,allowExpansion)
10 key points for
marketers to be effective in the “new normal”
The "(Beyond) Digital Marketing" research is an overview on the growing dominance of Big Tech, the market response to MarTech, the importance of Data and Ethics.
Today, marketing cannot live without digital - but digital marketing alone is not enough either
In 2020, for the first time, digital advertising accounted for more than half of global advertising spend. Today, it is increasingly clear that digital marketing is about so much more than adopting new channels.
The technologies now available to marketers are reshaping not only how they go about seizing their audience's attention, but what they choose to say once they have it. In a data-driven era, the old conception of a campaign - a one-size-fits-all message based on crude assumptions about the audience - has disappeared.
A “decalogue” from marketers, for marketers, to be effective in the post-coronavirus “new normal”
The goal of this research is to share some insights into how marketers are tackling the different challenges coming from Coronavirus and the strategies they are using to thrive.
We interviewed marketing managers of relevant B2C and B2B companies and Reply Partners, to collect their opinions on the growing dominance of ‘Big Tech’, their expectations towards MarTech, the growing role of data, and the need to act ethically as a way to reply to the new context post-Coronavirus.
1. Focus on reliability,
not rhetoric
Global customers are just as averse to greenwashing as they are concerned with sustainability: a growing section of the population expects brands to take a position on pressing socio-economic issues.
2. Adopt ethical data collection to get faster
First-party and zero-party data collected ethically are the propellant to get out of the Coronavirus quicksand.
)
)
3. Build a balanced relationship with big tech
Big Tech partners can offer amazing insights into customers if companies learn how to deal with them and their advertising networks.
4. Find the right influencer for your audience
The reduction in overall advertising spend during the pandemic led to a squeeze in the profitability of more generic influencers: advertisers are focusing on people who have credibility and a strong identity, consistent with that of the promoted brand.
5. Discover opportunities in the vast martech market
Solid technologies have now been launched around all facets of marketing - not just digital: content creation, marketing automation, influencer marketing, social intelligence, and, above all, data analytics.
6. Create a clean, one-stop-shop for your data
We estimate that up to 40% of marketing analysts' time could be freed up with the adoption of AI-based analytics platforms, cross-channel integration, and a one-stop-shop data approach.
)
)
7. Bring cross-channel commerce inside your user experience
To gain customers’ interest on owned digital properties companies must give value to their retail network and invest to differentiate their services and e-commerce proprietary platforms from marketplaces and multivendor e-commerce.
8. Experiment with connected products
The Internet of Things enables companies to design both new devices and new services from scratch, opening brand-new opportunities to marketers.
9. Empower you marketing team and your salesforce
Bridging the divides between marketing and digital development, headquarters and sales network, content management and institutional relations will help to focus the attention of companies towards the construction of ‘end to end’ experiences.
10. Keep in touch, don't spam
Marketing automation tools are today widely used to send messages based on customers' actions: the challenge is to send out communication that fit the context and the expectations of the customer, but that do not cross a line or become unwelcome.
)
Success stories
We collected interesting experiences from Companies’ marketing campaigns and MarTech adoption.
A (new) moment of disruption for
marketing and advertising
Sudden and significant changes may be temporary, or at least useful to shake the market before achieving a new balance in the emerging marketing ecosystem. Data-driven marketing is consolidating the new approach to marketing and advertising. Powerful data stores provide insight into customers while respecting their privacy. Complex-data analysis is already the most relevant marketing skill of the present, while data-driven creativity will become the key skill of advertisers in the very near future.