Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 10, Issue 1, Year 2020

Vol ume1 0 , I s s ue1 , 2 0 2 0

TheFut ur eofMar k et i ngManagementandAcc ur at el y Under s t andi ngt heNewsI mpac t i ngt heBus i nes s , Res et t i ngourGui di ngVal ues TheodorVal ent i nPURCĂREA

Adequat el yManagi ngDi gi t al Mar k et i ng,Cons i der i ngt he NewCons umerBehav i or sDr i v enI nc l udi ngbyt heDai l yHeal t hNews Cos t elI l i uț ăNEGRI CEA I oanMat eiPURCĂREA

“ Mar k et i ngSc i enceandI ns pi r at i ons ”andt heVocat i onofPr ov i di nga Hol i s t i cPer s pec t i v eonModer nMar k et i ngI s s ues DanSMEDESCU

Gl obalGr eenUni v er s i t y :Et hi calAwar enes s , Ri ccar doGar os c i ,Cooper at i onf orSus t ai nabi l i t y ,and Et hi calPay ment Ber ndHALLI ER

Mar k et i ngDi f f er ent i at or sandt heCor ol l ar yMi nds etShi f t swi t hi n t heNewMar k et i ng TheodorPURCĂREA

Editorial Board of “Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University) Editor-in-Chief Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA

Bernd HALLIER

John SAEE

John L. STANTON

Léon F. WEGNEZ

William PERTTULA Levent ALTINAY

Andrew KILNER Dana ZADRAZILOVA Riccardo BELTRAMO Sinisa ZARIC Gabriela SABĂU Hélène NIKOLOPOULOU Vasa LÁSZLÓ Peter STARCHON John MURRAY Kamil PÍCHA

Holistic Marketing Management

President of European Retail Academy; President of EuCVoT, Member of the Astana Economic Scientists Club; Former Managing Director EHI Retail Institute, Germany, Chairman of the Advisory Board of EuroShop, Chairman of the Board of the Orgainvent, Trustee of EHI Retail Institute at GLOBALG.A.P. President - Association of Global Management Studies (USA); Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues & Former Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Management Systems, USA; Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, the Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology; Member of France’s National Academy of Scientific Research (CNRS); Director - ESB International Teaching and Research Exchanges, Reutlingen University, Germany Professor of Food Marketing, Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, USA; Director, Institute of Food Products Marketing, Editor, Journal of Food Products Marketing; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2016 Secretary General, International Association of the Distributive Trade, AIDA Brussels; Member of France’s Academy of Commercial Sciences; Doctor Honoris Causa of NUPSPA (SNSPA) Bucharest; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2015; Administrator Secretary General of the Diplomatic Club of Belgium Internet Marketing Professor, College of Business, San Francisco State University, USA Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Research Area Leader, Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business, Oxford Brookes University, UK First MBA Director at the Rennes Graduate School of Business in France; Director of RAFME Research into Management Excellence; PhD (Cambridge), MBA (City, London) Faculty of International Economic Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic University of Turin, Italy University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia Memorial University, Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook, Canada University of Lille 3, France Szent Istvan University, Hungary Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia Faculty of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice 1

Irena JINDRICHOVSKA Norbert HAYDAM Constantin ROŞCA Hans ZWAGA Roxana CODITA Dumitru MIRON Valeriu IOAN-FRANC Iacob CĂTOIU Virgil BALAURE Gheorghe ORZAN Luigi DUMITRESCU Marius D. POP Petru FILIP

Ion VOICU SUCALA Virgil POPA Alexandru NEDELEA Olguța Anca ORZAN Ana-Maria PREDA Ovidiu FOLCUȚ Doinița CIOCÎRLAN Marius Dan DALOTĂ Mihai PAPUC Gheorghe ILIESCU Costel NEGRICEA Alexandru IONESCU Tudor EDU Olga POTECEA Oana PREDA Nicoleta DUMITRU Monica Paula RAȚIU Elisabeta Andreea BUDACIA

Deputy Head of Department of Business Economics, University of Economics and Management, Prague, Czech Republic Faculty of Business, Marketing Department, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa President of Romanian Scientific Society of Management - SSMAR Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, Finland Technische Universität München, TUM School of Management Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest National Institute for Economic Research, Romanian Academy; Romanian Marketing Association; Romanian Distribution Committee Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca Dimitrie Cantemir University, Bucharest Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Management and Economic Engineering Department; University of Glasgow, UK, College of Social Sciences, School of Social & Political Sciences; Managing Editor, Review of Management and Economic Engineering Valahia University of Târgovişte Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University

Associate Editors Diana SOCA Irina PURCĂREA Dan SMEDESCU Art Designer Director Alexandru BEJAN

Holistic Marketing Management

2

“Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University)

Volume 10, Issue 1, Year 2020

Contents

Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA - The Future of Marketing Management and Accurately Understanding the News Impacting the Business, Resetting our Guiding Values ..............................................................4

Costel Iliuță NEGRICEA - Adequately Managing Digital Marketing, Considering the Ioan Matei PURCĂREA

New Consumer Behaviors Driven Including by the Daily Health News....................................................................................11

Dan SMEDESCU - “Marketing Science and Inspirations” and the Vocation of Providing a Holistic Perspective on Modern Marketing Issues.....................................27 Bernd HALLIER (by courtesy of) - Global Green University: Ethical Awareness, Riccardo Garosci, Cooperation for Sustainability, and Ethical Payment.................................................................31

Theodor PURCĂREA - Marketing Differentiators and the Corollary Mindset Shifts within the New Marketing..............................................................................36

The responsibility for the contents of the scientific and the authenticity of the published materials and opinions expressed rests with the author.

Holistic Marketing Management

3

Editorial: The Future of Marketing Management and Accurately Understanding the News Impacting the Business, Resetting our Guiding Values In 1947 the reputed French novelist (ten years later he received Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature in 1957) Albert Camus published “The Plague” (“La Peste”, in French), his second novel (the first one, “The Stranger”, being published five years before), highlighted by the prestigious Encyclopedia Britannica as “a symbolical account of the fight against an epidemic in Oran by characters whose importance lies less in the (doubtful) success with which they oppose the epidemic than in their determined assertion of human dignity and fraternity”.

Recently, we read some significantly entitled posts: ▪ “Why You Should Read The Plague, the Albert Camus Novel the Coronavirus Has Made a Bestseller Again”, in which the author started as follows: “The coronavirus, fair to say, isn’t good for the economy: not for the economies of individual nations, and not for the world economy as a whole. But that’s not to say that every industry has taken a hit. This is hardly the worst time in history to produce and sell toilet paper, for instance, nor to furnish the packages of necessities demanded by “preppers” who foresee the end of society as we know it. One probably wouldn’t wish to take the place of the makers of Corona beer right now, but despite the nowunfortunate brand name, their sales, too, have stayed strong. And for publishers around the world who have been considering a reprint of Albert Camus’ La Peste, now is most assuredly the time”. (Marshall, 2020) ▪ “What We Can Learn (and Should Unlearn) From Albert Camus’s The Plague”, in which the author argued that: “Camus’s novel has fresh relevance and urgency—and lessons to give…

Camus’s true subject lies outside of time and place... he addresses any contagion that might overtake any society; from a disease like cholera, the Spanish Influenza, AIDS, SARS, or, yes, COVID-19… Today, the exile and isolation of Plague 2.0 are acquiring their own shadings, their own characteristics, recoloring Camus’s portrait. As we walk along our streets, go to the grocery, we reflexively adopt the precautionary habits social media recommends: washing our hands; substituting rueful, grinning shrugs for handshakes; and practicing “social distancing.”

We can do our work remotely to avoid infecting others or being infected; we can shun parties, concerts and restaurants, and order in from Seamless. But for how long? Camus knew the answer: we can’t know”. (Schillinger, 2020) ▪ “This is a time for solidarity”, in which the author concluded as follows: “The beauty of The Plague is that it asks the reader to map the lessons of the pandemic onto everyday life. The principles that drive the hero, Rieux, are the same principles that make every society worthwhile – empathy, love, and solidarity. If we learn these lessons now, in a moment of crisis, we’ll all be better off on the other side of it”. (Illing, 2020) In December 2019 we referred to three valued articles published in the reputed “The Marketing Journal”, which documented significant aspects such as: several predictions and Holistic Marketing Management

4

marketing trends CMOs should expect in 2020; (Fomby, 2019) properly searching for meaning by making difference between a “fad” (which is meaningless), a “trend” (which is lasting longer than a fad and can potentially influence a market), and a “meaning” (personal, social, cultural, having a deeper impact on us, being consistent overtime, and driving us to do the things we do and buy); (Probst, 2019) brands’ need to become more authentic, more human, more believable, the receiver’s worldview being influenced by myth, ideology, history, and identity. (Sarkar and Kotler, 2019) And allow us to remember again the very suggestive figure found below from the article written by the distinguished Sarkar and Kotler:

Figure no. 1: Structure of a Cultural Narrative Source: Sarkar, C. and Kotler, P. (2019). “Competing on Stories: Marketing and Cultural Narratives”, The Marketing Journal, November 19 (work cited)

We express the conviction that there are important lessons to learn from the above figure, if we consider the displayed pillars and corollary questions it comes as no surprise that two articles published in our first HMM issue in 2020 (“Adequately Managing Digital Marketing, Considering the New Consumer Behaviors Driven Including by the Daily Health News”, HMM journal article authored by Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M.; “Marketing Differentiators and the Corollary Mindset Shifts within the New Marketing”, HMM journal article authored by Purcarea, T.) took in the account this remarkable approach.

Within this framework allow us to add some other useful considerations at the level of March 2020, but starting from one of our articles published in 2009, and entitled “Confidence crisis and exiting naive realism through integrative thinking”. (Purcarea, 2009) From the very beginning we remembered the words of the Romanian writer and journalist Octavian Paler: “My most unpleasant thought is not knowing what’s left to hope for”. And please remember the place occupied by “Hope” ten years later in the above figure from the article written by the distinguished Sarkar and Kotler in November 2019. In the article published by us in 2009 we Holistic Marketing Management

5

showed that: as the confidence crisis invites increasing emphasis on social responsibility as a corporate marketing strategy (adopted by management which cannot choose ethical indifference), there is a real need for better rules and people, developing social virtues and responsibilities; since globalization is no longer what it used to be, we are forced to become integrative thinkers (citing here Roger Martin, 2007), and to identify solutions to the crisis; as economists and politicians live in different worlds (citing here Joseph Stiglitz, 1998), it is imperative to harmonize the identification of good measures of welfare research, understanding what must be adjusted and what mustn’t; travelling through time to the destination where our judges are the future generations, we owe it to them to find appropriate answers in relation to what is authentic in addressing the crisis of faith, with the adequate mental model to break the cobweb of this confidence and regain trust; “History will not ever be completely written, it is that of subjective plans enveloped in their aura of uncertainty”, said French Professor Thierry de Montbrial, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, in his opinion only “prospective” being the frontal approach to uncertainty. (De Montbrial, 2003) On March 6, this year, two experts in operations management and business analytics from the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, share insights on both how COVID19 is weighing on the global economy, and how retailers can become more resilient by diversifying supply chains. (Parsons, 2020) And in the middle of March 2020: Johns Hopkins University Hub informed about what is social distancing (2 meters from anyone who is demonstrating signs of illness, including coughing, sneezing, or fever; a public health practice – encouraged by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – which aims to prevent sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to reduce opportunities for disease transmission, reducing this way the burden on health care systems and workers, the socalled by experts “flattening the curve”) and how can it slow the spread of COVID-19; (Pearce, 2020) Johns Hopkins Medicine informed that an in-house coronavirus screening test (which may allow the health system to test as many as 1,000 people per day by early April) was developed by two clinical microbiologists. (Nitkin, 2020) As highlighted on the webpage (which also provides the opportunity of viewing the COVID-19 Interactive Map) of the “Coronavirus Resource Center” of the Johns Hopkins University: “Johns Hopkins experts in global public health, infectious disease, and emergency preparedness have been at the forefront of the international response to COVID-19”.

Resent research from C Space (a global customer agency working with world’s best known brands such as Walmart, Samsung, IKEA etc., and which announced in July 2019, in partnership with the global brand consultancy Interbrand, the launch of their new integrated customer experience offering “Interbrand X”), revealed that just 36.5% of American consumers feel fully informed with regard to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak (despite the high general awareness around it), the most pressing concern on the minds of US consumers being proximity, respondents wanting to know how to avoid COVID-19 (more than half of those who stated their wish to have more information, representing 50% of the sample). Respondents also expressed Holistic Marketing Management

6

their wish to have more information: on treatment (23%), on the symptoms (10% of respondents), and on diagnosis (6%). (Koch, 2020) On the other hand, World Financial Review published in the last time articles having suggestive titles, such as: “7 Things that Healthcare Industry Can Learn from Financial Services” (February 24, 2020); “The Coronavirus: Business Risks, Liabilities, and Force Majeure in the Face of a Global Health Crisis”; (Nasir and Camp, 2020) “The Global Challenge of the Novel Coronavirus”. (Steinbock, 2020) In its turn, on March 11, 2020, Business Insider Intelligence sent us a newsletter with regard to three ways the coronavirus could affect fintechs: boost in demand for certain insurance types; consumers wary of investing; worst negative impact on Chinese fintechs.

Also, from the point of view of the experts of PwC’s Global Crisis Centre, as the COVID-19 outbreak comes with extreme scope and levels of uncertainty, considering both the clear estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the fact that preparation is the key to managing any crisis is preparation, in order to ensure organization’s best shape possible to offer strong resistance to this COVID-19 outbreak there is a clear need to take actions such as: to review workforce locations and travel; to revisit the crisis and continuity plans; to evaluate the supply chain; to identify potential points of failure; to get communication right; to use scenario analysis; to not lose sight of other risks. (Butler and Rivera, 2020) PwC’s representatives attracted the attention on the importance of protecting the supply chain taking into account the interconnectedness and complexity of global supply chains means (outbreaks having impacting on human, social and economic level). (Fox et al., 2020) While on March 9, 2020 McKinsey’s representatives let us know about an Executive Briefing entitled “COVID-19: Implications for business”, which underlined from the very beginning both: ● The coronavirus outbreak as a human tragedy: SARS-CoV-2, causing COVID-19 disease; a highly transmissible virus having three characteristics (the extent of undetected milder cases; seasonality; asymptomatic transmission) not fully understood, and affecting disproportionately older people with underlying conditions; profound uncertainty concerning the next phases of this outbreak), and ● The growing impact on the global economy, in this second case offering a perspective on the evolving situation and implications for businesses (outlining three potential economic scenarios among many possibilities: a quick recovery, a global slowdown, and a pandemic-driven recession – as shown in the figure below). And beyond the necessary thorough analysis of a company’s particular situation, McKinsey’s representatives recommended businesses seven actions (only as guidelines) in responding to COVID-19: to protect their employees; to set up a cross-functional COVID-19 response team; to ensure that liquidity is sufficient to weather the Holistic Marketing Management

7

storm; to stabilize the supply chain; to stay close to their customers; to practice the plan (using tabletop simulations, for instance); to demonstrate purpose (figuring out how to support response efforts). (Craven et al., 2020)

Figure no. 2: Three scenarios for COVID-19 would have three very different outcomes Source: Craven, M., Liu, L., Mysore, M. and Wilson, M. (2020). COVID-19: Implications for business, McKinsey’s perspective as of March 2, 2020, Executive Briefing, March 9 (work cited)

On March 13, 2020, an article entitled “Pandemic paralysis” published by Wunderman Thompson Intelligence (a center for provocative thinking that focuses on identifying shifts in the global zeitgeist), began by pointing out that: “Empty shelves, empty buildings and empty streets.

A pandemic cripples countries around the world but resets our values. The COVID-19 virus outbreak has sent the world into a state of worry and uncertainty. As the coronavirus spreads, the repercussions include social distancing, severe travel restrictions, the stockpiling of longlasting home and pantry goods, and an unprecedented level of anxiety among individuals, companies and countries”. This article showed, among other aspects, how a study launched by the Center for Science Communication Research at the University of Oregon to track people’s perceptions of risk and reactions in connection to news on the coronavirus revealed the so-called “probability neglect” (a cognitive bias that causes a person to disregard probability when unsure about a decision, overestimating the risk of dreadful events with small probabilities), respondents being scared of what is happening and using their feelings (of worry, fear, sadness and some anger) as an indication of how bad a situation is, ignoring probability. (Chiu, 2020) Holistic Marketing Management

8

And allow us to give a last example of smart approach, citing from a recent article – entitled “In times of crisis, let values be your guide” – of a “Customer Enthusiast” (Steve Curtin, the author of “Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary”; he had a 20-year career with Marriott International working in hotel operations, sales and marketing, and training and development): “Employees and customers alike are concerned and have questions. This is the time to revisit core values (e.g., communication, honesty, integrity, transparency, loyalty, compassion, commitment, creativity, initiative, and leadership) and allow them to guide your short- and long-term decisions. Now, be safe and wash your hands. Please share this article!”. (Curtin, 2020) But as we have seen before that the frontal approach to uncertainty is only “prospective”, let’s not forget the wise words of our great Constantin Brancusi that to see far is one thing, going there is another.

Theodor Valentin Purcărea Editor-in-Chief References Butler, M. and Rivera, K. (2020). Seven key actions business can take to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, PwC, World View, March 6. Retrieved from https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Seven-key-actions-business-cantake-to-mitigate-the-effects-of-COVID-19?

Chiu, M. (2020). Pandemic paralysis, Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, 13 March. Retrieved from https://intelligence.wundermanthompson.com/2020/03/pandemic-paralysis/?

Craven, M., Liu, L., Mysore, M. and Wilson, M. (2020). COVID-19: Implications for business, McKinsey’s perspective as of March 2, 2020, Executive Briefing, March 9. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/businessfunctions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business?

Curtin, S. (2020). In times of crisis, let values be your guide, Customer Experience Update, March 7. Retrieved from https://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/weekly-management-customer-experience-2020-03-07?

De Montbrial, T. (2003). Actiunea si sistemul lumii, Academia Romana, Fundatia Nationala pentru Stiinta si Arta, Ed.Expert, Bucuresti, 2003, pp. XXXVII-XXXVIII, 89-93,121, 414-427 Fomby, D. (2019). “What should Marketers expect in 2020?” The Marketing Journal, August 28. Retrieved from http://www.marketingjournal.org/what-should-marketers-expect-in-2020/ Fox, C., Sumner, N., Turnbull, A., Morgan, I. (2020). Protecting your supply chain, PwC: Audit and assurance, consulting and tax services, 11 February. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/crisis-solutions/covid19/protecting-your-supply-chain.html Illing, S. (2020). This is a time for solidarity, Vox - Understand the News, Mar 15. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2020/3/13/21172237/coronavirus-covid-19-albert-camus-the-plague Koch, F. (2020). The Proximity Problem: Is real time tracking of the coronavirus the best thing for customers?

Customer Experience Update, March 7. Retrieved from https://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/weekly-management-customer-experience-2020-03-07?

Holistic Marketing Management

9

Marshall, C. (2020). Why You Should Read The Plague, the Albert Camus Novel the Coronavirus Has Made a Bestseller Again, Open Culture, March 13th. Retrieved from http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/why-you-shouldread-the-plague.html Martin, R. (2007). Becoming an integrative thinker, Rotman Magazine Fall 2007, pp. 4-9 Nasir Gore, K. and Camp, C. H. (2020). The Coronavirus: Business Risks, Liabilities, and Force Majeure in the Face of a Global Health Crisis, World Financial Review, March 2. Retrieved from https://worldfinancialreview.com/the-coronavirus-business-risks-liabilities-and-force-majeure-in-the-face-of-aglobal-health-crisis/?

Nitkin, K. (2020). Coronavirus Screening Test Developed at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins Medicine, March 14.

Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/screening-test.html Parsons, T. (2020). How coronavirus will affect the global supply chain, Johns Hopkins University Hub, March 6.

Retrieved from https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/06/covid-19-coronavirus-impacts-global-supply-chain/ Pearce, K. (2020). What is social distancing and how can it slow the spread of COVID-19? Johns Hopkins University Hub, March 14. Retrieved from https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/13/what-is-social-distancing/ Purcarea, T. (2009). Confidence crisis and exiting naive realism through integrative thinking, The Romanian Economic and Business Review, Summer 2009, Volume 4, Number 2, pp. 45-58 Probst, E. (2019). “Brand Hacks and the Search for Meaning”, The Marketing Journal, November 13. Retrieved from http://www.marketingjournal.org/brand-hacks-and-the-search-for-meaning-an-interview-with-emmanuelprobst/ Sarkar, C. and Kotler, P. (2019). “Competing on Stories: Marketing and Cultural Narratives”, The Marketing Journal, November 19. Retrieved from http://www.marketingjournal.org/competing-on-stories-marketing-andcultural-narratives-christian-sarkar-and-philip-kotler/ Schillinger, L. (2020). What We Can Learn (and Should Unlearn) From Albert Camus’s The Plague, Literary Hub, March 13. Retrieved from https://lithub.com/what-we-can-learn-and-should-unlearn-from-albert-camuss-the-plague/ Steinbock, D. (2020). The Global Challenge of the Novel Coronavirus, World Financial Review, March 6. Retrieved from http://worldfinancialreview.com/the-global-challenge-of-the-novel-coronavirus/ Stiglitz, J. (1998). The private uses of public interests: incentives and institutions, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12 (2), 1998, pp. 3-22 *** https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Camus *** https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html *** https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ *** Interbrand and C Space announce Interbrand X, a new customer-obsessed solution for accelerated brand x customer experience innovation, Interbrand, July 17, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.interbrand.com/newsroom/interbrand-c-space-announce-interbrand-x-new-customer-obsessed-solutionaccelerated-brand-x-customer-experience-innovation/ *** 7 Things that Healthcare Industry Can Learn from Financial Services, World Financial Review, February 24, 2020. Retrieved from https://worldfinancialreview.com/7-things-that-healthcare-industry-can-learn-from-financialservices/ *** Three ways the coronavirus could affect fintechs, "Business Insider Intelligence" <newsletter@businessinsider.com>, Wed, March 11, 2020 12:04 pm

Holistic Marketing Management

10

Adequately Managing Digital Marketing, Considering the New Consumer Behaviors Driven Including by the Daily Health News Professor Costel Iliuță NEGRICEA, Ph.D. Ioan Matei PURCĂREA

Prof. Matthew R. Lee, Mitsuhiro Shimmen, William Perttula, Costel Negricea, and RAU Valedictorian Matei Purcărea

Abstract In the latest six years we focused on digital customer engagement, digital innovation, digital customer experience, digital marketing skills and talent, impact of digital marketing in healthcare and so on. We continue to discuss significant aspects with regard to digital transformation, digital strategy, digital talent, digital and analytics programs, and the new consumer behaviors driven by the daily health news. There is a real need of adequately managing digital marketing, the new norm reshaped by technology and trends, including by better controlling company’s social strategy and improving social branding, considering the integration of AI with IoT, the digital health and the perspective of AI for diagnostics, the start of digital therapeutics, and the transformation of healthcare delivery. There is no doubt that digital transformation based on a very human-centered approach is a must.

Keywords: Digital transformation, digital strategy, digital talent, digital and analytics programs, digital health, digital marketing, new consumer behaviors JEL Classification: D83; L86; M15; M31; M37; O33 What we discussed in the latest six years: Digital customer engagement, Digital innovation, DCX, Digital marketing skills and talent, Impact of digital marketing in healthcare Six years ago we showed how: the digitally transformation is allowing step by step a closer connection with customers, opening the way of providing a better answer to the new Holistic Marketing Management

11

requirements of the supply chain management, by creating value across physical/digital products, services, and experiences, the digital lives of customers (who are expecting seamless integration of digital and analog channels) changing the rules of engagement (digital customer engagement becoming a top strategic priority, followed closely by the digital innovation of products, operating models, or business models), and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) being already more directly involved in digital initiatives; (Negricea & Purcarea, 2014) in the era of the Chief Executive Customer marketers are faced with various challenges which lead them to position digital customer engagement as a top strategic priority, within this context being necessary to better understand that the mobile screen targets to be the primary screen, while mobile strategy targets to be fully integrated into the overall marketing plan as mobile is a critical channel for engaging customers, being increasingly critical to know what really matters in mobile. (Negricea & Purcarea, 2014) Three years ago we underlined, among other aspects, that: ● Consumers’ technology adoption is powered by emotion and hyperadoption is a defining characteristic today, the digital customer experience (DCX) evolving step by step and digital marketers being aware that the customer is one (offline and online) and struggling to offer relevant content and messaging within the today’s customer journey, considering both the new standards set in the rapidly evolving and the need for increasingly personalized interactions (and how much personalization) at all points of the customer journey; (Negricea & Purcarea, 2017) ● There is an essential role assigned to digital transformation leaders in the increasingly digital competitive environment in which only a few companies are developing into more mature digital organizations, and in order to deliver successful customer experiences organizations need to achieve digital marketing success on the way of the never-ending digital journey, reinventing marketing with this kind of journey, what involves a better understanding of the impact of digital transformation on professional skillsets, and the disconnect and the divide in digital marketing (which is an integral part of any business), improving digital marketing skills, and investing in ongoing skills training, and the last but not the least finding and keeping talent. There are true lessons to learn on the role of digital transformation in improving healthcare ecosystems, on the impact of digital marketing in healthcare. (Negricea & Purcarea, 2017) While two years ago we showed, among other aspects, that: ● In order to improve DCX better data analysis is considered to be critical, marketers being challenged to offer affection, relevance and trust, building emotional connection with customers (the digitalization of the customer journey helping improving not only the satisfaction of customers, but also that of employees and business partners), optimizing the interchanging role of traditional and digital on the basis of complex observation and analysis of the paradoxes revealed by the concept of Marketing 4.0 (within the context of an increasing use of the Martech stack in approaching marketing strategy and tactics so as to build both customer engagement and advocacy); (Negricea & Purcarea, 2018)

Holistic Marketing Management

12

● Digital marketers (who are placed at the intersection of digital transformation with CX) are focusing on differentiating on DCX in a fast changing environment (Omni channel marketing is shopper-based and must ensure a seamless CX) in which integral to competitiveness are both digital technology and DCX; (Negricea & Purcarea, 2018) Taking into account what we mentioned above, it is interesting to note different opinions revealing that: • at the McKinsey BLINK Conference on digital and social disruption, which took place in London in November 2019, Eric Schmid, the Cofounder of Schmidt Futures, Chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, and former Chairman of Alphabet (Schmid being interviewed by Kevin Sneader, Global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, who also adapted some of the Schmid’s opening remarks at this Conference) argued that nurturing talent will become more critical; among other aspects, Schmid expressed the opinion that: “Winning companies are building software platforms, they’re interacting with customers online… But, again, people are the answer. If you care about winning, you want to make sure you provide them with the right coaching and structure and ensure plenty of diversity… in artificial intelligence and machine learning, there’s a great deal of research on how to build algorithms using much less data than is currently required. This notion that he or she who has the most data wins is ultimately going to be a temporal phenomenon. I think what we’ll discover is that he or she who has the smartest engineers developing the smartest algorithms is the one who will win”; (Sneader, 2020) • In December 2019, Bynder, a reputed digital asset management (DAM) platform, commissioned Survata to conduct an anonymous survey of over 1000 marketing and branding professionals (at different organizations in the US and UK) in order to both assess how marketing automation and technology contributes to improved brand awareness and perception, and to name their key pain points and planned investments around the issue of branding and martech. Survey findings revealed among other aspects that: the top brand differentiator among marketers in 2020 is user experience (UX, over brand authenticity and superior product innovation); the most effective use of marketing automation is more efficient and faster content creation (followed by enabling both data-driven creative decision-making, and better personalization); the biggest challenge (as MarTech obstacle) to brands is a skills gap in the marketing team (followed by data overload, option overload, lack of integrations, difficulty in assessing ROI and low user adoption); the main responsible for implementing new martech tools should be marketing (followed by IT, a collaborative effort between service provider/brand, and service provider/vendor); with regard to the group that matters most to brand perception, the ranking was as follows: Customers (listed by 40% of respondents), followed by Marketing (18%), Executive leadership (15%), Industry influencers (15%), and Employees (13%). (Dooley, 2020)

Holistic Marketing Management

13

• The Hill, the U.S. premier source for policy and political coverage, within the context of the rapidly decreasing of the consumer confidence (such a drop being often viewed as an indicator of reduced spending) alongside increasing fears about the spread of coronavirus (especially since its spreading domestically in late February), attracted the attention in March 2020 on the statements of the Morning Consult economist John Leer, who highlighted the more significant abrupt drop of the Morning Consult’s consumer sentiment index to the US economy (being known that consumer spending accounts for almost 70 percent of it), which it reflects particularly in the travel and hospitality industries, but not only; (Elis, 2020) • Pizza Hut, a big player in the mcommerce space (they launched in 2009 their mobile ordering app) put the app at the very front and center of their thinking and strategy, and that because their more frequent customers tend to return via mobile, as revealed recently by Pizza Hut’s Global Chief Customer Officer Helen Vaid (former Walmart and HP executive), who also showed, among other aspects, that their innovation bucket includes voice, trying to iterate and learn from early adopters, and improve over time accordingly. (Kats, 2020)

Digital transformation, digital strategy, digital talent, digital and analytics programs, and the new consumer behaviors driven by the daily health news Despite the clear need for an agile digital strategy, there is no simple process of building and executing it, both the velocity an adaptability of the operating model for such a digital strategy (which is acting as a road map for company’s ongoing transformation) being essential (key enablers for company’s digital success including, for instance, the right digital talent, adjustments to existing products by innovating, and redefining success measurement). (Bughin, Catlin and LaBerge, 2019) But a digital transformation is harder than a traditional one, successfully planning and executing a digital transformation involving key moves at particular stages of this transformation. (Deakin, LaBerge and O’Beirne, 2019) Very recently, while approaching the solving of the digital and analytics scale-up challenge in consumer goods (within the consumer packaged goods practice), McKinsey’s representatives recommended to pursue the so-called “use cases” (which are at the heart of any digital and analytics program, being grouped together in different domains and defining specific business problems to be solved through new ways of working) within the same domain (see the figure below) when working at transformational change, on the way of sustaining competitive advantage digital and analytics programs being no longer optional. (Halbardier, Henstorf, Levin, 2020)

Holistic Marketing Management

14

Figure no. 1: Digital and analytics programs should support entire domains rather than unrelated use cases Source: Halbardier, F., Henstorf, B., Levin, R. (2020). Solving the digital and analytics scale-up challenge in consumer goods, McKinsey & Company, Consumer Packaged Goods Practice), March (work cited)

We are witnessing new consumer behaviors driven by the daily health news, the mix of supply and demand shocks within the context of COVID-19 (which has hit older people the hardest) reflecting the complexity of the current situation, as highlighted recently by eMarketers analysts. (Enberg, 2020) There is an increase in digital shopping (avoid this way going to stores), generating both benefits and challenges to digital retailers. According to Coresight Research survey February this year 27.5% of US Internet users were avoiding public places, and if this new coronavirus outbreak worsens 58.0% would do so, the most-avoided places being shopping centers/malls (more than half of respondents also avoiding shops in general), as shown in the figure below:

Figure no. 2: US Internet users who are likely to avoid stores if the Coronavirus outbreak worsens in the US, by age, Feb 2020, Coresight Research Source: Enberg, J. (2020). COVID-19 Concerns May Boost Ecommerce as Consumers Avoid Stores, eMarketer, Mar 10 (work cited) Holistic Marketing Management

15

In the same time, new research from YouGov, March 2020, confirmed the Internet users’ tendency of avoiding crowded public places to protect themselves from this Coronavirus, as shown in the figure below:

Figure no. 3: Internet users in select countries who have avoided crowded places to protect themselves from the Coronavirus, by country, March 2020, YouGov Source: Enberg, J. (2020). COVID-19 Concerns May Boost Ecommerce as Consumers Avoid Stores, eMarketer, Mar 10 (work cited)

Comments made by experts recently within a traditional RetailWire’s discussion revealed, among other aspects, interesting opinions with regard to the digital shopping: the natively understanding by the new entrants to the retail space of the symbiotic relationship between physical and digital retail (according to Mike Hardy, Business Development Director); as consumers think and behaves situationally (on the basis of convenience, value and time), there is a shift in their demand in the current period of the coronavirus from in-store to online (according to Mohamed Amer, Independent Board Member, Investor and Startup Advisor); for most retailers BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick-Up in Store) is one action for a consumer across at least two “channels”, being both difficult to calculate a store’s contribution to a “purely” online transaction, and necessary to have metrics and measures which mirror consumer experience and behavior (according to Ryan Mathews, Founder, CEO, Black Monk Consulting). (Ryan, 2020) Adequately managing digital marketing, the new norm reshaped by technology and trends In October 2019, the reputed Dr. Dave Chaffey documented the improvement of the relevance and response of B2C or B2B communications by techniques (including targeting media, personalized messaging and customer service interactions) with the help of marketing applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI, defined by him as a wide range of software and Holistic Marketing Management

16

services which perform tasks previously requiring human analysis and interaction), making reference to their Smart Insights post and infographic defining fifteen marketing applications of AI across the well-known and valued RACE marketing model (see the figure below). (Chaffey, 2019) While in January 2019 Chaffey explained how they identified these fifteen AI techniques which can be implemented by businesses of all sizes (rather than those techniques implemented only by major tech giants), the techniques approached across the customer lifecycle allowing to see how each AI tactic can help take companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s customers down the marketing funnel (AI generated conten; Smart Content Curation; Voice search and Conversational User Interfaces; Programmatic Media Buying; Propensity modeling; Predictive analytics; Lead scoring; Ad targeting; Dynamic pricing; Web and App Personalisation; Chatbots; Re-targeting; Predictive customer service; Marketing automation; 1:1 dynamic emails). (Chaffey, 2019)

Figure no. 4: Fifteen marketing applications of AI across the RACE marketing model Source: Chaffey, D. (2019). 15 marketing applications of Artificial Intelligence across the RACE marketing model, Dr Dave Chaffey - personal site, Digital Insights, 14 Oct (work cited)

In November 2019, we find out also thanks to Smart Insights some of the key findings from the latest B2B Marketing Mix Report of Sagefrog Marketing Group that the biggest marketing spend across B2B companies is continuing to be digital marketing (56% from respondents allocating budget to it), what is confirming that digital marketing really is the new norm, being followed by: Website development (52%), Tradeshows and events (36%), Content marketing (27%), Email marketing (27%), Marketing automation and CRM software (25%), Social media (19%), Branding (17%), Direct marketing and Print advertising (11%), Marketing planning and strategy (8%), Third parties (e.g., Google: 8%), Other (6%). There were also Holistic Marketing Management

17

underlined: the top of marketing objectives for B2B organizations in 2020 (converting leads into customers, increasing sales leads, increasing brand awareness, producing thought leadership, and increasing website traffic); the top source of B2B sales and marketing leads in 2020 (referrals – 63%; tradeshows and events – 44%; email marketing – 39%; SEO – 36%; inbound marketing – 33%; social media – 28%; online display and PPC – 25%; telemarketing – 16%; public relations – 9%; print advertising – 3%; direct mail – 3%; other – 2%); the new strategies for both B2B marketing and sales in 2020 (personalization – 47%; Account Based Marketing – 42%; video marketing – 41%; inbound marketing – 39%; AI and automation – 36%; conversational marketing/Chat Bots – 33%; influencer marketing – 27%; podcast and livestreaming – 22%; programmatic advertising – 19%; mobile-first strategy – 17%; – 36%; other – 6%). (Carter, 2019) There is no doubt that a well-executed digital marketing campaign brings efficiency, ensuring immediate gratification in ROI. (Seward, 2020) Timothy Seward from ROI Revolution underlined at the beginning of March this year the impact on digital marketing of: the emerging AI developments which boost Google conversion values by 30% or more; the increasing engagement on Amazon, Facebook, and YouTube thanks to practical video marketing strategies; the accurately way of tracking consumer behavior through the entire buyer’s journey that by using the new multi-channel, multi-device approach to attribution; the proper way of keeping consumer trust amidst heightened data privacy concerns; the better understanding of the essentials of social proof and the adequately way of leverage it to reduce friction and increase customer lifetime value. (Seward, 2020) An ebook presented in March 2020 by Kellogg Insight, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and entitled “The Marketing Leader’s Guide to Analytics and AI”, highlighted from the very beginning that in order to use them effectively leaders need to understand about analytics and AI, then offered practical tips and strategies to be confidently used to solve actual business problems. (Kellogg Insight eBook, 2020) Allow us to make reference to just two of this approaches presented by this eBook: • The first one being based on insights from Adam Pah, a clinical associate professor of management and organizations at Kellogg (Pah being also a researcher at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), who collaborated with organizations integrating AI into their operations, highlighted significant trends in AI which are changing how companies market to customers: using natural language and video to glean customer insights; making smart recommendations (one of AI’s “oldest friends” being making recommendations); privacy concerns are growing, and companies are responding; understanding that data is the product; • The second one being based on insights from Florian Zettelmeyer (Professor of Marketing at Kellogg and Chair of the School’s Marketing Department) and Inhi Cho Suh (General Manager, IBM Watson Customer Engagement) who discussed both the social and ethical challenges posed

by Machine Learning (ML, a subset of AI; a subset of ML being Deep Learning), and how Holistic Marketing Management

18

developers and companies can go about building transparent, fair, and socially responsible AI. Within the framework of this pair discussion there were brought significant arguments, such as: as analytics and AI are very powerful weapons which can be used in very strategic ways, for an organization choosing to implement them it is a must to have a code of conduct/set of values which governs these techniques, being necessary, if we do have a so-called “black box” algorithm (while trying to interpret more flexible algorithms like neural networks or deep learning), to be clear to people how it’s being implemented this algorithm which is applied to a particular setting and data set (Florian Zettelmeyer); as many businesses are applying AI to monetize for profit (not just to create better experiences for consumers), it is important to know who is accountable when there are risks in addition to benefits, when and for what purpose it is applied actually AI, what are the major sources of that data, and how are we working to mitigate bias (if not to eliminate it), and that is why IBM developed actually a 360 degrees fairness kit as part of its broader AI OpenScale initiative (an open-technology platform helping both to explain AI outcomes, and to scale AI usage with automated neural-network design and deployment, all within a unified management console), AI OpenScale being the first open-platform and opensource toolkit to even begin to get developers thinking about bias proactively (Inhi Cho Suh).

Better controlling company’s social strategy and improving social branding According to Digital Marketing Institute (DGI), businesses need today both to better control their social strategy and fine-tune the tactics used by them to improve their social branding (which is considered the hallmark of digital marketing, being used not only to build brand awareness and entertain, but also to engage, provide a real-time channel for customer service, and sell). That is why in order to improve social branding DGI recommend the following steps: to choose and (platforms aligned with the brand) use channels wisely (choosing the right content for each platform), to set the right tone with visuals (consistent tone and manner), to create a voice that fits in with the brand, to choose the topics posted wisely, to cross promote profiles (sharing marketing information across all profiles and marketing material, building social traction), and to engage and leverage comments (looking for comments and joining conversations, reading and caring them, and replying, being consistent and generating more content). On the other hand: ● The head of marketing (a digital marketing consultant) at Acquire Inc. (a provider of multichannel communication platform), showed recently that in order to boost engagement and conversions it is necessary to understand customers’ journey better and add more value at every step, revamping the digital experience to meet customer demands, customer experience (CX) being closely linked to the conversion rate; (Suthar, 2020) ● The Founder and CEO of ServiceXRG (who also priory held positions with Gartner Group, and the SSPA/TSIA) attracted the attention recently on the fact that customers are encouraged to invest their time to explore and discover the information they need by well-designed web sites (look and feel, convenience, navigation), underlining best practices for support web site design Holistic Marketing Management

19

(audience aware, clearly defined transactions supported, start pages, alternative navigation paths, navigation aids, destination pages, feedback, escalation paths), and making some recommendations (contemporary and aesthetic, set the tone, service types etc.), ending here by highlighting both the need of analyzing customers’ behaviors (where they enter and exit the site, and how many steps it takes to get to specific pages, the time spent by they on specific pages and or navigation paths), and of taking corrective action accordingly; (Sweeny, 2020) ● The Director of Strategy at Adlucent (a performance advertising and analytics agency for large brands and retailers) underlined recently the increasingly blurred lines between social and commerce, giving examples such as of Instagram Shopping (a visual storefront for browsing products and moving to Instagram Checkout), and of different features shortening the path to purchase (like Augmented Reality “try on” products and a shopping tab in Explore), marrying shopping and social (within the context in which chatbots, mobile video, ephemeral content, polls, and livestreams are increasingly contributing to the digital atmosphere). (Russell, 2020) On the other hand, recent research of Animoto (there were surveyed 1000 consumers and 500 marketers), a provider of drag-and-drop video making software, into consumers’ and marketers’ views about social media video revealed that both rank video (which is the most helpful form of content when shopping online) as an excellent way to engage each other (the first ones expecting to receive via social information from brands, and the others considering it as an effective way to reach social media audiences), both agreeing that YouTube is seen as increasing in popularity, but Facebook remaining the leading social video platform. (Habeshian, 2020) The integration of AI with IoT. Digital Health and the perspective of AI for diagnostics.

The start of Digital Therapeutics, and the transformation of healthcare delivery In February this year, the Founder and COO at Cyber Infrastructure (P) Limited underlined the rising of the number of evolving AI Development Company, showing that because of the integration of AI with IoT in the future everything from the streets to the stoplights will be connected with the help of IoT, the working together of an AI Development Company and an IoT Application Development Company making possible many such solutions (the life becoming more easy, productivity increasing and the work being done efficiently). He also showed how very frustrating is today for employees facing an emergency and can’t find some device, that is why in Hospitals, for instance, with the help of IoT and Geo Tagging, the devices or medical equipment can be found anytime, being connected to the Internet and geotagged. All the aspects of the organizations’ business can be tracked this way, making possible, for example, to manage their inventory and fulfill their order very quickly (which is both more convenient and productive compared to deploying on-ground staff). (Agrawal, 2020)

Holistic Marketing Management

20

As Business Insider Intelligence informed us by e-mail on Tuesday, March 03, 2020, in order to help clinicians quickly assess, quantify, and track patientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cognitive impairment over time, Dutch health tech giant Philips launched its IntelliSpace Cognition digital platform helping this way overcome a treatment bottleneck caused by the limited number of neuropsychologists able to conduct these kinds of cognitive assessments (seen as helping cliniciansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stymie the progression of dementia and prevent cognitive impairment from becoming cognitive decline). It is known that cognitive impairment (is when a person has trouble remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect their everyday life) ranges from mild to severe (according to CDC). Business Insider Intelligence also provided an interesting picture (see the figure below) with regard to the fact Artificial Intelligence (AI) for diagnostics will be high impact within 5 years in the opinion of most US Health System Execs.

Figure no. 5: Most US Health System Execs think AI for diagnostics will be high impact within 5 years Source: Digital health players making strides in assessing cognitive impairment, Digital Health Pro Preview, Last Week in Digital Health Pro, Business Insider Intelligence, Tuesday, March 03, 2020 13:01

Bozidar Jovicevic, Vice president, Global head of Digital therapeutics at Sanofi talked (in February this year with a McKinseyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partner from Zurich office) about the benefits of digital therapeutics (defined by Sanofi as nonpharmacological tech-focused solutions which work as a stand-alone therapy or are combined with drugs to both improve patient outcomes, and drive business impact) in improving health outcomes in patients. Within the context in which consumer behavior is already affected by everyday apps such as Instagram, and consumer healthcare companies are combining paid media with e-commerce and telemedicine to bring products to market, digital therapeutics (in which pharma should play a big role) is seen as a Holistic Marketing Management

21

huge opportunity (physicians and providers starting to use them once they see the value of it).

(Ostojic, 2020) While at the end of January this year CB Insights showed how digital therapeutics (DTx, defined by them as software-based disease prevention, management, and treatment solutions) are transforming healthcare delivery (for example, the way patients navigate their health being changed by companies building everything from lifestyle modification tools to symptom management apps) for all stakeholders (patients, providers, and payers) are looking to both transform and personalize patient care.

Conclusions: Digital transformation based on a very human-centered approach As revealed by McKinsey’s representatives, digitally-enabled transformations add two extra challenges into the traditional mix between people, processes, and management infrastructure facing overcoming all the usual (technical, organizational, and cultural) obstacles to the desired/necessary change: the extra technology component; the lack of a clear destination.

And while assuming the designing and delivering of the supply-chain transformation it is important to avoid focusing only on process, adopting a technology first perspective, and addressing only a small part of the organization in a targeted pilot project. McKinsey’s representatives recommend a very human-centered approach, adapting accordingly processes, capabilities, and management systems, and proving both the willingness and flexibility to continuously learn, adapt and change. (McArthur et all., 2020) On the other hand, the humancentered approach was also reflected at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), CES 2020, where there was obvious a shift in the language used by technology companies in this direction (from “living organism” cars to AI assistants) indicating an important evolution in the tech world. (Safian-Demers, 2020) The above mentioned approaches made us recall some significant opinions expressed in time (beyond the well-known approaches of Peter F. Drucker, Philip Kotler, Christian Sarkar, Kevin Lane Keller, Don Peppers, Malcolm McDonald, Tom Peters, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, and others we referred in our HMM Journal): • In 2014, Tony Zambito, the founder and leading authority in buyer insights research and buyer personas for B2B Marketing (who established in 2002 the first buyer persona development methodology designed specifically for B2B Marketing and Sales), published an article entitled “The Future Of Modern Marketing Is Human-Centered”, showing that the movement calling for a more user-centered/ human-centered approach (to designing products, software, digital interactions, and design concepts) began before the turn of the 20th century into the 21st century (on the basis of traditional better understanding of human goals and behaviors), and making the link with the present undergoing digital transformation (which take place in industries, business models, and buying behaviors), the new forces of the digital economy reshaping businesses. He underlined five primary analysis tools used to develop a human-centered approach to modern marketing: Behavioral Insight Research; Personas; Scenarios; Mental Models; Interaction Scenario Modeling (which provides direction in the present modern digital world on how to Holistic Marketing Management

22

connect with users, customers, and buyers). Both successful adoption of this approach and use of the tools and analysis methods were seen by Zambito as being the key competitive differentiator in the future.

• In 2018, the same Zambito, showed that digital transformation has branched off a few more hot buzzword in the world of marketing and sales (Martech Transformation, Sales Transformation, CX Transformation, Customer Engagement Transformation etc.), this general transformation (driven by rapid changes in buying behaviors) helping businesses to align with customers and buyers, while these last ones, the buyers, with 2020 on the horizon, being involved in their own transformations (B2B organizations needing to entirely understand, gain insights on, and adapt to these buyers transformation): Supply Chain; Procurement; Data; Decision Networks (linked digitally and responding to making decisions in a quickly manner); Accounting/Finance; Workforce; Innovations.

• In February 2020, the founder of Digital Marketing Philippines and CJG Digital Marketing, who is a professional and specialist in integrated digital marketing and holistic SEO, highlighted 9 top trends in digital marketing in 2020: The rise and domination of AI; Omni channel engagements will be the norm; Emails become more polished and more interactive; Sentiment analysis and social listening will be used more extensively; Customer engagements will be more conversational; Marketing to generation Z in their own language; The continuous rise of immersive technologies and augmented reality (AR); The emergence of augmented and predictive analytics; The dawn of neuromarketing. While in March 2020, the same specialist from Asia, while approaching B2B digital marketing trends in 2020 within the context of the continuously evolving digital marketing arena, started from the fact that: both the B2B and B2C markets are going digital (B2B market already 61%); when looking to make purchases B2B buyers make around 12 online searches (and this in order to be sure that the buying experience is comparable to their B2C purchases). Then he argued that: B2B marketers are currently leaning into personalized and experiential marketing strategies, needing to engage customers through personalized communications, the difference being made by the provided CX, which is recognized as a vital tool for achieving an effective strategic marketing approach; other digital marketing trends in 2020 are account-based marketing (ABM), programmatic digital advertising, investments on social media strategies, and automation on email marketing.

• On March 6, 2020 eMarketer invited us to look at the complimentary “B2B Marketing Trends 2020 Roundup” (sponsored by Contentserv: Product Experience Management Platform, recognized by Gartner in their Magic Quadrant for MDM Solutions) and learn how: B2Bs are leveraging data to cater to buyers; SAP, HubSpot and Aetna are organizing data around the customer; utilizing B2B marketplaces can help expand reach; brands can unlock first-party data on LinkedIn. They started from the maturing B2B marketing landscape in which B2B marketers are learning from their B2C peers (that keeping an existing customer it’s less expensive than bring in a new one) how marketing teams must work together with the sales and accounts teams, Holistic Marketing Management

23

taking a more holistic approach to the customer journey, championing the cross-functional CMO. Within this framework eMarketer spoke, for instance, with David Edelman, CMO, Aetna (the Connecticut-based health insurance provider acquired by CVS Health in 2018) on how they use content (for both its B2C and B2B clients) to educate consumers on healthy living and how they measures the success of their efforts. Aetna emphasizes more on members’ health, figuring out how to help people (with chronic conditions who need help on an everyday basis) understand the benefits of healthier behaviors (trying to better know how to help or motivate them to do it), what it requires lifestyle changes.

“The Father of Modern Marketing”, Philip Kotler, said at the end of the last year that: “Ironically, as we move more into digital marketing, we might find someone earning the title of The Father of Digital Marketing… Marketing plays its greatest role when it makes life better for the majority of people. I chose marketing because at its best it lifts the Common Good”.

(Intermite, 2019) Allow us to end by highlighting some other significant connected quotes: “Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant” (Peter F. Drucker); “Marketing is the creative use of truth” (Philip Kotler); “This is the portrait of the future customers – connected yet distracted… This can be attributed to the massive and overwhelming volume of messages that constantly bombard our connected mobile devices and demand instant attention” (Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, Iwan Setiawan, “Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital”, Wiley; 1 edition, December 5, 2016); “Excellence comes from human beings doing things of value that customers find memorable” (Tom Peters); “Empathy is the ultimate form of customer insight” (Don Peppers); “Economies must adapt to human needs, not vice-versa. Until we learn that lesson, the planet and our survival is in danger” (Christian Sarkar); “Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!” (Tom Peters); “Enchantment is the purest form of sales. Enchantment is all about changing people’s hearts, minds and actions because you provide them a vision or a way to do things better. The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person’s best interests at heart, too” (Guy Kawasaki); “Social marketing is about improving society. Brand Activism is about working to improve the world’s most urgent problems” (Christian Sarkar); “It’s never too late to start heading in the right direction” (Seth Godin). Stay wise, healthy!

References Agrawal, A. (2020). How The IoT Helps Transform The Field In Different Impactful Ways – From Machine Efficiency To Worker Safety, CustomerThink, February 21. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/how-the-iothelps-transform-the-field-in-different-impactful-ways-from-machine-efficiency-to-worker-safety/?

Bughin, J., Catlin, T. and LaBerge, L. (2019). A winning operating model for digital strategy, Digital McKinsey, McKinsey & Company, January. Retrieved from A-winning-operating-model-for-digital-strategy

Holistic Marketing Management

24

Carter, J. (2019). B2B marketing trends for 2020, Smart Insights, 19 Nov. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/b2b-digital-marketing/b2b-strategy/b2b-marketing-trends-for-2020/ Chaffey, D. (2019). 15 marketing applications of Artificial Intelligence across the RACE marketing model, Dr Dave Chaffey - personal site, Digital Insights, 14 Oct . Retrieved from https://www.davechaffey.com/digital-marketingglossary/artificial-intelligence-for-marketing/ Chaffey, D. (2019). 15 Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, Smart Insights, 31 Jan. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/15-applications-artificialintelligence-marketing/ Deakin, J., LaBerge, L. and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Beirne, B. (2019). Five moves to make during a digital transformation, McKinsey & Company, April. Retrieved from Five-moves-to-make-during-a-digital-transformation-vF Dooley, J. (2020). UX is the top brand differentiator among marketers in 2020, ClickZ, February 25. Retrieved from https://www.clickz.com/ux-is-the-top-brand-differentiator-among-marketers-in-2020/ Elis, N. (2020). Consumer confidence sinks as coronavirus spreads, The Hill, 03/12/20. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/policy/finance/487303-consumer-confidence-sinks-as-coronavirus-spreads Enberg, J. (2020). COVID-19 Concerns May Boost Ecommerce as Consumers Avoid Stores, eMarketer, Mar 10.

Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/coronavirus-covid19-boost-ecommerce-stores-amazon-retail?

Gregorio, J. (2020). Digital Marketing Trends in 2020 [Infographic], Business 2 Community, February 11.

Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/infographics/digital-marketing-trends-in-2020-infographicGregorio, J. (2020). B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020, Business 2 Community, March 10. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/b2b-digital-marketing-trends-in-2020Habeshian, V. (2020). Social Video in 2020: The Viewpoints of Marketers and Consumers [2 Infographics], MarketingProfs, . Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2020/42296/social-video-in-2020-theviewpoints-of-marketers-and-consumers-2-infographics?

Halbardier, F., Henstorf, B., Levin, R. (2020). Solving the digital and analytics scale-up challenge in consumer goods, McKinsey & Company, Consumer Packaged Goods Practice), March. Retrieved from Solving-the-digitaland-analytics-scale-up-challenge-in-consumer-goods-vF Intermite, S. (2019). Brand Activism: An Interview with Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar, The Marketing Journal (the translated version of the Italian interview in DomaniPress.it), December 18. https://www.marketingjournal.org/brand-activism-an-interview-with-philip-kotler-and-christian-sarkar/ Kats, R. (2020). Pizza Hutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Global Chief Customer Officer Dishes on the Benefits of a Mobile-First Approach, eMarketer, Mar 10. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/pizza-hut-s-global-chief-customer-officerdishes-on-the-benefits-of-a-mobile-first-approach?

McArthur, S., Sankur, A., Shah, K. and Singh, V. (2020).Digital supply-chain transformation with a human face, McKinsey & Company, Operations Practice, January. Retrieved from digital-supply-chain-transformation-with-ahuman-face Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2014). Chief Marketing Officer and the Challenge of Digital Maturity, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp. 28-36 Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2014). Digital Marketing and a Better Understanding of the Consumer Mobile Journey, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 4, Issue 4, pp. 15-21 Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2017). Digital Marketers at the Intersection of Digital Transformation with CX, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 20-26 Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2017). Building a Path toward Digital Marketing Maturity. The impact of digital marketing in healthcare, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 07-21 Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2018). Digital marketers challenged to drive results within the connected world, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 08-13 Negricea, C.I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2018). Digital Marketers and the Challenge of Optimizing Omni channel CX, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 11-17

Holistic Marketing Management

25

Ostojic, I. (2020). Digital therapeutics and pharma: A blueprint for success from Sanofi’s Bozidar Jovicevic, McKinsey & Company, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Products Practice, February. Retrieved from Digitaltherapeutics-and-pharma-A-blueprint-for-success Russell, L. (2020). 3 Digital Marketing Themes to Master in 2020, Target Marketing, February 27. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/digital-marketing-themes-to-master-2020/#ne Ryan, T. (2020). Are online sales metrics irrelevant for brick and click retailers? RetailWire – Retail News and Analysis, Mar 11. Retrieved from https://retailwire.com/discussion/are-online-sales-metrics-irrelevant-for-brickand-click-retailers/ Safian-Demers, E. (2020). CES 2020: Key trends, Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, 23 January. Retrieved from https://www.jwtintelligence.com/2020/01/ces-2020-key-trends/?

Seward, T. (2020). Breaking Beyond Digital Marketing: From the Desk of Timothy Seward, ROI Revolution, February 25. Retrieved from https://www.roirevolution.com/blog/2020/02/breaking-beyond-digital-marketing/ Seward, T. (, 2020). Five technology + trends changing digital marketing in 2020, B2B Marketing Zone, March.

Retrieved from https://www.b2bmarketingzone.com/2020/trends/?

Sneader, K. (2020). In disruptive times, the power comes from people: An interview with Eric Schmidt, McKinsey Quarterly, March. Retrieved from In-disruptive-times-the-power-comes-from-people-An-interview-with-EricSchmidt-v4 Suthar, S. (2020). 6 Proven Ways To Revamp Your Digital Customer Experience, CustomerThink, February 21.

Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/6-proven-ways-to-revamp-your-digital-customer-experience/?

Sweeny, T. (2020). Best Practices for Support Web Site Design, CustomerThink, February 20. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/best-practices-for-support-web-site-design/?

Zambito, T. (2014). The Future Of Modern Marketing Is Human-Centered, Business 2 Community, May17.

Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/marketing/future-modern-marketing-human-centeredZambito, T. (2018). Why The Buyer Transformation Is The Only One That Will Matter By 2020, Business 2 Community, October 29. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/strategy/why-the-buyertransformation-is-the-only-one-that-will-matter-by-2020*** “Marketing Leader’s Guide to Analytics and AI”, Kellogg Insight, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, eBook, March 2020, From the Editor, pp. 03-05. Retrieved from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/files/Marketing-Leaders-Guide-Analytics-AI.pdf *** Four Ways AI Is Already Improving How Companies Serve Customers, Based on insights from Adam Pah, pp.

108-115, in “Marketing Leader’s Guide to Analytics and AI”, Kellogg Insight, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, eBook, March 2020. Retrieved from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/files/Marketing-Leaders-Guide-Analytics-AI.pdf *** How to Build AI that Everyone Can Trust, Based on insights from Florian Zettelmeye and Inhi Cho Suh, pp.

116-123, in “Marketing Leader’s Guide to Analytics and AI”, Kellogg Insight, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, eBook, March 2020. Retrieved from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/files/Marketing-Leaders-Guide-Analytics-AI.pdf *** 7 steps to improving your organization’s social branding, Digital Marketing Institute. Retrieved from https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/7-steps-to-improving-your-organizations-social-branding-corporate *** Digital health players making strides in assessing cognitive impairment, Digital Health Pro Preview, Last Week in Digital Health Pro, Business Insider Intelligence, Tuesday, March 03, 2020 13:01 *** Cognitive Impairment – CDC, www.cdc.gov › pdf › cognitive_impairment › cogimp_poilicy_final *** Digital Therapeutics: The $9B Market Redefining Disease Prevention, Management, & Treatment, CB Insights, January 30, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.cbinsights.com/research/digital-therapeutics-disease-preventionmanagement-treatment-expert-intelligence/ *** B2B Marketing Trends Roundup 2020, eMarketer, March 6, 2020, pp. 1, 3, 19-20. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/b2b-marketing-trends-2020-

Holistic Marketing Management

26

“Marketing Science and Inspirations” and the Vocation of Providing a Holistic Perspective on Modern Marketing Issues Dr. Dan SMEDESCU Associate Editor of the “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University

JEL Classification: Y30 The “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal has become a well-known brand of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, constantly reconfirming its vocation of giving its educated, affluent and implied readers a holistic perspective on modern marketing issues, encouraging their engagement and raising brand awareness by maintaining the memorable connection with them, and ensuring that experience desired by highly motivated readers with purpose. We are continuing to witness our partners’ hard and smart work to ensure that this “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal is always a good match for both current and new readers seeing meaning in the high-quality content on actual business situations and key challenges faced by modern marketers.

Holistic Marketing Management

27

We were happy to receive by post the new Issue 4, Volume XIV, 2019 of our Partner Journal “Marketing Science and Inspirations”, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The new issue of this well-known academic journal addressing to academics and practitioners covered as usual a wide range of interesting topics in the marketing research field: • “CRM in a telecommunication company. Part II”. The authors Miloš Hitka, Andrej Piňák and Silvia Lorincová demonstrated how due to new technologies and technological trends telecommunication companies must take into consideration a downward trend in revenues and customer base. They showed that these companies have begun to streamlined, new product lines being created. Within this framework of Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) being a key to success (as it allows to identify a particular client, respond adequately to customer needs, and positively impact business performance), the authors aimed to identify the change in customers’ approaches as a result of implementing CRM in 2014 and subsequently in 2018 with the dependence on respondents’ gender. Their research results revealed positive changes in approach thanks to the implementation of CRM, responses differing depending on respondents’ gender.

• “The interest of different generations of Czech consumers in certified products and environmental organizations”. The authors Eva Jaderná, Radka Picková, Jana Přikrylová, and Michal Hrubý argued that within the context in which green consumers’ behavior is still the black box for green marketing, many purchase decisions being influenced by the environmental aspects it is important to better understand how do Czech consumer really think in relation to the challenging environmental questions. That is why they analyzed some of the fundamental green activities of the Czech consumer in correlation to their age, gender, education and size of hometown, taking into account the knowledge of certified products, the interest to buy them and the knowledge of environmental organizations, all the factors being considered as the most important factors driving consumers to be “green”. And on the basis of the results obtained they predefined the segment of green Czech consumers. While in order to understand the influence of age and other demographics on environmental behavior they considered the well-known generations’ cohorts: Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials), Generation Z. • “Marketing of territorial unit as a unit of living space”. The author František Olšavský started from the fact that this type of marketing is currently considered a practical discipline in strategic planning of territorial units. And as marketing seems to be an essential tool especially in a dynamically changing environment facing sharp competitive forces and various interest groups, each competent marketing manager being responsible for the implementation of marketing activities, the author demonstrated the importance of marketing and the image of the city in the promotion of common values for specific target groups: citizens, visitors, entrepreneurs and employees (providing adequate examples: the city of Bratislava, results of international ranking evaluation of cities in 4 cases etc.). Research results are interpreted in the terms of target groups’ interests.

• “Corporate social responsibility of SME’s from the point of view of consumers”. The author Zsolt Horbulák underlined on the basis of a research made in 2016 how consumers Holistic Marketing Management

28

evaluated the willingness of the Slovak small and medium enterprises to practice charity and donations besides their economic activity, sowing that after a quarter century from the velvet revolution has already come into existence a stable entrepreneurial background and was formed a high percentage of entrepreneurships and family owned businesses. But despite the fact that running a business is still difficult, an arising question is how this entrepreneurial stratum is ready or able to support the solution or the easing of social problems, or how these entrepreneurs are ready to help the local communities. The research which analyzed the whole Slovakia tried among others aspects to evaluate both what does social responsibility mean to the public, and how individual social groups evaluate entrepreneurs’ social activities. The results of this research demonstrated that respondents have a firm idea of social responsibility, which is something different from entrepreneurs’ opinion about the subject.

This new issue of the „Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal also includes other sections such as: “Marketing Briefs” (Pavel Štrach – “Why marketing does not understand sociology”); “Captured us” (“FLEMA Media Awards 2019”; “An announcement of the 15th Annual Edition of the Marketer of the year contest”); “Reviews” (Magdaléna Samuhelová – “Čulenová, Eva: Verbal manipulation”; František Olšavský – “Godin, Seth: This is marketing! A brand new approach to marketing, sales and advertising”); “Dictionary of Useful Marketing Terms” (Dagmar Weberová).

Holistic Marketing Management

29

We always remember with pleasure that the Editor-in-Chief of the “Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal – Professor Peter Štarchoň, Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia – is also a Member of the Editorial Board of the “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal and of the “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine”. It is our honor and pleasure to remember both the significant meeting in Koln, Germany, in 2011, on the occasion of the working meeting of the European Retail Academy (ERA), and the different significant moments when the ERA President, Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier (also a Member of both above mentioned Editorial Boards), visited the Romanian-American University.

Holistic Marketing Management

30

Global Green University: Ethical Awareness, Riccardo Garosci, Cooperation for Sustainability, and Ethical Payment Bernd HALLIER

Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, President of the European Retail Academy (ERA) is a distinguished Member of the Editorial Board of our “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal. He began many years ago a fruitful collaboration with the prestigious Professor Klaus Toepfer (former Federal German Minister for Environment, former director of the United Nations Environment Program UNEP and initiator of the Kyoto Protocol), and with Dr. Angela Merkel (today Chancellor of the Federal Republic, and who pushed “environment” to become a high political issue during the EU-Presidency of Germany, in 2007). Recently, our Friend Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier congratulated us on the designation of the Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis as recipient of the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, in April 2020: https://holisticmarketingmanagement.ro/romanian-president-klaus-werner-iohannis-thedesignated-recipient-of-the-international-charlemagne-prize-of-aachen-april-2020/.

Holistic Marketing Management

31

Ethical Awareness Environmental Challenges like the Climate Change as well as growing Egoism in national Economies will increase according to Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier the gap between the rich and the poor in individual economies and in the worldwide competition. Food Availability will become one of the social battlefields in the next decades.

Working as an ERA-trainee for an EU-publication about Food Waste (See eBook) to balance buying habits in affluent countries versus increasing demand of poorer populations later Alina Pukhovskaya analyzed in her PhD-Study for Circle International/Vitez University the present profile of the Mexican Food Bank (See Publication) - a project which according to Prof.

Dr. Bernd Hallier should be enlarged by the Global Green University to further countries: also to be customized to other cultural habits/needs around the globe.

Holistic Marketing Management

32

Riccardo Garosci Prof. Dr. Theodor Purcarea, Editor-in-Chief of the Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine showed in a portrait of Riccardo Garosci the high level of experiences and competences of international staff working in the EU for commerce and green issues.

Mr. Garosci was among others Vice President of the Economic and Monetary Commission of the European Parliament, (European Comission) Raporteur for the Green Book of European Commerce, responsible for the topics of “School and Food”" and “Food Education” at the EXPO 2015 in Milano/Italy. Now Riccardo Garosci was elected as the new President of AICE, the Italian foreign trade association.

Holistic Marketing Management

33

Cooperation for Sustainability EuroCommerce/Brussels and the European Commission (DG Environment) for 10 years already cooperate developing common goals to promote sustainable consumption, reducing the environmental impact of the EU retail sector and its supply chain. One of the cooperation tools is as a voluntary initiative the Retailersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Environmental Action Plan.

Participating in the celebration event in Brussels Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier underlined that the dialogue between governments, sciences and entrepreneurs is of utmost importance in a Civil Society: together they are the rule-setters of economic growth, ecological supply and ethical distribution.

Holistic Marketing Management

34

Ethical Payment

In 1972 when Bernd Hallier was in Stellenbosch/Cape Province as an AIESEC-student exchange his South African partner was Roger Chennels from Eshowe/Natal - both having students’ dreams about the future of Africa. It was still the time of Apartheid (separation between the white and colored people as the collage of the 72-pics shows), but the farm of the Chennels family was a kind of “free zone area” where white Liberals, Churchmen and Zulu-tribe-heads met. Roger Chennels continued the spirit of his father Guy and became a lawyer: fighting for the underprivileged people.

It is worth mentioning that after the change of the political system in the week when in 2019 the South African “all-colored team” was becoming World Champion in Rugby for the first time: BBC was sending a report about Ethical Payment in the Rooibos Tea Industry with the following statement of Roger Chennels: “In short over 10 years we have negotiated a world first benefit sharing agreement under the Nagoya Protocol of the CBD which gives to the San and Khoi indigenous peoples a 1.5% royalty in respect of each kg of Rooibos processed, in acknowledgement of their traditional knowledge that contributed towards the Rooibos industry”.

Holistic Marketing Management

35

Marketing Differentiators and the Corollary Mindset Shifts within the New Marketing Theodor Purcarea Abstract There are major threats and challenges for the 21st century. Millennials, CX, B2C and B2B, AI, for instance, are key terms in marketing today. B2B buyers expect a more B2C-like CX, and B2B vendors need to provide them actionable insights, companies are trying to get competitive advantage by truly aligning marketing and sales, and the more customer-centric economy is favoring CRM startups, while CX is empowered by building an integrated CRM. Marketers are under pressure of holistically thinking about the customer journey, and overcoming his anxiety and friction, by considering adequate supply chain actions in response. Within the current more complex general context there is a real need of updating CMO’s responsibilities, the more so we are witnessing customers’ purchasing’s increase influenced more by the mental cost.

Keywords: Marketing differentiators; Millennials; CX; CRM; B2C; B2B; AI; Mindset shifts; New Marketing JEL Classification: L86; M31; M37; M38; O33

Marketing differentiators, Millennials, CX, B2C and B2B, AI Staying relevant to Millennials’ habits and preferences (Gen Y, age 23 to 38, different tastes and more spending power than other generations) it is a real challenge in the current market. Marketers need to create adequate marketing campaigns on the basis of proper strategies such as: building environmental appeal (thanks to good social and environmental practices), identifying ways to give back to communities and nonprofit organizations (demonstrating a sense of purpose beyond profits), creating personalized campaigns (stimulating one-on-one relationships), enhancing their digital presence (engaging with customers on social networks and generating direct interactions). (Washburn, 2020) As in the current digital era a moment of great importance in customers’/users’ journeys is the onboarding, while trying to increase product adoption and usage marketers can, for instance, to improve the onboarding experience by using a combination of in-app engagements, reengage inactive users via email, rethink the way they measure onboarding with regard to its impact on revenue. (Upton, 2020) Of course, such an approach involves first of all ensuring an optimized product experience for the user, and using in-app engagements (but not too many), and then (after improving the onboarding experience) providing in-app support (so as to turn an eventual negative moment into a positive one instantly), and ensuring an user-focused product experience (by adequately exploring different personas, working with prospect- and customerfacing teams to gather the necessary feedback, and using usage data to derive insights).

Holistic Marketing Management

36

On the other hand, marketers also need to not neglect: • To ensure a customer experience (CX) enhanced by their point-of-sale system, what presupposes to consider: cart abandonment (which for any online or offline retailer is frightening), customer interaction at the checkout point (so as to improve the engagement and reputation), the impact of shoppers’ taking away a memorable shopping experience (including by feeling comfortable), and the differentiation from competitors. And going on this way it involves ensuring the right hardware and software in place, having trained staff, integrating multiple payment gateways, being equipped with comprehensive insights about customers and their purchases, optimizing the checkout process and eliminating any delays in payment; (Cooper, 2020) • A main piece of any brand’s CX strategy is Omni channel marketing which it is recommendable to be incorporated into a lead generation strategy, being demonstrated that a strong customer acquisition system depends on content optimization, customer modeling, and profiling through a strategic Opti channel, (Chandra, 2020) Opti channel communication being defined as using the optimum channel for each point in the customer journey. (Morgan, 2015) There were continuous discussions in recent years with regard to Multi channel (focusing on integrating novel channels into existing structures, while facing the habit of shifting channels), Omni Channel (focusing on the close interconnection of all customer interaction channels, synchronizing the relevant communication history and context information across all these channels, and solving the disruptive CX experience), and Opti Channel (the alternative for channel guidance, the optimal channel for a certain use case, instant messengers being seen as optimal channel soon). (Ri, 2017) And Opti channel marketing became to be seen as the next level in using data to personalize CX to a one-to-one level. (Ventimiglia-Lobit, 2019) As Chuck Ehredt (a loyalty marketing expert who considers that customer loyalty will come from the customer’s cumulative experience with the brand and his overall perception of value) from Currency Alliance recently showed (being asked by Wise Marketer to offer his own perspective on possible upcoming loyalty trends) there is a real need to understand both customers’ lifestyle preferences (which are evolving fast), and how the right data (customer insight being the new oil) can enable the right customer touchpoints that build brand affinity over time. (Wise Marketer, 2020) • The tremendous growth still experienced by the influencer marketing (the key to winning here being represented by the long-term collaborative relationships, including with niche influencers), and accelerating brand exposure to social media communities (allowing influencers’ personality to come through in branded content, and influencers becoming part of the company’s marketing team) by inciting word-of-mouth, buyers being real persons and social media marketing being all about the audience. At the level of the B2B companies influencer marketing presupposes both engaging with a company’s ecosystem partners yielding digital influence, and using an employee-as-influencer program (employee advocacy). (Schaffer, 2020) Considered as an Holistic Marketing Management

37

essential part of any marketing platform in the digital era, employee advocacy (the promotion of a company by its employees using their own social networks or other information channels) is a key component of brand credibility, creating a positive impression through adequate engagement in thought leadership activity. Of course, among other aspects, it is important also in this case to have an employee advocacy mobile app, and to incorporate employee advocacy into employee communication; (Sociabble, 2020) In the same time, while considering the influencer marketing marketers must keep in mind the formula to obtain the best ROI: Influencer Marketing + SEO + Social ADS (as shown in the figure no. 1 below); (Habeshian, 2020) • That human and emotional connections are a vital part also of B2B to develop brands and the relationships, and despite the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) is decisive for the future of MarTech it is important to understand that human intelligence (especially emotional intelligence) cannot be replaced by AI implementation; (Keith, 2020) • The role of AI in segmenting customers on the basis of hyper-specific traits (including industry, role, engagement level, and budget), and analyzing deeper information such as behavioral patterns. (Fultz, 2019) It is already known that a powerful source of market intelligence with unequalled accuracy is represented by the behavioral data directly obtained from computers and mobile devices, it is useful to know that AI predicts patterns and changes the scalability of behavioral data analysis (as shown recently by Luth Research, the leading provider of digital data, and metering solutions and confirmed by AMA; the fundamental challenge with creating order and unified approaches in categorizing web content, shopping behaviors and product types was assumed by Luth Research which focused on AI-guided classification systems from the start of Luth’s ZQ Intelligence™ history); (Wu, 2020) • There were already opinions expressed in the sense that identity resolution (which uses AI to connect customer interactions and achieve a single customer view) will be integrated into larger MarTech solutions (like CRM or marketing clouds). (Gupta, 2020) It is known that in order to turn data complexity into an opportunity for the best CX, marketers need to obtain a holistic view of the customer’s interactions with the brand in the current Omni channel environment (this being the goal of the identity resolution understood as the process of connecting unique identifiers including device identity, browser behavior, transactions and other contextual data; there are two types of identity resolution, probabilistic and deterministic, and for enterprise marketers it is recommendable to be ensured a mix of both capabilities). (Iyer, 2019) It is also interesting to note within this framework that: ▪ As shown recently by AMA (which asked top marketing experts about their predictions for 2020 and beyond): AI, video, and digital Account-Based Marketing (ABM) need to be controlled and used by marketers so as to be successful marketers (Paulo Martins); marketing will be made smarter and better for customers by AI (Niranjan Kumbi); a key marketing differentiator will be empathy (Michael Brenner); (Marketo, 2020) Holistic Marketing Management

38

â&#x2013;Ş The third annual ABM benchmark study from ITSMA and the ABM Leadership Alliance (showing the differences across the three distinct types of ABM emerging in recent years: Oneto-One ABM, One-to-Few ABM, and One-to-Many ABM) identified five strategic guidelines for ABM-ers to accelerate success in 2020 and beyond: practice patience, strengthen sales alignment, invest in insight, master multichannel, and build a blended strategy. (Leavitt, Schwartz, and Thach, 2019) As shown in the figure no. 1 below, ITSMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ABM Adoption Model is highlighting four stages of development across seven dimensions.

Figure no. 1: 10 Things to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2020, SocialPubli Source: Habeshian, V. (2020). Influencer Marketing Strategy in 2020: What You Need to Know [2 Infographics], MarketingProfs, February 27 (work cited)

Holistic Marketing Management

39

Figure no. 2: ITSMA’s ABM Adoption Model Source: Leavitt, R., Schwartz, J., Thach, D. (2019). Moving to ABM Maturity: 2019 ABM Benchmark Study, ITSMA and the ABM Leadership Alliance, Research Report, December 2019, p. 8 (work cited)

B2B buyers expect a more B2C-like CX, and B2B vendors need to provide them actionable insights It was recently argued that CX must come first with millennials (considered a pivotal audience) in the driver’s seat, the B2B buying process being reshaped by millennials’ behavior and preferences (59% of all B2B buyers are millennials, and close to 30% of them are lead buyers for their organization as revealed by a 2019 TrustRadius study), the standard to be matched by B2B being considered as set by B2C CX, where millennial consumers are known as expecting both saving time (by having part of convenient product research and purchasing processes), and finding easy information from other customers (with the help of different forms of peer-to-peer social proof – reviews, testimonials, unboxing videos etc.). (Mathias, 2020) The most significant decision-making tool for B2B buyers are product demos, providing the most sought-after pre-purchase CX meaning to ensure customers a firsthand experience, customers also expecting personalized engagement from the vendors they buy from. That is why B2B vendors must show Gen Y that they are a priority for them, knowing their needs and wants.

To boost B2B lead generation B2B consultants are recommending leveraging psychographics and consumer psychology (considering the unobservable preferences, feelings, and identifications making people who they are) which are better demonstrating the complexity of the world we live in (mobile technology, connected devices, location-agnostic laptop professional etc.) compared to the many time current use of demographics relied on the old model based on static people in static places having static experiences. (Saint Laurent, 2020) And to go on this way it is helpful to look more closely to Robert Cialdini’s well-known suggestions (reciprocity, scarcity, friendship & liking, authority, consensus, commitment & consistency).

Holistic Marketing Management

40

A Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor with the Kellogg Markets & Customers Initiative, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (and a former Chief Marketing Officer of GE Healthcare Digital) underlined recently the lack of feedback tools, metrics, and processes necessary to deliver a differentiated experience, despite the fact that B2B business leaders recognize that CX is a top priority. (Caffentzis, 2020) Research made by him and his colleagues revealed that: when B2B companies gain an understanding of a specific customers’ most pressing issues and needs from the outset (both determining the need of the customer for solutions, and designing that kind of solutions gaining consensus across the customer’s buying group) these companies are generally most successful; to consistently gather customer feedback B2B companies need to establish adequate processes, sorting through the unanticipated changes accompanying the new solutions offered, and providing actionable insights for their customers (on the basis of the right data analyzed accordingly and making possible to create compelling content supporting awareness, pipeline generation, and sales enablement).

In the same month: a B2B Marketing Strategist and the CEO of her firm, Marketing Interactions, Inc., pledged for putting/shifting B2B content (marketing content supporting a thought process, sales content supporting a conversation, and customer content reinforcing value and future vision) in context across the customer lifecycle, and moving to transitioning his attention into action (beyond just holding his attention), helping customer live the story of solving his problem, shifting context in line with what he learns helping marketer help him to buy from marketer’s company to solve customer’s problem, avoiding this way customer’s switch; (Albee, 2020) the founder of Prolific Content Marketing (who is considered an experienced content marketing consultant) argued that in order to attract new and repeat customers it is necessary to have a strong content-led brand which is building an ardent fan base with adequate content marketing (he also highlighted some proper approaches), and from the very beginning he showed that according to MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute B2B marketers (entirely 75%) using content marketing successfully were able to build credibility and trust. (Talreja, 2020) Getting competitive advantage by truly aligning Marketing and Sales There is no doubt that buyers are overwhelmed by information and choices, and within this context truly aligning Marketing and Sales it is really important. The more so as revealed by the 2019 Sales and Marketing Alignment Report, organizations which are aligning Marketing and Sales are more effective at both closing deals (67%), and retaining customers (58%).

(MarketingProfs, 2019) A workshop organized on November last year within MarketingProfs B2B Forum approached essential steps in aligning Marketing and Sales (such as: “develop a roadmap for aligning marketing and sales activities with C-level revenue targets; establish and sustain shared ownership of organizational revenue objectives; get inside the mind of the customer and outline narratives that underpin marketing and sales alignment; map marketing content to sales conversations by profiling the buying situations that your salespeople encounter every day; establish pipeline metrics that filter the NOISE - No Observable Impact on Sales Holistic Marketing Management

41

Effectiveness; overcome the “High-Quality Content Crisis” that frustrates buyers and alienates sales; leverage the AI that’s necessary to keep sales and marketing focused on the buyer; create content that (1) sellers can’t live without, and (2) synchronizes with your digital campaigns”).

Next month, in December last year, a Salesforce Pardot’s representative underlined five key strategies to overcome the marketing and sales divide: share goals and metrics (the primary focus for both sales and marketing at Salesforce Pardot being, for instance, revenue and pipeline targets, and for both teams being used the same data and dashboards); develop champions on each team (at the account executive level, proactively supporting each other); communicate constantly (on the basis of a communication program); turn enablement sessions into pipeline workshops (avoiding to eat up time and generating revenue); empower sales with marketing insights (the most important insights can be surfaced by AI, leads prioritizing by sales also can be helped by AI lead scoring etc.). (Newman, 2019) And in the same month, the CEO and Founder of LeadMD (which formed its Sales and Marketing Alignment Index - SMAX) showed that research revealed a very different story compared to the opinions expressed by sales and marketing leaders surveyed (over 90 percent of sales and marketing leaders surveyed rated their organizations as “well aligned” or “very well aligned”). Among other aspects, he also underlined the importance of uniting the two teams around customer-focused goals and KPIs (like retention and satisfaction), and of making a tangible impact on results (like pipeline creation and revenue conversion, comparing alignment perceptions, activities and tactics) that matter to the business.

(Gray, 2019) In February 2020, the Vice President of Marketing at Challenger (who has helped transform sales and marketing teams in some of the biggest and best companies in the world, according to CustomerThink; Challenger’s commercial effectiveness work included more than 600 companies) attracted the attention on the fact that within the increasingly complex selling environment sales training itself (despite being highly effective) is not sufficient, in order to achieve sustainable growth being necessary to focus on broad commercial transformation (going beyond just training, which is just one of six critical pillars of a successful commercial transformation). (Wixom, 2020) And he also suggests in this respect the accompanying of skill development with focus on leadership alignment, message deployment, process improvement, people management, and success measurement.

The more customer-centric economy favors CRM startups. Empowering CX by building an integrated CRM Last year 2019 demonstrated on the competitive markets that the more customer-centric economy favors Customer Relationship Management (CRM) startups (in comparison with giant CRMs like Salesforce, SAP, or Oracle), these emerging and evolving startup CRMs being more attentive to genuine needs and to provide accordingly simple solutions based only on the necessary features. (Novatska, 2020) A digital marketing expert at Epom (a programmatic software provider) highlighted recently five major benefits of working with CRM startups: better Holistic Marketing Management

42

customer support service (ensuring an immediate response; it was exemplified with the collaboration between Airbnb and Y Combinator in 2008); ease of use (no need for CRM experts; according to IBM, when selecting a CRM solution ease of use is considered to be the most important requirement by 65% of CRM users); quick bug fixes and frequent updates (having less customer reviews usually); Do-It-Yourself approach to customization (marketing the way customization can be implemented by allowing a CRM configuring like a LEGO construction); affordable pricing, no hidden fees (it can be paid as little as $10 per user/month for basic functionality /the minimum package, usually the price for a startup’s CRM being $1020 less, compared to the rough industry average for a full-featured CRM of $58). Within this framework were mentioned the top three promising CRM Startups (NetHunt CRM, a Gmailbased CRM; CompanyHub CRM, providing follow-up suggestions on the basis of a lead’s “hotness” indicator; Salesflare CRM, using smart algorithms which automatically gather user data from various sources, almost eliminating manual data entry, having among other aspects integrations with Gmail and Office 365).

With regard to CRM Software, according to G2 (which is known for showing unbiased ratings on user satisfaction) top 10 CRM Software includes: Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Freshsales, ActiveCampaign, Zoho, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Zendesk Sell, Pipeliner, and Nimble. The G2 Grid (used by a company not only to compare products, but also to streamline the buying process, and rapidly identify the best products based on the experiences of its peers) for the top CRM Software products can be seen in the figure below (G2 scores mapped on its proprietary grid are based on both reviews of the products and vendors within its user community, and data aggregated from online sources and social networks), the four quadrants being the following: Leaders, High Performers, Contenders, Niche.

Figure no. 2: G2 Grid for the top CRM Software products Source: https://www.g2.com/categories/crm#grid Holistic Marketing Management

43

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that as Local Measure argued recently, when it comes to empowering CX building an integrated CRM should be marketers’ first port of call, other retechnologized areas of company’s business being dependent of how rich in data is CRM. (Local Measure, 2020) Local Measure pledges for improving the company’s communication with these retechnologized areas by using APIs (application programming interfaces) which allows (less work, immediate payoff, data points made visible across company) the automatic information flows set up between its platform and CRM (enriched this way with: in-moment feedback, customer product preferences, history of past visits, other locations visited, previous interactions with staff, online interactions), better managing customer data, running marketing campaigns and empowering other areas accordingly.

Instead of conclusions: Holistically thinking about the customer journey, and overcoming his anxiety and friction, by considering adequate supply chain actions in response. The role of new CMO and reskilling In December last year we made reference to the real challenge of updating CMO’s responsibilities, CMO’s being under the pressure of taking into account the customer success (as key differentiator for a brand focused on continuously improved CX), holistically thinking about the customer journey (considering perceptions, recession, ecosystems, digital platforms, revenue marketing engine, and customer-centered action), and optimizing sales (blending the physical and digital worlds). (Purcarea, 2019) In February 2020 we received an important message from the reputed Senior Director, Content and Marketing at MECLABS Institute who underlined that in order to move customers marketing need to consider the customer mindset, understanding that customers are human living life, and their likelihood to purchase a product has nothing to do with a cold calculus of benefits, their purchasing’s decrease being influenced by factors such as anxiety (a mental cost) and friction (a physical cost). And to overcome anxiety, he recommends clarity, trust, and content communicate with clarity. (Burstein, 2020) While with regard to friction he recommends to reduce it (by evaluating everything it is asked customers to do) and overcome it (by using incentive effectively, making people to overcome friction and act).

At the beginning of March 2020 CNBC made reference to the retail consulting agency First Insight research (they surveyed 500 people on February 28) which revealed that the new coronavirus has already significantly or somewhat impacted 54% of millennials’ purchase decisions (in comparison with: 33% of baby boomers, 42% of Gen X, and 49% of Gen Z), which is suggesting a dramatically behavioral change. (Thomas, 2020) In the same day: eMarketer underlined the perspective of the lasting impact on revenues and sales (great cost to marketing budgets) generated by the canceled or postponed (this began in earnest February) major business events (a cornerstone touchpoint for many B2B companies being in-person events) because of the coronavirus progressing worldwide; (Ryan, 2020) the Community Manager of IQPC Digital (while announcing via e-mail the “Digital Conference: The Real-Time Business Impact of Coronavirus”, March 18, 2020, hosted on AIIA Network) underlined, among

Holistic Marketing Management

44

other aspects, the unforeseen development and spread of the COVID-19, giving significant examples. (Graizevsky, 2020) Just three days before, within the traditional discussions hosted by RetailWire (Retail News and Analysis) we noticed that the topic “Retailers go into business triage mode as coronavirus enters the U.S.” benefited from 24 significant comments coming from different experts. (Ryan, 2020) This discussion started from what includes the potential impact on U.S. retail (shortages, supply chain disruptions, fear of public places, tourism revenues, work-travel restrictions, scams, and macro slowdown). While a month before, on February 12, 2020, “McKinsey On Point” challenged us to reflect on “How coronavirus can help us make sense of the world economy” (beyond the documented fact that: “Clearly, this new outbreak is exacting a very real and terrible cost in loss of human lives”).

On February 28, 2020 McKinsey and Company released a significant document – “Coronavirus COVID 19: Facts and Insights” (Updated February 28, 2020 Global Health + Crisis Response) – “meant to help with a narrower goal: provide facts and insights on the current COVID 19 situation to help decision makers understand best practices”. They underlined from the very beginning the humanitarian challenge and the fact that the top priority is to solve it, much remaining to be done globally to respond. That is why they considered both a base case scenario, and a conservative scenario, then recommending companies to take into account (given the rapid spread) the following actions: protect employees; stand up a cross functional, global COVID 19 response team; protect customers; stress test financials and liquidity, and create contingency plan; maintain supply chain; demonstrate purpose (supporting epidemic efforts where possible). For instance, with regard to supply chain actions to consider in response to COVID 19 they made a clear distinction between immediate actions (2-4 weeks: understand exposure; take action to address anticipated shortages; ensure resources required to restart; understand additional options) and mid-term actions (2-4 months: continuously improve material supply stability; kick off designing resilient supply chain for the future; build collaborative relationship w/ ext. partners).

So, we see how including marketers are facing new challenges, and it appears to emerge a new role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). At the beginning of this year, the co-founder, president, and CEO of Full Circle Insights (a marketing performance measurement software provider), showed how vital as ever is the CMO’ role (more complex now, the big picture including: SEO, Content Marketing, AdTech, CX, Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Product Marketing, CRM, Marketing Automation, Marketing Analytics, Measurement), within the context he need to be prepared to meet the challenges of the next decade by using different strategies, skills, and support. (Crater, 2020) Next month, in February 2020 eMarketer spoke with “Veteran CMO Jeanniey Mullen on the Four CMO Types and Why She’s a Hybrid”, Mullen’s role now at DailyPay being seen as that of a hybrid CMO (she was a former global CMO of human resources consulting firm Mercer and marketing lead for Nook by Barnes & Noble and JCPenney). (Koch, 2020) She defines a CMO’s role in four ways: (either) a brand CMO (who is able to create personalities and personas out of an organization), a datadriven CMO (who is running the business based on predictive modeling, user/buyer behaviors and retention models), a hybrid CMO (who is working in companies focused relentlessly on growth, starting with the brand, simultaneously building a demand-generation strategy, then Holistic Marketing Management

45

focusing heavily on demand generation) or innovative/creative CMO (who is a risk-taker, creating a new market for a new set of products etc.). Her argument concerning her status at DailyPay as a hybrid CMO is that of being focused on both brand generation (it generates longterm value) and demand generation (it generates sales in the short term), that being very good because both have to work together. I her opinion, the future of the CMO’s role must be based on both CMO’s strengths, and company’s needs.

Also with regard to CMOs, and also in February 2020 we find out that according to a recent Korn Ferry research (based on an analysis of the ages and tenures of C-suite executives at the 1,000 largest companies in the U.S. by revenue) CMOs have the shortest average tenure (3.5 years, compared with 6.9 years for a CEO) among C-suite executives at large US companies, the average age of a CMO being 54, and among the industries examined consumer goods CMOs having the youngest average age (52), as shown in the figure no. 3 below: (Nanji, 2020)

Figure no. 3: Age and Tenure in the C-suite, Korn Ferry Source: Nanji, A. (2020). The Average Age and Tenure of C-Suite Executives, MarketingProfs, February 25 (work cited)

Next month, in March 2020, McKinsey’s representatives argued that “Modern marketing is the ability to harness the full capabilities of the business to provide the best experience for the customer and thereby drive growth”. (Armstrong, et al., 2020) And as marketing is seen to be (by 83% of global CEOs, according to a recent McKinsey survey) a major driver for most or all of a company’s growth agenda (while reducing marketing costs), McKinsey’s representatives state that becoming a modern marketing organization must be a “now” priority, this new model involving a whole new way of operating (the keywords for marketing departments being speed, Holistic Marketing Management

46

collaboration, and customer focus), starting from a clear view of what constitutes a model for this modern marketing which requires updated capabilities (Strategy & insights, Creative & content, Media & channel activation, CX & personalization, Measurement & marketing ROI, Product & pricing) and enablers (Organizational design & culture, Agile way of working, Talent & agency management, Data & technology), as shown in the figure no. 4 below:

Figure no. 4: To deliver on growth, modern marketing requires updated capabilities and enablers Source: Armstrong, S., Esber, D., Heller, H. and Timelin, B. (2020). Modern marketing: What it is, what it isn’t, and how to do it, McKinsey & Company, March (work cited)

And in order to provide a foundation for this necessary change, McKinsey’s representatives highlight also three corollary mindset shifts (as a must): Unifier mindset (unifier CMOs are ensuring both that other C-suite executives understand marketing’s clearly defined role, and each member of the marketing team collaborate seamlessly with colleagues in other functions), Customer-centric mindset (modern marketers are involving commitments to several elements, developing capabilities for efficient engagement across numerous microsegments, adequately organizing the efforts around acquiring more of the most valuable customers and creating greater loyalty), and ROI mindset (modern marketers are becoming accountable for delivering value across all channels, on the basis of adequately using digital channels and improvements in analytics and data science, fulfilling this way marketing’s mandate as a growth

Holistic Marketing Management

47

driver, building credibility with the CFO, unlocking additional investment, and demonstrating marketing’s value to the entire company).

But in the same month of March 2020 “McKinsey On Point” challenged us again, this time reminding us to reflect on skills of the future, arguing that this is: “Complicating matters, as more “hard” skills are overtaken by AI and automation, “soft” skills (communication, teamwork) are becoming increasingly in demand. And in many cases, management doesn’t know how to value them”. And this within the context in which in November 2019 McKinsey’s representatives: recommended companies (taking into account at that time that 80% of organizations surveyed begun a digital transformation in the past five years, according to McKinsey Global survey) to both encourage employees to acquire new skills – both hard (automation and AI) and soft (several of the top 10 growing skills highlighted by the skills outlook from the World Economic Forum were showed to be soft skills, including creativity and emotional intelligence) – and to reward employees in the job market for their efforts; (Avrane-Chopard, 2019) showed that soft skills (which can impact culture, mindsets, leadership, attitudes and behaviors) fall into different categories (such as: advanced communication and negotiation skills, interpersonal skills and empathy, leadership and management skills, entrepreneurship and initiative-taking, adaptability and continuous learning skills, teaching and training skills), and in order to encourage employees’ fine tuning the social and emotional abilities, employers must value soft skills such as collaboration, communication and critical thinking (by adjusting the ways they assess, educate, train and reward them accordingly).

(Avrane-Chopard, Potter, and Muhlmann, 2019) So, it looks like we were inspired in December last year when we highlighted the real challenge of updating CMO’s responsibilities, the current general context being more complex, this time, for instance, customers’ purchasing’s increase (not decrease) being influenced more by the mental cost (anxiety), and marketers needing to have both a clear picture with regard to the generated impact accordingly, and a clear distinction between the necessary immediate and midterm actions at the level of the different supply chains (which in general are focused on increasing sales through a better understanding of how customers behave) and value chains (which in general are focused on generating and capturing value in the whole chain), without neglecting what the applications of PEST analysis revealed (in the sectors in which marketers’ companies are positioned).

References Albee, A. (2020). Put B2B Content in Context Across the Customer Lifecycle, CustomerThink, February 17. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/put-b2b-content-in-context-across-the-customer-lifecycle/?

Armstrong, S., Esber, D., Heller, H. and Timelin, B. (2020). Modern marketing: What it is, what it isn’t, and how to do it, McKinsey & Company, March. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/modern-marketing-what-it-iswhat-it-isnt-and-how-to-do-it?

Avrane-Chopard, J. (2019). Are hard and soft skills rewarded equally? McKinsey, November 4. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/are-hard-and-soft-skills-rewarded-equally?

Holistic Marketing Management

48

Avrane-Chopard, J., Potter, J., Muhlmann, D. (2019). How to develop soft skills, McKinsey, November 11. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/how-to-develop-soft-skills Burstein, D. (2020). Stop Thinking Logically – and Start Thinking Like Your Customers, Target Marketing, February 24. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/stop-thinking-logically-start-considering-customer-mindset/ Caffentzis, N. (2020). How B2B Companies Can Up Their Customer Experience Game, Kellogg Insight, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Feb 3. Retrieved from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/how-b2b-companies-can-up-their-customerexperience-game?

Chandra, A. (2020). Taking Omnichannel Marketing Outbound in 2020! Target Marketing, January 23. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/omnichannel-marketing-outbound-2020/#ne Cooper, M. (2020). 5 strategies for mastering customer experience at the point of sale, Customer Experience Update, February 21. Retrieved from https://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/daily-customer-change-customer-success-2020-02-21?

Crater, B. (2020). What CMOs Need to Do to Stay Relevant to Their Organizations, Target Marketing, January 8. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/what-cmos-need-to-do-to-stay-relevant-to-their-organizations/#ne Fultz, E. (2019). 3 Ways AI Can Transform Your B2B Marketing, Pardot, December 17. Retrieved from https://www.pardot.com/blog/3-ways-aican-transform-your-b2b-marketing/ Graizevsky, A. (2020). Digital Conference: The Real-Time Business Impact of Coronavirus, IQPC Ltd, London, United Kingdom, March 5 Gray, J. (2019). Sales & Marketing Alignment: What You Didn’t Know Until Now (and We Didn’t Either), Business Solutions on LinkedIn, December 11. Retrieved from https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/sales-and-marketing/2019/sales---marketing-alignment-what-you-didnt-know-until-now--andGupta, S. (2020). Is Identity Resolution the New, Must-Have Martech Solution? Target Marketing, February 25. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/identity-resolution-new-must-have-martech-solution/#ne Habeshian, V. (2020). Influencer Marketing Strategy in 2020: What You Need to Know [2 Infographics], MarketingProfs, February 27. Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2020/42504/influencer-marketing-strategy-in-2020-what-you-need-to-know-2-infographics?

Iyer, C. (2019). What Is Identity Resolution? Definition, Process, Advantages with Examples, Martech Advisor, Oct 15. Retrieved from https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/data-management/what-is-identity-resolution/ Keith, A. (2020). AI in B2B: Let's Not Forget the Intelligence of Humans, MarketingProfs, February 26. Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2020/42493/ai-in-b2b-lets-not-forget-the-intelligence-of-humans?

Koch, L. (2020). Veteran CMO Jeanniey Mullen on the Four CMO Types and Why She's a Hybrid, eMarketer, Feb 20. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/veteran-cmo-jeanniey-mullen-on-the-four-cmo-types-and-why-shes-a-hybrid?

Leavitt, R., Schwartz, J., Thach, D. (2019). Moving to ABM Maturity: 2019 ABM Benchmark Study, ITSMA and the ABM Leadership Alliance, Research Report, December 2019. Retrieved from ITSMA-ABMLA-Moving-to-ABM-Maturity-2019-Benchmark-Report Mathias, M. (2020). Does Your B2B Site Give Millennial Buyers What They’re Looking For? CustomerThink, February 12. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/does-your-b2b-site-give-millennial-buyers-what-theyre-looking-for/?

Morgan, J. (2015). The Rise of Opti-Channel Communication, OpenMarket, September 3. Retrieved from https://www.openmarket.com/blog/therise-of-opti-channel-communication/ Nanji, A. (2020). The Average Age and Tenure of C-Suite Executives, MarketingProfs, February 25. Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2020/42456/the-average-age-and-tenure-of-c-suite-executives?

Newman, D. (2019). 5 Strategies for Successful Marketing and Sales Alignment, Pardot, December 19. Retrieved from https://www.pardot.com/blog/5-strategies-for-successful-marketing-and-sales-alignment/ Novatska, K. (2020). Five Reasons Companies Ditch Big-Name CRMs (And Go With Startups’ Instead), MarketingProfs, February 20. Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2020/42472/five-reasons-companies-ditch-big-name-crms-and-go-with-startups-instead?

Purcarea, T. (2019). Aligning Marketing and Sales within the Evolving CMO Responsibilities: Ensuring Greater CX, Customer Success, and Value, Holistic Marketing Management, December, Volume 9, Issue 4, pp. 28-38 Ri, S. (2017). Forget Multi Channel vs. Omni Channel. The Future is Opti Channel, Userlike, January 20. Retrieved from https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/multichannel-vs-omnichannel

Holistic Marketing Management

49

Ryan, J. (2020). How Marketers Can Adapt to Event Cancellations Brought on by Coronavirus, eMarketer, Mar 5. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/coronavirus-event-cancellation-b2b-marketers?

Ryan, T. (2020). Retailers go into business triage mode as coronavirus enters the U.S., RetailWire, Mar 02. Retrieved from https://retailwire.com/discussion/retailers-go-into-business-triage-mode-as-coronavirus-enters-the-u-s/ Saint Laurent, J.-M. (2020). Dominate B2B Marketing Persuasion With This Psychological Toolbox, CustomerThink, February 14. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/dominate-b2b-marketing-persuasion-with-this-psychological-toolbox/?

Schaffer, N. (2020). 5 Tips for Winning with Influencer Marketing, CustomerThink, February 10. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/5tips-for-winning-with-influencer-marketing/?

Talreja, A. (2020). Seven Ways to Build a Loyal Customer Base With Content Marketing, MarketingProfs, February 27. Retrieved from https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2020/42503/seven-ways-to-build-a-loyal-customer-base-with-content-marketing?

Thomas, L. (2020). Millennials are the ‘worried’ generation and changing spending habits most amid coronavirus outbreak, study shows, CNBC, Mar 5. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/millennials-worry-changing-spending-most-amid-coronavirus-study.html Upton, R. (2020). 5 Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Product Experience, Customer Experience Update, February 21. Retrieved from https://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/daily-customer-change-customer-success-2020-02-21?

Ventimiglia-Lobit, L. (2019). Increase Your ROI with Opti-Channel Marketing, Diamonddog, June 24. Retrieved from https://diamonddogmarketing.com/2019/06/24/increase-your-roi-with-opti-channel-marketing/ Washburn, S. (2020). 4 Ways to Tailor Your Marketing Efforts to Millennials. Target Marketing, February 21. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/4-ways-to-tailor-your-marketing-efforts-to-millennials/#ne Wixom, S. (2020). Six Ways To Keep A Million-Dollar Sales Training Investment From Being A Million-Dollar Write-Off, CustomerThink, February 13. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/six-ways-to-keep-a-million-dollar-sales-training-investment-from-being-a-million-dollarwrite-off/?

Wu, B. (2020). Creating Order in Unstructured Digital Data: How AI predicts patterns and changes the scalability of behavioral data analysis, Luth Research, Whitepaper, 2.3.2020. Retrieved from https://luthresearch.com/whitepaper/creating-order-in-unstructured-digital-data/ *** Loyalty Trends 2020: Insights From a Panel of Loyalty Marketing Experts, Wise Marketer, January 28, 2020. Retrieved from https://thewisemarketer.com/loyalty-strategy/loyalty-trends-2020-insights-from-a-panel-of-loyalty-marketing-experts *** A New Employee Advocacy Definition: The Ultimate Guide, Sociabble, January 24, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.sociabble.com/blog/employee-advocacy-guide/ *** 5 Marketing Predictions for 2020 and Beyond, AMA Event, Marketo, the week of February 17th. Retrieved from https://onlinexperiences.com/scripts/Server.nxp? *** Sales and Marketing Alignment: Multiply Your Revenue, MarketingProfs B2B Forum, November 3, 2019. Retrieved from https://mpb2b.marketingprofs.com/workshops/marketing-alignment? *** Best CRM Software, https://www.g2.com/categories/crm *** G2 Grid for the top CRM Software products, https://www.g2.com/categories/crm#grid *** 7 Ways An Integrated CRM Can Benefit Your Business, Local Measure, Product Updates, February 18, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.localmeasure.com/post/7-ways-an-integrated-crm-can-benefit-your-business? *** How coronavirus can help us make sense of the world economy, “McKinsey On Point”, publishing@email.mckinsey.com, Wed, February 12, 2020 1:06 pm *** “Coronavirus COVID 19: Facts and Insights”, Updated February 28, 2020 Global Health + Crisis Response, McKinsey and Company.

Retrieved from COVID-19-Facts-and-Insights-February-28-2020-McKinsey-vF *** Hard skills, soft skills: What are they worth? "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> Thu, March 5, 2020 3:07 pm

Holistic Marketing Management

50

I SSN224 7 1 1 89