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Customers move between physical stores, mobile apps, social media, messaging platforms and websites organically. For the consumer, this is one experience. Can brands go past silos to offer a consistent yet complementary narrative?
There was a time when great marketing meant telling a compelling story and reaching the widest possible audience. That is no longer enough.
Customers move between physical stores, mobile apps, social media, messaging platforms and websites without thinking twice.
They discover products on Instagram, compare prices online, buy in-store and expect customer service to remember every previous interaction. Their expectations are shaped not just by competitors in the same industry, but by every seamless digital experience they encounter.
For marketers, the challenge is no longer creating campaigns. It is creating consistency. The modern customer expects brands to understand context, anticipate needs and communicate at the right moment without becoming intrusive.
Yet despite advances in AI, customer data and automation, many brands still struggle to deliver experiences that feel genuinely personal. The gap between what marketers believe they are delivering and what customers actually experience remains surprisingly wide.
That disconnect raises an important question: what do customers really want from brands today?
Beyond Personalisation, Customers are Looking for Authenticity
Technology has undoubtedly transformed marketing. AI can optimise campaigns in real time, predict customer behaviour and automate decisions that once required entire teams. However, technology alone cannot build trust.
Customers increasingly recognise the difference between a brand that simply talks about sustainability, wellness or customer centricity and one that genuinely lives those values. They also expect brands to understand how they move across channels.
An offer received on WhatsApp should feel connected to an earlier interaction on an app. A visit to a physical store should complement, not contradict, the digital experience.
Delivering that level of consistency requires far more than better technology. It demands closer collaboration across marketing, operations, technology and commercial teams, with customer experience becoming a shared business objective rather than the responsibility of a single department.
At the same time, the role of the CMO is changing. Today’s marketing leaders are expected to balance creativity with commercial outcomes, storytelling with data, and brand building with measurable growth.
AI may accelerate decision-making, but defining the brand’s purpose, values, and direction remains a distinctly human responsibility.
These questions sit at the heart of the latest episode of the Martech Podcast, where Parul Khanna, Chief Marketing Officer – Retail & Food and Alannah Higgins, Account, Emerging Enterprises, Braze, explore how customer expectations are evolving, why personalisation often falls short, and what brands must do to build experiences that feel seamless, authentic and genuinely valuable.
Watch the full conversation to hear how two industry leaders are rethinking customer engagement, AI and the future of modern marketing.
