Press release: Trends in digital marketing: 2021 will be the year of clear recommendations for action through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The tension between data hype and data protection requires marketing data strategy – management approaches become agile – AI automates marketing.

Zurich and Berlin, November 11, 2020 – SaaS start-up nexoya presents the most important trends for digital marketing based on its experience in marketing analytics:

1. Personalized data is the key to a successful user experience. However, with the ePrivacy Regulation (ePVO), trend-setting changes are imminent, for example in the use of cookies. And so marketing will have to deal intensively with consent and preference management. Marketing managers should therefore develop a data strategy at an early stage.
2. The market and consumers are behaving more and more dynamically. Rigid marketing plans and budgets valid for the whole year have had their day. Many marketing teams will switch to an agile mode. Thus, the shift to an agile form of collaboration is on the agenda.
3. marketing managers will address the topic of automation based on artificial intelligence. After all, digital marketing has long been able to draw on more than analyses and forecasts to optimize campaigns and budgets: 2021 will be the year of clear recommendations for action based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The use of AI must go hand in hand with data protection and transparency.

Trend 1: Data strategy for consent and preference management

Data is becoming increasingly important. Only they make it possible to address people in a personalized way. According to Gartner, 90 percent of online advertisers want to use marketing personalization. Personalization is a prerequisite for a compelling user experience – and in marketing, this is considered the key to success. But marketers will find themselves in a discrepancy as their options for action arise in the tension between data hype and the discussion about more data protection. Trend-setting changes are imminent: What began with the DSGVO is to be supplemented by the ePrivacy Regulation specifically for the handling of cookies. Affected, for example, is the storage of personal data or the tracking of online behavior. According to Smart HQ, 86 percent of consumers say they are concerned about the protection of their data. Against this background, marketing departments will pay much more attention to consent and preference management. The topic of ethics in handling customer data is also on the agenda in 2021.

“We recommend that marketers develop a marketing data strategy for their company early on. How does the brand as a whole want to position itself with data ethics and privacy in mind? For example, we can imagine a significant number of companies moving to fully anonymized data processing and building a unique selling proposition – as Apple, for example, has been doing recently. Companies can focus on responsible and transparent data processing by disclosing to customers where they use what data. This can become a trend that is increasingly relevant to end customers,” says Manuel Dietrich, co-founder and CEO of the startup nexoya. Based on machine learning, the SaaS platform “nexoya Marketing Analytics” optimizes multi-channel marketing campaigns.

Trend 2: Agile management strategy for continuous optimization

Marketing budgets and plans that are set in stone for the entire year have had their day. Market conditions and consumer behavior are changing faster and faster, and competition in digital marketing is getting stronger. As a result, marketing teams are realigning their channels at ever shorter intervals, adjusting plans flexibly and reallocating budgets sometimes on a weekly basis. So planning, managing and optimizing marketing channels is becoming more agile: Many marketers will switch to an agile mode where they constantly question, update, and reconcile metrics.

“At nexoya, we are seeing more and more clients questioning their strict always-on or flight campaigns and rather moving to agile and shorter planning cycles. Here, campaigns run in waves for one to two quarters, are constantly evaluated, measured and adjusted. Each wave is followed by a site assessment – what worked, what didn’t and how do we want to optimize the next wave,” explains Manuel Dietrich.

Continuous optimization with an agile management approach is thus another key issue that marketing should address in the coming year. Those who develop an agile marketing management strategy also face the question of how to manage teams and agencies in an agile way and how to adapt their budgets to the new way of working. For more on this topic, watch the webinar recording: “Agile Management for Your Marketing Team“.

Trend 3: Artificial intelligence automates marketing

Artificial intelligence will fundamentally change marketing.Already, 60 percent of companies rely on AI for day-to-day decision making. And in 37 percent of marketing teams, AI algorithms are already facilitating daily work – from content generation to intelligent search. According to Gartner’s calculations, that’s a 270 percent increase over the past four years.
“In 2021, we believe that many marketing departments will take the decisive step away from Prediciton, i.e. predictions, to Prescription, i.e. clear recommendations for action from an AI-based automation,” says Manuel Dietrich. AI-based automation enables marketing teams to optimize cross-channel campaigns: AI aggregates and processes large amounts of data from different channels and uncovers insights and correlations that improve return-on-investment. Using AI-based predictions, the algorithm calculates the optimal targeting of individual budgets. “In this way, campaigns can be continuously optimized and costs reduced by up to 30 percent,” according to the nexoya co-founder’s experience.
Unlike simple automation of processes, AI algorithms learn about different patterns and continuously improve their results. Marketers can prepare for this change by answering the following questions for their department or team early on: What can my team usefully automate in work processes with the help of AI? And where can we achieve a real return on advertising spend (ROAS) with AI within a short period of time?

AI and data protection are not contradictory

Marketers who use automation based on AI and machine learning do not necessarily come into conflict with the ePrivacy Regulation. When selecting a provider, it is crucial to ensure that only non-personalized data is collected and processed. For personalized and not fully anonymized analysis, companies must rely on marketing analytics providers that do not store customer data.

“This is the case, for example, with our ‘nexoya Marketing Analytics’ solution. We optimize marketing campaigns based on machine learning and artificial intelligence. To do this, we only use non-personalized data that is located in certified Swiss data centers,” explains Manuel Dietrich.

About nexoya
The startup Nexoya ltd with the headquarter in Zürich, is since 2018 developing a platform for automatic analysis for digital marketing of mid-to large size corporates – with high usability and high data privacy focus. On the basis of Machine Learning, the SaaS Platform “nexoya Marketing Analytics” optimizes multi-channel marketing campaigns. It aggregates all relevant metrics out of various channels such as google, instagram or facebook, allowing you to have well-arranged reporting and monitoring of your KPIs. On the basis of the gathered data and thanks to Artificial Intelligence (Predictive Analytics) nexoya optimizes your campaign budget thereafter. With that it helps Marketing teams to reduce their operational efforts, simplify automated data-driven decisions and reduce your ad-spend by up to 30%. Nexoya is only gathering non personalized data and is hosting strictly in certified datacenters in Switzerland. Customers are well-known businesses such as Emmi Group, Generali, CSS or the house agency. www.nexoya.com

Press contact
Sabrina Ortmann, nexoya
Phone: +49 (0)30 54909240
E-Mail: press@nexoya.com