4 Things To Look For When Future-Proofing Your Company
When the average enterprise is using about 91 marketing ad tech services in its toolbox and still not getting the results they want, doesn’t it seems like the time for a change
With such a sizeable investment in technology, the fact that around 41% of marketers say they do not have the technology they need to grow their business feels, and seems, like a bad joke. How could they possibly need even more tools? Simple, because they are not using the right ones.
Marketers are banking on technology, a lot, but they are forgetting that sometimes less is more, and having the solutions they actually need to be efficient and effectively deliver results in their campaigns is not the same as having as many tools as possible.
While it is true that agencies and brands should have a strong toolbox of integrated ad tech solutions that support their process, they need to make sure that what they acquire will still be relevant for years to come. They need to future-proof their company. So, while every single enterprise should be thinking about what comes next, these are the 4 best ways to prepare your team (and its tools) for whatever the future holds.
A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That
The first thing you must look for is data. In today’s marketing landscape, having comprehensive and accurate data is not a plus, it’s a must. Information is essential for making effective marketing decisions, and for everything from trends to potential customers, big data is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategies.
According to Forrester Research, 44% of enterprises use data analytics to enhance their consumer response rates and develop relationship-driven strategies. Furthermore, even though most organizations are aware of the great impact that big data can have on the marketing process, most marketers get easily overwhelmed when dealing with so much information by themselves. This is where AI comes in.
So, data analysis capability is one of the first things to look for when choosing tools for your marketing strategy. Potential customers all shop differently, which is why analyzing demographics segments will help you refine your customer acquisition process and increase your conversions.
In order to grow, just keeping your existing customers don’t make the cut. You need to search for new audiences and try out new demographic groups… and big data can help you determine which ones are more likely to buy your product or service. What you should look for in a tool is one that can handle real-time data, as this is an extremely valuable function that will help you reach the best possible audience.
If Only We Could Pool Our Knowledge
The truth is that, at the end of the day, ad tech will only reach its full potential when your team members do. So, in an evolving digital advertising universe, the phrase “knowledge is power” has never been truer. And the surest ways to future-proof your company will always come down to making sure you have a properly trained team, in addition to the best tools on the market.
Tools can get you information in real-time while automatically making the changes that need to be done. And your team can interpret the tools’ constant optimization feedback, turning it into better creative content and strategies.
A powerful tool doesn’t only hold valuable information but also allows you to deliver better overall experiences to your customers, including those who don’t even know they need you yet. So, in order to increase your team’s proficiency and effectivity, knowledge must be shared.
An open internal policy might be your best bet yet. There shouldn’t be any secrets within your team’s metaphorical walls. If you have an open internal policy, you can be sure your team will always be as prepared as possible by learning from each other and the tools you’ve provided.
Go Further Than Anyone Ever Suspected
No one can deny the fact that the advertising technology landscape is growing, and it’s growing fast. With a growth of 27% since last year, and representation in 6,829 different ad tech solutions, it has been difficult to know which tools you need, and even harder to get them to work together… but it’s essential.
As an agency or a brand, your tools should all work together to create an ecosystem. Avoiding isolation is a never-ending daily task. But at the end of the day, what really matters is creating your team’s backup in the software and letting them seamlessly pull from one another to get a better sense of who your audience is as a group, as an individual, and what their needs are.
This holistic approach should create a data-driven environment, where decisions can be made effectively, and you can tremendously impact the return on ad spend. But what do you really need to have a clockwork-like set of platforms that actually delivers? That’s easy, look for agile software.
Looking for agile ad tech will make sure you continuously take advantage of your technology and that every one of your tools adds relevance to your campaigns while making personalization easier. Not only is acquiring fast-responding software important in not missing out little opportunities, but it will influence your overall satisfaction and customer lifetime value since you’ll be sending ads to the correct individuals with the most relevant aspects of your product.
Getting To Know You… Getting To Know All About You
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning have changed the process of finding new customers, but as data analysis becomes more and more important in staying up-to-date, there’s a fine balance you need to look for when trying to find the best tools for your company. Just tossing the dice won’t get you there.
The crux of the matter? There’s a lot (and I mean a lot) of it. And while having large amounts of data is generally a good thing, data by itself is completely useless when it’s not classified, analyzed, and translated into applicable insights. Needless to say, that’s why just collecting the “can’t-work-without” data is actually a good thing.
If we are just collecting mass data for the sake of it and then over-advertising customers without providing truly personalized experiences, we will fail. Fortunately, with the new use of AI and Machine Learning in the Ad Tech world, finding a tool that will not let your data go to waste seems like something you can actually achieve and take advantage of.
If Big Data has the recipe for the greatest cake, AI and Machine Learning are the ingredients that will make it work. They give us the product that will ensure every customer receives an experience that is relevant to them as an individual consumer. AI and Machine Learning powered tools truly understand what may be more relevant to one individual or another, fueling your marketing strategy and driving the growth of your company.
Perpetually playing catch up may seem like an inevitable disadvantage, but one you’ll always have to deal with in the advertising (or really any) industry. Buying every solution under the sun won’t help you stay on top of the fast-paced changes the industry and customer preferences are dealing with on a daily basis. But having the right technology will.
Hyper-personalized, AI-powered marketing campaigns will automatically deliver your marketing efforts to the right people at exactly the right time. And it does so in a way that no amount of manual optimization ever could. It leverages and learns from your own data in a timely manner.
Using tools like Adext AI can help marketers find relevant target audiences and create a larger customer base. The tool allows you to effectively and automatically boost ROI and free up time for creativity and strategy, and it does all this while constantly optimizing the demographic segments in your campaigns by diving into the minds of your prospects.