New research highlights activations that provide the best potential ROI
· One in four marketers see community and engagement as the top marketing opportunity for the year ahead
· 92% of CMOs say community driven marketing is underused yet highly effective
· 89% believe it builds trust, credibility, and loyalty better than any other channel
· 76.6% of consumers wish their favourite brands had a community
“Community holds the key to new growth” – that’s the message being delivered by PR, digital and social agency Tigerbond following the publication of a new data-driven report into evolving marketing trends.
The independent agency commissioned leading market research consultant Censuswide to canvas the views and opinions of 250 CMOs from across multiple industries and geographies, with a specific focus to examine the impact of community-driven marketing.
Tigerbond also gathered insights from its global marketing partners in the Worldwide Partners network and drew on its three decades of experience representing major high street brands embedded in the heart of UK communities, such as Vue, Specsavers, and Tesco.
The result is The Power of Community report, the first definitive piece of research to explore how the evolving ecosystem of brand communication – from shifting social media trends to the rise of AI and changes in search – has brought community-led marketing to the forefront for brands aiming to re-engage their audiences.
“Community clearly holds the key to new growth and is more powerful than any algorithm,” said Laurna Woods, CEO of Tigerbond. “We’ve spent the past three decades helping brands and businesses build genuine connections with their communities, but we felt it was important to practice what we preach – and have a two-way conversation with the marketing community.
“The results were eye-opening and showed a real desire from CMOs to build a relationship with their customers around a shared connection. Quite simply, they wanted to really understand where their customers and target audiences are, get in front of them, and engage with them in a meaningful and highly targeted way.
“We’ve always been a big believer in a grassroots up approach, understanding local and cultural nuances, and making national brands relevant to consumers wherever they live, work and play.
“Over the last five years in particular, the way that people consume content and news has become increasingly fragmented and personalised. This is creating new online communities, which are shaped by the news and information ecosystems they exist in rather than where they are based geographically.
“The challenge we saw was for brands, now more than ever with AI content overwhelm, to find a way to connect on an authentic, human level, in real life (IRL) and online. The results speak for themselves and translate into a compelling must-read for every senior marketer.”
Tigerbond – headquartered in London, with offices in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Belfast – has recently made a six-figure investment in a brand redesign, website and insights team, with plans on the horizon for a newly created Head of Community role reinforcing its belief in the power of community marketing.
Woods added: “We will continue to invest with new hires and innovative partnerships that broaden our reach – whether that is in our regional footprint or our strong digital and social offering – and take us to the heart of as many communities as we possibly can.”
The Power of Community report can be read in full here.
