“A solid tech stack combined with powerful analytics is the foundation of good marketing and advertising campaigns,” says Michael Lagoni, CEO of Stackline, in an exclusive interview with Talk CMO.
TCMO Bureau: How important is it for firms to invest in Martech tools to get a unified view and insights on their marketing and sales activities?
Michael Lagoni: The average e-commerce leader is responsible for tracking millions of data points every week. They have to be experts on their own business, their competitors’ businesses, trends and tailwinds in their industry, and the digital channels and platforms that increasingly power their growth. To help them manage these fast-changing ecosystems, they often rely on an army of data providers and agencies, each claiming the primacy of their own particular angle on the truth. Relying on multiple point solutions to handle customer insights, market share, SEO, and advertising can amount to wasted time and money, and creates data silos. Innovation in e- commerce can be accelerated by narrowing the tech stack to tools that holistically view the industry rather than cobbling together disparate systems. A single source of truth, allows e-commerce leaders to make sense of the past, win in the present, and ensure growth in the future.
TCMO Bureau: How crucial is the role of advertising automation tools for the retail industry?
Michael Lagoni: Advertising automation tools are critical to a brand’s e-commerce success, especially as e-commerce and D2C brands doubled consumer web traffic in 2019; and, digital marketplaces, like Amazon and Walmart, continue to develop ad businesses and features. Automation software allows brands to optimize campaign performance based on data-driven insights. Companies are relying on AdManagers for easy-to-use campaign builder that applies real-time bidding, competitive advertising, profitability, conversion, and incrementality data to develop and dynamically optimize high-performing e-commerce advertising.
TCMO Bureau: Should startups prioritize investing in marketing tools (data
management and analytics tools) with their limited funds?
Michael Lagoni: Having run a startup myself, I am keenly aware of how important it is to make the right investments in technology. A solid tech stack combined with powerful analytics is the foundation of good marketing and advertising campaigns. Think of it like a physical structure: without a strong base, the building will crumble. Maybe not immediately, but the instability will quickly take hold.
Before pulling the trigger on a purchase, I would encourage startup leaders to understand the overall goal of the solution, and the problem they are looking to solve with it. In fact, brands may find implementing one; the unified platform could cost less in the long run than attempting to manage a variety of point solutions.
TCMO Bureau: How has e-commerce advertising for modern brands changed over the years?
Michael Lagoni: The abundance of channels and opportunities in the e-commerce advertising space can quickly overwhelm a marketer or brand, but the rise of data on customer behavior has helped benefit brands seeking clear ROI. Today, brands no longer have to rely only on their own customer data to inform advertising decisions. The rise of intelligence on market share or what potential customers are searching and buying means brands can be smarter and more strategic than ever to secure interest, purchases, and loyalty. Additionally, I’m seeing some trends shaping the future of e-commerce, such as:
Platform wars: More e-commerce marketplaces are entering the arena (e.g., Facebook Shops) and adding new self-service marketing platforms for brands. Both of these trends are multiplying the amount of work an individual brand must manage.
Brand building: Over 136,000 unique brands generate a sale on Amazon alone each day, and that number will continue to rise as private labels will continue to grow and disrupt the marketplace. As companies continue brand building across all platforms, there will be increased importance placed on measuring brand awareness and introducing direct-to-consumer tactics.
Connected commerce: Brands will migrate towards using automated tools to allow multiplatform campaigns and find more ways to connect with and build loyalty amongst their target audience.Michael is the CEO of Stackline, an all-in-one e-commerce platform, and service partner. In his role, Michael is responsible for overall Stackline strategy, optimizing e-commerce marketing performance for thousands of the world’s most dynamic brands.
