Merkle Launches 2019 Marketing Imperatives, A CMO’s Roadmap to People-Based Marketing

By MTS Staff Writer On Jan 17, 2019

Book Outlines Three Pillars to Achieve Transformation Through Integration of Key Business Functions

Merkle a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, has released its seventh installment of the Marketing Imperatives, a guidebook for CMOs. The 2019 Marketing Imperatives prescribe the building blocks of an integrated, successful people-based marketing strategy. The resource explores the fundamentals of integrating across strategy, technology, and execution to implement a customer-centric approach over time. It offers advice on how to accomplish this goal through the effective management and use of data from deliberate, informed interactions across channels and media. The Imperatives are available in a complimentary, downloadable book and supported by an upcoming webinar series hosted by Merkle.

“Placing the customer at the center of the business strategy is a top priority for CMOs, but figuring out how to get there isn’t always clear,” said David Williams, president and CEO, Merkle. “The goal of the Marketing Imperatives is to advise CMOs in pursuit of this goal, providing actionable strategies for how they can reach it.”

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The Marketing Imperatives offer a roadmap for implementing a people-based marketing strategy. The transformation depends heavily on the integration of key aspects of the marketing approach. Three essential pillars are outlined to guide CMOs on the path to growing their businesses and building competitive advantage.

Integrate your customer strategy – A foundation of planning will help marketers build a more complete picture of their desired audience, evolving the marketing strategy into a 360-degree customer strategy. The outcome is a roadmap for personalized engagements across media and channels, spanning the entire life cycle.

Integrate your tech stack – In addition to building this full customer profile, organizations should be focused on fully integrating their tech stack. The resulting data hub is the centralized facility for real-time receipt and distribution of customer data that also allows marketers to execute and modify marketing strategies.

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Integrate your execution – Before embarking on this transformation, ensure the team has a clear vision of the integrated customer experience and enabling technology platform. This forms the basis of the plan, upon which you layer the people and processes required for execution. Remove the walls between organizational silos, while leveraging their unique capabilities. Clearly define, communicate, and measure every role and goal along the way.

“By using data and insights to build a complete 360-degree view of their customers, marketers can create personalized, informed messaging that differentiates their businesses from competitors,” said Craig Dempster, president, Merkle Americas. “In this year’s edition of the Marketing Imperatives, we examine the importance of integration and how the future of marketing favors companies that have the ability to link customer experience to data sourcing, management, insights, and activation across their own integrated platform.”