As I 'C' It

Times have changed dramatically from when the “four p’s” of product, price, place and promotion dominated marketing strategy. Now, this is “How I ‘C’ It” – Content, Community, Channels, Commerce and Collaboration are the pillars on which to create an effective course of action to target today’s affluent consumers.


The ‘Consumer Age’
Our social and business climates have changed in immeasurable ways during the last decade, and the pace of transformation is best reflected in this quote from author Thomas Friedman:

“When I wrote The World Is Flat: A Brief History Of The 21st Century, Facebook didn’t exist. Or for most people it didn’t exist. Twitter was a sound. The ‘Cloud’ was in the sky. 4G was a parking place. LinkedIn was a prison. Applications were something you sent to college. And, for most people, Skype was a typo.

That all happened in the last seven years. And, what it has done is taken the world from connected to hyper-connected – and that has been a huge opportunity and a huge challenge.”

In the ‘consumer age,’ today’s luxury travelers are intelligent and well-researched, possess distinct expectation, and face diverse influencers. This consumer psyche has resulted in dramatic shifts in marketing strategy amid the constant evolution of the digital and social landscapes. Among the changes, one core point emerges as stronger than ever before – engagement is the cornerstone. It drives relationships, and that ultimately drives sales and profits.