Marketing Strategy in the Age of the ‘Omni-Moment of Truth’

The landscapes marketers operate in are extremely dynamic and are ever-changing due to the fast pace of technology, transforming consumer needs, competitors’ reactions and retailers’ progressive initiatives. This calls upon an adaptive marketing strategy that quickly adjusts to the situational factors happening in the marketplace. More often than not we have seen static and fixed strategies that faded away alongside declining brands. Indeed, with the changing nature of consumers’ interactions with brands and retailers, marketers should focus on the related driving consumer moments rather than to place the emphasis on the communication and retail channels. This handbook provides marketers with the strategies and tools to use in an era where consumer and shopper engagements are mainly driven by “moments of truth”. It first tackles the needed analyses brands should conduct alongside a discussion on the overall changing consumer journey, the moments of truth and the multi-channel versus the omni-channel perspectives. It then discusses the case on the obsolescence of the current “first moment of truth” due to the recent technological advances and changing consumers’ behavior, and accordingly presents and lists the new moments of truth. The fundamentals of marketing strategy and the needed adapted approach in line with the advent of the “omni moment of truth” are examined alongside the basics of a brand strategy. Two key topics are discussed under that area: how to sustain the brand’s competitive advantage and how to drive brand engagement through building a sustainable brand-consumer relationship. The Chinese model is then put into perspective before moving to the marketing activation part including marketing planning, category management and the Omni moment of truth strategic map. The handbook concludes on the potential risks and future opportunities of the current key relationship building platform being used by brands: the social networking sites. Case studies are also featured throughout this handbook covering topics such as defense planning, Amazon’s technological disruptions, route to market strategies in China and digital strategies in the Arab world.