On Halloween night, kids are easily frightened by ghosts, ghouls, and goblins, but as adults we know that they’re just decorations, and the child’s fear comes from not fully understanding what they are seeing. The same can be said for MarTech; in a rapidly changing industry, there are a lot of new and complicated terms for marketers to fear. However, by getting over the fear of the unknown, marketers can determine which MarTech tools will be the most effective in helping them reach their business goals. The first step to figuring out which tools will work for you is to define some of the key phrases in MarTech. Below is a list of four not-so-scary MarTech phrases and their definitions:
- Data Cleansing & Data Normalization- These days, successful marketing strategies rely on accurate data. Customers are creating data with every interaction, and brands need to be able to analyze that data and use it effectively. Before analyzing the collected data, marketers must remove or replace incorrect or corrupted data points. Errors can occur during data entry or the import process, and fixing these errors ensures that the data you are analyzing is accurate. Once the data is cleaned, it needs to be normalized, or standardized. Data is collected from various touchpoints, using different systems and methods of collection. Normalizing the data standardizes the layout so it is easier for marketers to analyze and find key trends. Once the data is cleansed and normalized, brands can begin looking for actionable insights for their marketing strategies.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been around for a while, and became especially popular in the 90s with Peppers and Rogers One-to-One Marketing. The basic idea of CRM is to build a relationship with your customers instead of just blasting communications that may or may not resonate. Some brands do this with demographic segmentation, like sending communications based on gender, but many brands are trying to get to the Holy Grail of one-to-one personalized marketing. This is where CRM software is used. The software collects and stores information about a customer’s demographics, their purchase history, lifecycle stage, and other metrics that can help brands determine personalized communications that make the brand-customer relationship even stronger.
- 360-View of the Customer – Customers interact with brands through a variety of channels, and brands need to see all the interactions in order to send communications that are up-to-date and relevant. For example, if a customer purchases a shirt in a store, the brand shouldn’t show the customer advertisements for the shirt online. If a marketer can see how a customer interacts with a brand across all channels, as well as the customer’s detailed purchase history, all in one location, they will have a 360-view of the customer and their relationship with the brand at this current time. Based on the data a marketer has on the current relationship, a brand can use predictive analytics to determine what the customer will do next.
- Predictive Analytics – Marketers and analysts have created algorithms that can predict what a customer is likely to buy next, and when they are likely to buy. They can also see how many days it may take a customer to lapse, and what a customer’s future lifetime value could be. Each customer is different, and there are factors that can’t be controlled, but with predictive analytics, marketers can predict with reasonable certainty what will happen next. They can use all the data to create and schedule communications that hit the right customer with the right message at the right time, to get them to purchase again and grow their relationship with the brand.
Now that we have defined these phrases, they shouldn’t seem so scary, and you can begin to implement them into your marketing strategy. For help with any of these MarTech tools and strategies, reach out to our team of marketing experts.
