The connectivity between people, processes, and technologies allows marketers and creatives to perform their best and create incredibly meaningful experiences. But how? That’s what we decided to find out by talking with a range of professionals around the world about what’s behind true connectivity. Our team conducted and analyzed 32 phone interviews and 506 online surveys to generate the data.

The report explores how modern marketing organizations balance the power of technology with the familiarity of the human touch, and the role of connectivity in marketing operations, strategy, and business results. Among many findings, we discovered a significant gap between interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and understanding of that technology in marketing departments.

Which trends are marketing-driven organizations focused on in 2018? Inquiring minds want to know! If you said artificial intelligence, actionable data, customer experience, and building the right technology mix, you’re spot on. Connecting digital asset management (DAM) to these trends needs to be a priority for all marketing teams who want to maximize content value, create deeper emotional connections with their audiences, and improve the overall customer experience.

Katherine Knight is responsible not only for marketing but also for the love lives of hundreds of thousands of relationships all over the world. As director of marketing at Zoosk, a leading online global dating platform in over 80 countries, her work powers a platform that over 33 million people rely on to find true love. She oversees all of Zoosk’s digital marketing and advertising and uses the Widen Collective to house all of their creative assets.

Marketing Tech Talks originated at Widen as a way for our staff to learn from other marketers and marketing technologists. During Tech Talks, practitioners share their marketing strategy stories and how technology has played a role in them. The group also talks about common marketing problems and how people, process, and technology work together to create solutions.

Content is a powerful sales tool. 87% of buyers surveyed said that the solution provider they chose provided ample content to help them through each stage of the decision-making process (via DemandGen Report). Are your teams equipped to provide your buyers ample content throughout the decision-making process?

The word “connect” has taken on a range of meanings in recent years. And how could it not, given all the contexts where it’s used?

“Connect with us on Facebook.”
“We should connect our software platforms.”
“We have to make that one-to-one connection with customers.”

To make an impact for our organization, we look first to innovation. We look to introduce something novel, a new technology or a new process. Offering something new feels good. But is innovation the only way to make a positive impact?

Thus far in this series, we’ve talked about connectivity research findings, as well as connectivity and DAM. In the final part of the series, we’ll examine the following question: Where will connectivity go into the future?

From the perspective of our research, the future of connectivity entails more data, more authenticity — and more community. Marketers will have to find the right common ground between digital and human experience.

In Part 1 of this series, we shared our research findings around connectivity for marketers and creatives. Here, in Part 2, we’re going to reveal the relationship between connectivity and digital asset management (DAM) software. After all, DAM is what Widen is best known for!