The past year was like none other in digital marketing. 

Offline customers logged in. The most stubbornly brick-and-mortar offices went remote. Our definitions of the possible and impossible shifted. 

How do we approach marketing in this brave new world? 

To help answer that question, we turned to Adobe’s annual Digital Trends Report. Always an important read for digital marketers, it was especially useful this year. Over 13,000 marketing professionals contributed to an insightful summary of how the pandemic “rewrote the rulebook” for businesses around the world.

Key Takeaways for IoT Marketers

Customers are more online and less loyal than ever. 

“Customers of all kinds were driven online at a rate that amounted to a jump of five to 10 years in projected adoption,” according to the report. 

That’s right. A decade of digital adoption happened in one year. 

More people are spending more time online than ever. For many companies, this has resulted in more digital customers than ever, too. 

You may think this was limited to B2C companies, but it wasn’t. 63% of B2C marketers reported unusual growth in digital customers, compared to 57% of B2B marketers. 

Manufacturing, which has traditionally been slower to adopt digital technology than other industries, also experienced the shift. 56% of manufacturing marketers reported unusual digital growth.

Sounds great, right? Yes and no. 

“The customer has more power in a digital relationship,” notes the report. When consumers got online last year, they met new brands. About a third of marketers say customers are less loyal than they were last year. 

A search for “IoT solutions” brings up over a quarter billion results. IoT marketers should see this for what it is: both an opportunity and a liability. Capitalize on additional digital traffic, but don’t forget to retain existing customers. 

More digital engagement means smarter marketing.

Amid an unprecedented growth in digital traffic, marketers have stepped up. 75% of senior executives surveyed said marketing had more of a say in strategy in 2021. 

One anonymous marketer explains why. “We were already slowly moving toward a more digital model and marketing leads in digital,” they told Adobe. “COVID-19 forced our traditional customers online and we had the data systems in place to learn what they want and how they behave. The executive committee is looking to marketing to be the voice of this 'new' customer." 

Businesses looking to their marketing departments to understand the influx of digital data points may be disappointed. 

After all, there are things marketers need to turn raw data into business intelligence. 

They need good, clean data. 28% of B2B marketers said their data quality was “poor.” 

They need the tools to access it. 38% said outdated technology held back their analysis. 

They need the time and space to analyze it. 37% reported “workflow issues.” 

IoT companies must invest in fixes to realize the full potential of digital marketing. 

Remote collaboration isn’t going anywhere. 

One of the biggest and most enduring changes brought on by the pandemic is remote work. In March of 2020, 28% of marketers reported working remotely at least one or two days per week. 80% expected to be working remotely in September. 

There will be winners and losers in the transition to remote marketing. The winners will build the infrastructure they need. The losers will drag their feet and miss opportunities. 

What does building that infrastructure actually look like? For one thing, training. Only 43% of organizations offer virtual training resources for digital marketers. 

Tools are also important. Platforms like Hubspot allow anyone within the organization to access key performance indicators. Without a unified collaborative platform, remote employees can get caught in tedious email exchanges about data storage.

Of course, remote collaboration is possible within and without the company. As companies adjust to a remote-first work environment, hiring outside marketing agencies and fractional marketing executives is on the rise. 

Our take

At ThreeTwelve, we’re excited to tackle the post-pandemic future of marketing. Ready to collaborate with us? Contact us and we’ll be in touch!