MarTech - May 28, 2023

The Brave New World of Marketing

Nicky Watson May 28, 2023

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Marketing technology, or martech, has evolved rapidly in the past decade. The introduction of a massive volume of customer data has allowed companies to create more personalized advertising and communications with customers.

Yet at the same time, the technology and regulation landscape is evolving more rapidly than ever before, requiring marketers to keep up and pivot their strategies in order to stay competitive – and compliant. Marketers no longer have the only seat at the table when it comes to deciding how to manage consumer data. In today’s world, marketers must collaborate with compliance and data architect teams to identify the best strategies for doing so while simultaneously meeting each department’s (sometimes competing) goals. These teams can no longer work in silos and must be cohesive in their approach to managing and using data. At the end of the day, a marketer is charged with driving revenue. Yet as consumer attitudes and priorities around data and consent evolve marketers have had to pivot and remain flexible to ensure they are communicating the right messages compliantly to their potential customers – and ultimately hitting their revenue goals.

Consumers now care more than ever before about their privacy and the security of their data. In fact, recent research revealed that 72% of consumers will not do business with a company if they believe their privacy will not be protected, and 87% believe the U.S. should be doing more to protect consumer data privacy. Clearly, U.S. consumers believe companies and the government have a responsibility when it comes to protecting their data. Yet just as privacy is essential to the customer experience, personalization has also become a top priority. The same research study found that 42% of respondents said they are more likely to shop with a brand that offers a personalized experience. With both privacy and personalization more important than ever before, marketers must prepare themselves for a brave new world.

Looking Around The Corner to the Next Martech Transformation

There are several moving parts effecting how martech professionals will reach new customers in the coming years. The most significant upcoming transformation is the move to a cookieless world. The use of cookies to track would-be customers’ activity online is going away due to a confluence of factors including: Big tech’s shift to a “walled garden” approach to get ahead of regulations and build their data ecosystems. There is changing sentiment from consumers when it comes to cookie tracking. New privacy laws coming to the U.S. that mirror the U.K.’s stringent GDPR privacy regulations. Gartner’s Forecast Analysis: ‘CRM Marketing and Cross-CRM Software, Worldwide’ reported by 2026, third-party cookie deprecation will drive marketing and advertising software spend to increase by 10%. These transformations to the martech industry represent a pivotal moment in time for every company because they can choose to take this time to recalibrate their marketing approach or be forced into compliance without a strategy. Marketers who understand the changes occurring in adtech and can embrace new approaches will position themselves as leaders within their organizations and industries.

New Approaches To Marketing

Marketers should start planning now for the cookieless future. With Google set to phase out third-party cookies by 2024, marketers are now pivoting their strategies on how to gather information about their customers and potential prospects and most importantly doing so compliantly and recording consent.

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