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At a time when everyone is wondering if ChatGPT will replace them at their jobs, it is important to stress the value addition of human intellect, when clubbed with tech. One such area is martech. It is the use of technology to optimise marketing campaigns. 

Martech usually works on the principle of gathering relevant data and market insights to ensure data-driven activities. However, this can lead to marketers blindly following data output and losing creativity in the sea of data available where everything is starting to be governed by click-through rates and final conversions.

It is very integral for everyone to understand the role of Martech as an important tool of marketing and not a substitute for marketers. It helps make the process more efficient, but cannot define or control the narrative one needs to build for a service or product. 

It gives you the insights but not the content built around those insights. This is where a marketer’s experience comes into play. After all, nothing compares with creativity and imagination when it comes to thinking of innovative ideas for brand building. 

This is how one can leverage martech without being over-influenced by data 

• Make it complementary: Creating a brand campaign in order to reach out to relevant target groups is always just the first step. What differentiates a campaign from a successful one is the insights showcasing reach and understanding how it performed on the ground. This is where the martech becomes important.  It helps brands and marketers with important information to understand what worked and what can be done differently. In today’s day and age, especially in a diverse country like ours, it is imperative to have an in-depth understanding of how TG consumes content. This helps in delivering one’s messaging right,  to make it more effective and heard. 

• Organic growth vs. paid marketing growth: Performance marketing is essential as it helps in chipping away the market share from the competitors, but real value creation happens when customers fall in love with a brand and come asking for it voluntarily. This is a true testimony to both the quality of product offerings as well as excellent brand awareness and recall. The revenues are always over-indexed for organic-led acquisitions vs. the paid ones which in turn results in better ROI in the long run. 

Performance marketing is pivotal to brand recall and an effective way to expand brand reach. It is excellent for targeting the right set of customers including converting the prospective ones, and the competitors’ customers. 

However, marketers must often go back to the basics to re-stress the objectives and KPIs of their paid and organic campaigns. Here are some elemental pillars to focus on:

• Brand Building: Building value and trust are paramount to the success of the brand, which can be achieved through insight-based marketing strategies and backing it up with enough media power on online and offline channels. It is important to define your long-term brand marketing vision and continue to invest in your brand both organically and through performance campaigns.

• Customer research: It is important to know and treat your customers as humans and not as statistics in a data set. It eventually serves to find out consumer insights, attitudinal shifts, behaviours and motivations through a well-conducted research process. However, how you use these insights is crucial – there is no one-size-fits-all approach here.

• Storytelling: While it is great to have witty one-liners as a part of your performance creatives, they are not enough to generate future market or business growth. Fresh ideas, insights and messages help customers fall in love with your story and brand, repeatedly. 

• Decisions based on instincts: At the end of the day, a marketer must follow their instincts to make key decisions, as it all comes down to the exclusive relationship between the marketer and the customer, which provides a unique perspective into the habits and patterns of the consumer. These decisions, backed by an industry-led approach usually prove to be a perfect mix for a successful campaign. 

Martech acts as a significant decision-making instrument that helps in figuring out the right channels, the right journeys, customer segments and programmes. One should use it effectively to yield the best results in maximising the marketing efforts and the overall value of the brand. It is very important to find a strong balance where the digital world is taking over the attention of our customers and ensure that martech is aiding marketers in their quest for higher gains.

Gunnidhi Singh Sareen is VP- Marketing, Head Digital Works.