MarTech 2016: Where Marketing and Technology Enter Each Other’s Orbits
At a superficial level, digital marketing seems to be a way of promoting products and brands across various forms of online media, but in reality, it goes much deeper than that. It’s not just about converting a lead, but it’s about pacing, leading and anchoring the customer so that they keep coming back to a certain product or brand and become loyal to it for a long, long time. Of course, you need a marketer’s mind but you need technology as well. More so, in today’s tech-driven business landscape.
This coming together of technology and marketing is exactly what MarTech is all about. This year’s edition of the event just ended last month in San Francisco and we thought to round it up for those of you who’ve missed the action.
MarTech – An Intersection of Technology and Marketing
The Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech) 2016, a high-level global conference that helps young digital marketers prosper, exactly cracked down on the finer aspects of customer experiences related to technology marketing. The conference, designed to see through today’s marketing challenges, acknowledged that in a world dominated by buyers, the customer is always right and it’s their experience that matters the most.
At MarTech 2016, Mr. Rohit Prabhaker, Head of Digital Marketing Strategy McKesson, emphasised about customer obsession. He recognized technology as a primary tool to reach out, but said, at the end of the day it’s all about the customer.
This year’s MarTech encouraged an orchestrated concert between traditional marketing, evolving technologies and the primitive instinct of human psychology that drives the motive of a customer.
The Scott Brinker Keynote
‘MarTech Rock Star’ Scott Brinker, CTO of a leading marketing technology company and the program chair at MarTech 2016, observed the emerging trend of ‘mainstream’ companies endorsing the need to implement digital marketing as a tool.
He believes that MarTech is no more a forum for just the tech companies. Standing in 2016, the event intends to be viewed as an interactive environment that help marketers adopt and integrate the power of technology into their marketing strategy.
According to Mr. Brinker, author of the chiefmartec.com blog and “Hacking Marketing”, MarTech, in the year 2016, looks forward to be a dynamic platform for cross-pollination, between marketing and technology.
Scott Brinker Tells You – ‘How To’
At MarTech 2016, bestselling author and MarTech program chair Scott Brinker shared his views that as marketing gets increasingly digitalised, time has come to rethink about managing marketing from a different perspective.
Talking about his book “Hacking Marketing”, the author said, in today’s world as marketing gets more and more involved and interwoven with technology, the art of marketing management entirely depends on the art of managing software.
Addressing new-age marketing strategies like website marketing, analytics, social media marketing, interactive content, marketing automation and mobile apps, Mr. Brinker said, through “Hacking Marketing” he intends to help the non-technical marketers with new ideas and cutting-edge tools, which they can adopt and integrate for effective digital marketing.
The Insider Look
In the 21st century, when traditional marketing like door-to-door visit and Tele calling are coming to a stand still, MarTech 2016 in San Francisco was like a fresh air for the ‘Main Street’ companies. Enlightened by the glowing presence of Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, CMO at Mozilla, Steve Krause, from Oracle, Sylvain Masson, Director of Digital Transformation at Heineken, John Hardy, of The Walt Disney Company, Shubu Mitra, from Coca-Cola and others, MarTech 2016 has, by far, been one of the most glittering MarTech events in the recent times.
With an attendance of over 1000, MarTech 2016 was attended by top “Main Street” brands and digital pioneers. Industry leaders like Allianz, Disney, Heineken, DHL, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Dell, Google, Facebook, Mozilla and Hewlett-Packard are just a small fragment of the total attendees that graced the gala event.
With 38 high powered educational sessions on terrific innovations that interconnect marketing, technology and management, MarTech 2016 presented the blueprint of future marketing. In the presence of 100 marketing technology vendors, the intense educational session that spanned over 2 days, highlighted transformational and inventive modules like Super Intelligent Marketer, Agile Responsiveness, The Expanding Nature of SEO, Optimization of Apps, Marketing Cloud, Agile Marketing and other evolving technologies, designed to strategize effective practices for enhanced customer experiences through digital marketing.
MarTech 2016 Takeaways
The strategy packed Marketing Tech Conference 2016, presented by accomplished speakers and dignitaries from the best of both worlds, created the much-needed environment for the marketing world, to collide with leading edge technological innovations.
Showcasing new ideas, presenting case studies and dishing out breakfasts, snacks and hot lunch, the bigger and better MarTech 2016 was all about rising up to challenges, overcoming adversities and nurturing hope.
Some of the key takeaways that evolved out of the MarTech 2016 experience are –
Actionable Content – Catering in-depth know-how about the implementation of agile and responsive marketing environments, the MarTech sessions illustrated how digital marketing can create unbelievable experiences for customers through content that engages and prompts them to take actions.
Vendor Agnostic – Without promoting a specific marketing platform, MarTech provided an open space for business enterprises, to choose from a range of technologies that suits them best.
Active Community – MarTech 2016 created an active community that helps to come up with effective solutions by connecting with others facing similar challenges.
More than 100 solution providers – The 2016 MarTech expo hall power-packed with technology service providers, designing comprehensive marketing clouds and providing customised task-specific solutions, was a unique one-to-one experience for ‘Main Street’ brands and technology giants. The exchange of new and innovative ideas, best practices, and sage advice cultivated deeper into the opportunities of effective digital marketing.
What’s more? Every attendee received a signed copy of Scott Brinker’s latest book, the “Hacking Marketing”, an ultimate tool of the trade for an insight on digital marketing that strengthens customer bonding.
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