For the third year in a row, the ANA, in partnership with McKinsey & Company, surveyed a sample of its members to find out what the top industry disruptions were and whether they were finding ways to successfully overcome them. Results revealed not only that consumer desire for instant gratification was the most disruptive force last year, but that it was caused by the same thing marketers have been using to solve it: technology.
“When consumers are ordering T-shirts they can get the same day from Amazon and streaming movies instantaneously, they are expecting that kind of service in all parts of their lives,” says Brian Deffaa, Group Vice President of Marketing at SunTrust Mortgage. “Competitors have sprung up and stolen lots of share because they allow consumers to give instantaneous feedback on what they should do and how they should operate. If you can remove that friction, customers are more likely to come to you, especially when you’re selling a commodity.”
The challenge for brands is that for every new app, platform or measurement tool that emerges, a test-and-learn period follows and best practices are yet to be discovered. Marketers not only have to learn how to best use the technology at their disposal, they also have to decide which platforms to adopt to best connect with their audiences.
There is positive news for brands, though. In 2016, some marketers were better able to meet consumer expectations by taking ownership of their organization’s marketing technology strategy. Brands that invested in marketing technology yielded an average of 10 percent new revenue from their campaigns.