When I started The A Group more than 12 years ago, I had no idea I was giving life to a new type of business: martech.  We developed in-house technology to make sure our marketing efforts worked and were simple to use. We knew marketing could not live without technology. It was true a decade ago, and even more so now. Not only digital natives demand it, we all do. We browse online, on our mobile devices but often purchase at a physical store. We want the same information on our desktop computer, tablet and phone whenever, wherever. We measure our tolerance to wait for information in mere seconds. Today’s consumer has an attention span of less than 6 seconds.

Last week I attended the first MarTech Conference in Boston. The Martech Conference was an integrated conversation of marketing, technology, trends and best practices led by experts, often titled Chief Marketing Technologists (a position that didn’t exist a few years ago).  There was a lot of good information and networking, but here are some of the thoughts that resonated with me:

  • We are in the age of the consumer and brand expectations have never been as high.
  • The new digital marketing tools allow marketers to quantify results and make course adjustments.  I once heard someone refer to “marketing voodoo” as a reason not to invest in a campaign. Now we can tie dollar-per-dollar from marketing strategies direct to results.
  • Customization is no longer an option. Consumers now expect you to anticipate their needs and customize their next experience. They expect you know what they want to see next time they log in your website. New intelligence allows a completely individualized online experience.
  • Data is key to customization and brands, small and big, need to learn how to tap into “big data” in order to deliver the experience consumers expect. That’s no longer an option. 

How have you experienced the collision of marketing and technology? Read the rest of my takeaways from #MarTech, the world's first conference dedicated to marketing technology leaders, on my personal blog.

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