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What are some interesting new technologies companies are using to market their brands?
For example, EyeTrackShop uses eye tracking to see where on a Web site consumers look most often. It's a way to see if consumers are paying attention to what brands want them to when they're on a Web site. There are also those billboards in Japan that can recognize a person's age, ethnicity and gender.
I'm also looking for expert commentary about where the trend is going with marketing technology.
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6 Answers
I believe that one of the most important trends in the market is the increasing participation of consumers/customers on social networks, and the 'big data' problem - and opportunity - it is creating for marketers who can effective analyze and act on that data. Traditionally marketers have focused on analyzing data that is 'theirs' - visitors to our website, callers to our call center. But social data lives on social networks - OUTSIDE the walls of the organization (and outside the data center) - it does not 'belong' to the company but the ability to analyze and act effectively on it is key.
As David Norris of Bloor Research just stated: "The killer app of big data is the detailed analysis of customer behaviour, and one of the richest sources of information about what people really think is to be found in social media, be that Twitter, Facebook or YouTube etc. When it comes to the analysis of such data, it is not enough to just have clever technology – you also need the skills that come from a deep knowledge and experience of analytics and data handling."
More here - http://www.terametric.com/blog/2011/09/the-killer-app-of-big-data/
Tools that track, analyze, and merge online and offline customer data will have the biggest payback for marketers.
Companies might know who shopped in their store and who shopped online, but few understand the links, drivers, and interdependencies of online and offline behavior.
At Conversion, we think the most interesting and useful new technologies are the analytic tools to help marketers understand and convert the search-enabled, multichannel customer. The real opportunity is to understand each customer’s path to purchase by bridging the data gap between online and offline consumer behaviour.
From survey research we know most consumers search, research, and compare prices online before making a purchase. Forrester says 70 percent of U.S. online consumers research products online, then buy them offline.
New technology from SAS for Customer Experience Analytics allows companies monitor and store web interactions and retroactively identify customers and match to transactions at any point they identify themselves. Other multichannel analytics solutions with fewer bells, whistles and dollar signs are also available.
So now marketers can see who browses online before they buy in-store, or before they buy somewhere else!
Learn more about Conversion at www.driveconversion.com
One of the more important technology trends for marketers is the proliferation of automation tools to increase and improve 1:1 relationships with customers and prospects, but in a more efficient and scalable way.
For example, marketing automation vendors such as Marketo, Eloqua and Loopfuse are making it easy to create and execute custom campaigns to unique customer and prospect segments, with automatic changes to campaign behavior for the individual based on their response, interaction with your Web site, etc.
When it comes to content marketing and social media, there are a bunch of great tools to make execution faster, easier and more successful. These include engagement platforms like HootSuite but also Timely.is for throttling Twitter content, TwitHawk for finding contextual and geo-targeted Twitter content, MediaPiston for crowdsourcing great content at a low price, etc.
We need to have exponentially more relationships with prospective customers well before they're ready to buy, and we have less and less time to do it. The tools that make that job easiest and most successful will be what drives successful marketing programs moving forward.
Marketing automation is key. So are tools that help marketers analyze the people within social networks and then reach those people. For example, mBlast has a tool that allows marketers and PR pros to monitor networks to see who the major influencers are and what they're writing about in order to build better relationships with bloggers and journalists.
Mobile Websites and Apps are a new technology marketing tool.
Pepsi has an app that tells you where the nearest place to buy a Pepsi is to where you are standing. They also use the app as a way to check in and get points you can exchange for Loot. (loyalty program)
Ever been in a really big store and couldn’t find something you are looking for? Meijer, a Michigan based retail store has a Findit mobile app so that shoppers can see the locations of more than 100,000 items in a retail super-center using their smart phones.
How about an app that maps shopping center stores so if you need to go to a store, you can find where it is and where in the mall it is, so you can park nearby. Try Point Inside app or Fastmall apps. The same app can tell you where the washrooms are, where the ATMs are. So you don’t have to walk around looking for a mall map or a service counter. Also where the deals are!
How about a real estate agent that posts a QR code on a for sale sign that provides someone driving by, information about the house, even a video walk through, without the agent needing to be there, and a text code to alert the agent that the prospect is interested in the house or a click to call button to get in touch with the agent right away.
For more examples see my blog post at http://wp.me/pB3CF-1fC
Here's a real interesting new technology that anyone can use - Voice for Twitter or Facebook. http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecrandell/2011/09/11/an-angel-brings-voic...
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