The amount of change that has taken place in the world of digital marketing this year is absolutely staggering. From Google Glass to the rise of more than 100 million available apps according to Apple.
Marketing technology has been affected at an exponential rate with traditional marketing practices shifting to a technology powered discipline. Meaning the old-school practioners have had to ‘step-up’ or step-down (from their posts).a
‘Technology now fuels the marketing discipline, where science and art come together to build a brand based upon customer experiences, where the interactions are more inbound than outbound and truly global in nature.’ Amy D. Love, CMO, Appirio
According to Scott Binker of ChiefMartec.com ’Marketing has more software entwined in its mission today than any other profession in the history of computing. Leveraging these capabilities requires new approaches to marketing strategy and management — as well as new kinds of talents within the marketing team, such as marketing technologists. These two massive shifts are the result of 7 “meta-trends” — each of which has dramatically changed the nature of marketing. And collectively, they have created a whole new brand of marketing.’
I believe the top 5 of these (as stated by Scott Binker) are:
- Media silos to converged media
- Outbound to inbound
- Communications to experiences
- Art and copy to code and data
- Rigid plans to agile iterations
Scott goes on to say *for those who are wondering what the other two are; 6. Traditional to digital and 7. Agency to in-house, however I believe we have been aware of the first for sometime and that the second is too much of a sweeping generalisation, that it is far from a meta-trend (meaning a trend that is here to stay and surpass temporary shifts / short term.)
So what do these top 5 mean?
- Media silos to converged media
Essentially this relates back to emerging digital technology in the late 20th century referencing ‘that which is digital and that which is not’. All sorts of silos then ensued from email, display, social, analytics.. Now however, we are experiencing consumers, who now flit between devices, screens, windows and channels, are making little distinction between particular media types.
- Outbound to inbound
This is quite a simple explanation, none the less a dramatic shift in marketing: Take a look at this explanation here.
- Communications to experiences
Put simply; this refers to the ‘relevance scale.’ How relevant is your media today, are you building a story of the brand which delivers in a relevant way, or are you still operating on a ‘one size fits all approach?’ If you consider the experience of your end-user / target market in a hyper-relevant way, you are truly connecting.
- Art & copy, to code & data
Take a look at Google Think Insights explanation in the shift here.
- Rigid plans to agile iterations
Historically, marketing has been all about planning and forecasting. Agile refers to a set of values embracing flexibility, iterative refers to a feedback loop in any process. The current marketer needs to have an agile and almost intuitive head on their shoulders - the industry is moving that quickly.
For news on the top 5 marketing technologies embracing the latest trends - stay tuned for my next post.