How are companies preparing for the abolition of third-party cookies? How do they efficiently improve customer satisfaction? And how do marketing experts prevent touchpoints from becoming increasingly disjointed and eluding any structured analysis?
MarTech is the key to solving these problems. Whenever large amounts of data and many efforts from different departments come together, successful companies can no longer avoid optimizing these processes. This is made possible by MarTech tools, whose various functions help to organize the chaos and make use of the data.
1. what do you need marketing technologies for?
Marketing technologies are needed to process large amounts of data. Online marketing generates millions of data records that contain valuable information. However, they can only be tapped into if the data is prepared in such a way that companies can understand it.
MarTech tools do just that: they help to organize and analyze large amounts of data. They do this by enabling cooperation, storing and processing data or even automatically playing out marketing content or handling customer communication.
Depending on the tool, this results in a whole range of advantages. Marketing and sales are partially automated, customers can be addressed more precisely and the target group can be analyzed in detail. Companies are able to check and optimize the efficiency of all marketing and sales processes. They can efficiently increase their reach using analysis tools. As a result, significantly more leads and even sales can be generated with considerably less capital and time.
And customer loyalty also benefits from targeted follow-up approaches and touchpoints. MarTech therefore enables online marketing to exploit its full range of benefits.
2. which MarTech tools are available?
There are many different MarTech tools that fulfill different functions. The landscape is correspondingly diverse: OMR’s MarTech map, for example, shows over 9,000 different tools. Companies are often faced with the challenge that there are many competitors in the individual task areas, some of which offer different functions. In addition, many tools are set up in such a way that they cover more than just one area.
The following classification is intended to show what these tools can do and how different the tasks are for which they are used.
1. data asset management tools (DAM tools)
Among other things, DAM tools can manage digital graphics, videos, documents and other files together in one place and enable access to them. This significantly simplifies and standardizes processes within the company. A file can be accessed by all employees who need the file and are authorized to do so. This also ensures that everyone involved only works with the latest version of a file.
One focus is on the management of digital rights in order to easily avoid copyright infringements and the like. In many cases, this means that employees are not allowed to use any data that has not been explicitly approved. This not only makes it easier to avoid breaches of the law; it also improves the uniformity of the company’s external image.
2. product information management (PIM) tools
PIM tools enable companies to standardize the information available on a specific product across sales channels and departments. It is a kind of central point where all product data can be output to the various channels via interfaces. Each department stores the data that is relevant to it there and retrieves the required data from other departments. As data collection is standardized, data quality is improved.
Catalogs, online stores or retailers, for example, benefit from this because they can always call up up-to-date and error-free data on a product.
3. analysis tools
Analysis tools make it possible to derive meaningful optimization options from the numerous data that marketing collects. They help to collect and evaluate data along the customer journey. As a result, they provide important clues for reaching the target group and improving key performance indicators.
In some cases, data is also available that a company does not necessarily have to have collected itself. This provides marketers with important information about which search terms the target group is using or which products are currently trending. These current findings can then be incorporated into the campaigns and thus support the marketing department.
From demographic data and campaign performance to traffic on your own website, analytics tools offer a lot of helpful data. In most cases, they also help to prove the success of marketing efforts. Because they can determine a variety of KPIs, it becomes clear which customers come from which channels in which period. This makes them indispensable for targeted online marketing, as they can also be used as a basis for improving campaigns. In many cases, they also make it possible to detect technical errors or content of insufficient quality.
Because they provide a deep insight into the wishes and needs of the target group, they are increasingly becoming an important basis for business decisions.
4. content tools
From blogs and social media to newsletters: content is an important part of most companies’ marketing. Content tools help to improve the quality of content in a variety of ways.
To this end, tools suggest optimization options, enable uncomplicated sharing in social media or help to keep content up to date. They also help to find suitable and relevant topics for the target group, distribute the content or optimize project management.
Many content tools are true jacks-of-all-trades, while others only help in certain areas. Some only support the creation of content, others also monitor its success. However, they are essential for efficient content marketing.
5. CRM tools (Customer Relationship Tools)
CRM tools have become powerful helpers in optimizing sales. They improve customer relationship management and thus help to retain and win back customers. And they help to manage and qualify leads. They make it possible to provide a personalized experience for customers at almost every point of contact by storing and analyzing interactions.
CRM tools have revolutionized sales and customer service and their importance for customer loyalty can hardly be overestimated. If you want to maintain your customer base and efficiently acquire new customers, there is no way around them.
6. automation tools
Automation tools make it possible to automate many processes in marketing and sales. They usually use insights from big data and work with artificial intelligence. As a result, they learn step by step and can offer customers increasingly customized offers and services.
One disadvantage is that many of the tools in this area are customized specifically for the respective company, which means a high initial investment. However, the effort quickly pays off because the personalized customer experience has considerable potential for customer loyalty and sales generation.
Conclusion: MarTech indispensable
If you want to use your data, there’s no getting around MarTech tools. However, the vast and diverse landscape does not exactly make it easy for newcomers. Those starting out are often faced with the decision to choose suites or standalones. Because the costs are considerable, especially with several solutions, an initial analysis of the actual requirements is worthwhile. Otherwise, there is a risk of ending up with a conglomerate of software that does not match the company’s goals and challenges.
About Andreas Graap:
Andreas Graap is the founder and Managing Director of acquisa, the online magazine for e-commerce, marketing and sales. It is acquisa’s declared aim to present even complex topics in an understandable and comprehensible way and thus provide new insights for practical use. Andreas has been an online marketing enthusiast and Internet entrepreneur since 1997 and has already founded several online companies and successfully sold them to mostly listed companies.