INSIGHT
“Pay attention to marketplaces like the AppExchange and
websites like Ian Cleary’s RazorSocial to keep in the know
when it comes to new tools and technologies.”
Before getting into these practices, a
better understanding of some of the rising
trends in the marketing technology industry
would be useful.
Rising industry trends
There is no denying that technology
changes quickly. In a very brief span of
time, we’ve gone from simple customer
relationship management (CRM)
dashboards, to in-depth, complex
marketing automation systems and natural
language processing capabilities.
●●Targeted marketing automation
As noted above, marketing automation is
an area where we have seen tremendous
strides. While simple email clients were
among the first on the scene, marketers
have witnessed a complete evolution to a
point where every step of the funnel has
become customized for the prospect at
which the materials are targeted. This is
music to any affiliate’s ear.
Customizing the sales funnel with
materials and offers that are most likely
to see a conversion is an invaluable asset
for any affiliate marketer. For a long
time, standardized marketing materials
were distributed to entire databases
in the hopes of a somewhat decent
conversion. Today, with some of the
technologies that exist, informed affiliate
marketers can expect significantly higher
conversion rates thanks in large part to
the customization of campaigns around
the tastes and preferences exhibited by
prospects in the funnel - and with a lot
less effort involved.
●●Machine learning
This is a big one. The tools we use are
now becoming smarter. While there
are those that see this as a terrifying
new reality (just ask Elon Musk) on
the marketer’s scale, it is an exciting
development. From a business
standpoint, what we are seeing is
unprecedented. Recommendations are
becoming more intuitive, and as more
information is fed into products like
CRMs and data mining tools, the better
the results become.
While we are still a way off from
commercially available, universally
affordable machine learning products
for marketers, these kinds of capabilities
are on the rise. It is worth keeping an
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iGB Affiliate Issue 55 FEB/MAR 2016
eye on the market as it moves forward,
as we can all be certain that this will be
a crucial part of a campaign’s success in
the (hopefully fairly near) future.
●●Customer data
Data has been a rising trend (in all
areas of marketing) for years now. One
thing we have seen rise particularly
quickly in the past year has been the
expansion and value of customer data
(both its availability and detail). With the
advent of social media and its complete
transcendence into everyday practices
and activities, marketers are now given
access to a wealth of data about the
individual that serves as a means of
creating highly targeted and customized
initiatives, leading to significantly higherthan-average conversion rates.
Today, consumers are willingly offering
more information about themselves than
any poll, questionnaire, survey or census
has ever offered before. These public
data help build the complete view of the
customer, and in turn, relationships can
be forged between brand and customer at
a much more personal level.
●●Community product expansion
The name of the game is now open
source. The popularity of platforms
such as Apple’s App Store and the
one that has helped these products (and
the technology space in general) expand
greatly, and community integrations and
applications will certainly continue to see
a rise in the near future.
Staying ahead with best practices
As noted, an understanding of the trends
seen in the current environment is a crucial
base on which marketers can strive to stay
ahead of the technological curve. With that
safely out of the way, we can start to look at
some of these best practices.
●●Prioritize your technological needs
With so much being offered, a first,
crucial step is to prioritize what it is you
are trying to achieve, then to outline
where technology will be an asset to
achieving these goals in the shortest
timeframe possible. Though a lot of these
tools are valuable assets, marketers need
to remember that they are complements,
not the entire solution. So determine
where you are in the greatest need
of assistance, and start looking for a
technology in that area first.
●●Avoid flash without substance
Tools do a great job of selling themselves.
A lot of them feature impressive
dashboards and, in several cases, fun,
quirky features. While these might be
enticing, you’ll want to dig a little deeper
and ensure that the product you are
con sidering will actually provide you with
value (and a return on the investment
you’re making into it). Even though a
“Though these tools and technologies are designed to
make your life easier, an overpacked toolbox can make
your day-to-day management significantly more difficult.”
Google Play Store has led to marketing
technologies opening new avenues
through which their product offerings
can expand. Take Marketo or Salesforce,
for example. Both platforms are
giants in their respective categories
(marketing automation and CRM/
social, respectively). In order to expand
the services being offered, Marketo
offers Launchpoint (created in 2012)
and Salesforce has its well-known
AppExchange, which features over 200
marketing apps (as well as over 1,000
others focused on everything from sales
to social).
Creating communities and encouraging
community members to be active has
been a key point to these platforms’
success. The open source mentality is
piece of technology might catch your eye,
it doesn’t necessarily mean that there will
be much more to it than what you see on
the surface. Do your research.
●●Regularly review new product
integrations
As noted above, community aspects
and application integrations are fast
on the rise. In order to ensure that you
are truly getting the most out of your
current toolbox, review new integrations
on a regular basis. You’ll also want to
pay attention to marketplaces like the
AppExchange and websites like Ian
Cleary’s RazorSocial to keep in the
know when it comes to new tools and
technologies.
●●Fluidity is key
Though these tools and technologies