It and High Tech Trends 2022

Reference
IT and High Tech

marketing trends 2022
Smart Insights' analysis of key digital trends and technology innovation
examples to inform your marketing strategy,
applied using the RACE growth framework
Editors: Sarah Lindley, Dr. Dave Chaffey, Amelia Mayes
Part of the Sector Technology Innovation Toolkit

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................2
REACH (1) OMNICHANNEL MARKETING..................................................8
REACH (2) DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.................................................13
REACH (3) CONTENT MARKETING TRENDS............................................19
REACH (4) DIGITAL EVENTS................................................................24
ACT (1) PERSONALIZATION.................................................................29
ACT (2) USER EXPERIENCE (UX)..........................................................35
ACT (3) SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS...........................................................40
CONVERT: INTEGRATED CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT..........48
ENGAGE (1) CUSTOMER RETENTION AND BRAND LOYALTY......................53
ENGAGE (2) EMAIL MARKETING & AUTOMATION....................................58
CONCLUSION....................................................................................66
IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

© Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited.
1
INTRODUCTION
Foreword - the ever-changing landscape

The technology sector is experiencing tremendous, fast-paced growth. Competition is fierce,
causing innovation cycles to occur at an increasingly rapid pace and industry players are spending
significant amounts on research and development. Such disruptive market forces are prompting
technology executives to seek new ways to compete.
Understanding the marketing communications trends at play in the technology industry is

imperative for all existing businesses and offers great opportunities to new start-ups and
challengers.
To inspire innovation in your business, this report shares insight from different commentators of
the latest digital trends, frameworks, techniques and technology marketing examples that can be
deployed to improve reach, user engagement, conversion and retention.
The report is aimed at technology companies which are businesses revolving around the
manufacturing of electronics, creation of software, software-as-a-service, computers, or products
and services relating to information technology. We cover examples of innovation in digital
communications and propositions which apply across these.
Who is this guide for?

This guide is aimed at these roles working in the technology industry involved with marketing
technology products and services in both B2B and B2C markets:
þ Marketing directors and CMOs
þ Digital marketing managers and e-commerce managers
þ Paid search and performance managers
þ Social media product managers
þ Product managers
The technology sector provides a wide range of products and services for customers and
businesses. In B2C, consumer goods marketing for products such as computers, mobile devices,
wearable technology, home appliances and TVs are continually being improved and sold to
consumers with new features.
As far as B2B goes, businesses depend on innovations from the technology sector in order to:
þ Formulate enterprise software
þ Manage their logistic systems

2
INTRODUCTION
þ Improve telecommunications and marketing communications

þ Protect their databases
þ Provide the information that enables companies to make strategic business decisions
The term ‘technology sector’ is commonly shortened to tech sector and is used interchangeably
with the term technology industry throughout this report.

3
INTRODUCTION
About Smart Insights

Smart Insights is a digital training and performance platform that supports individuals, teams and
organizations to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Actionable learning and data-driven
content covering the full customer lifecycle is provided in a dynamic learning ecosystem to save
marketers time, provide quality advice, frameworks and templates that are proven to improve
marketing processes and deliver results.
More than 150,000 Free members use our blog, sample marketing templates and weekly
e-newsletter to follow best practices and keep up to date with the latest resource updates and
developments happening in digital marketing.
Thousands of Individual and Business members from over 170 countries use our premium planning
and management toolkits, e-learning path courses, templates, guides, and video courses to map,
plan, and manage their marketing using the Smart Insights RACE Growth Process and Framework.
The Smart Insights RACE Growth Process enables you to define and implement a market-leading
omnichannel marketing strategy focused on your customer lifecycle.
The RACE Framework is composed of five essential stages that break down into the 25 core
activities which must be optimized to achieve integrated marketing across your customer lifecycle.
Each of these areas is supported by comprehensive online training, tools and templates which will
help you upskill your team, plan and implement your strategy, and achieve your marketing goals.
Learn more about the RACE Framework and how it can help you improve your marketing.

4
INTRODUCTION
The migration to life online

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a sudden increase in the need for technological solutions
that would make up for the shortcomings of remote work and the lack of face-to-face interaction.
Tech companies reported that they faced the following challenges during the pandemic:
þ Employees' ability to use new tech
þ Remote work
þ The lack of in-person sales meetings
73% of technology executives saw a rise in demand for their products, reflecting the worldwide
migration to life online (source: Boston Digital).
An increase in adoption of digital marketing

Those companies that used in person events to generate leads, such as conferences and trade
shows, had to alter their strategies. Since the beginning of the pandemic, technology companies
have substantially increased their digital marketing efforts, utilizing, for example:
þ Virtual trade shows
þ Webinars
þ Paid social
þ Email marketing
Source: Boston Digital
Digital technologies have brought benefits to both businesses and their consumers with the move
to a digital sales and marketing process largely having a positive impact on business. Customer
satisfaction levels have also increased as a result.
Today's Impulse Generation

Personalization and customer-centricity are vital to today’s technology driven Impulse Generation
who have high expectations when it comes to content and design. AI, automation and the ease of
adjusting tactics in a few clicks, has made meeting customer preferences easier. This, in turn, has
led to increased customer satisfaction.

5
INTRODUCTION
With technology companies reaping the benefits from their adjusted marketing strategies, it is no
surprise that we have and are seeing increases in the use of digital marketing. 61% of technology
executives, for example, have reported putting resources toward social media in 2021 (source:
Boston Digital).
Increased need for analytics and data

Tracking ROI to marketing activities is becoming increasingly important to technology companies.
The digitalization of marketing means it is more measurable than ever before, with the use of
analytics growing in importance.
With the increased investment in digital marketing strategies, technology companies are finding
it more and more challenging to stand out from their competitors. Personalization will ensure
conversion with adverts that are custom-tailored to customer preferences. Tech companies need
to use the data derived from automated e-mail campaigns to ensure that they know:
þ Who their customers are
þ What they want
þ How they want it to be delivered
Those who do not use data and insights will risk losing out to the competition.
Tech companies are realising the benefits of their increased investment in digital solutions when
it comes to their marketing efforts. Despite this, they must not get complacent or be too generic.
They need to be creative and personal.
Let's now get into the specific trends that need to be reviewed to inform your strategy. We will
group insights and recommendations in this report using the Smart Insights RACE Framework to
structure the latest marketing trends for the technology sector.

6
INTRODUCTION
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7
REACH (1) OMNICHANNEL MARKETING
What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel can be described as a multi-channel approach to marketing, selling, and serving
customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience at every
touchpoint. It is the most effective way to strengthen your relationship with customers as it
ensures they receive a smooth running experience at all times.
Today’s tech market is only getting more crowded. In order to remain competitive and engage
with your customers, embracing an omnichannel approach is a must. Modern marketing and
having an omnichannel presence is the recipe for success in 2022 and beyond. For technology
leaders, now is the time to invest in the right technology to pave the way for increased customer
satisfaction, more conversions, and increased sales.
The need to be proactive in selecting and managing digital communications is suggested

by this visual of a typical customer lifecycle for always-on communications options for B2B
technology. With the complexity of options available, it’s important to use a strategic approach
to communications to identify gaps and opportunities as recommended in the Smart Insights
digital marketing strategy learning paths.
Source: Smart Insights blog - What is customer lifestyle marketing?

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Why an omnichannel marketing approach is essential for your tech

business
1. To gather better customer insights: an omnichannel marketing approach will provide you
with extremely detailed data and allow you to compile your data across multiple sources,
including online search behaviour, user profiles and customer relationship management (CRM)
software. Understanding where your prospects are in the marketing funnel will inform what
messages you are communicating with them. Marketing success is all about sending potential
customers the right messages at the right time.
2. Help retain your customers: By using an omnichannel approach, you can provide a more
personalised experience to your audience, re-engaging with them by sending relevant and
timely messages. Studies have shown that those businesses providing customers with an
omnichannel experience witness 90% higher customer retention than those which offer
single-channel experiences. On average, a customer needs between six to seven touchpoints
to feel comfortable enough with a brand to make a purchase (source: HdE Agency). By utilizing
multiple digital channels to reach out to your customers, you are likely to get higher success due
to your brand being visible and over time, building trust.
3. Engage with customers in real-time: Answering your customer’s queries in real-time is

becoming increasingly important, and by failing to do this you risk losing a potential customer.
This vital form of engagement is something that can easily be done through integrated chatbots
and live chat. These are powerful tools for solving customer queries, creating a positive image
of your brand, and adding in a valuable touchpoint. With so much competition, the modern
consumer won’t settle for anything less than having their needs fulfilled at the highest of
standards.
Considering the following statistics, it’s no surprise that you should be utilizing omnichannel
marketing in your tech marketing strategy:
þ More than 65% of consumers use a variety of platforms before their purchase
þ Omnichannel strategies generate store visits of up to 80% more than usual
þ Omnichannel involving SMS campaigns have a conversion rate of almost 50%
þ Nearly 80% of users prefer omnichannel strategies due to the seamless communication
experience
þ No less than 73% of users prefer shopping via various channels
þ Almost all (90%) of customers prefer online customer services
þ Almost 19% of customers engage through omnichannel trends compared to a 6%

engagement rate of single channel trends
þ Customer retention rates are 90% higher for omnichannel campaigns than those whose
focus is on single channel marketing
þ Over 21% of omnichannel consumers return to their favourite shops
þ Not getting the preferred shipping method is a signification problem for more than 6 out of
10 consumers

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þ 85% of users follow the omni device pattern to finish their online shopping
þ 49% of buyers make impulsive purchases after a positive consumer experience
þ Over 24% of customer service operations are using virtual assistants or chatbots for better
customer service
þ 74% of consumers are ready to switch a brand if the buying process becomes arduous
þ 64% of customers prefer good customer service over a budget friendly price
Source: 16Best.net
Which brands are effectively utilizing omnichannel marketing?

Amazon: Amazon has brilliantly adapted to omnichannel by incorporating all of their grounds
together and creating a seamless experience for customers whether they are online or in stores.
Amazon focuses on the customer experience. They use data to create a personalized, responsive
interaction across all channels. It includes connecting customer data, and fulfilling customers’
wants in whichever channel they prefer. By spending years and millions of dollars on the delivery
system, the company has made it possible to bring up one-hour Prime delivery in many markets
and same-day or next-day delivery available on millions of products. This has fulfilled the needs
of customers since they all want to receive their orders as soon as possible.
Apple: Apple has worked hard to ensure that its mobile app and physical stores feed into each
other to enhance sales. Customers, for instance, can use the mobile app to book support
appointments at a store’s Genius Bar. Walk-in users get messages through the store app
confirming their requests and letting them know when a technician is available to help them.
When a customer orders an item online to collect in-store, they receive an alert when their
mobile device senses they are near the store. The alert brings up the relevant order information,
which the customer can then present to a sales assistant.
Pinterest: Pinterest has integrated a ‘Lens’ feature into their app so people can use their smart
phones to snap a photo of something they like and have the app show them a similar item
available for purchase. As an example of omnichannel marketing, this is a way to offer a seamless
experience for a customer who sees something they want to buy and order it right then and
there. Moreover, Utilizing this strategy has also enabled some retailers to increase sales to almost
10% (source: moengage).

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Pinterest Lens Feature (Source: Gritdaily)
How to 'reach' your customers using omnichannel marketing

With an omnichannel retail, marketing, or service strategy in place, you’ll be reaching your
customers where they are. They no longer have to search and search to find you. No matter
where they are, your team or your products are only a click, an email, a direct message, or a
phone call away. Your customers will be happier in the long term if they feel they have several
methods to reach your customer service and sales teams.
An omnichannel marketing strategy contains consistent messaging, visuals, and positioning

statements across all channels, platforms, and devices. It creates a seamless brand experience
for customers by ensuring that your brand is presented in exactly the same way from platform to
platform.
1. Start with the basics: Your website and social media channels
Creating an omni-channel experience is a slow process. You don’t need to be everywhere all at
once; you’ll get there in time. Start with your website and social media channels and nail those
down before moving onto other platforms. Ensure that you’re posting consistently and engaging
with users who reach out to you via those channels.
2. Create an app if needed
Depending on your industry and product, you may not need to take this step. But if you
sell consumer products or offer a SaaS tool where customers can engage with a service
post-purchase, then reviewing the cost-benefit of an app could be worthwhile.

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3. Seek to solve for the customer every step of the way
When you add a new channel to your omnichannel strategy, do it for the purpose of solving
for the customer at every step of the way. It’s not just for your company to get more visibility or
for you to make more sales, it’s also about making sure your customer has an easy, issue-free
experience.
4. Use the same messaging across channels, but beware of using boilerplate content
To create a consistent experience, use the same messaging across channels. For instance, if
you’re running an ad on various social media platforms, you’ll want that ad to have the same
messaging. Change the wording according to the platform you are using, whilst ensuring that the
overall messaging is the same.
5. Give customers a device- and platform-appropriate CTA
Every time you engage with customers on certain channels, whether it’s on an ad, an organic
post, a private message, a phone call, or an email, you should end the engagement with a call to
action (CTA). That CTA should, of course, be device- and platform-appropriate.

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REACH (2) DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Digital transformation means how digital technology is understood, and then applied and
integrated into our everyday work tasks, whether that is at individual employee level or the entire
business operations. At an individual level, digital transformation might be something as efficient
as electronic health records in the medical industry.
Within B2B technology marketing, digital transformation has been particularly important in
changing how technology brands communicate with channel partners. Helen Curtis of Coterie
has summarised how the complex Go To Market process can be facilitated by communications
related to the Smart Insights RACE framework.
Source: Smart Insights blog - Applying the Smart Insights RACE model to partner marketing
On an entire business level, digital transformation has already shown what it can do for businesses
such as Amazon and Uber who have taken traditional business concepts, like retail sales and
transit, and then applied innovative digital technologies that have left the competition behind. In
general, digital transformation is usually looked at as a whole for how it is affecting business. In the
area of marketing, specifically, it can bring about some exciting and profitable changes.
The Digital Funnel

One of the first places where digital transformation influences marketing is the funnel, a concept
that marketers use to map out the actions potential customers make, taking a multi-stage journey
that finally results in committing to an actual purchase. There are five stages:
1. Awareness – consumers realize that you offer a product or service they may be looking for
2. Interest – further research is undertaken by the consumer to see whether your business meets
their needs

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3. Consideration – they are now taking a serious interest
4. Intent – the consumer is building towards a decision
5. Decision – a consumer is converted into a customer after making a purchase
With digital transformation, two invaluable new tools: multi-stage interactivity and analytics give
technology marketers greatly enhanced opportunities to engage.
Personalization
The combination of metrics and interactivity makes it possible to track the actions and behavior
of consumers at an individual level, to provide a personalized marketing response. Businesses
can keep track of a customer purchase, and then suggest similar products. Now, with the metrics
from social media platforms such as Facebook, it is possible to track the interests of individual
customers, make recommendations, and even send personalized emails based on their consumer
behaviour.
Use of analytics to support digital transformation in tech marketing

Analytics is a game changer for marketing and digital transformation continues to emphasize just
how useful it is going to be in all future marketing efforts. A video on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram,
and other social media platforms, for example, can tell a marketing team exactly how many people
watched the video. If those people click on the "Call To Action" button taking a viewer to a website,
they can measure how effective the video is in converting people. More granular information is
also available, such as which social media platforms people watched the video on, where these
people live, or what time of day the video achieved the most views and click-throughs. Digital
transformation provides marketing experts with much more precise user data and metrics.
Interactivity is changing marketing

Digital transformation has had a major impact on interactivity. Unlike traditional media, digital
media is interactive giving people more choice over what they consume, how they consume it,
and whom they share it with. The exchange that can happen on social media, and even directly on
ads, changes everything. Instead of just watching a social influencer on social media, viewers can
interact by making comments, giving suggestions, and even getting responses back during that
live stream.
Automation increases pro-activity

Automation combined with metrics enables consumer behavior to be tracked. Digital
transformation now means that when certain data or actions are recognized, the software can act
upon those conditions to send emails or personalized responses quickly. This type of automation
is now increasing as chatbots take on the role of basic customer service support for simple tasks,
improving marketing response and productivity (source: Digital Marketing Institute).
The key is to understand what's involved, learn from digital leaders across sectors and ensure
that your company has the technology, processes and talent in-house to progress and thrive.
According to the Altimeter State of Digital Transformation Report, only 23% of CMOs (co) own
digital transformation, with IT more often taking the lead. CMOs need to take charge of disrupting
the way marketing is done in their business.

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Typical areas tackled by digital transformation strategy

Relying on CRM systems is no longer sufficient to have a full picture of customers. It often only
relates to the past. Organizations need to start combining data and analytics from multiple
sources to create a more holistic and real-time view of the customer. In a research study
performed by Nielson in 2018, 79% of CMOs reported expecting to invest more in marketing
analytics and attribution in the coming year. And in a study from Ascend2, 51% of survey
participants marked the usage of data analytics for decision-making as a top priority for their
marketing and data technology strategy.
Source: The role of marketing in digital transformation: CMOs
Which brands are effectively utilizing digital transformation?

Microsoft
Software sales leader, Microsoft, responded to changes in customer needs by stepping away
from its usual strategy. In the past, the company had focused on Windows and Microsoft Office
sold in OEM and BOX versions. They transformed their strategy by investing in cloud computing,
such as their OneDrive service and partnering with Dropbox. They also opened up to mobile
devices with Office for iPad, as well as joining forces with Amazon and open source software
company, Red Hat.
Microsoft recognised the need to broaden its product offering according to the needs of the
digital era, purchasing LinkedIn, GitHub and Minecraft. They introduced an increased number of
open APIs to ensure that programmers were able to access their software more easily.

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Tesla
One of the most prominent examples of digital transformation is electric car maker, Tesla. The
company has successfully positioned itself as a change agent within the automotive industry
by incorporating technology into all areas of the driving experience. Tesla has differentiated
itself by providing over-the-air
software updates in its cars, as well
as exceptional customer service.
The company has disrupted the
traditional auto world through:
þ The use of digital technology,
redefining how cars are built and
driven
þ Their innovative approach
þ Removing the middleman in the
car purchasing process
Tesla utilizes a direct-to-consumer

model, selling directly to customers
via its website.
By not using the typical auto strategy

of franchised dealerships, this
has enabled them to control the
customer buying experience. The
company can innovate quickly owing
to its in-house production strategy, which is also less costly than the traditional industry norm of
sourcing components from third-party suppliers. The speed at which they are able to innovate
is impressive, a prime example being their launch of Tesla Gigafactory, facilities that produce
batteries for electric vehicles on a large scale, in support of projected demand. This has provided
Tesla with a major edge over legacy automakers.
How to 'reach' your customers with digital transformation

The last six months alone have produced more digital transformation than the last decade. In
order to effectively reach your prospective customers, you need to ensure that you are:
Utilizing Customer Data Platforms (CDP): CDPs help solve the problem of fragmented data
from multiple sources by collecting data from all available sources, organizing it, tagging it, and
making it usable for anyone who needs access to it.
Investing in hybrid cloud: Over the past year, we have seen major investments in hybrid from
large public cloud providers. The widespread, sudden disruptions caused by the coronavirus
pandemic have highlighted the value of having as agile and adaptable a cloud infrastructure as
you can.
Upgrading your cybersecurity: With fewer employees working on-site on the same secure
network, it is imperative that you shore up your networks and upgrade your cybersecurity

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strategies, expanding them to home networks and mobile work-from-home devices.
Considering privacy and confidential computing: The idea of confidential computing is to

encrypt the entire computing process. Google, Microsoft, IBM, Alibaba, and VMware are helping
develop new protocols and best practices by way of the Confidential Computing Consortium.
Utilizing headless tech: Headless tech allows you to create custom shopping experiences. By
connecting everything from warehouses, to storefronts, to online services, this could help you
become more efficient, maximize ROI and stay ahead of the competition.
Investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI): The pandemic triggered an acceleration in the

democratization of AI and data. Its use will continue to grow rapidly and, in the future AI
will impact our lives from how we shop, to what we eat, how we hire and what we do for
entertainment.
The rapid deployment and development of smart work from home technologies has made
platforms such as Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams see explosive growth in use and
development, making them both easier and more secure.

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REACH (3) CONTENT MARKETING
TRENDS
Content marketing involves creating and distributing material that is valuable and interesting
to your target audience. Examples include blogs, white papers, podcasts, videos, webinars and
e-books.
Successful content marketing is far from a simple task for many technology brands having to
simplify complex, technical information and make it engaging, but when successful, it can lead
to double-digit increases in traffic and leads. A LinkedIn report found that 78% of IT buyers need
information and guidance to make decisions about their IT environment (source: Marketing
Insider Group), making educational content a vital part of your overall marketing strategy.
The Coronavirus pandemic made marketers re-evaluate their strategies and quickly adapt delivery
to be far more online driven. Many technology marketers therefore now fully understand and
appreciate the value of content marketing and how it can drive business. There are three key areas
that technology companies should prioritize to improve output:
þ Better customer understanding through segmentation and persona development
þ Using multiple channels to deliver a unified campaign
þ Developing well-defined processes for content creation, distribution and measurement
Source: ISOLINE
Whatever the format, your content should be educational, not promotional, and not overtly sell
your services. 78% of technology B2B marketers say that the best way to generate leads is through
content such as emails, blogs and social media. Those surveyed also said that:
þ Gated content was a valuable source of leads
þ Thought leadership content helped to strengthen brands and build trust

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þ Social media posts generate interest, improve visibility and reach the relevant audience
þ Targeted content to fewer but more relevant decision-makers is more effective
Source: ISOLINE
80% of B2B tech businesses think that personalization at a one-to-one or one-to-few level is
essential for content marketing effectiveness. They also said that:
þ They expect multi-segment and multi-channel campaigns, based on marketing technology
þ Thought leadership will stay important for brand building
þ ABM campaigns will continue to grow
þ Improved collaboration between marketing, sales, and subject matter experts is essential

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Source: ISOLINE
Which brands are effectively utilizing content marketing?

IBM
IBM is one of the world’s most successful brands in content marketing. The company publishes
and manages several different blogs targeted at different audiences:
þ Good Tech harnesses the power of storytelling
þ IT Infrastructure explores how new technologies and opportunities such as big data and
analytics are changing to provide insights for IT leaders
þ The Internet of Things blog focuses on IoT technologies and their use in a range of industries
þ Watson covers case studies and stories about how companies have used it
þ IBM’s IT Services blog covers information about the business side of using technology
þ IBM has a very popular YouTube channel, which they use to publish high-quality video
content explaining complex topics simply
Source: IBM News Room
IBM are experts at understanding their audience and delivering targeted content platforms to
educate, inspire, and communicate with current and potential future customers. The company has
seen a large payoff from their efforts and are recognized as industry leaders (source: Marketing
Insider Group).
Econsultancy
Online community, Econsultancy recognizes that its customers are looking for ways to solve the
problems that they are facing. When they find the content that they need that addresses these
problems, this is where the relationship begins.

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Source: Econsultancy
The company’s technology blog meets customer needs through providing content relating to
topics such as ecommerce, customer experience, innovation and trends and product pages and
merchandising.
How to 'Reach' your customers with content marketing

In order to reach your customers with content marketing, you should build awareness of your
company brand, its products, and services on other websites and in offline media in order to build
traffic by driving visits to different web presences like your main site, microsites or social media
pages. Types of content marketing that you could use to promote technology services include:
Blogs and articles: Most of this material will be short-format pieces, to provide a wealth of freely
available material.
Podcasts and webinars: can educate your audience and cultivate interested leads
White papers: but try to make them an easy read
Social media: an important channel to interact with your audience
E-books: for a positive credibility boost, publish an in-depth study
Toolkits and guides: medium-length pieces which can help you to generate leads on your website,
in pay-per-click ads and in email marketing campaigns. Putting guides behind a registration form

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will enable you to collect leads.
Your content marketing focus should be on maximizing reach over time to create multiple
interactions using different paid, owned and earned media touchpoints.
Educational content
Educational content can be instrumental in building your technology company’s brand. By giving
prospective customers a taste of how you can assist, content marketing can be very helpful in
winning new business. The tone of your content can convey you as innovative and grounded in
experience, with useful and engaging content more likely to attract potential customers. In order
to achieve this you should:
þ Produce good content to help you rise above a crowded market
þ Build your content around well-researched keyword phrases
þ Create high quality, relevant content that nurtures leads
þ Take advantage of that fact that content marketing works around the clock and across the
globe
Produce a list of the top questions you get from current and prospective customers. Assign regular
dates for publishing content that answers those questions and that way you will establish a regular
rhythm for your content and avoid a stop start approach.
Search engines reward valuable, regularly produced, original content so what is valuable for your
customers will also be good for the likes of Google and therefore your company.
The future of technology content marketing

To establish your brand, create leads and grow as a business, you should be working across
departments. With big changes in how companies interact with leads and prospects, the future
of technology marketing lies with content that is personal, hyper-targeted and addresses pain
points. Content marketing will occupy an increasingly important role in business, given that a
personal, educational approach is what drives brand awareness.

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REACH (4) DIGITAL EVENTS
The benefits of virtual B2B events for reach and scale are vast, as you can organize global events
that everyone can join from the comfort of their home or office. Since the outbreak of Covid, the
switch to digital events was made out of necessity with many re-thinking formats. Despite this, not
every physical event can be moved online so adaptations do sometimes need to be made.
How event technology has evolved

Pre-Covid, event technology was mainly based around mobile apps for registration and ticketing.
Now, the technology has exploded, enabling people to easily organize digital events. With the data
and audience capture that event registration provides, companies can track audience journeys,
digital footprints and audience growth, using this knowledge to their advantage.
The future of 'hybrid' events

Digital events are here to stay, with about 65% of B2B marketers planning on continuing to run
digital events even if physical events return. It will be interesting to see if marketers look to combine
physical and digital events in the future, or to run physical events and webinars separately. Many
businesses have successfully rethought their formats, enabling engaging touchpoints with
customers and prospects alike and without the financial and environmental cost of travel, and
limitations that physical spaces bring.
2020 event experiences have also shown us that it’s difficult to mimic face-to-face networking and
the relationships which are built. The ‘hybrid’ event, combining a local in-person event with an
online component, may evolve to be the norm for B2B tech events in the future.
Technology marketing platform BrightTALK has published benchmarks of webinars and other
virtual events that summarize the demands from professionals for education for different types of
learning and formats of events.

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Source: BrightTALK
Their data also highlights viewing preferences, showing the popularity of on-demand rather than
live viewing which can be supported during communications.
How well-placed is the event industry for hybrid?

Everyone connected with events is still at the early stages of working out what the future looks like.
We’ll need to question everything we do, and to innovate. It will need new skills and capabilities,
and new roles will emerge.
Currently there's a lot of money going into EventTech; the platform Hopin raised $40 million for
last year. Those platforms and other tools will be looking at the incumbent players and their
opportunities. Trade shows are vulnerable to the rise of e-commerce but those who create
in-person experiences can re-invent them as premium and essential to attend.
Which brands are effectively utilizing digital events?

Smarter Mobility World (SMW)
SMW was originally planned as a 100% physical event called Smarter Mobility World. Owing to
Covid, this was adapted to a completely digital event called Smarter Mobility World LIVE.
The company recognized that a digital event could be a unique opportunity for its existing and
new audience to engage with the summit, learn about smarter mobility, and network with key
stakeholders around the world. It created an opportunity to speak to a diverse audience across
the world and demonstrate creativity. This strategy produced the following results:
þ Over 18,000 from 80 countries tuned in to the event
þ 50+ speakers contributed from all over the world
þ It was free to attend
þ It was hosted over two days

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Fintech.TV
Fintech.TV is a great example of digital transformation, with the company taking digital broadcasting
to a whole new level. It produces two programs:
1) Digital Asset Report: a weekly look at digital assets, blockchain, innovation, disruption, and
legislation/regulation.
2) The IMPACT: focusing on ESG investing and the Sustainability Development Goals of the
UN. Fintech.tv broadcasts from the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the London Stock
Exchange.
Source: Bright Bull
How to 'Reach' your customers with digital events

Digital events can be used to effectively reach your customers, offering much more flexibility:
you can choose the experience you want, including a mix of participation in-person and digitally.
The format lifts the potential for organizers to attract superior-quality speakers, because they
don't need to be in the room themselves, or even in the same country. As sponsors, there will
be more opportunities to shape creative solutions that meet brand needs, more opportunities
to participate themselves across both platforms, and better data - especially from the digital
platform.
When organizing virtual events, ensure that you:

1. Have shorter events with specific topics with specialist experts.
2. Leave a section for questions and follow up with the askers of these questions.
3. Write a summary of the key takeaways and post an on demand recording to share with
clients.
The future is hybrid

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As we have already covered, hybrid events are very likely to prevail in the future. This
combination of in-person and online participants, has significant advantages that make this
model the best of both worlds. According to MoreThanDigital, there are seven reasons why
hybrid events will be the future of conferencing and networking:
1. Increased reach and more attendance
2. Reduction of event costs
3. Higher engagement with the audience
4. More sponsorship opportunities
5. Reduction of the environmental impact
6. Major marketing opportunities
7. Flexibility of the event
To replicate networking in a virtual setting you could use event tech platforms, organizing
break-out sessions and having these on by a specific theme to guide conversations.
How can you measure and increase the engagement of virtual B2B
events?
Three engagement metrics you can use for your virtual B2B events include:
1. Show rate
2. Content – download of presentations, videos and related PDFs highlight intent.
3. Audience interaction
In terms of KPIs, a feedback survey can be sent right after the event so you can gain an idea of
your net promoter score, or how likely the audience member is to recommend the event. For a
B2B event this should be 50 or over to be excellent.
The 'hybrid' challenge

The challenge for B2B marketers is to create both ‘in-person' and digital experiences that are
equally valuable and connected. You’ll need to consider if you have remote callers or speakers,
how you’ll sync the audio with the physical audience as well as the audience watching the
stream virtually. Hybrid methods of working will make hybrid events essential. Some tips for your
digital events include:
þ Over communicate and over prepare
þ You need a valid reason for the event that serves your target audience
þ Be realistic with time frames: it will take a minimum of 4-6 weeks to organize
þ Diversity and inclusion is of utmost importance
In the future, the biggest and best festivals will almost certainly be global and hybrid with
impressive production.

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ACT (1) PERSONALIZATION
Personalization means delivering individualized content to audience members so it builds a

connection with consumers, treating them as individuals rather than a mass market. To be
successful, you have to think several moves ahead. If you know your audience reads a lot of your
content on social media marketing, for example, send them more content such as blog posts,
podcasts, ebooks, and tip sheets. If they’ve already bought your product, make them aware of
newer versions. Once you start tweaking and perfecting these strategies, your customers start to
see the following benefits, which apply to all businesses.
Here are some benefits of personalized marketing:
Your audience gets relevant content: Consumers dislike irrelevant brand messaging. Since
personalized content is based on past behavior, it’s more likely the consumer will respond
favorably to its message.
They’re reminded of recent browsing history: People are distracted even when they’re buying.
Maybe they get a phone call or they realize at checkout, that they don’t have the funds they
thought. Whatever the reason, remarketing is a good way to combat it. When done right, it’s not
annoying or sinister, it’s simply a reminder that says: “By the way, you were looking at this earlier.
Maybe you’re ready to buy it now.”
They receive valuable suggestions: Consumers don’t just benefit from reminders of products
they’ve already seen, but of new ones. These could be add-ons, upgraded versions, or related
content. Once you’ve defined your prospects’ needs, you can show them what they need before
they need it, with emails, adverts and blog posts.
They get information when they need it: Content relevance is crucial, but delivering it at the right
time is even more so. On a broad scale, this could be blog posts optimized for popular keyword
search terms throughout each stage of the marketing funnel. Or more specifically, it may look like
a chat module that allows you to respond to customer issues immediately.
Research has found that the sooner you make yourself available, the better. The chance of
converting a lead is 100x greater if contacted within five minutes (source: Instapage). The more
data you gather, and the deeper you go, the more you can discover what your leads are looking
for. Once you’ve done that, you can provide them with what they need, the moment they need it.
In the coming years, it is likely that this technique will grow, and marketers who don’t use tools to
aid them in personalization will fall behind.
What the industry is saying about personalization

99% of marketers think that personalization helps advance customer relationships, and 44% of

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consumers say they would switch to a brand that better personalized its marketing material. Two
out of three consumers remain loyal (and frequently purchase from a brand) due to personalized
communications (source: emarsys).
A Salesforce survey found that marketers see the highest benefits of personalization on their
customer experience (64%), a conversion rate increase (63%), and visitor engagement (55%).
SmarterHQ found that 72% of shoppers act on marketing messages only when they are customized
to their interests.
The research and statistics demonstrate the benefits of personalization:
þ According to Accenture, 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that
provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.
þ Invesp found that 56% of online shoppers are more likely to return to a website that
recommends relevant products to them.
þ 74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized (Instapage).
þ Retail TouchPoints say 36% of consumers believe retailers need to do more to offer
personalized experiences.
þ 63% of consumers will stop buying from brands that use poor personalization tactics,
according to Smart Insights.
þ 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides
personalized experiences (Epsilon).
þ Smarter HQ claim that 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging
and that 80% of frequent shoppers only shop with brands that personalize the experience.
Smarter HQ say that in exchange for a cheaper and easier experience, 90% of consumers are willing
to share personal behavioral data with companies and that 42% of consumers are annoyed when

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content isn’t personalized (Adobe).

80% of companies report seeing an increase in sales since implementing personalization
(Econsultancy). Companies using advanced personalization report a $20 return for every $1 spent.
(Clickz). And, 86% of marketers have seen a measurable increase in business results from their
personalization campaigns, according to Evergage.
Smarter HQ say that millennial brand loyalty increases by 28% if they are on the receiving end of
personalized communication, and 95% of companies that saw 3x ROI from their personalization
efforts increased profitability in the following year, (Monetate).
Adweek tell us personalization can reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 50%, while
increasing marketing spend efficiency by up to 30% and 55% of marketers say the top benefit
of personalization is increased visitor engagement and improved customer experience (source:
Martech Alliance).
Which brands are effectively utilizing personalization?

Amazon and Netflix
Amazon and Netflix, have been very successful in tailored recommended products or movie titles.
They can attribute much of this to powerfully predictive personalized content recommendations,
and email marketing has long been using basic personalization tools. People have come to expect
it with 80% of what people watch on Netflix, a direct result of personalized recommendations.
EasyJet
EasyJet launched a data-driven email campaign that uses customers’ travel history with the
airline to build personalized stories, suggesting where they might like to travel next. About 12.5
million unique emails have been sent, which had a 25% higher click-through rate than non-
personalized emails.

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How to encourage your customers to 'Act' using personalization

Of the many surprises the pandemic brought on us in 2020, is the need to prioritize the digital
customer experience as part of a digital
transformation strategy. Going forward, this
will continue and a core aspect of the digital
customer experience is website personalization.
Popular (and growing) opportunities for
personalization include:
1. Targeted emails
2. Custom video messages
3. Product recommendations
4. Social media
Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Organizations have already found ways to use AI
(machine learning) in their personalization efforts,
such as the popular use of showing product
recommendations based on previous customer
data. In the future, it is likely that more companies
will use this. Organizations will find innovative
ways to use AI and further optimize the digital
customer experience beyond traditional use
cases.
Businesses are likely to look at how AI and

machine learning can be used to give customers
even greater control of how they engage, such
as utilizing visual AI to power robust visual site
search capabilities.
The future trends in personalization will be about

continuing to look for efficient methods of scaling
and growing digital personalization efforts that further enhance the customer experience. It’s not
about just meeting customer expectations, but instead, it’s about getting ahead and anticipating
their needs. Another digital personalization trend therefore will be an increased focus on
predictive personalization. Platforms such as Adobe Target make it easier to get started. For
example, you can try out predictive personalization for your digital customer experience by using
Adobe Target’s Auto Personalization and Auto Target activities.

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Source: Blast
Prioritize Customer Loyalty

A bad experience encountered by a customer could lead to them abandoning your brand.
Stakeholders are increasingly aware of this risk. Personalization will serve to help to compete for
customer loyalty. You may need to consider going beyond simply offering rewards or discounts.
Companies who use personalization to help close the “empathy gap” with their customers will
be the most successful at winning and maintaining customer loyalty in the future. To close the
“empathy gap,” you’ll need to listen to your customers’ likes and dislikes and, more importantly,
use this understanding to serve them accordingly. Incorporating insights from your Voice of
Customer efforts will be invaluable.
Source: Blast
With an increased focus on the digital customer experience, more stakeholders will measure
customer loyalty as a key performance indicator (KPI) for their business alongside other typical

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KPIs, such as transactions and revenue.
Increased Data Privacy Restrictions

To be successful in personalization, it’ll be essential to strike the right balance between delighting
users with a relevant customer experience while maintaining their trust. Marketers will need to
keep up to date about changing data privacy regulations to give teams enough time to react and
adapt their personalization efforts as needed. You may consider transitioning from an opt-out to a
more direct opt-in approach to reinforce customer trust.
Failure to Create a Digital Personalization Strategy

Even when businesses want to adopt a data-driven digital personalization strategy, it can be
challenging to put into practice This usually means having the expertise to analyze and, more
importantly, synthesize various types of customer data to uncover insights that will drive the
personalization strategy. A successful strategy is fuelled by data and is very focused on the
customer, meaning that personalization speaks to the customer’s actual needs. If you don’t
achieve this your personalization efforts are at risk of not delivering real value to the business
long-term.
How to Prepare for Digital Personalization

You should prioritize efforts to personalize the digital experience in a manner that gets ahead of
your customer’s needs. This will strengthen customer loyalty and ultimately allow you to gain a
competitive advantage.

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ACT (2) USER EXPERIENCE (UX)
What is User Experience (UX)?

Today, consumers want their needs to be delivered instantly. Whether booking flights, ordering
food, online shopping or internet banking, a high quality online user experience is needed. For the
businesses that want to attract and convert their interests into revenue, UX is a key part of their
success and survival. UX is a combination of different principles such as visual design, information
architecture, interaction design, usability, user search, and content strategy. User experience
should be the first thing to remember when starting a business, as it’s a critically important
component of successful digital marketing that prioritizes personalization and convenience.
User experience is a research-focused discipline, discovering and understanding human needs that
can be met with a well-designed product. The use of multiple research approaches ensure that a
product is easily discoverable and generates real human values for customers so that businesses
can create commercial value. User experience is all about the relationship between people and
technology and identifying and designing that relationship. In the future, most interactions on
social media will be between products, or products and people not just about people.
Usability and User Experience are different

Usability checks how efficient, pleasant and efficient your user interface is and it’s vital to your
customer’s positive or negative experiences. User experience deals with user’s feelings and
attitudes when they interact with your product or your service. Delightful user experience helps
to get your brand name out there on the market. So good marketing efforts create excellent user
experiences and establish a long-term relationship with your brand and your customers. When a
user wants their desired content online they look for multiple options: browsing, searching and
asking their peers on social media. Labelling, organizing, formatting, and connecting website
content is important so that both human and technology can access and understand it easily.
Source: Maurizio Pittau

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Customers want to be highly interactive and a visually pleasing virtual environment to engage with
brands. Prioritizing positive user experience is essential owing to the fact that:
• 79% of users will search for other pages if they don’t think the page is reliable.
• 96% of smartphone users have encountered websites that are not mobile friendly.
• 48% of users say they are frustrated by poorly optimized sites for mobile devices.
• 71% of online publishers claim well-formed mobile content to boost user engagement.
• 95% of customers want a good user experience.
• 63% of user searches use multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs.
Source: Maurizio Pittau
Positive UX leads to customer satisfaction

According to McKinsey, improving customer journeys has the potential to increase customer
satisfaction by 20%. It can also increase revenue by up to 15% whilst also lowering the cost of
serving customers by as much as 20% (source: paldesk).
Good UX Improves SEO

A good UX can contribute to visibility in searches to potential customers. Having a good UX
encourages users to explore through your content to find out more, therefore reducing your
bounce rate. The lower the bounce rate, the higher the indication to Google that your website is
full of useful content and will improve your SEO.
UX Builds Conversions
UX has a significant impact on your conversions. Good marketing strategies provide customers
with all the information needed about a product or a service.
Effective landing page design

Well-designed websites may have a visitor-to-customer conversion rate of up to 200 percent
higher than a poorly designed site. The better the user experience of your site is, the more likely
visitors are to become customers.
Optimize for mobile

It is very important to optimize your landing page for mobile users if you don’t want to lose
your conversions and damage brand reputation. More importantly, the mobile-optimized site is
crucial for a high SEO mobile rank.
Which brands are effectively utilizing user experience?

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Barclays – Coronavirus Help Page
With COVID-19 affecting most people financially, Barclays created a dedicated coronavirus
page on its main website to help its customers with managing money, accounts, and Barclays
products. The page is not static and is updated regularly with new information and is structured
in a way that makes navigating to other parts of the website very simple and smooth, providing
an excellent user experience. One of the options accessible through this page is information
on payment holidays for loans, mortgages, and credit cards. The content of this simple digital
experience shows a more human side of a banking organization.
Gmail – Predictive Text
In 2020, Google launched its Gmail AI. It suggests four or five-worded sentences that capture and
complete what a user is trying to convey. When emails are sent back and forth multiple times per
day, anything that makes the process quicker and allows communication to be more succinct is a
big help.
Source: The New York Times
Amazon – Assistant Browser Extension
In 2020 Amazon launched a browser extension/add-on that allows users to compare product
prices as they browse all around the internet. This digital experience allows users to find

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personalized product recommendations and discover Amazon products while browsing across
the internet. Product reviews, offers, and ratings are also displayed.
Source: INSIDER
Whilst providing this solution, the company is able to keep its brand at the top of the user’s
awareness. This digital experience covers several stages of sales processes including research,
awareness, comparison, opinion, and interest.
How to encourage customers to 'Act' by investing in user experience

To encourage your customers to act you should focus on interactions in your technology
marketing. It involves improving the digital experience on your website to persuade site visitors
to take the next step when they initially reach your site or social channel.
Visual Experience
Investing in visual experience is an effective way to develop and sustain a positive user
experience for your customers. A seamless integration from the written word and still images to
interactive graphs, maps and animations, or an interactive story is leading the way to new forms
of storytelling. With visual experience, users can enjoy some control over their experiences and
interactions with brands that are changing the face of digital marketing. This approach can be
very effective in your strategy.
User Experience Drives Loyalty
Loyalty cannot be purchased or forced. It happens gradually with consistent customer

relationships and brand interactions that are positive, engaging, and rewarding. UX drives
customer loyalty. The more you invest this in your digital marketing efforts, the better you
develop loyal customers.

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Chatbots and virtual assistants

There are a number of ways that you can use AI-based chatbots to enhance your customer’s
experience:
Personal assistants: Use a virtual chat assistant to guide the user through the basic steps to
register and set up their profile on your site. Afterwards, personal assistants can also simplify
the clients’ further tasks. For example, Mastercard implemented its own chatbot for Facebook
Messenger. Its virtual assistant makes banking much clearer and more helpful for their clients.
24/7 support: To have 24/7 real-time support, available to take the client’s problems, whether
it is the day or night, greatly improves your UX. Research shows that customers want instant
information regarding services, orders, delivery, technical support, billing, and pricing.
Smart recommendations: Using algorithm-based product recommendations to improve

your user experience is popular. Amazon is a good example with its recommendation tab. On
every product page, there is the “often bought with this.” Amazon uses its algorithm to work
out what products their customers might like to buy more and offer them suggestions. It is not
only enhancing the client’s engagement but also increases sales. Consumers tend to prefer
personalization; when a business offers products that match their purchase history, it creates a
stronger bond between a business and the client.
Communication with clients on different platforms: Chatbots enable you to interact with
your audience on the platforms they are likely to use, whether it’s Facebook Messenger, Viber,
Skype, Wechat or your own site.
Feedback: To meet customer expectations, it is important to get feedback. On average, 10%

of users open traditional e-mail surveys and less than 5% complete them (source: FREYSOFT).
Chatbots collect feedback in dialog boxes, which makes it easier for users to get back to them
and increases engagement.
UX optimized chatbot features include:
The style of co-operation: businesses should pay attention to the bot’s style of interaction with
their customers. To provide choices is a good start to engage the client via bot. In addition, the
bot’s elements such as buttons and links should be precisely defined, so that users can easily
click them.
Personalization: listening to the specific needs of the customer and helping with particular
inquiries, the bot supports the vision of greater personalization.
Carousels: with the help of a slider under the chat window, a user can skip through offered
options and select what works best for them.
Conversations: the bot should be optimized for more complex response chains or offer to
contact a live person.

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ACT (3) SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS
The Impact of COVID on social media

During the pandemic we all had a lot more time to browse social media: whether it was checking
social media feeds or using LinkedIn to find new employment. This increased screen time meant
that people were inadvertently viewing more social media campaigns, allowing companies to
make more of an impression. The growth in social media apps use is as follows:
Facebook: The platform hasn't seen a notable increase in users over the past year (360 million )
but they’ve seen users increase their time from five minutes to an average of over ten minutes on
the site per day (source: Hootsuite).
Instagram: 19.3 million profiles were added to Instagram in 2020, culminating in a total of 132.8
million accounts. The average time spent is 30 minutes a day on their platform, which is a 13.8%
increase when looking at their figure from 2019 (26 minutes a day). Some of these, however, will be
brands or blogs that might not be interested in following your brand (source: Hootsuite).
Snapchat: Snapchat is used for short bursts, with 46% of users opening the app multiple times a
day. However, they have seen a climb in users with 240 million users in 2020 (source: Hootsuite).
Twitter: Twitter’s appeal is its brief messages. The average user spent three and a half minutes
scrolling down their feed in 2019, but that has more than doubled in the past year to nearly 11
minutes (source: Statista).
YouTube: YouTube saw a steady climb in users gaining 100 million users every year. They tend
to average a billion hours of content watched a day but this has been much higher during the
pandemic.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a perfect site for people to find home projects, and so it very much flourished
in 2020. From a user base of 335 million people in 2019, it rose to 442 million during 2020.
TikTok: TikTok has exploded within the past year. It now has 689 million monthly active users ,
with a global average of people spending 52 minutes on the app every day (source: Sproutsocial).
Reddit: Reddit experienced a 44% increase in users throughout the year, reaching 52 million, with
over 300 million posts, over double what the site received in 2019 (source: Hootsuite).
LinkedIn: LinkedIn, the most professional social network, is steadily climbing. It’s a trend that
was healthy all the way through 2020, finishing the year with over 720 million users, LinkedIn is
a great way to launch a campaign especially if your customer base is other businesses (source:
Hootsuite).
As social platforms introduce new features and change their algorithms, social media trends
evolve. These rapid changes present a challenge for brands and social media marketers as they

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have to constantly review their existing strategies and pivot to add new types of content to their
repertoire. Marketers continually have to note the latest trends and evolve accordingly.
Live streaming
Face-to-face meetings have turned into Zoom conferences and live concerts into live streams of
artists playing from their homes so now there’s a big rise in the use of live streaming features on
social media. People have got used to being able to interact with brands live without leaving their
home. Live streaming will continue to gain popularity and should definitely be a part of your social
media marketing strategy. The latest Sprout Social Index, tells us that 25% of marketers said live
video was one of the most valuable types of content for achieving their social goals.
Stories as a content format
More than 500 million users interact with Instagram Stories every day so brands need to take a
more organized approach and plan for Stories as a content format. More importantly, the use of
video as Stories will increase as they outperform photos and people spend more time viewing
videos. A SocialInsider study found that images in Stories have a 5.65% higher tap-forward rate
than videos (the number of people who see your Story and move on to the next one before finishing
it) and photos in Stories have more drop-offs than videos. Now, 51% of brands are already using
videos in Stories, and the number is likely to increase in 2022.
Source: socialinsider
Virtual reality (VR) is becoming more popular on social media
With lockdowns and the need for social distancing, people are seeking more meaningful

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interactions virtually. Virtual reality is one of the current technological trends that can provide this,
as it gives you a sense of actually being together even if you’re halfway across the world. This is
the kind of experience that people want when they have to socially distance and it is growing. For
example, Facebook Horizon has launched the Oculus VR platform to beta-test a virtual world that
allows people to explore, connect with others, and play games.
Source: Esquire
Augmented reality (AR) as a media trend
Recent events have accelerated the adoption of Augmented reality experiences. Similar to virtual
reality, but only needing a smartphone, it is more readily accessible than VR. Brands are quickly
buying into this latest social media trend by creating AR filters to promote new products. This
keeps your audience engaged and therefore it can help you attract new customers.
Social commerce will continue to grow
We’re seeing more features and tools that support quick and easy shopping. Instagram, for instance,
allows you to add product tags and enable easy checkout without ever leaving the platform. On
Facebook, you can set up a Shop where people can browse and buy so it simplifies and shortens
the customer journey. When your audience sees a product they like on social media, they no
longer have to go to the website and search for it. They can buy it straight from the platform, which
is likely to reduce abandoned transactions.
Setting up social media storefronts and making your posts shoppable via social commerce is a new
trend. Your strategy must reflect changing audience behavior or you could lose out on prospective
customers.

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Source: GlobalWebIndex
Purpose-driven campaigns
74% of respondents in a Twitter survey want brands to showcase acts of kindness. And 77% feel
more positively about brands that try to support
society during a crisis. It is likely that we will see
brands in the future helping out however they can
through purpose-driven social media campaigns.
Audiences do expect brands to show leadership and
meaningful action on social issues, rather than just
to exploit them for marketing opportunities.
Inclusivity matters
Brands are increasingly under pressure to make

meaningful progress for inclusion in their business
operations and marketing. Audiences want to put
their money behind companies that show investment
in the communities and issues they are passionate
about.
Audiences, however, are also increasingly aware

of “performative activism” that looks more like a
marketing ploy rather than a meaningful contribution.

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Ensure that your content on inclusivity is well-informed and your brand is ready to act. If your
brand’s social presence doesn’t reflect your audience’s views on identity and diversity, you will
miss an opportunity to connect with them.
Authenticity and transparency are paramount
According to the 2020 Sprout Social Index, transparency and engagement with your audience are
the top two factors that make a brand’s social best in class.
Source: Social Media Strategies Summit
Influencer marketing on social media
B2B influencer marketing is big business. Many of the world’s biggest B2B players are using
influencers to promote their products and endorse their platforms, often getting serious business
results. This is very evident in the highly competitive world of marketing technology. It is adopting
a third-party approach, working closely with influencers. Some of the top martech influencers
include:
• Scott Brinker, VP of Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot,
• Rand Fishkin, the CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz, a leader in the field of SEO
• Neil Patel, the creator of the Ubersuggest SEO platform
• Jeff Bullas, the ultimate CMO influencer, with a following of over 25 million marketing
professionals.

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Source: Wildfire PR
Consumers today research using online channels and seek real-time feedback before they purchase
or adopt a product/service. In the future, engagement rate will be an important metric, and simply
having a large number of followers will not be enough. Data will be critical for influencers, such as
which content has performed well and popular topics, to assist influencers in better planning and
understanding their customers.
How to encourage your customers to 'Act' using social media

Encouraging interactions on websites and in social media to generate leads is a big challenge for
online marketers. Social media should play a major role in the strategies of B2B marketers. Brands
are starting to realize that social media is not just for consumer brands or consumers themselves.
The B2B audience spends time on social media platforms and marketers must have a presence
there too. Most B2B brands still focus heavily on cold messaging, promoting, and broadcasting
content. You should be sharing valuable and interesting content to build connections with people
by:
þ Establishing a positive view of your brand and products on social media
þ Improving your customer service via social media platforms
þ Increasing comments and conversations
þ Gaining more shares and engagement through content marketing
þ Retaining more website visitors every month
þ Expanding social media for B2B brands beyond LinkedIn
þ Using retargeting features to nurture your leads; but do not push them
þ Creating better content marketing
þ Highlighting customer stories on social media
Source: Kubbco

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Video Content on Social Media
You should avoid boring information and put a fun video series on your social media pages.
Mailchimp, for example, have created whole pages dedicated to their video series, Mailchimp
Presents for entrepreneurs.
Introduce the human side of your brand: Make the humans of your company the face of your
brand on social media and connect with your audience. For example the HubSpot Life Instagram
page is an entire page dedicated to the people and culture driving the company.
Elevate individuals at your

company: Your employees can
amplify your brand’s content
marketing and create their own
content for your brand on their pages.
Partner with other brands and share content
Salesforce, for example, has an entire partner Twitter account where they share events and
content on their partners:
Use Influencer Marketing
In order to develop low-cost, effective influencer marketing for tech companies, you should:

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• Not seek influencers from outside of your industry
• Identify and build influencers from employees within your business
• Build a nurturing plan to identify influencers within the company and think about: profile
picture, cover image, profile content, content to post, and timeline of the post
• Nominate influencers for speaking opportunities at different company-owned or third-party

events and articles via the PR system

46
CONVERT - INTEGRATED CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) provides you with information on your customers,
prospects and suppliers. You can use this to identify pain points, improve processes, build
customer loyalty and sell more. The goal of using CRM is to improve and expand a customer
lifecycle, enhance relationships, adapt customer retention strategies and drive sales. It can mean
the difference between customer retention and customer loss.
CRM software is one of the fastest growing categories of enterprise software. From small
businesses to global enterprises, sales and marketing teams are adopting CRM to deliver better
customer experiences, acquire and retain customers, and gain customer insights. Companies of
all sizes struggle to stay in step with customers as preferences related to how customers learn
about products and when they buy constantly change. Some key trends are as follows:
þ Customer satisfaction has replaced customer experience as the top sales metric.
þ CRM systems need to evolve with greater precision and predictive analytics and focus on
customer needs and behavior.
þ 59% of customers say that companies who know more about them from previous
interactions improves customer experience.
þ As AI becomes more prominent in sales staff will transition to more customer-care focused
tasks.
þ 30% of pricing decisions fail to optimize the price that would deliver the greatest margins
þ Biopharma companies spend 20 to 30% of their revenues on selling and administrative
expenses.
Customer Intelligence
There’s a change in how all customer segments across Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-
Consumer (B2C) select who, why and when they buy. CRM allows you to harness this information. If
marketing strategies are built on a solid foundation of customer intelligence and insight, customer
experiences improve. Positive customer experiences build trust, drive repurchases, create loyalty
and lead to higher lifetime customer values. This customer-centric growth begins when marketing
and sales teams know what customers expect why they expect it and how best to deliver products.
CRM systems need to have greater precision, focus on customer needs, quantify customer
behavior and predict that behavior. They should also suggest or recommend potential tactics and
strategies to marketing and sales teams that deliver results. New CRM businesses focussing on
how to provide new insights into improving customer experiences are flourishing.
The future of CRM will be about companies that can pivot to meet changing needs and trends. By
offering greater insights and customer intelligence it provides predictive accuracy of when and
where to sell in order to deliver measurable results.

47
CONVERT - INTEGRATED CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Artificial Intelligence
14% of global CIOs have already deployed AI and it's estimated that AI associated with CRM
activities will continue to boost global business revenue now and in the future.
65% of sales professionals use a CRM and 97% consider sales technology “very important” or
“important”, according to LinkedIn State of Sales 2020. However, that means one-third of sales
professionals are not using CRMs. Common barriers to adopting a CRM include reservations about
cost and lacking the resources and tech knowledge to implement one. As CRMs continue to get
cheaper, easier to implement, and use, these objections are becoming increasingly irrelevant and
it is expected that a higher percentage of companies will start to adopt CRMs (source: HubSpot).
Social CRM is increasing
Social CRM is the integration of social media channels into CRM platforms and enables companies
to gain a more powerful overview of what people are posting about on social media and a clearer
understanding of brand sentiment. If organizations can use social CRM to respond to comments
quickly and thoughtfully, they build stronger relationships with existing and potential customers
and have more user feedback.
Voice and conversational UI
In the next few years of the 2020s there will be an increase in voice assistant usage and supporting
hardware in operational processes and interfaces. Voice technology is critical for the evolution of
SaaS tools. It's a key factor for accessibility and it makes tech easier and more enjoyable to use.
Advanced automation
To stay relevant, CRMs need to offer advanced automation features. HubSpot, Salesforce, and
ActiveCampaign, have placed automation at the front of their product and marketing. CRM will be
increasingly linked with automation. Using chatbots to communicate with customers and solve
problems automatically, for instance, and using automated email workflows to nurture sales
prospects.
With automation, businesses can offer high-quality customer services while optimizing costs.
Sales performance and data
According to LinkedIn's State of Sales Report 2020, top-performing salespeople have higher
confidence in their CRM data than their counterparts. Of the top group, 53% are very confident,
and below that, only 32% are very confident. This shows a direct link between sales performance
and high-quality data, so businesses must ensure they maintain data cleanliness and integrity.
IoT technologies
93% of enterprises are believed to have adopted IoT technology in 2019 and this is expected
to rise. These range from simple IoT devices, such as energy meters and smart appliances, to
more advanced solutions for greater cost efficiencies, organizational capabilities, and supply
chain visibility. With IoT technology, companies can monitor and service their clients in new and
proactive ways that were previously unimaginable and improve the customer experience.

48
Which brands are effectively utilizing integrated CRM?

Amazon
Amazon has become the go-to online platform for online shopping. One of the main reasons for
this is that they have one of the most complete CRM infrastructures in the world. It harnesses
customer data during purchases to instantly customize users’ online experience. When
purchasing an item from Amazon you need to set up a personal account so they can then track
your purchases and browsing history to tailor marketing email campaigns based on things you
will like.
You can also configure your account to set up purchases in one-click. Customers like this as it
dramatically speeds up the checkout process.
Activision
Activision is a pioneer in the video gaming industry. It uses CRM to connect with gamers via
social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Their cloud-based CRM solution enables
the company to:
• Reduce customer service related expenses by 25%
• Assess and resolve 82% of customer-related issues through online self-service
• Improve communications with its gaming community
• Reduce overhead costs
• Increase user satisfaction rates
Source: appvizer
Apple
CRM plays a pivotal role in Apple’s growth strategy. When using an Apple device you need to
register it using an Apple ID. These unique IDs synchronize across devices, save music and film
preferences, and provide recommendations based on what you like. For users, it is convenient. For
Apple, it’s a tool that can be used for effortless, targeted marketing.

49
How to 'Convert' your customers with integrated CRM

The Convert stage of the RACE Framework relates to using communications techniques to
increase conversion to sale in your marketing. This will often include both online and offline
channels.
CRMs have been traditionally thought of as tools for sales and customer success teams. More
organizations are realizing that they benefit everything. CRMs keep getting more sophisticated
with advanced functions such as sales automation, a central database, email marketing,
customization, and reporting/analytics.
Customer experience
84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and
services. CRM technology can meet the expectations of today's customers by providing:
þ Live chat for quick support
þ Enriched data to show the full customer journey
þ Accessible customer data across departments
þ Automated knowledge bases
þ Syncing customer data between apps
Consumers expect companies to know more about them
A company needs to remember previous conversations with a customer, understand their needs
and expectations, and adjust communication accordingly. Having an integrated CRM allows
different team members to store customer data about all previous conversations and known
preferences. Looking to the future, it is believed that new CRM growth will come from new markets.
These include:
þ Healthcare
þ Finance

50
þ Manufactoring
Source: HubSpot
Younger generations
The CRM trend will grow as millennials continue to gain buying power and the next generation
enters the workplace. It is likely that more teams will maximize their performance through
intelligent CRM technology.
Two-way syncs
A CRM has to be connected to all other tools and processes in your organization. Two-way syncs
need to be set up between tools that store customer data and your CRM as it is the best way to
avoid human error, save time on manual input, and provide the clearest picture of your business.

51
ENGAGE (1) CUSTOMER RETENTION AND
BRAND LOYALTY
Capturing new customers is very encouraging but keeping them coming back will continually
result in a greater ROI and costs five to twenty-five times less (source: HubSpot).
Consumer expectations are high
Most consumers do not want to be inconvenienced when it comes to loyalty programs and
marketing campaigns. This is particularly true with the younger generation, who expect to have
almost no inconvenience. It is therefore important to look at innovative technologies which can
provide a smooth experience.
Plenty of competition in customer loyalty
As more and more companies around the world appreciate the power of customer loyalty,
benchmarks are rising. When creating a loyalty scheme, your customers are not only comparing
your program with those of your competitors, but also with brands from different sectors they
interact with.
A digital-first offering
Even though we use smartphones throughout our day, there are still many brands sticking
to physical loyalty cards. Creating a digital-first offering will provide both your brand and
your customers a great deal of benefits, for example a digital loyalty card provides a direct
communication channel with your loyal customers. By communicating new offers, personalized
messages via push notifications, SMS or email, you have more opportunities to interact with each
user. This can lead to higher brand affinity and gets you closer to creating emotional loyalty.
Consumers are mainly driven by more than price
The pandemic highlighted the growing movement towards thinking that consumers are more
than just shoppers. We need to consider what they believe in and stand for and what they expect
from brands. The key to achieving customer loyalty is tapping into the wider relationship with your
customer.
Providing personalized experiences
Accenture Interactive report that more than 75% of the people claim that they would most likely
buy again from a brand that remembers their name, shopping history and provide personalized
experiences based on their need (source: codedesign).
Using feedback to improve your product
A brand's relationship with its customer will not last long if its product doesn't add value. Only
when the customers like your product, would they think of repurchasing. So it is crucial for a brand

52
ENGAGE (1) CUSTOMER RETENTION AND BRAND LOYALTY
to continually get feedback from the customers. If you evolve your product based on what people
want there are excellent chances for you to retain customers.
Which brands are effectively retaining customers and achieving brand

loyalty?
Apple
Apple's strategy was demonstrated by their

"Mac vs. PC" ad campaign starring John
Hodgman as the inept PC and Justin Long as
the cool, collected Mac. The two would quip
humorously over what made the Mac a better
choice than a PC in an entertaining manner. It
divided the market and set Apple apart from
their competitors by identifying the kind of
consumers who should buy Apple products.
So, staying true to who you are as a brand
shows integrity and makes it easier to attract
customers.
Adobe
Adobe offers Creative Cloud Apps on a monthly

subscription that locks customers into the
service for one year at a time. If they choose to
cancel early, they have an option to receive up to two months without payments in order to keep
their Creative Cloud service.
Adobe is giving customers a reason

to stay a little longer so the brand
can prove its value to them.
Your business can take this

technique one step further by giving
extra care to these customers.
Follow up with them with a phone
call or with a personalized email to
understand how you can make their
experience better over the next two
months.
Amazon
It's unusual for a commodity-

based organization to introduce
a subscription service into their
business model, exactly what
Amazon created in the form of

53
Prime. The subscription was originally created to bring customers faster delivery. It generated
controversy, but quickly became popular with regular shoppers on the platform.
You don't need to charge a fee for your subscription model in order to gain customer loyalty. You
could provide benefits in the form of exclusive content or events without spending large sums of
money.
R&G Technologies
R&G Technologies is an Australian IT support firm that has developed strong, long-term relationships
with its clients. It solidifies these relationships with rapid response times and strict service-level
agreements (SLAs). They get back to their clients quickly, and their employees are incentivized by
tying these KPIs to how much they earn. However, the biggest lesson is in its customer satisfaction
surveys as R&G Technologies’ clients have an opportunity to express what is doing well and what
isn’t. This allows the company to identify unhappy customers before they leave.
R&G focuses on asking the right questions in order to gain insights and this information is used to

54
make better business decisions and retain customers (source: HubSpot).
How to 'Engage' your customers to retain them and keep them loyal
Engage is aimed at building a long-term relationship with your customers to build loyalty and boost
customer lifetime value. To retain your customer’s interest, you should provide them with valuable
content, ask them questions to continually understand what their challenges and problems are,
and provide them with what they need to be successful with products or services. The more
satisfied your customer is, the more likely they are to purchase from you and be ambassadors of
your brand.
Email marketing, social media communications and website content for existing customers can
be used to support Engage. The following techniques are recommended to ensure customer
retention and brand loyalty:
Track and analyze lost customers: you should be tracking and analyzing the number of
customers you lose and their reasons for leaving.
Implement a customer feedback loop: this provides a system for collecting, analyzing, and
distributing customer reviews and surveys. By collecting and sharing customer reviews, your
business can efficiently address criticism and improve the customer experience.
Maintain a customer communication calendar: If customers haven't interacted with your

brand for a while, you should re-establish your relationship. Consider adopting a communication
calendar (a chart that keeps track of customer communication) to manage customer engagements
and create opportunities to upsell and cross-sell.
Use e-mail marketing: E-mail marketing is a simple and cost-effective way of retaining customers.
You could create specific email templates for all possible outcomes and email the people who
fall into those respective categories. This process would not only create personalization but also
remind your customers about you. If you succeed in automating emails, then you could easily
converse with your customers regularly, based on their behavior and requirements in their
preferred time.
Automate the conversation with chatbots: Customers expect to get quick answers to their
queries. Chatbots on your website will give customers a better experience with your brand and
gain immediate answers to their questions, whatever the time zone/time of day.
Build trust with your customers: When deciding to make a purchase, 81% of customers say that
trust is an important factor in their decision (source: HubSpot). Reliability is a key factor in building
trust, so your company should be consistent in delivering value to customers.
Offer unique services: If you’ve developed a niche for your business that solves a critical customer
pain point, you’re on the right track to retaining customers.
Start a customer retention program: A customer retention program is a specific initiative

designed to encourage customer loyalty. They can be company-led, such as instituting a customer
onboarding process, or customer-led, such as downloading and using a mobile app to make

55
purchases.
The following retention programs can be implemented in order to retain your existing customers:
Onboarding Program: Onboarding is a customer success function that teaches new customers
how to use your product or service. It ensures customers know how to utilize your products or
services so they can complete their goals on time.
Customer Loyalty Program: You shouldn’t forget about your loyal customers. A customer loyalty
program should reward customers for their continued commitment. The more they shop and
interact with your business, the more they're rewarded.
Customer Advisory Board: Creating a panel of customers can help you fine-tune products and
services at your business and you can increase customer advocacy by encouraging participants
to publicly share their reviews. Customer testimonials are an effective method for building rapport
when attracting and engaging potential leads.
Corporate Social Responsibility Program: Getting involved with your customers' communities
and personal goals is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to their needs.
Beta Testing Group: Similar to the feedback loop, customer beta testing groups serve a dual
purpose, they provide your business with specific, actionable observations from the customer’s
point of view and they keep customers invested in the new feature your company is beta testing.
Different customer retention programs work together to create a customer experience that
cultivates loyalty, positive attitudes and makes customers more willing to continue purchasing.
By retaining your customers, you can help them to derive more value from your products,
encourage them to share feedback to influence potential new customers, and start to build a
community of customers or users you can connect with.

56
ENGAGE (2) EMAIL MARKETING &
AUTOMATION
With a user base of over 4 billion people, there’s no wonder email marketing is the oldest and still
the best form of digital communication compared to social media, live chats and many others.
Email marketing has an impressive ROI of $38 for every dollar spent and is still ranked as the
most effective marketing channel, making it essential for any marketer.
Source: NEILPATEL
Despite the increasing popularity of social media, data suggests that more people are using
email. The benefit of email marketing against social media is that you don’t have to worry about
algorithm changes taking over your reach potential, as you own the connections you target. An
effective campaign requires the following:
þ An email list - an active email list pulled from a database of contacts who have expressed
interest in receiving marketing communications from your business. This can be created
using an offer such as a guide or coupon, that your target market would be interested in, in
exchange for their email.
þ An email service provider (ESP) - commonly known as an email marketing platform that
helps manage a business’ email list. It allows you to automate actions triggered by your
target market’s behaviors, which then helps to design and personalize an automated email
marketing campaign, increasing engagement and conversion rates.
þ Clearly defined goals - such as driving sales, increasing brand awareness, generating

57
ENGAGE (2) EMAIL MARKETING & AUTOMATION
leads, keeping customers engaged and loyal, help to segment your email list according to
demographics or actions, and then design emails to get those consumers to reach your goal.
Your ESP can send out the email campaign and monitor it automatically.
Advantages of Email Marketing

There are many advantages of email marketing, including:
It is permission-based: when a customer willingly gives you their email, they’re giving you
permission to contact them on your businesses terms, increasing the chance of engagement and
conversion.
You have direct access to your audience: you’re able to communicate directly with your email
subscribers, and your email is more than likely to be picked up due to people checking their
emails regularly.
It gives you more control: email marketing means you own the relationships you create with
your subscribers, unlike other platforms where you don’t own the rights.
There are personalization capabilities: you can create personalized and targeted campaigns
using demographic and psychographic data, which can increase revenue by up to 760%.
E-mail is measurable: automated email marketing makes measuring your campaigns easier.
It is scalable: quality doesn’t need to be compromised and resources don’t need to be strained,
as email campaigns can scale your business without putting a strain on it.
Email Marketing Automation

When automating your e-mail campaigns you should:
Define your segments: use the data you have from your subscribers to segment them, therefore
allowing you to create more personalised campaigns.
Design an efficient workflow: the next step is to design your workflow; a series of emails to
fulfil the objective of your campaign.
Determine the right triggers: which customers open your email, click on a link, or do not open
your email within a specified time frame are all triggers that will set off the following email in a
sequence.
It is predicted that there will be nearly 4.15 billion email users by 2024, increasing the chance of
your target audience using email. The table below shows the KPIs broken down by industry for
average metrics across all industries globally.

58
Source: Campaign Monitor
Industry averages are as follows:
• Average open rate: 18.0%
• Average click-through rate: 2.6%
• Average click-to-open rate: 14.1%
• Average unsubscribe rate: 0.1%
As demonstrated in the above table, IT, Tech and Software Services show higher open,
click-through and click-to-open rates than the industry average and a slightly higher subscribe
rate.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Regardless of industry, you can see how your campaigns perform by day of the week. These are

59
averages taken across all campaigns sent globally.
• Best day with highest email open rates: Friday (18.9%)
• Best day with highest click-through rates: Friday (2.7%)
• Best days with highest click-to-open rates: Wednesday and Friday (14.4%)
• Email unsubscribe rates were virtually identical throughout the week (0.1%)
Comparing benchmarks between regions
The table below demonstrates that subscribers respond differently to email communication
from businesses depending upon which region they are in.
Which brands are effectively utilizing email marketing and automation?

Bluehost

60
Bluehost is known for its hosting services and decided to create a website builder to make
things more simple. They focused on selling the benefits to make the copy more compelling,
kept the design simple to make it aesthetically pleasing, and used language targeted at their
demographic; mainly small business owners.
Litmus
Litmus is an example of animation being used to create a more

interested email design, using swipe motions instead of static
text to encourage subscribers to take a deeper look into the
rest of the content. The subtle animation is used to enhance
the email body copy and works with the design of the email
to create a focal point before the reader carries on with the
remainder.
Source: HubSpot
InVideo
The following email from InVideo; a video ad creation tool, is sent when a user begins to create

61
a video using one of their templates, but does not complete the process. The user’s incomplete
task is the email trigger.
As a new startup, the company goes a step further than the standard ‘incomplete task’ follow up
e-mail by also inviting users to take a survey regarding how they can improve and to organize a
meeting.
The benefits of sending an incomplete task email include:
• It can persuade a user to log back into the product if they felt stalled or unsure how to
proceed
• New users may realize where they’ve gone wrong before they churn completely
• It’s a reminder to users that their task is incomplete
InVideo is also using this as an opportunity to gather feedback, which is very valuable to them as
a new business and in order to effectively meet customer needs.
Source: GoSquared

62
How to 'Engage' your customers using email marketing and automation

To keep your customers engaged with e-mail marketing and automation, here are some effective
strategies that you can utilize:
List building: having a list building strategy that will attract your target market is pivotal in the
success of your email marketing campaign. A strategy used to promote a case study on LinkedIn
may attract customers for a business to business brand, but not have the same effect on a
business to customer brand.
Email list hygiene: purging your email lists of subscribers that are no longer active helps to keep
sender reputation high.
Keep your list warm: keeping email campaigns regular will decrease the chance of your
subscribers forgetting who you are, and increase engagement and conversion rates. Cold
subscribers can be sent a re-engagement campaign to make them warm again.
Focus on one objective: keep email campaign objectives simple by focusing on just one
objective to not confuse your audience and affect conversion rates.
Define and track the right KPIs: setting the right KPIs helps to track the performance of your
e-mail campaign against its objectives.
Use email automation: setting up email automation will help to reduce the pressures of
following up with large amounts of subscribers. Emails can be set up to be sent over a range of
times, from days to months, allowing you to keep subscribers warm and paying attention.
Analytics and segmentation: basic campaigns can be improved using segmentation and
analytics to clarify broadcasts and generate better results.
Open rate: open rates are quantified by a single invisible tracking pixel that gets triggered when
the consumer clicks on the message, reporting to the business how many customers open their
emails. It helps to identify the relationship between you and your customer. Loyal customers will
be excited and open the email quickly, whereas low rates will mean customers aren’t engaged
and need more attention with proof of your value.
Click-through rate (CTR): this shows how many of your customers clicked on a link in your
email. A low CTR identifies that your copy most likely needs further improvement or hasn’t been
effectively targeted.
Unsubscribe rate: this shows you how many consumers hit the unsubscribe button in your
email. If this is high compared to your opt in rate, it means that you are no longer adding value
for your customer. Your emails then need to be analyzed to see if a certain piece of content or
message has caused the consumer to unsubscribe, and therefore needs to be reworked or call
to actions need to be adjusted to fit with the message being sent. Email analytics can help to
identify clues early on as to what is going wrong.
Segmenting your email marketing list: this means splitting your lists into more targeted
groups, allowing you to send more targeted communications, depending on what they want
to know from your business. You can also send specific emails to thank customers, to target
customers who didn’t open the original email or those who did, as well as split testing messages

63
to different groups. This can help to set yourself apart from the competition. Groups may include:
• Customer list (in comparison to leads who haven’t bought)
• Subscribers
• Daily email list (in comparison to weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc..)
• Demographics, such as age, location, or job title
• Interests, such as marketing or sales topics
Email marketing continues to be at the forefront of marketing, allowing businesses to target

audiences easily in their inboxes and generate ROI. These benchmarks allow you to see if your
email marketing activities are working, how your strategy compares to the competition and how
a well thought out campaign can lead to some fantastic results.

64
CONCLUSION
The technology industry has witnessed significant digital developments, particularly during the
disruption of the global pandemic. The implications of its impact are still unfolding. This trends
report demonstrates that the sector will continue to change over the next few years.
Further disruptive change could come from anywhere, with political, economic, social,
technological, legal, and environmental factors posing unprecedented scenarios.
Customers are now demanding improved services, seamless experiences and personalization.
These digital changes in consumer behavior are here to stay and marketers should get ahead of
consumer demand with real-time insight. Technology marketers should improve content velocity
and quality in order to get the edge. Customers are now looking to brands to deliver connected
digital experiences with intelligent automation in digital taking us beyond simple replication.
The last year has taught us that we must be agile in our approach to people, technology, and
digital trends, whilst also being prepared to respond to whatever market conditions come our way.
According to mention, additional trends that we are likely to see include:
þ Multi-channel marketing as a must
þ Conversational marketing
þ Data-driven marketing
þ Nostalgia marketing
þ A greater focus on customer privacy and security
þ Social CRM as a growing trend
þ Trustworthy media monitoring
þ Social media listening

65
READY TO START CREATING YOUR
RACE WINNING STRATEGY?
You have identified key areas for improvement and now you need to create a digital strategy,
organize your activities, and put your plan into action.
That's where the RACE Growth Process comes in.
Whether you need to create an integrated omnichannel plan, learn best practices for digital
channels or develop your team skills, we've got you covered.
Smart Insights offers digital learning modules, guides, and templates across all channels of digital
marketing. With premium membership, you'll be able to take action directly and see results sooner
Take the next step toward a winning marketing strategy

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HOW DOES THE RACE GROWTH
PROCESS WORK?
Competition is fierce online. To win, you need to plan, manage and optimize your digital marketing
channels against defined targets, SMART KPIs and a focused investment in content marketing,
digital media and experiences. We believe an integrated strategy is essential to define new
segmentation, targeting and positioning for your online value propositions.
Taking an approach that focuses on OSA - Opportunity, Strategy and Action - is a great process
which you can build a more strategic digital marketing journey around.
The graphic below outlines how using OSA can focus your thinking and maintain structure as you
progress through the RACE Growth Process.

67
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Reference

IT and High Tech

Editors: Sarah Lindley, Dr. Dave Chaffey, Amelia Mayes

Part of the Sector Technology Innovation Toolkit

REACH (1) OMNICHANNEL MARKETING..................................................8

REACH (2) DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.................................................13

REACH (3) CONTENT MARKETING TRENDS............................................19

REACH (4) DIGITAL EVENTS................................................................24

ACT (1) PERSONALIZATION.................................................................29

ACT (2) USER EXPERIENCE (UX)..........................................................35

ACT (3) SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS...........................................................40

CONVERT: INTEGRATED CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT..........48

ENGAGE (1) CUSTOMER RETENTION AND BRAND LOYALTY......................53

ENGAGE (2) EMAIL MARKETING & AUTOMATION....................................58

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

Foreword - the ever-changing landscape

Understanding the marketing communications trends at play in the technology industry is

Who is this guide for?

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

þ Improve telecommunications and marketing communications

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

About Smart Insights

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

The migration to life online

þ The lack of in-person sales meetings

An increase in adoption of digital marketing

Source: Boston Digital

Today's Impulse Generation

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

Increased need for analytics and data

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

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IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

What is omnichannel marketing?

The need to be proactive in selecting and managing digital communications is suggested

Source: Smart Insights blog - What is customer lifestyle marketing?

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

Why an omnichannel marketing approach is essential for your tech

3. Engage with customers in real-time: Answering your customer’s queries in real-time is

þ Omnichannel strategies generate store visits of up to 80% more than usual

þ Omnichannel involving SMS campaigns have a conversion rate of almost 50%

þ No less than 73% of users prefer shopping via various channels

þ Almost all (90%) of customers prefer online customer services

þ Almost 19% of customers engage through omnichannel trends compared to a 6%

þ Over 21% of omnichannel consumers return to their favourite shops

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

þ 49% of buyers make impulsive purchases after a positive consumer experience

Which brands are effectively utilizing omnichannel marketing?

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

Pinterest Lens Feature (Source: Gritdaily)

How to 'reach' your customers using omnichannel marketing

An omnichannel marketing strategy contains consistent messaging, visuals, and positioning

2. Create an app if needed

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

3. Seek to solve for the customer every step of the way

5. Give customers a device- and platform-appropriate CTA

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

The Digital Funnel

IT and High Tech marketing trends 2022 - Published March 2022

3. Consideration – they are now taking a serious interest

4. Intent – the consumer is building towards a decision

5. Decision – a consumer is converted into a customer after making a purchase