Leveraging customer data is not just about serving the right message, to the right customer, at the right time on the right channel. You need a customer-centric communication strategy driven by behavior and data. As a starting point, Gartner* looked at trends currently shaping the market:

• There is a HUGE pandemic-driven digital transformation underway: COVID-19 has compelled organizations to shift operations overnight to support work-from-home mandates and replace in-person events. As such, the pandemic has served as an accelerant for shifting from traditional to digital channels. 
• There is a constant struggle for marketers to deliver personalized experiences and measure their impact: Both challenges have increased in their perceived severity over the past two years. Many digital marketers are not getting the most of their accessible data, available content, and existing talent & technology.
• Data-driven strategies are moving from big data to “rich data,” oriented approaches that are actionable in a privacy-compliant fashion: Marketers are aiming to deliver more relevant communications while simultaneously maintaining a data security and privacy compliance regime that exceeds current regulatory requirements. 

So, how do you as a marketer respond to these trends and evolving challenges?

A multichannel marketing hub (MMH) is the foundational piece; If you’re not leveraging an MMH, delivering relevant experiences and guiding your customers through their lifecycle, you’re missing out. The core capabilities of an MMH include: 

• Customer profile management, segmentation, campaign creation; execution and workflow.
• Supporting personalization, content management and event triggering.
• Support for campaigns rolled out via multiple channels like email; mobile; web; social; direct mail; programmatic advertising.
• Learn more about them by asking about their interests (i.e. interactive emails, linking to preference centres, etc.)
• Advanced analytics functionalities include predictive analytics and customer journey analytics:
• Predictive analytics — The ability to predict customer behavior, tweaking optimal campaign performance by adjusting parameters such as timing, content, or channel.
• Customer journey analytics — The ability to track and analyze the way customers and prospects use a combination of available channels to interact with an organization over time

If your MarTech isn’t supporting your marketing goals or empowering you to address these evolving expectations of highly-personalized customer experiences, let’s chat!