Pivoting in the New Normal - Marketers as Lead Collaborators in the Australian Corporation

I had the good fortune of facilitating a session with a number of senior marketers recently on behalf of one of our clients.

The topic of conversation was ‘pivoting in the new normal’ and we had a diverse group of companies represented including digital pure plays, global multinationals, Australian household brand names – and all across a very wide range of industries.

Some interesting themes emerged. If I was to roll it up into one sentence it would be:  Digital Marketers in Australia have grown adept as collaborators with other functions of the business to drive key messages and deliver differentiated customer experiences.

Some of the supporting points were:

Visibility of the Marketing Function.

The Marketing/Digital departments have opened up and become a much more visible part of the larger client organisation.  COVID brought further reliance on ‘growth marketing’ and digital as an engine of that growth.  Marketing has become a direct focus at Board Level.

Agility and Inter-Organisation Collaboration.

COVID brought the need to quickly drive communications, across departments, frequently with fewer people.  Clients needed to adapt to define new ways of working to drive key messages – like store closures, products not available, or on sale.  This has developed closer connections with marketing and other parts of the organisation – enhancing the degree of collaboration.

Scheduled Continuous Review of the Martech Stack.

Organisation reviewed the technology they were using to drive their communications.  Marketers have implemented new tools over the past two years to be fit for COVID, but also recognise that the Martech stack needs to evolve over time.  For most companies, this will be an ongoing review.  But, it was also interesting to hear that organisations are moving beyond the typically siloed approach to martech investment – to a more collaborative effort identifying their key stakeholders, the lead party, and marketing investment involving IT, Legal and other areas relevant in decision making.

First Party Data Strategies.

Largely, with the iOS update(s) and moving to a cookie-less world, organisations are recognising the importance of first party data to stay competitive in the future.  Similar to the other areas, first party data strategies require collaboration.  Marketing is working with legal around privacy, and with other parts of the organisation to understand how first party data can be gathered and used to create a more meaningful experience for customers.  

Speaking with Marketers around these trends and their realities with COVID, left me with the feeling that while the past 2 years has brought so much negative to it, there has been some positives – especially around the evolution and sophistication of Digital Marketing in Australia, underpinned by collaboration.

While this instills me with a sense of positivity and optimism, it comes with a degree of caution – I think we are in for our biggest test yet (and that is saying a lot).

As Victoria and New South Wales move fully out of lockdown around the holiday period there will be a huge tsunami of marketing to attract customers across all platforms.

It will call on all of the collaboration skills that marketers have learned over the past two years to provide marketing that is relevant and elevates the customer experience.