Brands at risk
David Eldridge,
CEO,
Alterian
There is a major social change taking place and now is a unique time for business to respond to the opportunities and challenges this presents.
The time of the mass empowerment of the individual is upon us. Consumers are no longer a passive audience waiting to be communicated with. The traditional methods of
mass audience segmentation followed by broadcast communication employed by the marketing industry over the past 50 years are no longer sophisticated enough. The emergence
of digital channels and internet-based social media has created a new world of communication and technology has equipped individuals with platforms to voice their opinion
and influence their peers.
Consumers are increasingly marketing savvy and empowered. For companies this means we are no longer in an age where we can control our brand reputation. Although this
is a little scary, the flip side is that we now have the ability to be able to understand what is being said about our business and what our target customers want from us.
Companies have so much more information at their fingertips than ever before, yet so many do not know how to harness it. Social data collection and analysis now enables
businesses to respond to and build a new form of more personal, individualised engagement yet the Alterian’s report; Your Brand: At Risk or Ready for Growth?,
found that over 60% of organisations do not have a social media strategy in place, which means many of them are not even listening, let alone communicating with their customers online.
Successful brands are pushing the boundaries of marketing and advertising, riding a wave of social change that has driven consumers to demand more from the companies
they buy from than ever before. New business ventures can search out and tap into relevant conversations to test ideas and garner feedback in an incredibly powerful way.
The Brand at Risk report showed that 82% of people expressed a positive interest in being involved by companies in developing products and services. Furthermore,
82% thought that being involved in this way would make them more likely to tell others about the company. It is clear that brands must now learn to interact with
individuals, to listen, understand and engage with them.
Technology is changing the game, both in the way consumers interact with brands, but also in the brands ability to respond. Engaging with customers in a two-way dialogue,
connecting online and offline channels within an analytics framework, and fully recognising the value of each individual customer is the way of the future. Alterian's
pioneering technology helps brands to truly engage with the individual at every step of their customer lifecycle.