Getting Your Marketing Strategy Right: Interview with: Regan Yan, Managing Director, Digital Alchemy, a sponsor company at the marcus evans CMO Asia Summit 2013, on getting the marketing strategy piece right.

1. Getting Your Marketing Strategy Right
themselves in their customers’ shoes. requires the breakdown of many truisms
The problem is that most CMOs are not that marketing has lived by.
actually consumers of the products they Organisations are trying to transform
are marketing, so that is quite a from product-led to customer-led, but
dangerous thing to do. that transition is enormously difficult as
organisations are built around products.
CMOs need to look at how their All their systems are product systems
organisation is interacting with its and the reporting is product reporting.
customers. Marketing is not just about Only start-ups are able to do this easily,
TV ads anymore, but about creating as they do not start with a product
conversations, engaging with customers legacy. They start with the customer at
and taking care of the customer the centre of their universe, but that is
experience. What experience does not so easy for other organisations.
Interview with: Regan Yan, someone have when he walks into your
Managing Director, Digital Alchemy store or visits your website?
The millions of dollars that marketing
“Many organisations today lack a clear puts into different media can very
marketing strategy,” says Regan Yan, quickly be destroyed by a series of bad
CMOs
Managing Director, Digital Alchemy. customer experiences. Marketers have
“We often see a collection of tactical to start listening to their customers and
responses, people running around looking at the processes that one has to
building capabilities, campaigns and go through, to buy, use or upgrade their
marketing collateral, all in isolation of products.
any strategy,” he adds.
From a sponsor company attending the
Many of our clients are rebuilding their
organisation around customer-facing
need to
marcus evans CMO Asia Summit processes, looking at them from the
get ready
2013, in Macao, China, 27 - 29 May, customers’ perspective. That is a good
Yan puts the spotlight on what Chief start for a marketer. They must also
Marketing Officers (CMOs) need to think how customers engage with the
focus on today. organisation through all the different
channels.
How could marketing strategies be
better integrated? Instead of very broad-based marketing
campaigns, CMOs have to focus on how
for the
The biggest issue today is the lack of they can drive very specific outcomes.
change
marketing strategy and not how
strategies are integrated. Very few Any final words of advice?
organisations have a comprehensive
customised strategy that considers CMOs need to get ready for the change.
customer objectives, what actions they Most people think of the change in
intend to take and what capabilities they terms of technology and the different
need to build to achieve those goals. social media channels that are now
The strategy piece itself is often available, but this is more than that.
missing. The biggest challenge is the challenge of
change from within. How does one
How can CMOs better engage and create a marketing organisation that
understand consumers? knows how to engage with customers
and manage conversations? The entire
The mistake CMOs tend to make is to organisation needs to change, which
see their customers’ preferences based takes years.
on their own. They think of what
products they would want to buy and Marketing can put the systems and
what features they want, putting processes in place, but this change

2. About the CMO Asia Summit 2013
The Marketing Network –
marcus evans Summits group This unique forum will take place at The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macao,
delivers peer-to-peer information China, 27 - 29 May 2013. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or
on strategic matters, professional trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed marketing
trends and breakthrough professionals and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking
innovations. event.
www.cmoasiasummit.com
Please note that the Summit is a Contact
closed business event and the
number of participants strictly Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits
limited. Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
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About Digital Alchemy
Digital Alchemy is Asia Pacific’s leading Database Marketing Service Provider. We help organisations create a positive customer
experience and achieve customer centric marketing by utilising technological solutions to optimise the use of customer data. This
proven transformation process integrates our expertise in the development of innovative customer strategies, analytics, campaign
automation, database design and development, and blends these capabilities with the business-specific knowledge of our clients.
For more information, please visit: www.digitalalchemy.asia
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss
strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to
individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-to-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
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To view the web version of this interview, please click here: www.cmoasiasummit.com/ReganYan