The antidote for an acute case of martech bloat

Marketing budgets are bouncing back to pre-Covid levels after what has been a tough year. But how marketers decide to invest that money has changed, with more resources being redirected to digital-first strategies. For example, the retailer Next recently announced it will now prioritise online marketing, stopping all other forms of marketing and promotion of its physical stores. As they change tack, marketers are expected to expand their investment in martech tools to support their digital...

27 May 2021 | Advertising Technology

How MACH can transform the digital customer experience: A guide

There is no doubt that the global Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital adoption. For many companies, this move was one they were, understandably, unprepared for. And even for some of those businesses who were already operating online, their technology was either not sufficient enough to adapt at speed, or too general to meet the rapidly changing needs of their customers.

Even post-pandemic, consumer needs are continually evolving, with people shopping on mobile devices, on...

26 May 2021 | Advertising Technology

Martech strategies: Make it, make it good, and make it happen

A marketing strategy that isn’t underpinned by technology and the right processes isn’t a strategy at all. It’s a waste of time.

The events of the last 14 months - as the global pandemic and resulting lockdowns have played havoc with existing business models - have demonstrated again the critical importance of direct contact with customers.

And unless that contact is tech-driven, it will be at best laborious, at worst completely dysfunctional.

Proper...

12 May 2021 | Advertising Technology

How to leverage QR codes to join the contactless revolution

Since QR codes were created in 1994, they've shown up just about everywhere. Marketers used them on drink labels, business cards, and even billboards.

But no matter how trendy they were, many consumers saw QR codes as a gimmick rather than a useful tool. What was in it for them? Why should they visit a company's website to get information, and why would they want to download a separate app to scan a code just to do so? It was a clunky user experience that didn't demonstrate a...

4 May 2021 | Advertising Technology

Preparing for a cookieless future – by revamping your data-driven culture

Session It's a case of good news and bad news for digital marketers right now. The bad news is that third-party cookies are being phased out by 2022 - and however hard one begs, they're not coming back.

The good news, however, is that necessity is often the mother of invention - and if brands are smart, they are already thinking of how to deliver the hyper-personalised experiences their customers require.

But it is never as easy as all that.

There is an...

29 April 2021 | Advertising Technology

The key to cookieless marketing has been in our hands the whole time

The cookie has long been crumbling, and Google’s announcement to move the industry towards a cookieless future should come as no surprise. While it may seem like brand marketers and advertisers have been preparing for this moment for years (pre-pandemic, even!), are UK businesses really ready for the road ahead?

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessarily all about “future-proofing” marketing efforts, and it’s even less about preparing clients for alternate...

22 April 2021 | Advertising Technology

The end of third-party cookies: How it will affect advertisers and publishers

Longread Chrome and Chromium-based browsers will stop supporting third-party cookies in 2022, which will affect everyone in the advertising industry. Traditional digital advertising and monetisation methods will become less effective or even stop working altogether.

In this article, I’ll explain why third-party cookies are getting canceled, how this will affect publishers and advertisers, and what you need to do now so that these changes won’t affect your ad...

20 April 2021 | Advertising

Blockchain in digital marketing: More consumer trust – and new ways of advertising

Digital marketing is facing concerns relating to online activities, be it cyber security, data protection or transparency. Blockchain can help to consolidate customer trust in the digital world. It can give more online ad authenticity, brand transparency, support cross-promotion with influencers and reward customers for data sharing.

Platform businesses like Facebook pose challenges to many market players in digital marketing as they hold monopoly or duopoly. Furthermore, data...

19 April 2021 | Advertising

Three technical trends to consider for your data-driven marketing initiatives

As we look into the future, it’s important to remember that real widespread change happens slowly for such a large industry. People have been talking about assembling customer 360-degree views and utilising “big data” for closing in on 20 years, and articles detailing how effective and popular AI will be in marketing go back close a decade.

Which is not to say change isn’t happening, but that it comes gradually, in fits and starts as industry innovators latch onto a...

14 April 2021 | Advertising Technology

Martech and the marketer/developer relationship: Why collaboration can be possible

Lennon and McCartney, Gates and Allen, Watson and Crick. History is replete with fantastic partnerships. Unfortunately, if you were to believe some of the discourse around the marketing industry, this list will never include the dynamic duo of ‘marketing and developers’. Apparently, the two professions are just too different in outlook, culture and objectives to work well together.

I recently read how headless CMS adoption has apparently been inhibited due to a ‘battle for...

8 April 2021 | Advertising Technology