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Despite roadblocks, Martech and Adtech are beginning to converge

by | Jun 19, 2017 | Marketing, Public Relations

People-based marketing firm LiveIntent recently announced a new commissioned study on the growing convergence of marketing technology (Martech) and advertising technology (Adtech) practices.

While more than one-third of marketers polled have already taken action to combine and integrate Adtech and Martech technologies, the new research shows that marketers’ road to convergence is easier than previously thought. The study was conducted by Forrester Consulting, whose research reveals that email is still the number one tool that marketers can use to jumpstart their own Martech and Adtech convergence and enable people-based marketing.

Despite roadblocks, Martech and Adtech are beginning to converge

The new study, Kick-Start Your Adtech/Martech Convergence, highlights the current state of convergence, the challenges marketers face in integrating once disparate technologies, and steps they can take to begin the journey for developing a program that allows a stronger one-to-one presence with customers.

“Advertising and marketing convergence reflects B2C marketers’ need to deploy customer experiences that drive growth for their companies,” the study reports. “But they also face a current landscape where connecting and delivering customer interactions across touchpoints and devices is pushing marketers’ current analysis, orchestration, and execution capabilities to their limits. Furthermore, they must carefully consider the people, process, and technology changes that will occur under converged marketing and advertising capabilities.”

The idea of combining Adtech and Martech has reached such a frenzy because of its implications. The combination of these two technologies provides the foundation for people-based marketing, a term broadly defined as the ability to market to a known person on a one-to-one basis—like marketers do in logged-in environments including social, direct mail or email—in channels where brands were previously marketing to a device (non-logged in environments like mobile, web, and video are chief examples).

LiveIntent Despite roadblocks, Martech and Adtech are beginning to converge

With people-based marketing, brands can market to a known person with consistent messaging, irrespective of the device that person is using. In order to achieve that, marketers need to be able to combine their Martech operations and data with their Adtech operations and data.

For the study, Forrester surveyed over 100 senior business-to-consumer marketers from large companies and organizations across verticals including retail, financial services/insurance, travel and leisure, CPG and automotive. Key findings from the study include:

Overwhelming support

Ninety-three percent of firms have discussed, planned or taken action around combining Adtech and Martech (35 percent have already taken action to converge technologies)

Benefits for convergence

Half or almost half of all marketers believe that convergence will improve customer satisfaction, better personalization, stronger customer insights and improved dexterity and efficiency around execution

Operations, process and education pose challenges

Forty-two percent of marketers say the biggest hurdle to convergence is working across internal silos. In addition, more than half of marketers believe 25 percent or more of their colleagues don’t understand the difference between advertising and marketing technology

Cost and technology not as big of a hurdle

Less than one-third of respondents indicate cost and the integration of the two technology stacks are hindrances to the advent of Martech/Adtech convergence

Email is still the killer app

Eighty-nine percent say email is most important to begin marrying Adtech and Martech and drive data consolidation

“While we’re just beginning the journey to marry two often disparate platforms that really do similar functions, we’ve never been more bullish in helping brands and publishers be more present with their customers,” said Matt Keiser, CEO and founder of LiveIntent, in a news release.

“As we move towards less of a reliance on cookies, marketers need to reshape the way they drive their customer memory to achieve an entirely new level of connection and resolution, and there is not a better way than utilizing the deterministic value of email,” he added. “It’s never played a more critical role in getting marketers to bridge Adtech and Martech, extending accuracy, reach and frequency of messages on a one-to-one basis.”

Download the complete study here.

Richard Carufel
Richard Carufel is editor of Bulldog Reporter and the Daily ’Dog, one of the web’s leading sources of PR and marketing communications news and opinions. He has been reporting on the PR and communications industry for over 17 years, and has interviewed hundreds of journalists and PR industry leaders. Reach him at richard.carufel@bulldogreporter.com; @BulldogReporter

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