The 4 forces driving a data-centric future for CMOs

Inside Gartner's hype cycle for digital marketing and advertising

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Personalisation and ‘personification’ technology profiles are maturing rapidly, as marketers look to create that one-to-one opportunity while balancing consumer concerns about privacy and security.

Gartner has revealed the four key forces marketers should prepare for in the data-centric future.

These are the convergence of marketing technology (martech) and advertising technology (adtech), event-triggered and real-time marketing techniques, personalisation, and the use of contextual clues.

This year, Gartner says it has combined the digital marketing and advertising Hype Cycles into a single report.

This reflects the growing need for marketers to consider advertising technologies as integral to, rather than segregated from, their main operational technologies, says Mike McGuire, research vice president at Gartner.

"As marketers embrace data-driven marketing strategies to improve customer experience through coherent content and messaging, and advertising adopts programmatic practices and real-time bidding markets, customers will increasingly expect consistency and coordination from all branded communications," says McGuire.

"Real-time and event-triggered marketing are a key focus for marketers and advertisers alike. As all forms of marketing look for greater efficiency and effectiveness, predictive analytics are rapidly gaining the attention of advanced marketers."

Gartner's Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising 2016

Gartner prepares this guide on the four key technology forces for CMOs:

The convergence of martech and adtech: Both have a growing dependence on data-driven strategies and tactics. At the strategic level, this convergence is the result of a continuing focus on delivering compelling and valued customer experiences, regardless of the market or the product or service. Product categories such as data management platforms (DMPs), marketing analytics, marketing automation and predictive analytics are increasingly shared in martech and adtech stacks.

Event-triggered and real-time marketing techniques: The drive to be able to react in the moment and move the customer or prospect along the path to purchase and advocacy puts the focus on mobile marketing and predictive analytics.

Personalisation: Personalisation and "personification" technology profiles are maturing rapidly, as marketers look to create that one-to-one opportunity while balancing consumer concerns about privacy and security.

Contextual clues: The use of the contextual cues signaled by consumer and prospect usage of mobile devices — cues such as the local weather, their presence near a mall or retail district — is driving marketers' overall interest in proximity marketing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables.