How to strike the perfect balance between marketing and tech

Over the past 10 years, the marketing landscape has changed drastically. Companies are rapidly shifting away from antiquated strategies such as phone calls, print and radio.

With advanced tech-based tools, startups can now easily generate leads, build data-driven models and automate their marketing channels. New technologies and norms have altered the ecosystem.

Due to the sudden shift, many marketers have been unable to adapt. While some are stuck behind the curve, others have become too dependent on software and lost the human element of marketing.

The most successful teams are able to strike a perfect balance between marketing and tech. You can do the same by doing the following.

Live in the data

An effective marketer is always looking at the numbers. Modern software products enable exploration of minute details that can be used to better drive decisions. Leveraging these advanced tools, you can almost immediately catch human errors or changes in customer tendencies.

The emergence of A/B testing and comprehensive, automatic dashboards has also enabled marketers to focus more time in other places. If you have to choose between 2 or more options, you no longer have to make a decision and then wait to learn if it was correct. Instead, you can test them all and see what works best. Marketing teams can keep track of core metrics and watch how they change over time as their business transforms. Doing so will lead to quicker feedback loops and higher conversion rates.

Keep a human element

It is fairly easy to collect 500 email addresses and fire off a message with an automatic follow-up. However, customers will swiftly see through that automated channel and ignore your product. In order to market most effectively, it’s critical to maintain the human element.

If you wholly immerse yourself in technology, you may not be able to empathize with your customer. Understanding the user or target user will increase success rates. It will enable you to craft messaging, define your target audience and make recommendations to the product team as needed. Though marketing has changed over time, customer interactions will continue to be important.

Currently available tech enables marketers to interact with customers in a variety of ways. It can be done by talking with customers over different mediums like email video chat or the phone. You can go into offices or bring people in for market or customer research. You can even watch a user’s session on your website with a tool like FullStory. All of these will allow you to better understand your customer, which will greatly help marketing efforts.

Another reason it is important to keep the human element is in order to make prospective customers feel cared for. The personalization in mass emails can help, but it will often take something more to close a sale. It will require convincing someone why he or she in particular should buy your product. If they feel like they are talking with a robot, they will be much less likely to make a purchase. Understanding what your customer needs to feel special can help you close more deals.

Use technology to enhance human work

Another great way to balance marketing and tech is by using better tools. Current products have given marketing people much more time. Hundreds of emails can be sent with a single click, data quickly appear in dashboards and it has become much easier to find and track leads.

Using emerging services like Repux, a blockchain-powered data marketplace, companies can also monetize their data. Repux allows businesses to sell anonymized data and earn “Repux tokens” in exchange. On the back end, developers buy this data to train machine-learning algorithms. This marketplace enables interaction and creates an entirely new revenue stream.

The best teams are taking advantage of technologies like these that allow them to spend more time on what matters while automating the rest. Improved online search has even enabled teams to save money by outsourcing a design or video instead of hiring someone full time to do so.

According to AnyRoad, this means marketing people can focus on strategy, data interpretation, and creativity.

Customization

Teams can also take advantage of new tech to better personalize their messages. It is easier than ever to figure out who is visiting your site. Consequently, you can cater your site experience based on your visitors’ interests or habits.

Doing so adds a personal element and can greatly increase conversion rates. Simple points of personalization might include changing images that your lead sees, the testimonials shown as social proof or the roles of people giving testimonials. In marketing, the details, though subtle, are often the differentiators.

This advanced level of customization is new and growing. Take advantage of the opportunities listed above, and you’ll be sure to see an improvement in your marketing efforts.