Optimizing RoIthrough Marketing Technology

With our attention turning away from the traditional advertising domains of TV and print and towards our electronic devices, how can the marketing industry keep up? There's a clear need to create robust platforms which are able to communicate more intuitively (read strategies, if you will) to marketers, vendors, customers and other stakeholders. NASSCOM MarTech Confluence that NASSCOM initiated last year amidst much fan following, is an effort to address the marketing transformation as we spend more time on our mobile devices. It's an effort to discuss the challenge for brands to connect with customers through all these devices in real time and create campaigns that work across social media, display advertising and e-commerce. In its second year, the event has already captured CXO-mindshare, especially the CMOs & CDOs at that; including other ecosystem players in equal measure. Simply put, to miss it would be about missing an opportunity to experience these "stories" and distil myth from reality.

So how deep and wide is it likely to get?

The modern-day marketing department is all about ROI combined with powerful narratives to tap into people's needs. Keeping this in mind, the Summit's theme, "Marketing Technology: The Innovation that drives ROI" has been designed accordingly. Getting creative marketers to work alongside technical staff can be a huge challenge. Marketers need to update their skills in order to make the most of these fast-moving, and highly relevant campaigns through digital. They need to work closely with data specialists, web developers and social media professionals. The event this year will attempt to answer such pressing questions.

Marketing Technology is essentially an assistant and not a silver bullet - especially in times when there's a surfeit of choices. The array of tools available and the intense interplay of service providers, can be confusing even to seasoned campaigners. At all times, CMOs have to be mindful of the degree of customization that they seek, and the choice of technology will have to be made accordingly. A far cry from the one-size-fits-all approach, that they were wont to replicate in past.

Large conferences like this one, is an amalgam of rich and diverse thinking, most impressive success stories and a robust platform which can also be seen as a sounding board. For the 2nd edition of the Summit, at its core are these three resounding ideas which needs emphasis:

1. Customer is at the core of marketing strategy.

2. Investments in Marketing Technology should be well thought through, and not merely about keeping up with the Jones'.

3. Building a Marketing Technology Roadmap, based on the existent digital technologies and process maturity, with a focus on future growth plans.

Nuff said about the needs of CMOs and the like. At this juncture, it's also important to see things from the other side - the service provider's standpoint. Our usual connect mechanisms like keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, focussed networking, et al, will address some of the challenges that buyers (read CMOs / CDOs) face and constantly seek solutions.

Here's an opportunity for service vendors to get to the core, and have a deeper understanding of what buyers really want. Moreover, the participants would be from varied backgrounds - as diverse as technology, e-commerce, FMCG, aviation, Ad Agency among others. The single-minded focus of customer acquisition including retention, is the common binding factor but with very different perspectives. Options are being constantly weighed upon, but arguably, decision makers are often equipped with insufficient and imperfect information only.

What NASSCOM MarTech Confluence 2016 aims to achieve, is to create a strong platform for idea interchange which should aid superior decision making in future. Having done one successful edition which saw close to 300 participants, we are favourably placed to show you how the 4Ps and 5Cs of marketing have undergone a significant shift, because of digital. And, most importantly how some organisations have re-oriented themselves in accordance.