{"id":574809,"date":"2017-03-08T13:03:17","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T21:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.c3centricity.com\/blog\/real-marketing-priorities-2017\/"},"modified":"2017-03-08T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T21:04:09","slug":"your-real-marketing-priorities-for-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/your-real-marketing-priorities-for-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Real Marketing Priorities for 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of every year, there are hundreds (thousands?) of blog posts sharing their top marketing priorities for the coming twelve months. There are also many similar ones for the priorities of creative content, digital marketing, strategy, economy or whatever else the blog covers.<\/b><\/p>\n

When I was researching for this post, I was surprised to find, perhaps naively, that most articles about marketing priorities referred to \"CMOdigital<\/strong><\/em> marketing. While I agree that online is important, it is only one piece of the marketing puzzle for most brands.<\/p>\n

CMO magazine<\/strong> online<\/strong> interviewed a number of analysts and executives about 2017 marketing priorities. The result was five main areas as shown in the chart on the right.<\/p>\n

Once again customer experience is mentioned together with the importance of achieving a single view of the customer. Thank goodness that marketers are finally waking up to the fact that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be customers without brands, but there are no brands without customers.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There may be customers without brands, but there are no brands without customers<\/a><\/span> Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here at C3Centricity, we have been measuring marketing priorities with our blog followers for several years. (Thanks if you completed this year\u2019s survey by the way; the WINNERS of the five prizes are listed at the bottom of this post)<\/strong><\/p>\n

So here are this year\u2019s top marketing needs of C3Centricity readers. Why not compare them with your own?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Topics Marketers Want to Learn More About in 2017<\/strong><\/h3>\n

#1. Developing more actionable insights<\/h4>\n

#2. Understanding my category landscape and customers better<\/h4>\n

#3. How to be more customer centric<\/h4>\n

#4. Increasing my impact on the business<\/h4>\n

#5. Innovation and business growth<\/h4>\n

It is immediately clear that things have changed dramatically. This shouldn\u2019t surprise us, as the world is moving ever faster and we all need to keep up. This has created a lot of tension for marketers, which is now showing up in their list of marketing<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0challenges<\/strong><\/em> for this year. But more about that in a future post.<\/p>\n

What I also find interesting about this year\u2019s list, is that many topics such as storytelling, business strategy development and segmentation are no longer in the top five. Hopefully,\u00a0this means that progress has been made in these areas over 2016.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at the top 2017 marketing priorities.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Insight Development<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"InsightInsight development has moved from fourth position last year, to first place this year. It seems that even though we have been talking about it for decades, most marketers are still struggling to find insights in their information. This is such a pity with so much data and information readily available these days.<\/p>\n

For this reason, I decided to record a short video class on the basics of insight development. It will be launched soon, so if you want to be invited to participate then please sign up HERE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Insight development takes time\u00a0and far more information than just a piece of market research. The major CPG companies spend weeks if not months with a team of experts from different specialities including psychology. I\u2019m not saying you have to team up with psychologists but you do need to work as a group for insight development. Don\u2019t leave it to just marketers and marketer researchers to work out.<\/p>\n

You can read more on the topic of insight development in \u201cMarketing solutions to more actionable insights<\/a>\u201d and \u201cHow the best marketers are getting deeper insights<\/a>\u201d that include all the basics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more about insight development and get the tools and templates I share with my private clients, then sign up for the forthcoming Insight Development Video Class. Just click the link below.<\/p>\n

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Sign up to receive a personal invitation<\/a><\/span> to the FREE Insight Development Video Class, coming soon!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
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Understanding the Category and its Users<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"TopThese are the foundations of marketing, so it may come as a surprise to you to see them in the top five priorities for this year. Not to me. Our customers are changing dramatically, as we ourselves are too. This means that it is vital to keep our fingers on the pulse of our markets.<\/p>\n

Regularly update your brand personas and follow the changes in your customers as closely as you can.<\/p>\n

Also, don\u2019t forget that your competitors may also be changing and new ones are emerging as a result of these trends:<\/strong><\/p>\n