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ZimCode Secretariat
Chapter 3 of the ZimCode addresses Board of directors. The board is the guardian on the shareholder’s investment and gives strategic guidance to the management to ensure that the company continues to operate sustainably and profitably.
Since the turn of the century the fast-paced evolution of marketing has caused some companies to go by the wayside hence the need to engage boards on the benefits of digital marketing.
Digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media such as social media, e-commerce, websites, mobile sites, mobile apps, podcasts, electronic bill boards, digital television, IT virtualisation and so forth.
It differs from traditional marketing in that it uses channels and methods that enable an organisation to analyse marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t, reaches a huge audience typically in real time.
Digital marketing enables customer relationships across a variety of channels, responds to and initiate customer interactions and extract value from big data to make better decisions.
Nowadays customers want brands they can trust, companies that know them, communications that are personalised and relevant, and offers tailored to their needs and preferences.
Boards can play a valuable role in helping management to identify and initiate beneficial marketing strategy that could have been difficult for managers to envision on their own, given their focus on day-to-day concerns. This is in line with Principle 53, 54, 56 of the ZimCode which highlights that the board has to provide effective corporate and entrepreneurship leadership.
In the boardroom, directors with the appropriate digital expertise can demystify digital marketing, help management and the board clarify the specific digital forces impacting the business and provide insight into the ways customer behaviour is changing and other important trends.
The digital marketing strategy has to align with both short and long term goals and drive the company’s mission forward. The board has to understand how the strategy will benefit the organisation and appreciate the implementation plan.
The board has to have facts and data in order to scrutinise the effectiveness of the digital strategy otherwise cutting and pasting digital strategies from other companies doesn’t really work. It is a useless cause.
As much as the digital space provides great opportunity for the company the board has to be aware of the risks that can be associated with digital marketing and ensure that the strategy caters for the risks.
All this can advance the broader board’s understanding of the issues at play for the business.
Relevant sub-committees of the board as highlighted in principle 92 of the ZimCode can be useful in bringing pertinent issues on digital marketing to the attention of the board so as to limit the amount of time spent on this during full board meetings. As a result, the executive team can spend less time educating the board and more time in strategic discussions. Digital marketing is the wave of the future. As one author puts it, “If the company is involved in any kind of consumer marketing today and not dealing in this area with considerable skill, it is in danger of not optimising the company’s performance over the long term”.
The board has to play an active role in ensuring that this area of marketing is well managed.
Beyond the websites and mobile sites digital marketing is about the tools, mindsets and culture that it brings to the business that transforms how the business operates. The digital space is an opportunity to build a new audience and meet the digital experiences customers demand.
For more information on the ZimCode contact: [email protected].
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