How to keep up with the changing world of marketing technology

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Technology has helped digital marketing come a long way. When it comes to marketing, however, change is the name of the game. In fact, just when you think you’re getting the hang of things, you realise that you may be lagging behind.

The 2016 marketing technology landscape supergraphic unveiled at the MarTech Conference last year lists an overwhelming number of 3,874 marketing solutions representing vendors from a wide range of marketing areas. The best thing about it was that the number of companies offering marketing solutions in the supergraphic went up from approximately 150 in 2011 to 3,874 in 2016. That’s tremendous growth in just five years.

So how does a marketer keep up with ever-changing technology trends in this dynamic field? After all, the competition isn’t going to stop. Here are a few tips that will help you stay up to date.

Determine what is relevant to your requirements

Depending on the type of your industry, your work style, and learning abilities, you will need to determine the type of technology relevant to your requirements. Here is what you need to consider:

  • Don’t invest in a particular technology such as software or a tool if it is not going to benefit your business. Just because something works for others, doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you too
  • Create a strategy to identify the latest innovations that may align best with your marketing objectives
  • Assess the resources available to procure the technology you are looking for and find out which one of them will work for you
  • Dedicate some efforts and time to evaluate the usefulness of a particular technology before implementing it full-scale

Follow influencers in marketing technology

One of the best ways to stay abreast of the latest developments in the marketing industry is to follow the leading figures in this field. Make sure to connect with technocrats, market analysts, and researchers who know about the latest marketing software and technology.

Here are a few people you can follow:

Travis Wright, Chief Marketing Technologist, CCP Global: Travis is one of the most sought-after influencers in the marketing technology arena. He has worked with several small and big digital marketing firms for developing marketing strategies.

Scott Brinker, Editor, chiefmartec.com: Scott has been writing the Chief Marketing Technologist blog for the last eight years. His blog covers the latest news and topics related to the intersection of technology and marketing. He also runs the MarTech conference.

Jake Sorofman, Research VP, Gartner: Jake is the Research VP at Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. He analyses digital marketing strategies, trends, and practices. If you are looking for the latest on marketing technology, Jake is your guy.

Use social media platforms

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn can be used to track the latest marketing technology trends. Apart from receiving daily updates from thought leaders, you can also track trending topics and opinions of potential consumers.

Several leading social media platforms have already started incorporating powerful marketing tools that are setting new waves in marketing industry. For example, when Facebook launched Instant Articles in 2015, it established a new trend in digital marketing that proved to be a game changer. A wide range of vendors is now using this feature to reach their target audience. Twitter also followed suit by launching a similar application called Twitter Moments.

Expand your skill set through continuous training 

Technology is changing marketing at such a speed that existing strategies can become obsolete in the blink of an eye. That’s why it is important to keep your skills current. Continuous training can expand your knowledge base and keep you conversant with emerging trends in the marketing field.

Sign up for certified courses, workshops, online training or webinars regularly. Keep an eye on the publications and the influencers you are following for any training or webinar they may provide. Apart from improving your knowledge base, these training courses serve as excellent opportunities to connect with co-marketers and industry experts. You can even monetise your knowledge and skills by educating upcoming marketers who might be facing tough situations to keep up with the ever-evolving market. Take a look at this infographic to know more about different ways you can monetise your experience:

Conclusion

Thanks to rapidly evolving technology, the marketing landscape is growing at a faster pace than ever. But, ever-changing technology has also made it difficult for marketers to keep up with constant changes. Missing out even the smallest opportunity to ride an upcoming trend can set your company back for months. So, how do you keep up with these changes? Hopefully these tips will help you keep pace with upcoming martech trends.