Hmm, a single API for all-channel personalization? Sounds great. LiftIgniter offers one, and just raised a $6.4 million Series A to promote it. But they apparently use data only from whatever channel they are personalizing, instead of building a unified customer profile. That will limit their effectiveness.
Programmatic advertising in virtual reality on mobile apps: Immserv combines more hot technologies than an Ethiopian-Sichuan food truck. No wonder a dozen investors lined up for their $10.5 million Series A.
Since we’re looking at the sales process today, let’s finish with a study from the Content Marketing Institute about buyers’ content preferences. They most want information related to their specific needs and product/service specifications. Testimonials and case studies were less useful. Nearly all buyers start their research before talking to vendors.
Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.