Looking for more efficiency and better performance, marketers are increasingly flocking towards marketing automation tools. According to a study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, nearly 70 per cent of businesses are using a marketing automation platform (MAP) or currently implementing one, with 42 per cent of CRM users planning to increase spending in marketing automation.
While marketing automation can be used in a number of areas including: social media management, first-party data handling, email marketing and mobile marketing, just to name a few, the biggest catalyst is programmatic technology.
Programmatic is ubiquitous
Programmatic in its simplest form is an automated way to buy media using ad technology, rules, data and algorithms to deliver relevant communication. This technology is changing the way advertisers communicate their brand and product offerings to consumers. The true power of programmatic is that its presence stretches into every area within marketing automation, from first-party data activation to social media management and mobile communication and everything in between.
For example, using CRM data and revenue management data, an organization can determine that an underselling product is similar to a customer’s previous purchase and then display an ad for that product to that user on say, their Facebook newsfeed while they scroll on their smartphone. This entire process is fueled by programmatic technology.
The companies that will be most successful moving forward in our automated world will be the ones that are able to break down silos and link together different parts of the organization to allow information to flow freely. In today’s fragmented landscape of endless technologies and countless internal departments, this remains the biggest challenge.
The best way to begin tackling this complex problem is by integrated programmatic technology with all facets of your organization, including: revenue management, customer relationship management, eCommerce and marketing. Programmatic can become the beating pulse of your company, pumping out and activating data from every corner.
Education is at a premium
Another major roadblock is the shear lack of knowledge about marketing automation, and specifically programmatic. According to research conducted by Adestra, more than a quarter of marketers have never heard of marketing automation, while 49 per cent are only partly familiar. Furthermore, Forrester and the Association of National Advertisers found, only 23 per cent of U.S. client-side marketers understand the concept of programmatic buying and use it to execute campaigns.
Before marketers can successfully leverage these new technologies, they must first understand what they are. Fortunately, there are a number of initiatives popping up, such as our own Yieldr Academy, we created this program to educate advertisers about what they need to know to bring programmatic in-house. The education process must start out as purely informative and then move onto an experimental phase where marketers take a hands on approach and learn by doing.
Not only must information flow freely from department to department, but from employee to employee, from not only the top to the bottom, but also from the bottom to the top.
The potential is limitless
A big opportunity lies ahead for the marketers that can understand and successfully implement these emerging automated tools. As technology continues to evolve and coverage with the advent of the likes of the Internet of Things (IoT), soaring mobile adoption rates, connected cars and Bluetooth low energy (BLE), the reach and potential impact of marketing automation will become even greater.
It’s imperative that marketers not only position themselves for success in the now, but also have scalable strategies implemented to ensure sustained success in the ever-changing future of marketing technology.
