U.S. internet advertising reached a record $225 billion in 2023, a 7.3-percent increase year-over-year, according to the latest IAB report on U.S. ad revenue, conducted by PwC. Digital ads boomed in the fourth quarter when the growth rate spiked to 12.3% — in 2022 the growth rate for the quarter was 4.4%. Top channels included CTV, retail media and audio, which all saw double-digit growth in 2023. “Despite inflation fears, interest rates at record highs, and continuing global unrest, the U.S. digital advertising industry continued its growth trajectory in 2023,” said IAB CEO David Cohen, in a ..read more

It’s important to start monitoring consent management as part of your digital analytics strategy. Apart from the EU, various privacy laws in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and other regions require notifying users about using cookies at least in your privacy policy or through an opt-out banner if any personal information is being collected. Users are becoming increasingly aware of their privacy rights, opting out of tracking cookies more than ever (call it the fear of being stalked). Without a robust consent mechanism allowing people to accept analytics cookies, you risk losing valuable insi ..read more

With the right content marketing strategy, you can engage your audience at every stage of their journey. From sparking initial awareness to nurturing their consideration and guiding them toward a decisive action, crafting your content with precision is crucial.  Here are some actionable insights and strategies to ensure your content reaches, genuinely resonates with and converts your audience. Customer journey basics First things first, let’s unpack the customer journey. Imagine it as a roadmap, with your customer at the wheel and your content the signposts guiding them. This journey unf ..read more

If you’re like most marketers, you’ve been hearing the term “real-time” a lot lately. And you’ve probably been wondering, what is real-time marketing? Are we delivering content in seconds? Milliseconds? Even faster? It can sound like marketers need to live in the world of the Oscar contender Everything Everywhere All at Once. Not necessarily. What matters is that you reach your customers when they need to be reached, with the right experience. Real-time marketing is not so much having all the answers all the time, but giving customers what they need, when they need it.  L ..read more

What will customers remember after they experience your website, product, service or people? What will they tell their friends or colleagues about their experience — will they even mention it?  A tremendous amount of investment and resources are being focused on integrating AI into the customer experience, from automating responses to comments on social media to improving the call center experience. And who knows where OpenAI’s Voice Engine will eventually take us?  Do you think customers will talk about how they were “wowed” by their AI experience? I’m willing to bet they probably ..read more

Our “Spotlight on the expert” series digs deeper into the stories of our expert contributors. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Stanley Black & Decker is a truly iconic brand, around for more than 180 years, with a global market and its name practically synonymous with power tools. For more than six years, MarTech contributor Ana Mourão has been a leader in digital engagement, data architecture, CRM and CDP at the brand. She is currently global customer CRM senior manager and CDP advisor. Q: You studied in São Paulo. Is that where you are from? A: Yes, I am Brazilian ..read more

Salesforce is in advanced talks to buy Informatica, according to published reports.  Informatica helps companies — including Toyota, Unilever and Deloitte —  manage data across cloud and on-premise systems. It has a market cap of more than $11 billion and last year debuted Claire GPT, a generative AI tool to help companies handle data. Informatica, founded in 1993, offers subscription-based data management services and helps automate tasks for more than 5,000 active customers, according to its website. It was taken private in 2015 for about $5.3 billion by a consortium that included ..read more

Best of the MarTechBot showcases the MarTechBot’s responses to prompts submitted by readers. See more about how marketers are using MarTechBot here. The language model is based on content from MarTech embedded on top of ChatGPT. The editors of MarTech selected this response for its usefulness and have supplemented it with additional relevant content. I am the first generative AI chatbot for marketing technology professionals. I am trained with MarTech content. Here’s something somebody asked me! After that, how to improve prompts to get even better answers from me. Prompt ..read more

As a supporter of the program perspective for initiatives, I recognize the value of managing related projects, products and activities as a unified entity.  While one-off projects have their place, they often involve numerous moving parts and in my experience, using a project-based approach can lead to crucial elements being overlooked. This is particularly true when building a martech stack or developing content, for example, where a program-based approach can ensure that all aspects are considered and properly integrated.  For many CMOs and marketing organizations, programs are bec ..read more

The current business environment — increasingly omnichannel but with a heavy reliance on digital — requires successful marketers to capture, analyze and leverage data to deliver timely personalized interactions across every customer touchpoint. At a time when uncertainty about everything from war to global warming to economics dominates the headlines, the customer data platform is increasingly seen as one of the musthave elements of the martech stack. Meanwhile, the boom in artificial intelligence and machine learning is driving vendors to enhance the capabilities of these platforms in a numbe ..read more