Marketing has changed dramatically in the last few years. New technologies from social media and mobility to rich digital media devices, and natural user interfaces are transforming how and where consumers and business users interact with content – and therefore how and where marketers connect with customers. As a result, digital marketing has become a top concern for marketers everywhere. Changing trends in online shopping coupled with the unprecedented challenge for companies to influence consumer-buying decisions are motivating them to shift their offline budgets to digital marketing. Companies are embracing all forms of digital marketing – these include online / website marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, and email marketing. However, not all companies are adequately agile to take advantage of the latest advancements in digital technology while trying to meet rapidly changing consumer requirements and ever-reducing time-to-market. Forces that have combined to create a perfect storm for marketing technology are:

1. Migration from traditional to new media

2. Changed consumer expectations

3. Cloud computing and migration from IT to SaaS

4. Measurable nature of digital to demonstrate ROI

5. Opportunity for new marketing technology entrants

6. High velocity economics of software innovation

Together these mean a huge marketing technology business growing every year. To survive in this new paradigm, enterprises must make a strong commitment to digital marketing through renewed investment in technology and innovation, deep partnerships, and an integrated approach to customer-centric data. Marketing must take ownership of the technology in its domain. Ultimately, the ideal online marketing solution must fully address the three R’s: reach, retention, and revenue. It must make the connections between back-end technologies and many touch points available to customers, including mobile devices, PCs, and interactive TVs.

More and more, digital technology is having a profound effect on companies: it is enabling better targeting and audience connections, richer brand expressions and personalized customer experiences, and deeper marketing intelligence. To keep up with changes in consumer behavior and advances in technology, today’s companies need to be more innovative, adaptive and responsive. They need to know how to leverage digital experiences, data and technology to make their marketing programs and platforms more powerful. Integrated Marketing Management is integration of all marketing tools, approaches, and resources within a company which maximizes impact on consumer mind and which results into maximum profit at minimum costs.

The digital revolution is capable of delivering true “segment of one” personalization. To make good on that promise, however, companies need a unified data backbone, one capable of delivering the highly relevant data that generates valuable customer insights. In turn, this information enables marketers to tailor content to individual customers. However, because many companies operate on a hodgepodge of best-of-breed systems, most lack an integrated technical infrastructure. Today, marketing and IT can no longer implement solutions that address only the needs of their respective functions. Moving forward boldly requires leaders to develop a unified, companywide vision of the end state required to make marketing a reality.

The technology components evolve after the basic digital strategy is set and the company has defined its interaction strategy across the entire customer life cycle, from reaching new prospects through strengthening relationships with satisfied customers.

Technology is a key enabler of present day marketing. In addition, in digital this can hardly be overemphasized! The challenge however is to understand that technology is just a means to an end i.e. marketing. Unfortunately present day marketers think that technology is the ultimate way for better business. Newer technology or changes to existing technology do NOT necessarily mean marketing break-through. Smart marketers and brands realize that technology is used as an enabler to create successful marketing programs.

For example: Mobile Phones, which have become a ubiquitous technology [remember the Hutch Pug Ad!] provide a marketer an awesome opportunity to create geo location based marketing campaigns. Another example QR Codes that have existed for over a decade now are now being used successfully to link Offline to Digital campaigns.

Technology will also largely determine what data is available to measure ROI and which tools used in those measurements. Technology choices will evolve over time as new opportunities appear and as the brands customize its business plan to meet marketing requirements.

Companies whose digital strategy includes consistent, coordinated cross-channel marketing must ensure that any on-demand systems can be properly integrated with the larger marketing process. Technology is often viewed as a cost item, so the formal business case for new technology investments is often based on reductions in staff time or system operating costs. However, these calculations often ignore the hidden costs of the disruption caused by changing systems. The real benefits of new technology are usually related to improvements in other marketing areas, such as high performance, better availability, niched segmentation or more productive advertising purchases. With recent innovations and flexibility like On-Demand technology and pay per use models, using latest and cutting edge technology is hardly a cost challenge or an apex decision. The current day challenges rest solely on making the right choice with regard to breed of technologies and getting them to deliver a memorable Digital experience.

Irrespective of the size or industry, marketers across companies today need to function in a nexus of marketing, consumer behavior and technology. In addition, choosing the right technology component to power Digital marketing is emerging as a mission critical choice for the success of the marketing program.

The article is authored by Shrinivas Chari, Co-Founder & CMO, Xerago Ebiz.