Whether it’s the inherent fresh feeling of a new year or the strategic marketing of homegoods sales in January coupled with the brilliant release timing of a Netflix show that turns tidying into a litmus test for joy, each new year comes with new resolutions to clean up. Marketers are no exception.
Indeed, when discussing predictions for marketing in 2019, one theme kept popping up: marketers are looking to declutter.
Whether it’s the number of partners they work with, logins they deal with, or something else, marketers are looking to simplify their daily activities so that they can better focus on what matters: exploring new strategies & capabilities to drive real growth in 2019.
As noted by AUDIENCEX CEO Reeve Benaron, “The digital media landscape has become too complex. 2019 is about simplifying solutions so that everyday advertisers can feel comfortable discussing strategy.”
So what does that mean, exactly? Reeve continues:
“In 2019, expect to see more marketers reducing the number of vendors in their supply chain. Marketers turning to one-stop solutions are simplifying their processes and enjoying closer communication between the various digital channels they employ, which in turn supports better scalability & adaptability.”
At first blush, this may seem at odds with data suggesting that marketers are increasingly looking to test new channels. Fortunately for marketers, this isn’t the case, though the desire for efficiency will likely shape where and how tests are run in 2019.
While advertisers will continue to explore new inventory sources for reaching their audiences, they’ll likely conduct these tests with already proven partners.
Granted, part of this shift is due to increasing marketer needs to have trust & transparency with their vendors. Nevertheless, another driving force in this shift is due to their increasingly hectic workloads.
The desire to run extensive tests without creating team exhaustion will bode well for platforms and providers that are ready for the challenge.
In the pursuit of daily operational efficiency, there is a desire to consolidate the number of logins a buyer needs throughout the day. As such, platforms that can offer most, if not all, of what a buyer needs in a day without sacrificing core capabilities will see the most testing and exploration in 2019.
For marketers, finding the ideal tech stack mix that streamlines their list of vendors without sacrificing functionality or hindering exploration is no easy task. Indeed, according to a recent survey, only 19% of marketers are satisfied with their current martech solutions. Yet, only 22% are adding new tools on a monthly basis, suggesting an overwhelming hesitancy to add potentially unneeded complexity.
As marketers seek exploration without exhaustion, so providers must seek their own goal for 2019: make campaign testing easier and more accessible.
Not sure where to get started with your own testing? We’d love to help. AUDIENCEX has run thousands of high-performance campaigns for marketers and agencies around the world. We love A/B testing! Contact us to connect with one of our campaign strategists today.