The future of marketing
Members of the CMA’s Brand Council recently engaged in a group discussion, focused on the future of the marketing landscape, and exploring how the advancement of marketing tools and techniques is impacting the profession. Below is a list of takeaways resulting from the dialogue:
- Well-established Canadian brands cannot survive on brand name alone. They must consider whether their marketing strategies require slight adjustments or a total overhaul in order to compete with new companies entering the space.
- As innovative marketing techniques are being implemented by emerging companies, these well-established brands will need to follow suit. Once companies stop innovating, they begin lagging.
- Tools and techniques used for promotion will continue to change over time in order to best reach target audiences and as technology further advances.
- Marketers must continue prioritizing consumer sentiment and demand. Consumers today are highly concerned with the environment and place value on supporting brands that offer products and services that are developed with sustainability and ethical practices in mind. There will be an increasing importance for brands to focus on implementing impactful CSR initiatives. These are the brands that will capture mindshare and market share.
- A country’s image in relation to certain products significantly impacts the perception of a company and the products and services it offers.
Location matters. In the global market, a country’s brand is the brand image that needs to be top label. Consumers are willing to pay more for certain products if they come from particular areas of the world. For example, watches from Switzerland and clothes from Italy are considered to be high in quality, and therefore, people are willing to pay top dollar for these items. With this in mind, more companies will need to do their best to present and maintain a positive image to their target markets.
It will be worth looking at Canada’s brand as it impacts our marketing efforts. From an external perspective, Canada has a strong brand image; it has a unique appeal and value proposition. What will be important is for Canada’s image to last.
