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he ability to predict what customersreally want to spend their hardearned income on next is the

alchemy all companies seek. In many waysthat is the Marketing grail, which is broughtmuch closer for many firms by the continuingrevolution that is digital marketing andcustomer analytics.

The insatiable appetite for accurate customerdata driven by digital customer engagementshas ramped up demand for marketers withthese skills set. Far from the old cliché abouthalf your advertising spend working, but justnot knowing which half, the huge bumpthroughout this year has been for marketingtalent that does just the opposite. Marketersthat can develop creative digital campaignsand be able to track, measure and analysetheir success, thus constantly gaining moreinsight into their customer behaviours.

Where digital marketing used to be thepreserve of agencies and edgier technologyfirms, today it is the most in-demand skill setin marketing functions across allorganisation types; a trend which is only setto grow in 2015. No surprise perhaps forclients in the banking and finance, food andbeverage, retail and telecommunicationssectors that we have worked with over thelast two years to bring this competency inhouse. However, it is interesting to watch adramatic shift amongst more traditionalsectors, such as professional services, who

have historically lagged in terms of theirdigital presence and are now starting to getto grips with how to communicate acrossmultiple platforms.

While a law firm’s digital strategy will beinherently different to that of an onlineretailer, a commonality is evident for both;actionable data is required for bothorganisations to make the right customerdriven decisions. Therefore, it translates thatas a digital marketer in Ireland, irrespectiveof the industry sector you work in, while yourpriority at all times should be your customer;real data value is dependent on the tools ofthe trade.

Many of the digital marketers we work withdraw attention to the need to get this rightat the outset. If you want to predict acustomer’s likely future needs and in turndevelop a communications strategy whichfacilitates customer engagement with yourproduct or services, you need the rightsupporting technology. Products provided bycompanies such as Quantcast, Adroll,Dunnhumby, Google, IBM and SAS are basedon intelligent propensity models and arevital to running and analysing digitalcampaigns.

A lot of the organisations we work withmake the point that successful companiescan no longer look back to what has occurredpreviously to shape their futures, but need to

TInsights into Action

hrm recruit | three minute leadership | January 2015 | Insights into Action

Sarah Good

Sales & Marketing Selection Lead

sarah.good@hrmrecruit.com

professional services practice | science & technology practice | commercial & operations practice

more effectively use competitor intelligenceand wider market informatics to make futurecommercial predictions. The companies wesee growing strong loyal customer bases aregenerally consumer facing companies withlarge data sets of customers. Thesecompanies are using their understanding ofcustomers’ behavioural patterns to makecommercial decisions relating to productdevelopment, technology investment,proposition development and even employeeengagement.

If companies are evolving in their demandsfrom marketing functions, then so too mustmarketers evolve to make themselvesinvaluable. Ireland has come out of a tougheconomic period where many marketershave gained new skills, many throughnecessity rather than design. Marketersmust now bring a much more structuredapproach to marketing, digital marketing,communications and customer analytics. Asan analytical marketer today, it is critical thatyou keep up to speed with emergingtechnologies and use a variety of internalsources to develop a clear overall picture ofyour organisation.

Also of importance for digital marketers in2015 will be coding; we believe this skill willsoon become a necessity for digitalmarketers. As modern marketing managersstrive to understand how social media,content demand generation, PR and SEO canall align successfully within a fully integratedmarketing strategy, the ability to understandhow front end web development and codingcan affect, enhance and optimise a contentstrategy will become a prerequisite.

This is a challenging time for organisationsand their marketing professionals. The besttalent, with the smartest technology, willhave the greatest ability to predict whatcustomer appetite will be.