Technology has always changed how marketing works. What is different today is the unprecedented rate of change in the both the development of marketing tools and the escalation of expectations for better experiences from customers. Yesterday at Oracle OpenWorld I presented the debut of what I call Marketing 5.0, the era of marketing in which marketing cloud technology and rich customer data are enabling brands to meet the expectations of today’s demanding consumers and business customers: Treat me like you know me and deliver highly relevant personalized experiences at every touch point.
Marketing 5.0 is both disruptive and additive to previous eras. The printing press (1.0) enabled a literate populace and eventually brought us marketing channels of newspapers, magazines and direct mail. Broadcast technologies of radio and television (2.0) enabled real-time communications on a mass scale, made new forms of news and entertainment possible and created environments for effective brand storytelling. PCs and the Internet (3.0) ushered in the digital age and enabled customers to search out information on their own terms and connect directly with brands’ content and commerce capabilities directly. Customer empowerment was significantly advanced by mobile technology and social media (4.0), which enabled anytime, anywhere access to valuable information including the opinions of friends and like-minded buyers. Now, marketing clouds (5.0) will begin to tie the engagement channels from previous eras into meaningful omni-channel experiences based on the uniqueness of individual customers.