Looking forward to 2016, I’m reminded of the oft-repeated anecdote concerning change. If a frog is placed in a pot of boiling water, instincts immediately kick in. The frog will jump out, saving its life. However, if a frog is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and eventually, the frog will collapse from the heat.
Biology aside, this anecdote finds itself oddly at home with some brands and their adventures with marketing and advertising technologies over the past couple of years. Every time a new point solution becomes available, it seems more resources have to be dedicated to them. Brands get stretched every day trying to keep up with products that only benefit them up to a certain point. While some forward-looking organizations spent 2015 moving digital media operations in-house, there are still many brands stuck wondering what will be next thing that comes out of the AdTech and MarTech pot.
The time has come for the MarTech and AdTech merger. Brands want to see audience, attribution, and lead gen streamlined and optimized for performance and ease of execution. Brands will gravitate toward a Big Data next-gen toolset that can bring transparency to their own data and turn that data into better-performing media buys.
As data is centralized and the cross-device dots are connected, audiences on a mailing list will get mapped with 100% coverage to their IP, their precise location, their social handle, and their email. Attribution struggles will evolve from a sketchy, probabilistic sampling methodology to a deterministic one. Individual data silos will migrate into inter-connected universal data exchanges where every touch point can be linked to every another to the benefit of match rates, validation, and digital ROI.
When technology affects the centralization of data services across platforms the knowledge gained of customers and prospects will empower both the marketers and sales professionals.
Click to hear more about what the MarTech and AdTech merger will look like.