Technology has transformed traditional marketing methods. The clever use of tech has made it easier to find and sell to customers by customising the offer and using analytics to measure its success.
Marketing spends are largely being driven by metrics with billions of pounds being spent on new platforms like Facebook ads and invested in video content.
Ian Wilson is the marketing and communications director at Peel L&P and said: 鈥淭echnology helps bridge the gap between people鈥檚 problems and people鈥檚 solutions. In marketing terms it facilitates a human connection to help tell a story. It鈥檚 as simple as that.鈥�
Stephen Dyson is the marketing manager at award-winning HMG Paints. He said: 鈥淭echnology is about adding value at the right time on the customer journey. We can put our content on the platform they use. It鈥檚 not mass mail hits. It can be very targeted and very specific and more relatable.鈥�
Outsourced communications provider Moneypenny employs 750 people and provides telephone answering, live chat, switchboard and multichannel customer services to more than 225,000 customers. Chief marketing officer Kate Cox said: 鈥淚 think technology opens up businesses. You have to be really authentic and be who you are. We at Moneypenny want to think of ourselves as our business customer鈥檚 second home. We want them to give over the keys of their home to us as we鈥檙e managing all their communications. That means we have to be really open and transparent. We spend a lot of focus on employees and making sure they鈥檙e happy.鈥�
Adam Pritchard, founder of eCommerce platform Shopit, said marketing remains about story-telling but across multiple channels. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about connecting with people and trying to differentiate yourself from other people,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll that technology has done over the last 20 years has diversify the amount of mediums.
“We used to have four TV channels, a couple of newspapers and a radio station. That also meant that economically only the big boys could play on those platforms.聽 The amount of different mediums that we鈥檝e got now not only makes it far more difficult and challenging for marketing teams it does also democratise the opportunity for smaller brands to get out there.鈥�
Chris Reay is the property director at MediaCityUK, which is home to 330 businesses and more than 8,000 people. He said: 鈥淰ideo is international. Language is superfluous. You can market at scale through beautiful imagery and a real story about people that inspires. MediaCityUK is a place for innovation and creativity, and it鈥檚 our job to be so much more than a property developer. We are here to provide all the infrastructure that creative businesses need to flourish, and this is so much more than property, it鈥檚 about a enabling a connected community. Our marketing will be told through our people鈥檚 eyes.鈥�
Lewis Ellis is the digital marketing project manager at One Media Agency and a former contestant of BBC鈥檚 The Apprentice. He said: 鈥淭echnology has helped define marketing. As you build out your demographics you have to consider every piece of technology they will use.
“For example the older generation are the fastest growing users of Facebook but Gen Z aren鈥檛 touching it anymore so you鈥檙e wasting your money if you鈥檙e throwing it on there to target 16-18 year-olds. Really your money would be better spent on 45-55 year-olds because it鈥檚 a growing market. It鈥檚 the same with sending direct mail. If you hit a millennial with direct mail we love it. If you hit a 45-55 year-old with direct mail it鈥檚 the opposite.鈥�
Noel Hamill is the chief commercial officer of revolutionary smart clothing brand Prevayl and has previously held senior marketing roles at Ladbrokes Coral and EE. He聽said: 鈥淚 think technology is changing people鈥檚 behaviour when it comes to marketing channels and how they engage with brands. Typically your first engagement with a brand will be your digital presence. That鈥檚 very important. At Prevayl聽 we鈥檙e trying to improve people鈥檚 lives through the use of wearable technology.鈥�
Joey Xoto is the co-founder at the world鈥檚 first and only 100 per cent automated video animation聽service Viddyoze. He said: 鈥淧eople鈥檚 level of attention is decreasing over time and that鈥檚 why every single platform and every new thing that is coming out is getting smaller and smaller.
“If you look at TikTok you鈥檙e getting 15 seconds to get your message across. With Instagram you鈥檝e got a maximum of 60 seconds. On Facebook we鈥檝e found anything over two minutes and you鈥檙e pretty much losing your audience. Our goal is to get the message across as fast as possible.鈥�
Claire Hextall, marketing director at accountants Cowgills said: 鈥淭echnology supports and enhances the traditional marketing strategy. For instance you鈥檙e still sending press releases to the media but you鈥檙e promoting it on social platforms to gain a wider audience.鈥�
Dawn Paine, co-founder of The Extraordinary Club and flexible marketing director at RedWigWam said: 鈥淭echnology is working hand-in-hand with the anthropology聽of marketing to create remarkable new experiences which must surprise and delight our end users.鈥�
Mark Blackhurst, co-founder and director at Digital NEXT: 鈥淭he presentation of analytics data is going to be a big thing in how you use these new technologies in presenting web results and data to the people who matter.鈥�