Marketing technology and the trend toward data-driven strategies is a trend that’s here to stay. New research from the Economist shows that over the next three to five years, more than 80% of marketers will rely on technology to engage customers in conversations and build advocacy and trust.
Marketing technology still has some of us scratching our heads, because it’s a term that can be vague. It spans anything from planning to distribution to measurement. It’s even simply having a content management system rather than having to code every piece of content you put on your site.
Marketers clearly know that these platforms are improve efficiency, because nearly 4 in 10 are making a conscious effort to improve their tech knowledge. No matter how far along your company is in the convergence of marketing tech and creative, make 2015 the year you outline:
1. Content management platforms.
As brands diversify their content portfolios include more, videos and in-line images, finding the right management systems is critical to successfully delivering and hosting winning content. Brafton has reported on the clear benefits of adding visual content to text, which places an even higher premium on content management systems.
- Here’s a preliminary look at Brafton’s proprietary content management platform.
2. Web integration solutions to improve content UX.
Content is only as good as the experience it delivers to end viewers and readers. Technology can help improve UX – from smart and engaging layouts, to usurfacing the right related headlines or calls-to-action to the right visitors.
- For more ideas on how to use tech integration for better results, download Brafton’s related resource: The Marketer’s Guide to UX
3. Lead tracking technology.
If your company is connecting web analytics software to a lead database (like Salesforce), you’re already ahead of the curve. This is where businesses need to have their analytics in 2015 for marketers to demonstrate clear return on their work. And this is also prime time to ensure the business is leveraging free tools like Google Analytics to track user activity preceding web leads for smarter top-of-funnel content initiatives.
20% of marketers miss opps by not investing more in tech
Marketers have reached the tipping point in tech investments. While 80% will invest more in tech, the research showed tech investments for the year will vary, depending on businesses sizes.
- It turns out tech investments for large companies’ focus around automation and analytics.
- Smaller websites are putting resources toward website personalization, social, email marketing and marketing resource management.
Prioritize the investments according to your department’s needs – and know the data suggests your competition is doing the same. Let us know in the comments what marketing technologies you’ve seen the most success with – or contact us if you’re interested in learning about the technology our strategists use to monitor campaigns.
Learn more about marketing technology:
