that correlated to leads, sales, and customer satisfaction. But then came online shopping, online banking, online learning….

And as technology changed the way we do everything from shopping for shoes to visiting the doctor, suddenly there were so many data points. Email open rates, clickthrough rates, visits, bounces, conversions, AOVs, plus all the data points related to omnichannel ad spends and ROI analyses. But the data alone was not enough — the points needed to be connected, prompting the growth of marketing automation and campaign software.

However, marketing is both an art and a science. Data and statistics can pave the way to creative, meaningful campaigns that achieve exceptional results. But only if you have the right technologies and solutions in place to connect the dots, unlock the power of your information, and innovate to scale.

REVENUE

70% is the average top-line revenue increase among companies that invested in digital customer engagement over the past two years, while for 7% of companies, revenues tripled.*

Revenue is about more than just dollars … it’s about sense. Bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and complicated workflows all impact the bottom line. Innovative technologies and marketing solutions that drive digital customer engagement are vital to achieving exceptional results and future-proofing your business. Here are a few questions to consider. 

• Are you losing revenue because of outdated technologies?

• Is your current tech stack a patchwork of providers and workarounds?

• Are your systems hardware-heavy, requiring frequent maintenance?

• Is the marketing arm of your business properly staffed?

RELATIONSHIPS

95% of business leaders recognize that fully owning and utilizing customer data will be their biggest growth lever over the next three years.*

Improving customer relationships starts with improving data relationships. Optimizing your workflow, automation, and asset management solutions leads to unified brand messaging, consistent and compelling creative, and a deep, data-driven understanding of who your customers are — allowing for quick and efficient execution of omnichannel campaigns and projects across channels and audiences. You can improve your organization’s relationship skills by:

• Streamlining technology across multiple touchpoints, yielding to more effective sales strategies 

• Personalizing customer communication to maximize customer value and increase retention

• Utilizing personalization, augmented reality, and multiple channels to immerse your customers in integrative and engaging experiences

REPUTATION

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you'll do things differently.” - Warren Buffett

In today’s world, the only constant is change. Marketing departments and organizations need to stay one step ahead in order to adapt, innovate, and keep pace with increasing customer expectations and the impending cookie-less future. Now is the time to:

• Reevaluate your technology stack 

• Invest in strategies to obtain critical, zero-party data

• Consider customized, cloud-based solutions that are flexible and scalable

Doing so will not only help you determine which elements of your marketing program are working today, it will help you identify the changes required to drive your organization forward tomorrow – future-proofing your strategies and solutions for years to come.