Holiday Brains Trust 3: the market’s state of readiness

With the New Year fast approaching, we convened a virtual panel of experts who live and breathe marketing technology to look back over 2015, and forward to next year.  See the panel details below. 

One constant refrain we’ve heard over the last twelve months is that, while CMOs understand the importance of marketing technology, adoption remains sluggish. Are there positive signs that preparedness for digital, data-driven marketing is increasing?

Nicole Rodrigues takes a sunny view: “I guess the most exciting thing I saw is that the market is actually ripe and ready for it. Using digital and data-driven marketing is now simply becoming second nature and something that’shelping marketers make smart, strategic decisions.” 

AdaPia d’Errico is also positive, but with interesting reservations about the implications for content and creative. “I’m happy to see and hear that the market is approaching digital and data-driven marketing as less of a fad or bandwagon everyone must jump on, and more like a necessary part of the marketing skill and tool set,” she said. “I liken this to what has happened with a lot of content marketing. I would caution, however, that too much digital and too much number crunching could create soulless marketing. The data and digital aspect of marketing is just that – an aspect, albeit now fundamental –but marketers should not stray from the basics, such as intimately knowing their customers, solving a problem or need, or simply providing an outstanding experience or product. With data we now get to see a lot more detail in the trees, but let’s not lose sight of the forest.”

Stacey Bishop emphasized the growing significance of predictive analytics. “One of the most exciting developments I observed in the market’s preparedness for digital and data-driven marketing in 2015 was greater adoption of predictive analytics to help marketers determine what to communicate when and how based on past interactions. The power of being able to predict who in your customer pipeline is actually going to purchase and project the expected revenue is invaluable and will be a big part of the generation of marketing optimization.”

For Mark Cooper, it’s important to recognize that the “dramatic increase in digital ad spend, especially mobile, indicates that companies are seeing real returns from this channel.  It appears they now have the staffing, expertise and systems to drive further growth.”  Jerry Jao agrees about the importance of mobile. “The most exciting development is the growing acceptance of omnichannel marketing, which is especially evident in how strong mobile has performed for both browsing and purchasing in eCommerce, and how much marketers have pushed in advancing mobile. Mobile (and eCommerce) hit new growth records this holiday season, and marketers have risen to the challenge. This trend is exciting in and of itself, but also because it’s an indication that the market is listening and responding to customer needs and preferences. Today’s customers want consistency and ease of use across channels, and for brands to tailor to the ways they want to shop and interact. It’s a good sign that brands are listening, and are ready for the next step.”

Tim Barker finds encouragement in the growth of the vendor market, referring to “the continued explosion in the number of martech companies serving data-driven companies. From a handful of providers, to thousands if a few short years.” For confirmation, he cites LUMA Partners’ LUMAscape. Eric Holmen noted increasing investment in mobile advertising: “Mobile use and subsequent marketing spend have been growing for a number of years, but in 2015 reached critical mass: by the end of this year mobile will account for more than half of digital ad spending. As a result of these major investments in mobile, marketers have more data than ever before on this channel. Heading into 2016  marketers will be able to use this data to optimize for more conversions on mobile and to deliver a better mobile customer experience.”

Jarred McGinnis responded from his semantics-driven perspective, but his comments have wider implications. Light bulbs are finally clicking on.  “The real exciting change,” he said, “is seeing marketing executives becoming savvy. They are starting to see through vendors who just throw around the word ‘semantics’ and those vendors who are the real deal. The initial conversation is always around the inherent SEO benefits of the approach (e.g. schema.org), but more and more there is a general understanding of the business value of removing the gigs and gigs of chaff to find the valuable wheat. They see how graph-driven approaches are making smarter, relevant-to-customer products and services. They are seeing how semantics is enabling powerful personalised experiences in other industries and the light bulbs are clicking on as they see how to apply that within the marketing industry.”

Tomorrow: wise words for 2016. 

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