13 insights from the 5th Conference on MarTech
38 speakers, 39 sessions and 706 attendees - this was the second and virtual edition of the 5th Conference on MarTech on September 24th. Although virtual, the conference gave viewers the full experience with interesting keynotes and even networking opportunities with fellow marketing and business professionals. If you missed it, you can attend the next edition in 2021 or grab a cup of coffee and read all about the 2020 edition right here.
1. Digital transformation is not optional
86% of buyers are willing to pay for a great customer experience and 73% of people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Customers expect a lot, like privacy preferences, channels they want to be contacted in … and they want it now. 57% of your customers will leave your company if you don’t meet their expectations. In short: delivering an optimal customer service is important.
There has been a complete - not at all unexpected but accelerated - shift to digital. Everything is happening online. Therefore companies are relying much on the cloud and data to anticipate opportunities and evolve to a data driven and personalized marketing model. Moving away from the mass digital approach based on limited data, to relevant experiences based on accurate data provided in real time.
2. Integrating CDP can double your sales
Even though your company culture is reluctant, displaying scepticism and questions, investing in a CDP (Customer Data Platform) proves to be worth it and shows immediate visible results, even after a few months. Michel Lenaerts (Senior Marketing Advisor @ Belgian Cycling Factory), testified how Belgian Cycling Factory successfully integrated a CDP with the help of BlueConic. Belgian Cycling Factory basically doubled their sales towards the dealers and their dealers sold way faster. CDP helped them to get to know their customers and showed how to adress them in a more personalized way. By being able to segment very deeply and fine-mazed, there turned out to be a lot more potential in the market!
3. People buy from people
People are very powerful. They have massive influence and are perceived as trustworthy. Personal posts get your company traction, even if you don’t mention your company’s name. Because people buy from people. Michael Humblet (Performance marketing & sales expert and owner @ Chaomatic) advocates a thought leadership content model. Shift your content to inspirational and educational by showing expertise. This content exists already within your organization, you just need to pull it out.
4. The rise of no code solutions
There is an immense - with 5233% - growth in the number of different marketing technology solutions. Scott Brinker (VP Platform Ecosystem @ Hubspot and editor @ chiefmartec.com) identifies an enormous evolution in the MarTech landscape, from 150 in 2011 to over 8000 in 2020 and continuing to grow. While in the past you could only customize these platforms if you had a technical team, no code solutions are arising on the market. These tools help non-technical business users to create interactive UI without having to be programmers, for example by using a spreadsheet.
5. Focus on the one metric that really matters
Achieve optimal growth by focusing on one core metric that really matters instead of vanity metrics, so says Braulio Medina (Head of Growth @ Rei do Pitaco (Brasil) // Founder @ Growth Team LLC). Many companies are focusing on the North Star Metric, which is the biggest metric for a company indicating you are growing your business. For example, the number of monthly active users on Facebook or the amount of time listening on Spotify. Instead, companies should focus on the one metric that actually really matters, indicating the AHA-moment. For example when one Facebook-user connects with seven people in the first days on the platform, which will likely result in retaining this user. That is the secret to growing your business.
6. A Christmas campaign with funny kittens in December on Facebook will bring you 5K
The ROI prediction model, introduced by Felix De Clercq (Digital Strategist @ delaware digital), enables you to optimize your ROI, based on the campaign type, content of the campaign, month of the year, channel and channel specifics and price. For example, if you do a Christmas campaign with funny kittens in December on Facebook, this will result in 5K in new valuable business on a long term basis. It can calculate your market share, daily reach, CPM - in other words what it will do for your business. The accuracy is pretty spot-on though it’s important to keep in mind that it is based on historical data to train the data.
7. A one-night stand won’t save your marketing
Marketing is still mostly viewed as a one-night stand instead of a classical marriage or long-term relationship. You and your clients should be engaged in a durable relationship and the tools presented by Renout van Hove (Founder @ GrowthAgent), can come in handy to manage and achieve this.
8. The leaking bucket
Andreas Creten (Co-Founder & CTO @ madewithlove, and software engineer) introduced the principle of the leaking bucket. If your users are flowing out, don’t try to bring in more leads before fixing the hole. Use NPS (Net Promotor Score) as an easy way to calculate what people think about your product.
9. It took Microsoft 2 months instead of 2 years, how long does it take you?
Because of COVID-19 companies worldwide had to change tactics, as a result the digital communication strategy of companies has gone into overdrive. A striking example is Microsoft. The last 2 months they made more than the last 2 years. Why? Given the circumstances, they had no choice. Microsoft isn't an isolated case, Frans Riemersma's research shows that companies on average accelerated their digital communication strategy by 6 years.
10. Please get ready for your robot-sidekick
How about giving each employee a robot? Does that sound like science fiction to you? Well for Guy Kirkwood (Chief Evangelist @ UiPath) it's the future. It will lighten the work load when companies are shorthanded. The robot would help employees, not replace them! People will always be at the heart of your business. The result would be a combination between employees and robots to ensure automation.
11. Keep your new clients close, but your current clients closer
Customer acquisition costs have increased by 55% in the last 5 years. Today, this accounts for 80% of companies' budget spending. With the increase of these costs, activation marketing becomes more and more important, according to Jelle and Jonathan from Actito. Activation marketing allows you to get more out of your customer relationships using data, something you have in abundance. A solid focus on (re-)activation marketing instead of attraction marketing, why not?
12. Data paralysis is a real thing and you might suffer from it
87% of business leaders believe their brands have “low business intelligence and analytics maturity”, according to Stefaan Vandeputte (CDP Product Owner & Solution Lead @ delaware digital). A lot of companies experience an abundance of data but don't know how to use it. This is a missed opportunity though, because it is a gold mine of relevant information you can use to approach your customer, according to Carole Lamarque (CEO & Founding partner @ Duval Union Innovative Marketing). Jonathan Wuurman (VP Marketing @ ACTITO) elaborates on this: "Data offers the ability to interact with the customer throughout the different phases of the customer journey. You can encourage him to engage with campaigns with a proven ROI."
13. Get yourself a first aid kit in MarTech
Overwhelmed by the number of MarTech tools and available solutions? Don’t hesitate to ask for some hands-on advice. Make it specific and relevant to your brand by requesting a run through of specific software or ask technical marketeers to preselect according to your needs. In the Duval Union network, Renout van Hove is at your service.
Are you jumping on the MarTech train? This 5th Conference makes you reinvent and optimize your business. Hungry for more know-how? Subscribe to our email listing and stay tuned for upcoming webinars and events.
A special thanks to the speakers of the 5th:
Matthew Berger, Senior Content Strategist @ Tealium
Michel Lenaerts, Senior Marketing Advisor @ Belgian Cycling Factory
Bart Heilbron, CEO @ BlueConic
Michael Humblet, Performance marketing & sales expert and owner @ Chaomatic
Scott Brinker, VP Platform Ecosystem @ Hubspot and editor @ chiefmartec.com
Braulio Medina, Head of Growth @ Rei do Pitaco (Brasil) // Founder @ Growth Team LLC
Felix De Clercq, Digital Strategist @ delaware digital
Renout van Hove, Founder @ GrowthAgent
Andreas Creten, Co-Founder & CTO @ madewithlove, and software engineer
Guy Kirkwood, Chief Evangelist at UiPath
Frans Riemersma, Marketing Technologist, Author, Speaker, Martech influencer top#10 in Europe, #1 in NL // Founder @ MartechTribe
Jelle Van Medegael, Activation Marketing Practitioner @ ACTITO
Jonathan Wuurman, VP Marketing @ ACTITO
Stefaan Vandeputte, CDP Product Owner & Solution Lead @ delaware digital
Carole Lamarque, CEO & Founding partner @ Duval Union Innovative Marketing