Marketing Trends: Martech Stacks, Gamification, Apps vs. Websites, Breaking Down Silos

With so much happening so rapidly in this era of digital marketing, keep up with this mini-roundup of trends you might consider implementing at your brand.

3 Ways To Organize Your Martech Stack

A recent MarTech article offered advice on how to organize your martech stack – no small feat in a world of ever-increasing platforms and channels. Based on a review of this year’s entries in the “Stackie Awards,” the article focused on three different methods for getting a handle on all the technologies your brand uses in its marketing campaigns, examining the benefits of each approach:

1) By the customer journey

2) By technology category or subcategory

3) By internal organizational structure

The article concludes by noting: 1) there is no right or wrong way to categorize your martech stack, as each approach has its purpose and benefits; and 2) you don’t have to limit yourself to just one approach. Just the effort to organize or systematize your martech stack is bound to help you better understand and communicate your strategy and tactics across your company. One last piece of advice from the article: “The most important thing is to ensure you regularly audit and update your martech stack.”

Noodles & Co. Gamifies Mobile Rewards To Boost Loyalty

Gamification has really caught on in recent years, especially for training younger employees. Noodles & Co. is now applying gamification to engage its customers in an effort to increase their brand loyalty. An article on Marketing Dive last month reports that the company is gamifying the consumer experience on its app with rewards points, limited-time offers, and quick polls. In an email to Marketing Dive, Andrew Hagen, vice president of marketing at the brand, wrote, “There is a clear connection with the rewards strategy and our app development strategy as we see over 90% of app users enrolling in rewards today — with well over half of member purchases coming through our app.”

Survey: Many Shoppers Prefer Apps Over Websites

According to a study by NewStore, an “omnichannel-as-a-service” company, nearly 1 in 3 (31%) of consumers prefer mobile shopping apps to mobile websites and other channels. Ray Schultz, a columnist for MediaPost, summarized results from the study in an article last month. For example, some of the findings he highlighted include why respondents prefer apps over mobile websites: better/easier user experience, better promotions/discounts, access to exclusive products, better loyalty program, and better customer service. For more findings, click above to see the full article.

To Stop the CMO Revolving Door, Bring Brand and Performance Marketing Together

In a call for unity and collaboration between brand marketing and performance marketing, a recent Adweek article urged the two skill sets to merge their talents, strategies, and tactics to produce better all-around results. In an inspiring call to hasten the breakdown of these silos, Adam Edwards, SVP of digital strategy for Media.Monks, wrote: “The ones leading the demolition will build in its place this decade’s generation of breakout brands. They are the brand marketers who are reengineering creativity to be data-driven, and performance marketers who are able to power buyer insights, audience building, and creative guidance.” He emphasized making measurement a goal across marketing, while also raising fundamental questions about what to measure and how to measure it.

So How Is McDonald’s AI-Driven Drive-In Voice Ordering Tech Doing So Far?

Not as well as expected, according to an article on Mashed.com. Introduced at 10 stores in the Chicago area to mitigate the labor shortage, the test has expanded to 24 stores. However, citing articles from Restaurant Dive, QSR, and ZDnet, the article reports that the company was hoping for a 95% accuracy rate on orders, but is finding it closer to 80%. Other “hiccups” included customers not liking the experience of speaking to a robot voice; and one customer has filed a lawsuit over biometric privacy concerns (voice recognition and license plate scanning). The story also cited disgruntled franchisees having to pay a new technology fee for the system. So far, not so good, but the company will continue testing and working to improve the rollout. Robot voice: You want fries with your future?