Marketing continues to evolve into an ever-changing technological landscape. It is forcing traditional marketers to upskill in order to keep up with the challenges of creating brand awareness on multi-digital channels. Marketing technology and its management has also given rise to new career opportunities within the professional marketing space and the job of the marketing technologist is becoming wider-ranged.
Avi Ben Ezra, the CTO of the SnatchBot omnichannel communication platform says that “brands are using technology to attract younger customers who are tech savvy as well as any other target group. Marketing technologists are embracing these; as are young start-ups and old established brands. We’ll point out some predictions of what the most futuristic elements of a solid digital marketing ecosystem is below.”
Demand for SEO skills is pushing salaries up
During the past two years the salaries of approximately 10 marketing jobs, where the knowledge of the latest technology is required, had salary increases put into effect. This included people with SEO and PPC skills, and the trend is expected to continue through 2020.
However, marketing technologists need to have SEO skills and other analytic and technological skills in order to earn higher salaries.
Marketers need real-time bidding skills
The implementation of privacy laws in 2019 has resulted in the decline in the use of cookies on brand websites. Cookies will need to be replaced by real-time bidding (RTB) in order for digital marketing to be effective. This decline in reliance on third-party cookies requires that marketers have expert knowledge and an understanding of how RTB can be used for marketing campaigns.
B2B marketing has changed
Marketers are using technology to disrupt the way B2B marketing campaigns are run. They now use leads and prospects rather than putting all the onus on sales teams. Their approach is strategic and definitely more efficient. Connectivity and readily available online information give buyers a bigger choice of suppliers and the increased competition is driving results. Meanwhile marketing technologists can determine ROI and demonstrate the impact of the various digital channels.
Specialized marketing technologists
The jobs of marketing technologists will be more clearly defined and each role will be better understood. Some of the roles, as they have been defined today include digital marketing, marketing data scientists, marketing engineer, and marketing operations. Some areas are more marketing orientated, others are creative, analytical or technical in nature.
Defining where marketing technology belongs
While some argue that marketing technology is a job description that belongs in CMO, others feel that the IT department plays a bigger role. In 2020, IT and marketing technologists can expect to work together even more as campaigns are based on technological skills.
One of the companies that has already made a move in this direction is McDonalds. They recently implied that the designation of CMO will not be filled, and are creating the titles of Senior Vice President (SVP) of Marketing Technology, operating under the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
The importance of long-term planning
It has been found that most marketers try to manage the present, but long-term planning is actually more important. The biggest weapon that marketers have available to them are analytics, and they are not using them enough. A data-driven approach offers marketers insights and the ability to plan for the future, bringing more optimized results to campaigns.
Multi-channel chatbots with RPA -making digital marketing more effective
When chatbots are deployed to communicate with consumers across social media channels and websites, these bots provide insightful data for better consumer targeting. Brands can now target their consumers on the platforms where they are most active and chatbots can collect the data on product searches and queries.
Brands can also offer discount vouchers and special offers to first time shoppers, but also to retain existing customers. The data that they have on existing customers also allows them to offer suggestions for what they might purchase next.
According to a note by SnatchBot: “The data is supplied by a process known as robotic process automation or RPA. This process allows chatbots to be more than just communicators, but helps them to automate certain processes that are often repeated and boring. This eliminates the need for a human to be available to collect data and the chatbot can do this 24/7.”
RPA in chatbots allows companies to eliminate inefficiencies, cut costs and improve effectiveness. These inputs that make them so effective are IT-fed and the input needs to be such that the automation process runs smoothly, creating satisfying relationships with customers and keeping then coming back.
It is essential that all marketing professionals adapt to the changes, while they also need to acquire the skills demanded in the various areas of marketing technology today. This will help prepare them for the continual changes that AI brings to digital marketing.
