MARTECH, TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO MARKETING

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The direct relationship between marketing and technology is increasing all the time. They do not stop new tools appear.

Some of the issues are:

• Is MarTech a fad?
• Won't marketing automation and its processes lead to a dehumanisation of our customer?
• How agile is the process to be able to carry it out in our organisation?
• What is/are the right solution(s)?
• Better to build the tool or pay for the licence fee?
• Should I change my marketing department if I focus on the use of different technologies?
• Is there really a rate of return that justifies investment in MarTech processes?

After several months of research, through surveys, events and interviews with professionals in the field, the next step has been the organisation of a Think Tank, which is developed as an open innovation activity focused on collaboration, to help us answer these questions.

The Think Tank is a event in which a series of relevant people in the field are invited to work with a methodology based on the principles proposed by the Design Thinking to detect problems, solutions and opportunities in this sector. In particular, the aim is for there to be representatives of startups, of large technology companies and researchers in the field of the Observatory, who can give their views on the subject of work and, in parallel, create synergies between them.

The aim of the MarTech Observatory's Think Tank is to discuss the motivations that may lead different members of an organisation to use new tools or to want to change the MarTech solutions they have been using (CRM, marketing automation tools, DMP, ecommerce, etc...) and, discover, those that motivations and needs that must be met today in order to build services that are better suited to customers' needs.

The themes were divided into two areas:

• Motivations that may lead different members of an organisation to use new tools or to want to change the solutions they have been using so far: 

• • Marketing Automation.
  • eCommerce.
  • CRM and Attribution Tools.
  • Cloud-based Technology.
  • Application Program Interface (API).
  • 1st/2nd/3rd-Party Data and DMP.

• Motivations and needs that must be met today in order to build digital services more suited to the real needs of customers: 

• • Improve customer relations through digital channels.
  • New customer experiences.
  • Data management and privacy.
  • Automatic interactions with the client, through, Chatbots.
  • Fostering emotional links with consumers.
  • Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence to generate new experiences.

Finally, the topics chosen for discussion were:

• • Improving customer relations through digital channels.
  • Marketing Automation and eCommerce.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER RELATIONS THROUGH DIGITAL CHANNELS:

The following conclusions were drawn:

The definition of the customer is critical, as an initial way to design the use of MarTech tools that meet their needs. The digital strategy has to be a solid one in which the physical and the digital are totally linked in an enveloping way.

The main help that MarTech tools produce is to get closer to the customer, and for the customer to get closer to the company. It also helps to better define and segment.

Both SMEs and large companies have to decide how best to use all these tools: to make decisions, test, discard and be agile because, really, where a tool adds value is in providing a good service or offering a good product.

Technology is an enabler, but it is some companies are not using the full potential of MarTech tools, and therefore the The key is to put intelligence, a strategy and an intention behind it, which allows us to reach that customer. The important thing is for the company to use the tool it needs in a process of understanding where it wants to be, who it wants to talk to, which customer it wants to attract and from there, choose the tools it needs.

These tools, which have undergone a transformation process, because, in the past, they were very focused on specific areas of marketing with highly technical needs, but currently, are closely linked to digital transformation and much more cross-cutting areas, as is the business area.

In terms of meeting customer needs by the MarTech tools, it is not the same as a B2B – B2C, a large company or a micro-SME.

At the level of micro-SMEs, the technological need is very specific, considering that its implementation is going to be a cultural change for them, which will result in the reinvention of MarTech tools adapted to this sector.

MarTech Tools: eCommerce and Marketing Automation

With regard to eCommerce, the recent situation of confinement has led to the emergence of the so-called "proximity ecommerce" (those covering a certain very limited area of action), whose main challenge now is that, those businesses who have gone digital, streamline all their internal processes in terms of managing their online sales operations. The situation has meant that the customer is also willing to buy more online, with a higher average ticket price.

In this sense, a trend is being observed which falls under the concept of "Direct to consumer", since, brands that are selling to the end consumer are having more success. The key is to put The customer at the centre by improving product information and providing the necessary tools to ensure that differentiation is not only based on price, but that the product sheet is also an important element of differentiation.

A important challenge within the eCommerce value chain, it is connect all players in the chain (from the manufacturer to the retailer, including wholesalers, marketplaces, etc.), because there are Some players have not yet gone through the digitalisation of their processes, and this forces them to combine areas that are automated with others that are not.

On the other hand, MarTech tools and platforms, in general, face a new challenge from a legal point of view: adjusting to the new legal regulation on data privacy.

In this sense, the data becomes the most relevant aspect of the new digital economy, and the application of the The new privacy regulation will force companies to be very attentive to marketing automation, the use of artificial intelligence, data transfers between providers, the migration of platforms that involve data transfers, as well as all technological innovations that have data at their core.

Legal compliance with the Data Protection Regulation, therefore, can become a key element in the customer's choice of a data automation platform. In parallel, start-ups that generate very powerful ideas about data processing can have great potential to business opportunities.

The integration between the different marketing automation tools is another major challenge for marketing departments, as it involves the integration of the different marketing automation tools. the need for multidisciplinary teams that understand and are trained in the use of the tools, while at the same time integrating all applications. The added difficulty for these working teams is to know how they work in their entirety, since, the actual use of the tool, compared to the potential that the tool itself offers, is very low. The support of Artificial Intelligence as a technology to help with automation is key in this regard.

Finally, the choice of the tool itself becomes a key factor for the company using it: compared to very complex tools in terms of implementation and use, which offer comprehensive solutions from which their full potential is not obtained, companies have to opt for the use of several interconnected MarTech tools, knowing that the interconnection of data will also be a challenge.

Therefore, the choice of a tool, away from the big players in software ecosystems, which generate differential value and whose use is adapted to the team or business, means the success of a real technology applied which, moreover, does not distract us from the real objective of these tools, which is: !getting closer to where our customer is!

CONCLUSION

As you have been able to see, a multitude of very interesting topics have arisen in relation to the subject of Technology Marketing, which is becoming more and more important. relevant within companies. This is why, we consider the content to be very useful, The event will contain first-hand information and knowledge shared by the professionals and companies that are playing a leading role in this field.

In this glossary you will find the definition of the main professional profiles related to MarTech and AdTech, as well as the main skills of these technologies.

• Download the MarTech glossary here (+)

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