By Cory Treffiletti
Are you a modern marketer?
Let’s be honest—no marketer is going to answer that with a “no,” so let’s dig a little deeper with a few questions that get to the heart of the issue:
- Are you a data-driven marketer?
- Are you a marketer who understands beyond the shadow of a doubt what components of your marketing mix are driving interactions along specific stages of the customer journey?
- Are you in complete control of customizing the delivery of messages to a tailored audience, across multiple devices and channels, over a specific period of time?
If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then you are a modern marketer. If you answered “no,” then it might be time for you to more deeply scrutinize your marketing organization’s structure and key processes.
Over the last five years, new enterprise marketing solutions have emerged that provide us complete, granular control—and which have dramatically increased the efficacy of our outbound efforts and the rate at which we learn more about our customers. Many brands know a lot about their audiences, but that knowledge has been traditionally disconnected from the execution of advertising and marketing campaigns. More often than not, brands would simply assume their existing audience composition and estimated reach already served their business goals.
Now the science has advanced to such a point that enables marketers to reduce waste to nearly zero through audience-based targeting methodologies, which tailor brand messages to the granular wants, preferences, and habits of customers. This combination of targeting and customization leads to higher performance and efficiency, squeezing more out of one’s marketing budget.
Take a top U.S. wireless provider, which used data-driven marketing methodologies to suppress existing customers from their acquisition efforts while showing them retention and upsell messages. This activity alone decreased the number of customers who returned phones purchased within a 30-day window; increased new customer conversion by 20%; and generated a savings value of over $1.5 million, due to an overall marketing program that focused on thoughtful segmentation instead of reaching prospects only.
A modern marketer knows enterprise marketing solutions are based on three crucial layers of technology: data, analytics, and activation. The Data layer revolves around a Data Management Platform, or DMP. The Analytics layer revolves around a combination of performance reporting and customer insight tools. The Activation layer is where ads and messages are delivered and interfaced with consumers, and can include DSPs, ad networks, site optimizers, CRM, and the rest of the media mix.
Unite The Layers
For brands to be successful, marketing teams need to review their current ecosystem of partners and understand how each fits into their enterprise marketing structure. They can then attempt to integrate the technology stack themselves or else find a solution that unites these layers. For the modern marketer, this might mean consolidation and using one of the bundled marketing solutions currently being offered by companies like Oracle, such as the Oracle Marketing Cloud.
The age of the modern marketer is upon us, and it’s a period of radical change. This change can be messy, but it doesn’t need to be. If there has ever been a group that readily embraces internal transformation, it’s marketing. And with the rise of new data, analytics, and activation platforms, marketing leaders must embrace an expanded role and higher expectations inside the business organization.
Modern marketing is both art and science. Marketing pros must educate colleagues about new ways to use customer data in content and brand development, and they must apply the latest tools and techniques to attract and engage customers and prospects.
Cory Treffiletti is Senior Vice President of Marketing at
Source: iStockphoto
