Date: 23^rd July, 2015

Key Speaker: Mr. Bryan Yeager (Analyst, Oracle Cloud Marketing)

This write-up will explore the various facets discussed during the webinar and key conclusions that emerged. The objective of this webinar was to discuss the important trends which have been identified by business research that are revolutionizing the marketing technology being used by brands and agencies.

Premise

Due to the changing business trends, marketers are evolving and especially pushing for integration with technology. Business innovation has seen marketers try new solutions for greater customer engagement especially using digital media.

9 Trends

Marketing Technology is Evolving from Specialty Practice to Strategic Competency

$1·         As per marketing research conducted, 62% of marketers wanted to improve customer service and satisfaction

$1·         Also, 52.7% of them wanted more relevant communication with the customer

$1·         Increasing number of marketers want team to be technology oriented in addition to usual operations

$1·         Marketing Technology is now getting used across the organization

$1·         The ‘Marketing Stack’ has been developed which includes the following illustration

Marketing Technology Landscape is Vast and Growing

$1·         Software vendors getting greater grip on marketing agencies

$1·         From just a 100 ‘mar-tech’ companies just four years back, the segment has risen to include 1876 ones in 2015

$1·         61% of marketers surveyed feel marketing technology is rapidly evolving

$1·         Only 6% believe it is not growing fast enough

$1·         Change managers specifically employed to manage this transition

$1·         Business analysis is making greater use now of data analytics, business intelligence and mobile location software.

Marketers are becoming Smarter Tech Buyers & Implementers

While most firms these days include 5-10, 12% of marketers surveyed have more than 20 toolsets to aid their efforts.

Agility & Integration drawing Marketers to the Cloud

$1·         Infrastructure, time to market and experimentation & scalability are factors pulling marketers to the cloud.

$1·         Key indicators for new tech evaluations are- integration with technology, data protection and efficient change management.

$1·          Criteria for better usage of data identified are- integration of functioning tools, experienced practitioners formulating corporate strategy and improved information sharing process.

CMOs partnering with CIOs for better Outcomes

The IT department is now working hand-in-hand with the marketing team.

Data Related Tech Investments Targeted for 2015

$1·         Priority areas for B2B marketers identified are- content optimization, social media engagement and personalized targeting tools.

$1·         Tactics set to receive greater investments are- marketing analytics, social media marketing and mobile technology marketing.

Marketers are Attracted to the “Marketing Cloud” Vision

Best part about the cloud is that all marketing operations can be streamlined within one platform.

Different Schools of Thought on Tech Acquisition and Integration

$1·         Some marketers and agencies want integration tools, others want stand-alone solutions.

$1·         Third party ‘app stores’ to rise in terms of usage.

Brands turn to Agencies for Tech driven Solutions

$1·         It has been understood that outsourcing of critical technological operations to third party vendors is a desirable option.

$1·         Nearly three-fourths of B2B marketers reiterate that marketing agencies are key in driving business outcomes.

$1·         Especially for digital marketing, most senior managers are dependent on agencies for execution.

Conclusion

A large percentage of CMOs feel that cross-channel consistency is missing in brands’ campaigns. This is due to the lack of a centralized hub to ensure customer engagement. Even content needs to be managed for the entire lifecycle. Thus palling for marketing is getting difficult and there is a need for a new vision.