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Customer Engagement

Customer Engagement (CE), which refers to the engagement of customers with one another, with a company or brand, is becoming more and more crucial to companies seeking to gain
a strategic advantage in the marketplace. According to an online engagement survey report, Customer Engagement is the "best measure of current and future performance" (2006 Annual Online CE survey)⁴. According to Dave Chaffey, there is an increased focus on CE due to media fragmentation, improved broadband and emergence of interactive media in the marketing mix⁵. The intent of CE initiatives is to place conversions into a long term strategic context. While focusing on maximizing conversions might benefit in the short term, the likelihood of repeat conversions is decreased. It is important, therefore, to create valuable relationships and offer mutual advantages in order to effectively engage the customer and build loyalty. The proliferation of community portals and user generated content are changing the power businesses wield in dictating the communications agenda and, therefore, leveraging customer contributions is becoming the focus of brand managers. Companies are taking note of the significance of CE. Amazon.com recently re-branded itself as "serving the world's largest engaged online community".

Stealth Marketing

The task of growing and retaining customers is the primary concern for any business. With the increased focus on relationship building (brand building), marketers are continually looking for better ways to reach a cynical public. Stealth marketing is based on the premise that word of mouth remains the most effective form of promotion and that peer group recommendation is the ultimate marketing weapon (Kaikati & Kaikati, 2004). Consumers are getting more and more defensive about advertising and promotions from companies. Stealth marketing focuses on filtering through the traditional clutter of messages to present a new product or service by getting the right people talking about the product or service without appearing to be company-sponsored. Although there is a certain flavor of surreptitiousness, we attempt to show that incorporated into the integrated communications strategy in a fair and ethical manner, stealth marketing is a powerful communication tool.

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4 http://www.cscape.com/services/Pages/SurveyHighlights.aspx
5 http://www.davechaffey.com/E-marketing/Emarketing-Excellence-Interviews/Customer-engagement

* Contributed by: -
Ramkishan Rajan has completed his Bachelor's (Mechanical Engineering) from College of Engineering, Trivandrum, and is a marketing enthusiast with specific areas of interest in Marketing of high technology products and consumer behaviour.
M. S. Diana has done her Bachelor's (Computer Science) from IIT Chennai, and has a strong analytical approach to marketing. Her specific areas of interest include marketing strategy and brand management. She is also majors in operations.
Both are currently students of the PGDM Programme (Batch 2006-08) at IIM Kozhikode.