We had our first English-speaking virtual meeting of the MarTech Discussion Club in partnership with the UIA . The January 21 event covered a wealth of topics related to the future of MarTech, trends in store for the industry, and how to adapt to them.
The MarTech Discussion Club’s mission is bringing the local MarTech and AdTech communities together to exchange ideas, experiences, and knowledge.
Our virtual panel featured top AdTech industry minds. While we’ll cover the main takeaways from the discussion below, you are welcome to view the full recording of the meetup on our YouTube channel.
When talking about what directions the MarTech industry can expect this year, the general consensus from our speakers included these 4 trends:
Considering Google’s deprecation of cookies, GDPR, and CPRA, the industry will be seeing seismic changes around privacy. There’s a desire for consumers and legislators to take back control of user data. Global brands need to start preparing and planning now. Traditional means of targeting will undergo crucial changes.
There are also changes in the privacy laws on the local level. For businesses that are international and span across multiple regions, they have to comply with all the privacy laws in these countries. It requires not only the legal work but also adaptation of the marketing strategy for the specific market. In some cases, it might even require customization of the MarTech stack.
In this new ad ecosystem, there already is a lot of talk around how to manage identity resolution and targeting. This will lead to a lot of technological opportunities and potentially the emergence of non-targeting based AdTech/MarTech offerings, for example, context targeting and tools.
Apple’s decision to roll out IDFA will have an impact on app marketing. But MMPs (Mobile Measurement Partner) are adjusting. In the long term, this is beneficial for the consumer, but for advertisers, things will become more complex.
In the past couple of years, customer communication has become omnichannel. This year, it’s expected to become even more fragmented with the rise of CTV, DOOH, audio podcasts, and new platforms such as TikTok and gamer streaming platforms. This will require new approaches and new technologies, and that’s where there are a lot of opportunities for startups.
It’s impossible to talk about the future without touching upon the pandemic and its consequences. We will witness the clear result in maybe a year, but for now, there is a certain growing demand from businesses for AdTech and MarTech products and services. “It sped up the inevitable. One thing that is true, brands are trying to create new touchpoints with their customers. They are trying to cut through the noise,” says William Mercer.
The pandemic has stimulated the digital transformation of businesses and AdTech/MarTech has majorly benefited from that. Marketing budgets are shifting from traditional to digital advertising.
These are the clear changes that we can pinpoint right now:
Altogether, these changes will set the trends for the next several years.
With the expected emergence of the new MarTech and AdTech technologies, how can marketers and brands approach these changes?
In short, adapt! Don’t be afraid to experiment and take the risks. There’s no point in trying to hold on to legacy methods. It’s important to remain open to people who are approaching you with new solutions to your existing problems.
Marketers should forget about stability. The pace of change has increased dramatically. In order to keep up, Ivan Fedorov has these recommendations:
It’s important to note, however, that when adding a new tool to your stack, know exactly what you’re using it for and how it will benefit you. For example, collecting data just to have a lot of data has no point. It has to have a purpose.
To sum up, digital advertising and AdTech/MarTech services will face significant challenges this year but at the same time, this is something disruptive startups and brands can take advantage of.
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