If you asked me five years ago what a Marketing Technologist was, I would have told you that it’s a person that can operate one or more of the core marketing technologies (MarTech) that a business uses to execute and track its marketing strategies. I would have told you that they understand the CRM, CMS, email platform, ad tech, analytics, and social media platforms.
But today, I have a different answer. A Marketing Technologist is now someone who is an effective marketer.
Here are 3 areas where technology is impacting the marketing world and the importance behind it.
1. Marketing Technology is Impacting the Customer Journey
Technology, in general, has become more and more pervasive in our lives. As innovation and disruption have happened in hundreds of markets due to technology, our lives as consumers have also changed.
According to Google, 53% of shoppers say that they always research before they buy. People now look for products and services online and engage in research as part of their buyers’ journey.
As a matter of fact, the modern customer journey involves a lot of technology from start to finish. To execute this modern customer journey, marketers must be using technology. And if you’re not using technology to connect with prospective customers, you’re not running a modern marketing department.
Take a look at the modern customer journey below. You’ll notice that all of the touchpoints in bold are digital touchpoints.
The Modern Customer Journey
Social networks, paid search, blogs, articles, and reviews are all digital. Marketing is now a digital profession. This is why you read so much about marketing leading a company’s digital transformation.
2. Marketing Technology is Impacting Customer Experience
Marketing technology is what connects a business to each stage of the customer journey. Marketing technology is at the root of the Customer Experience.
Today, it’s the case that consumers are looking for more than just products and services, they are looking for a frictionless customer experience… and marketers need to be using technology to make that happen.
Customer experience, also known as CX, is your customers’ holistic perception of their entire experience with your brand. CX is the result of every interaction a person has with your business, before, during, and after a purchase.
Now, delivering great customer experience is what marketing is all about. Sure, marketing is also still about attracting leads and passing them off to sales to generate revenue, but it does that by tending to the customer experience in totality.
The better experience customers have, the more repeat customers and positive reviews your business will receive, while simultaneously reducing the friction of customer complaints and returns. In most companies, the marketing department should be managing the customer experience, and that means putting marketing technology to work at all steps in the modern customer journey.
3. Marketing Technology is Impacting the Systems Companies Use
Now that we see that technology is what gives good marketers the means to craft an excellent customer experience, you might be asking what technology you should be using.
That’s a good question because there are more than 7,000 marketing technology platforms to choose from. With so many choices available it is easy to become overwhelmed by the options.
Let’s consider a basic marketing technology stack. It looks like this:
The core of this basic marketing technology stack is the CRM or Customer Relationship Management. This is the key piece to managing the customer experience because this is where all the information about how a person interacts with your company is stored.
In addition to a CRM, there is the CMS, Content Management System, which is your website and the marketing automation technology connects to your CRM. All of that is linked to your digital marketing channels which include email, ad tech, social media, search, and content. These are the basic building blocks of marketing technology.
Customer acquisition costs have skyrocketed lately. It now costs on average 50% more to acquire a customer than it did five years ago. This means it’s critical that you are doing good marketing which means creating a frictionless customer experience based on solid marketing technology.
Summary
Marketing technology is a must-have when it comes to your marketing department. It impacts the customer journey, customer experience, and the systems that companies use. Overall, Martech helps us
- Become effective marketers
- Adapt to the modern customer journey
- Create a better customer experience
- Acquire new customers
As technology becomes more prevalent in our lives, the importance of the use of technology in your marketing department will become a top priority to keep up with the modern customer journey.
Are you incorporating marketing technology into your day-to-day operations?
If you’d like to learn more about how you could be using marketing technology to create your customer experience and acquire new customers, contact us and we can do a marketing department audit for you. Our audit helps ensure your marketing is aligned with your company goals and it gives recommendations on what technology you should be using.
