As Marketing becomes increasingly tech-oriented, martech investments are getting a boost, every passing year. To ensure best returns on these, firms need to smartly choose the best martech strategy roadmaps, based on accurate identification of needs.
Consumers are becoming more digitally oriented every day, which means that brands need to enhance their reliance on marketing technology to increase consumer engagement.
Digital advertising expenditure has been increasing year over year. In the U.S., the martech expenditure has outstripped traditional advertising in 2019, with a forecasted growth of 19% in the coming year. However, to fuel Martech capabilities below are few ground rules which are good to follow:
Strengthen human relations using technology
Emotions inextricably drive consumer behavior. Brand loyalty is the result of intense emotional connections and trust, which means that repeat customer discounts and rewards programs are no longer adequate. Relationships last longer when brands connect with individual consumer emotions. According to a Wunderman study, nearly 80% of consumers exclusively shop with a brand that they connect with or the brands they feel understand their requirements. While customers do focus on savings, their loyalty lies with the brands that create a strong buying desire and make them feel important. Technology now allows personalized customer interactions at scale. Customer behavior tracking technology has now enabled the brands to enhance their customized consumer interactions.
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Prepare and prioritize the security regulations to make consumers feel secure
Cyber security and data privacy have broken into the public consciousness amidst a plethora of high-profile security breaches by the tech-giants. These cases have made lawmakers stricter in the U.S. and elsewhere, bringing up new legislation like the EU’s GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act. In the U.S., it’s a probability that the federal legislation will focus on governing the use of consumer data in the future.
But marketers shouldn’t sit waiting for that to happen. They should proactively address privacy concerns around the data-driven approach. Marketing firms need to ensure that subscribers opt-in for receiving marketing and promotional messages in an unambiguous way. They also need to explicitly state the information they collect and the intended use of it. Firms then need to follow that up using martech driven software to enable data portability and assuring the permanent deletion of personal data as per the so-called “right to be forgotten.”
Invest in martech tools that add to the real value creation
Firstly, firms should never invest in technology just to follow the herd. Instead, they need to focus their martech investment strategy on tools that will advance the company’s goals. There are certain factors that marketers need to consider to determine which martech, adtech, or productivity tools are worth investing in. Also, considering the financial stability of the vendor supplying these tools is essential. Startups and mid-scaled companies invest in software heavily to stay in the competition. But, installing new technology increases the investments made for data collection and employee training.
Marketers should consider smoothly integrating a specific tool or tech solution into the existing martech stack as a priority. It sometimes may be better to invest in a software package to consolidating the business requirements rather than stack new solutions atop the older programs.
Marketing needs to grow with business plans. They need to be deliberate while exploring the martech landscape, which is evolving fast. Some tools can help push the business forward, but marketers have to take the time to research and identify the solution that fits the best.
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