MarTech – an amalgamation of marketing and technology – refers to tools and technologies to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, plan and execute marketing campaigns, and better engage with customers. MarTech tools and platforms operate in a broad range of areas including customer segmentation and targeting, customer communications strategy, and insight generation from vast quantities of customer, market, and competitor data.
According to the father of MarTech, Scott Brinker, “MarTech applies to major initiatives, efforts, and tools that harness technology to achieve marketing goals and objectives.” E-commerce brand aggregators understand this very well. To benefit the acquired brands, they leverage MarTech tools which make a brand’s life easier.
Let’s go on and explore some of these tools.
CRM Platforms to Build Customer-centric Brands
Modern-day e-commerce companies have negligible chances of surviving without reaching, engaging, and converting the right customers. And all of these activities require the ability to manage customer relationships at scale.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool is a crucial element of brand aggregators’ MarTech stacks because it enables them to get a 360° view of existing and potential customers. More importantly, this goldmine of customer information provides insights that allow aggregators to understand customer behaviors and preferences at every stage of their purchase journey. They can track and optimize every engagement at all stages of this journey and every touchpoint, whether it takes place through email, in-store visits, blog posts, or social media.
Further, CRM enables aggregators to segment customers to improve their communications and marketing personalization strategies. Through this insightful information, they can create a cohesive customer story to sharpen and personalize their e-commerce marketing strategy and enhance customer experiences.
Content Management Systems (CMS) to Educate Customers with Timely and Relevant Content
In 1996, Bill Gates said, “Content is king.” The importance of content for customer education, enlightenment, and engagement has only grown since the early days of the world wide web.
Quality content is at the heart of e-commerce marketing and brand differentiation. Customers visit a brand’s websites, blogs, and social media pages to get information about the brand and its products. CMS software enables content managers to create, edit, and publish such digital content quickly, at scale, and without having to code.
An intuitive and feature-rich CMS platform provides a systematic framework to create, organize, and deliver branded content. An organization can easily add new functionalities, plugins, and extensions to their website, implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive high website traffic, and improve the look and feel of their digital content with customizable templates and content blocks.
Overall, the right CMS platform empowers e-commerce aggregators to live up to the adage – content is king – and deliver high-quality content that customers expect and appreciate. This has a profoundly positive impact on their omnichannel journeys and experiences which then drive greater loyalty toward the e-commerce brand.
Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) to Enhance Customers’ Digital Experiences
A DXP is another must-have in the e-commerce aggregator’s MarTech stack since it enables them to deliver customized, coherent, and compelling user experiences to each customer. While a CMS platform can be part of a DXP; the best DXPs do a lot more than enhance their CMS. For example, they can help aggregators to create and deliver content to mobile apps, smart speakers, podcasts, and many other channels where their customers are “live” – which a CMS may not be able to do.
Some DXPs provide a web analytics feature to gather user behavior data and use it to increase conversions. Others allow for A/B and multivariate testing of content to discover the “best” content that’s most likely to resonate with subscribers.
A few DXP tools also include customer journey analytics (CJA) to understand customers’ paths toward purchase. Many brand aggregators use DXP platforms to connect and track customer data from all their digital operations to reach the right customer with the right content at the right time.
Digital Marketing Tools to Engage with Customers on Their Preferred Channels
Internet search engines and social media platforms are both crucial elements of the modern customer’s buying journey. Many e-commerce customers research brands on Google, look at online reviews and ratings and explore social media groups and pages to understand if a particular brand can meet their wants and needs. The digital-savvy brand aggregators who are sheerly customer-focused, know this and invest in social media and SEO tools as part of their MarTech strategy.
These tools enable them to enhance their digital presence and engage with their target audience on their (customers’) preferred channels. Social media platforms help inform and optimize their content strategy. Aggregators can plan and create content that matches what customers are looking for and select a publishing schedule aligned with the audience’s social media behaviors. They can also assess content performance and identify opportunities to improve their brand’s user interactions and customer engagement tactics.
SEO tools help aggregators define a strategy and execute a plan to rank their website on popular search engines. Many aggregators also leverage Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tools to improve their search performance, understand search trends, and optimize content to serve information that their customers are looking for.
Conclusion
This blog explores four tools that occupy pride of place in many brand aggregators’ MarTech toolkits. The right MarTech tools empower aggregators to connect with their audience and deliver personalized customer experiences that differentiate them from their competitors. But apart from CRM, CMS, DXPs, and social media and SEO/SEM tools, many aggregators also use email marketing platforms, customer data platforms, AdTech tools, and online reputation management tools to inform and hone their MarTech strategy.
Ergode is one of those aggregators that employ MarTech in its operation. Once we acquire the high-performing e-commerce brands, we infuse the MarTech stack, backed by AI-Powered tools to formulate real-time and effective strategies. In our 15 years of thriving, we have elevated dozens of D2C brands with different product niches. To know how we do it, contact us.
