Digital Disruption, Marketing Clouds, and Personalization: Thoughts on MarTech Europe 2016

martech

martechEarlier this month, I had the good fortune of attending MarTech Europe 2016 in London. It was fantastic to spend two days surrounded by marketing technologists and enveloped in the changing landscape of marketing technology.

The entire conference bubbled with energy, and attendees that the Redpoint team and I spoke with expressed fear, confusion, and excitement in equal measure about the future of martech. On the presentation front, attendees were treated to sessions on digital disruption, personalization, marketing operations, and agile marketing, among others.

A few of the most interesting things I learned while at the show:

  • The speed of change in martech is only going to increase, according to Conference Chair Scott Brinker
  • Creating personalized experiences is fundamentally about activating your customer data, according to Jason Heller, vice president of digital marketing operations, McKinsey & Company
  • Most marketers use integrated best-of-breed technology stacks versus using a solution suite, according to Brinker
  • Doug Kessler from Velocity spoke at length about driving insight from customer data
  • Scott Brinker introduced the latest Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic, which now numbers over 3,500 vendors

I also had the opportunity to speak a few times on the topic of data-driven marketing. In the first presentation I emphasized six key concepts that marketers could apply to take a data-driven approach. I also joined a panel with Google and Mautic about marketing disrupters and how platforms are different from marketing clouds.

There was a lot of excitement around the new features in the RedPoint Convergent Marketing Platform.
There was a lot of excitement around the new features in the Redpoint Convergent Marketing Platform.

In my first presentation, I discussed the importance of taking a data-driven approach to marketing. This can shrink the customer engagement “gap” that many organizations face from either under- or over-delivering against expectations. Both are problematic, and largely result from not making effective use of customer data. This is something marketers must address, especially because engaged customers spend more—86% are willing to pay a premium for a better experience—and organizations that engage customers more effectively can see a dramatic top-line revenue impact.

The panel discussion I was on with Google Senior Sales Engineer Will Senior and Mautic Founder David Hurley covered a significant amount of ground. We discussed the economics of marketing technology, the differences between marketing clouds and customer data platforms, and the evolving risks that vendors and customers alike will face in the years ahead. One key difference in our panel from the Marketing Clouds panel that went before it was an emphasis on an open ecosystem approach versus the walled garden approach of marketing clouds.

I always like attending conferences like MarTech— they are a fantastic opportunity to network with industry peers and get a “pulse” of what the audience’s concerns and thoughts are about where the market is headed. Brinker and his team always put on a good event, so I encourage you to attend one if and when you get the chance.

 

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