Shape the Agenda paper raises digital discussion

In its latest Shape the Agenda paper, entitled 'What Hasn't Happened Yet: The Shape of Digital to Come?', the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) asks where digital marketing is heading.

The CIM is calling on marketers to examine where digital marketing may be heading in the next few years and asks leading practitioners how they think companies can thrive in the digital market, while making sure they get the right return-in-investment levels from their activities.

With this in mind, the Shape the Agenda paper raises the digital discussion by suggesting that the key to future success lies in identifying the fact that people self-select their own digital 'villages' in which to live.

Mark Stuart, head of research at the CIM and author of the report, said: 'It's a myth that people explore the world the internet has to offer - the reality is that most people stick to eight or nine websites that they regularly visit.

'This means that businesses need to inhabit the spaces their customers inhabit, in order to build the brand, create awareness and generate a relationship with the customer.

'The need to create a dialogue with customers is easy to say in theory, but how do you do it in practice? 'Practising marketers need to live online the way their customers' do; that's the best way to create offerings that customers will like and respond to, versus being intrusive of personal spaces and becoming an unwanted third party.

'It means you find insights that lead to products and services.

'It also means you spot problems on the horizon and have the time to deal with them,' he added.

The CIM's Shape the Agenda paper also argues that a distinction can be drawn between collecting data and invading privacy.

Data can be used to target customers with offers they want; yet marketers have a challenge on their hands to show that this data is anonymous.

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