How do top marketing agencies do it?

Did you have the chance to join our Tech Open Air Satellite Event “Brunch & Learn - How do the top marketing agencies do it?” last Friday? If not – we have got you covered!

We teamed up with Kenshoo, leading tech provider for performance marketing and invited top marketing agencies and marketers to discuss the role that technology is playing for them now and what the future might hold.

There was a lot to learn. That’s why we have summed up the presentations and talks for you.

4 theses on the future of online marketing

*by Dr. Sepita Ansari, CEO at**Catbird Seat*

1. __Data data data__

• At the moment, we don’t get enough of a 360 degree view of our target groups. That will change with the shift from last click attribution (where only the last channel from which the conversion is made is being tracked) to multichannel attribution (looking at the more complicated and detailed path to conversion). With this shift, the management of product data and customer relationships will merge and become relevant to the analysis too.
• Given the increasing load of customer data, the visualization of data is becoming more and more important as a means to help you reach decisions more easily.

2. __Programmatic orchestration__

• What does programmatic mean? You create individual user profiles for your customers. The content displayed to these users is created in real-time, based on their profile, the context and their live interaction with content. It is displayed on the preferred device(s) of the user. The current action of the user determines what content gets shown next.
• Reading tip: The Programmatic Giant (German)
• Programmatic penetration is forecast to explode. Currently, however, the publishing industry in particular is blocking this,= as they rely on kickbacks.

3. __Semantic (Internet 3.0 - conversational commerce)__

• Internet 1.0 = one way communication, Internet 2.0 = dialog (social media), Internet 3.0 = dialog + semantic layer >> tech driven conversation
• Voice search with personal assistants is on the rise and changing the search engine world and conversational commerce. So-called “chatbots” are opening up a new world of brand interaction. But no need to panic now. The technology will take 5-10 years to fully work.
• Sound interesting? We’ve recently posted a blog series relating to this. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of our series: *New mobile driven user behaviors – how voice search and conversational commerce are affecting e-commerce businesses.*

4. __Hyperlogical: Contextual Ads (native advertising, location-based retargeting, beacons, augmented reality)__

• Companies have begun shifting their media spending to localized ads.
• Ads on social media platforms will become more context-related to increase the relevancy to users.
• Are beacons already dead? No, they just need their “Pokemon Go” moment. They’re still a great way to connect the online & offline worlds.
• “Connected Home” will change the way we interact with technology, especially with smart services like Amazon Echo, a hands-free speaker you control with your voice.

Panel discussion: How to find the right tech partner and what the future holds for digital marketing agencies

*with Kai Rieke as moderator (Director Online Marketing @Project A Ventures), Manuel Hinz (CEO @Crossengage) & Dr. Sepita Ansari (CEO at Catbird Seat)*

• Semantic web / Conversational Commerce – Will be huge but only in 5 to 10 years and nobody can tell now how paid advertising will merge into that. Is there at all a way in which advertising can be integrated into Google’s “knowledge graph”?
• Business Intelligence (BI) is important now. You need tech partners for different tasks. At the moment there is no solution to rule them all! You have to choose the best tools for each task. Next in marketing technology is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
• We need to deliver better ads to reverse the trend of ad-blockers. Ads need to be more creative, contextual (native) and placed in a way that adds value rather than annoys the consumer.
• The most important tool for marketing agencies is analytics. Without analytics no decision-making is possible.
• __Key things a tech platform should offer you – how to find the best technology:__
  • The platform itself, pricing, workflow and data needs to be transparent
  • How good is the integrated analytics?
  • Is the solution scalable? Are there API options?
  • Is the solution flexible (every 6 months the market landscape is changing – is the technology adapting to new channels and user behaviors)?
  • Do you own your data?
  • You can operate the technology independently and individually (you can only beat your competitors if you have an advantage – if all marketers use the same technology, all will target to the same data base, which is costly)
• Legal regulations are an issue at the moment, especially when it comes to data privacy. It would be helpful to have global rights for globally operating platforms.

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