Look at almost any consumer business and you’ll see how advances in digital technology are fundamentally changing how customers interact with companies before, during, and after a purchase. Consumers increasingly expect to explore, study, elicit input, assess, and click the “buy” button at their speed, at their own time and location, and on their preferred platform. Customers also continue to interact with companies online after making a purchase and discuss their experiences with one another. Much of the customer journey is outside a company’s direct control, and marketing departments are racing just to stay up.

The good news for chief marketing officers (CMOs) is that digital marketing can provide detailed data on and analysis of consumer behavior, as well as precise results about the effectiveness of a marketing program, with a level of detail and precision that previous generations of CMOS could hardly comprehend. The difficulty is that these new technology and consumer habits are raising the bar for what will succeed in the market.

Building strong customer experiences necessitates companies operating outside of their comfort zone, such as working with significantly shorter cycle times, more fast and frequent revisions, and a larger vendor ecosystem than the typical advertising agency approach.

Furthermore, customers are increasingly demanding highly customized, relevant, and targeted marketing messages and offerings. If you miss the mark, you risk losing them forever. In this sense, digital marketing entails both more rewards (in terms of increased engagement and ROI) and greater risk (due to the execution complexity and the need for behavioral changes across the organization).

CMOS understands that new competencies are required to succeed in this climate. In a recent study of more than 300 CMOs in the United States done by Strategy& in collaboration with the Association of National Advertisers and Korn/Ferry, 72 percent stated that developing digital marketing capabilities is critical. The problem is that there is no one set of skills that applies to all situations. Companies must determine what type of marketing organization is required to ensure the success of their strategy, select a digital marketing model based on their strategic objectives, and then focus on developing a small number of marketing capabilities that will allow them to bring that model to life and consistently excel.

Models of Digital Marketing

Strategy& has identified four equally effective digital marketing models: Digital Branders, Customer Experience Designers, Demand Generators, and Product Innovators. A business’s marketing investment emphasis may include parts of both, but chances are that one of these models represents the best marketing organization for your company.

• Customer products businesses or other marketers that focus on establishing and renewing brand equity and greater consumer interaction are the most common digital branders. These businesses are moving their investments away from traditional linear advertising and toward more immersive digital multimedia experiences that may connect customers to brands in new ways. They are rethinking how they engage consumers, with the primary objective of attracting new customers and increasing loyalty via many interactions with the brand.
• Customer Experience Designers employ customer data and insights to provide their customers with a superior end-to-end brand experience. Typically, these businesses (such as financial institutions, airlines, hotels, and shops) base their business strategies on customer service. These firms seek to develop a continuous dialogue and a devoted client base by changing how they connect with customers and wowing them at numerous contact points.

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The Menu of Capabilities

These digital marketing models are not particular to any sector. In reality, firms in the same industry might use diverse digital marketing techniques to reach their target audiences. In the telecommunications business, for example, Vodafone is most closely aligned with the Digital Brander model, Verizon is a Customer Experience Designer, KPN/E-Plus is a Demand Generator, and Orange is a Product Innovator. To bring their digital marketing plans to life, each of these firms has concentrated on a distinct set of capabilities, and each capacity requires developing the proper combination of procedures, tools, knowledge, skills, and organization.

Eight fundamental marketing competencies are more or less important depending on which of the four digital marketing models a firm employs. (Of these eight, the first four focus on developing insights, while the latter four focus on implementing those findings.)

1. Segmentation and needs assessment, also known as the use of digital research tools to analyze transactions, identify consumer pain spots and evaluate non-transaction data (e.g., social media). The firm may more directly target advertising, promotions, and content along the route to purchase by better knowing how certain groups of customers assess, purchase, and utilize items.
2. Measurement, or the creation of uniform measurements over the whole buying route (i.e., at home, on the go, and in stores). This feature also includes data for consumer interaction across paid media (e.g., advertising), owned media (such as the corporate website), earned media (publication coverage), and shared media (e.g., Facebook or YouTube). When used appropriately, these indicators may aid in quantifying ROI throughout the whole digital marketing program.
3. Real-time decision-making enabled by regular monitoring of social sentiment and brand health, allowing modifications to be made throughout marketing initiatives, including branded media and in-store merchandising, to improve their effectiveness.
4. Personalization and targeting, or the establishment of a single picture of the customer across sales channels and digital contact points by integrating different data sources, such as household data, purchasing activity, mobile data, and Web analytics. Companies may also use social media data to supplement consumer profiles to enhance target marketing and particular offers.
5. Optimized content, or the distribution of branded material across various direct-to-consumer platforms that are easy to search and browse (such as websites, mobile devices, and social media channels). Optimized content assists the firm in engaging customers and driving registration and sales across several media, allowing it to deliver more relevant products and services to those consumers for certain events or stages of life.
6. Innovation is fueled by the use of social media to gain deeper customer insights that fuel product development. These insights, in addition to improving the product itself, can improve the customer’s experience with the product.
7. Social influence and advocacy, or the inciting of consumer involvement to generate and spread content, while also mining this social emotion to increase consumer engagement. Companies with a high level of social influence and advocacy may encourage customers to produce and share content about the brand on social media, and then utilize the resultant insights to improve their marketing efforts.
8. The implementation of marketing initiatives across channels, or the omnichannel experience. This capacity also includes investing in technology, analytics, and people to enable seamless mobile, social, and e-commerce experiences, allowing customers to interact with the firm whenever and wherever they choose. Omnichannel experiences also involve third-party integrated marketing initiatives, as well as larger media and trade promotion tactics.

Developing the Required Capabilities

It is nearly hard to excel at all of the digital marketing talents we have listed. As a result, each firm must concentrate solely on the skills that are most closely aligned with its digital marketing approach. There is a connection between the company’s strategy, the digital marketing model necessary, and the marketing organization and marketing skills required to thrive with that model. The skills required to succeed as a Digital Brander will differ from those required to thrive as a Demand Generator. There are numerous pathways to success, and even firms following the same Demand Generator model, for example, may choose to highlight alternative skills. However, some models, in general, necessitate that the firm has a certain set of supporting skills.