Martech and data analysis is the future of marketing
Johan Walters of DQ&A has stressed the importance of technology in the marketing sphere, particularly with respect to the Digital Maturity Framework developed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in collaboration with Google. Walters was speaking at the Leaderex CMO Summit held in Johannesburg last month.
Walters spoke of the evolving role of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in the modern market, elaborating on the key position that data and technology hold in this space. Knowing the consumer is a crucial aspect of marketing strategy, and the myriad data points available in each individual’s daily life afford a significant opportunity, according to Walters.
“Whether we know it or not, every day consumers leave hundreds of data signals as we move through our daily tasks,” said Walters, going on to describe the value that can be extracted from data points such as the device used to access a webite, purchases made, searches made, reactions to banner ads, and a number of others.
As a CMO, it is crucial to monitor several of these data points and implementing marketing strategies that can extract value from them, which can be an overwhelming task. Central to devising marketing strategies is having knowledge of the existing organisational maturity levels.
Walters’ recommended tool for this is the Google BCG Digital Maturity Benchmark. Using predetermined indicators, the Google BCG benchmark categorises organisations into four stages of digital maturity in the marketing sphere.
The ‘Nascent’ category is used to describe companies that continue to employ traditional marketing means through campaigns, with not integration with the sales process. ‘Emerging’ companies are those that have begun data collection but continue to rely on “single channel optimisation.”
‘Connected’ firms have integrated data analysis across a broad range of their operations, while ‘Multi-moment’ companies tailor their marketing strategies to individual consumers. These companies have invested significantly in marketing technology (Martech), and are reaping its benefits to deliver an increasingly crucial customer experience.
“What is interesting is that our work with South African brands shows that most brands still fall in the Emerging level, with many stalling in the Nascent level, with just a few teetering on the verge of entering the Connected level,” says Walters, who was up until this month the Managing Consultant at DQ&A in Cape Town, and has now taken up the role of Lead Tech Solutions Consultant at the marketing firm.
