The Futurist: Navigating the complex

 As marketers we simplify the complex and bring understanding to the unknown. We bring the best out of a product and create value for the consumer. In this overly cluttered world, where every brand and online influencer is trying to grab your attention, we have to cut through the noise.

Today, most brands target Millennials. When I was in school, there was that one popular girl who everyone wanted to be with. Too much clutter for her with everyone falling over themselves to get her attention. Instead, she ended up with the most earnest kid. While the marketing world is a little more complex than that, to cut through the clutter, a brand needs to be very clear in what it offers as the preferred future places the consumer in the centre.

Strategic foresight

The process of establishing the right frame for planning and anticipating the consumers’ needs is by first placing yourself five to 10 years into the future.What will the consumer want? Map that out with connectivity to future trends – be it IoT or AI – and that will simplify life.

Meanwhile, critical decision-making, inspired innovation and strategic planning will all help bring a brand closer to the consumer. Marketers in the future will have access to amazing data analytical tools where machine learning does most of the work. However, most companies are still not brand building as it requires risks in a world where most companies are risk-adverse.

360 integrated marketing

Digital marketing has seen a sudden spike in interest in the field which led to marketers sometimes focusing purely only on digital. Companies big and small may need to strike the right balance. Not all companies need to go on a 50/50 digital rule, sometimes 20/80 is as good as it gets, especially from a budgeting standpoint and taking into account the type of business.

Timing and rhythm of execution also needs to be considered. There must be a holistic approach to marketing where every touchpoint is addressed with a clear call to action which is required to
ultimately drive branding and sales.

Execution is key. Ultimately more than ever, marketing and sales needs to work closer together.

Design thinking

The future marketer has to create value from the consumers’ perspective, and anticipate their needs. The planning of the consumer journey is basic 101 marketing and each step of the consumer journey needs to be mapped out, clearly defining and designing processes, always with a “consumer-first” mindset.

Strategic foresight is not about being a better forecaster, it is about disrupting the norm; breaking the process and improving it over and over again until you have a rhythm in place.

Review, reset, and repeat

To summarise, there are many ways to cut through the clutter. One key thing for most companies to focus on is to constantly review their own performance – cut where you need to cut and improve on performance. After that, constantly review, reset and repeat until it is perfect.

The writer is Shane Chiang, head of marketing, APAC, HMD Global. The article first appeared in Marketing’s The Futurist print edition.