Simon Erskine Locke, Founder & CEO of CommunicationsMatch^TM 

Over the last three months, renowned Columbia and Harvard professors, industry-leading marketers, and behavioral experts have shared insights into impact and opportunities for leaders at all levels in all functions interested in the integration of strategy, marketing, and communications around COVID-19. 

In the most recent webinar, our distinguished panelists Michael R. Solomon, marketing expert, consultant, author and professor and Leslie Zane, President and Founder of Triggers® Growth Strategy, provided a behavioral framework for understanding the drivers of consumer decision-making and shared perspective on ways in which companies, marketers, and communicators can leverage these changes to grow their businesses. Stephan Wiedner, CEO and Co-Founder of Noomii, added perspective on steps business leaders need to take to help organizations realize these opportunities. Read the summary/watch the replay here.   

The webinars, organized by the Marketing IMPACT Council™ in partnership with CommunicationsMatch™, and supported by CommPRO.biz, The Financial Communications Society, and Capitol Communicator, provide three critical takeaways for communicators:  

1) What Clients Value is Different

What clients value has changed during the pandemic. Professors Noel Capon (Columbia Business School) and Amy C. Edmondson (Harvard Business School), and Founder & CRO of Researchscape, Jeffrey Henning, offered insights into the ways in which companies need to think about the greatest value they provide in the new landscape. A value-based approach to meeting clients’ changing needs should be the foundation of reset discussions. (Click here to read the summary/watch the replay of the first webinar.) 

2) The Business You are in has Changed

Changes in consumer behavior and the acceleration of existing trends by 3-5 years, are not only changing companies, but also the role of leaders, marketers and communicators who now need to be in the transformation business according to Marketer of the Year, Arun Sinha, and Time magazine Marketing Innovator, Rishad Tobaccowala. Companies and agencies that have been able to refocus messaging and business models will be able to not only survive but thrive. (Click here to read the summary/watch the replay of the second webinar.) 

3) Behavioral Change is an Opportunity

Generally resistant to change, consumer behaviors have become unfrozen noted Solomon and Zane in the most recent webinar, and changes are expected to stick. The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation taking place and created new opportunities for both new brands and old favorites. The keys to unlocking these opportunities are an understanding of, and the ability to tap into, underlying drivers of behavior and the need to create “psychologically safe workplaces” that encourage speaking up and innovation. (Click here to read the summary/watch the replay of the third webinar.)                 

The conversations John Greco, Chairman of the Marketing IMPACT Council™, and I have had with our panelists have underscored the importance of resetting strategy, messaging and communications for what Rishad Tobaccowala described as the “new strange.”

They reinforce the key Marketing IMPACT Council™ ideas around the critical importance of aligning organizations across functions and levels, and the value of CommunicationsMatch™’s tools that enable companies to virtually find and engage communicators and marketing resources needed to at a minimum to survive and ideally thrive in the years to come. 

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 ABOUT

The idea of value is at the heart of the Marketing IMPACT Council™. Our VALUE Equation™ is an acronym and a mnemonic for VISION, ALIGNMENT, LEADERSHIP, UNDERSTANDING, and EXECUTION across functions. These five drivers must be continuously optimized and integrated to create, grow, and maintain the maximum value for all stakeholders and apply to both for-profit and nonprofit entities. We provide members tools and access to resources to unlock value – such as this webinar series – that help council members address the question, if you only had one more dollar, how would you invest it to create the GREATEST SUSTAINABLE IMPACT on the VALUE of your entity and brand.

Learn more and join at mktgimpactcouncil.com.

CommunicationsMatch™ offers search tools and services to help companies find, shortlist, and hire agencies, consultants, and freelancers, and help agencies and professionals generate new business leads. During the coronavirus pandemic, CommunicationsMatch has leveraged its resources to help connect struggling not-for-profits and companies with Communications Volunteers willing to give their time to help others at no cost or discounted services. Through its partnership with the Marketing IMPACT Council™, it is offering communicators access to a unique low-cost telehealth services program from MDLIVE. Find out more here.