In this opinion piece, Campaign Monitor chief marketing officer Andrea Wildt explores her predictions for Australia’s MarTech sphere in 2017.

Last year was a year of huge leaps in marketing technology that defined trends within the industry. Developments like Adobe’s Cross-Device Cooperative and Oracle’s partnership with Drawbridge made it possible for marketers to see when a consumer is associated with multiple linked devices.

On the flip side, we saw that new insights create added responsibility for marketers, with the Deloitte Australian Privacy Index finding that consumers trust organisations that use their information reliably and respectfully. Forever connected and always-on, at the close of 2016, Australians were easier to reach but tougher to influence.

With this knowledge, 2017 will be a ‘coming of age’ year for the marketing sphere. Having gained an understanding of consumer behaviour and the real value of the data embedded in businesses and devices, marketers will now look to streamline offerings and take advantage of this new environment.

Email will become a trusted source of information for customers

In light of recent issues surrounding ‘fake news’, readers are becoming more aware, and sometimes skeptical, of the sources they digest. As such, content from trusted sources will become even more impactful, and email ensures a direct connection from source to reader, building this rapport.

Newsletters like The Skimm are proving that email has the potential to deliver personalised content in a humanised style and tone. In 2017, we expect to see more brands treating email as its own unique channel, especially with advanced features like integrated surveys and GIFs.

BuzzFeed is also taking up the trend of personalisation, sending email “challenges” to readers with new fitness activities, reminding them to change up their workouts every week.

Marketers will need new tools to make sense of customer data

In 2017, marketers will need to integrate behavioral data into their marketing strategies. The internet is available at all times in our lives – on the bus, at home, even while we’re flying at 40,000 feet in the air. Marketers are therefore privy to consumer behaviour, with insight on sites visited, apps downloaded, or games played.

Insight on this information allows marketers to segment and target their customers by their preferences, allowing use of tactics like personalisation and relevant content to deliver the right message at precisely the right time — on multiple devices. Beacons will play a large part in delivering  such specific data to marketers and also providing information to consumers, with helpful, relevant content delivered in real-time. Taking advantage of such technologies will result in significantly increased consumer engagement for adept marketers.

Single-vendor marketing clouds will need to be flexible

2016 saw a significant rise in presence of small business marketing software companies, with solutions tailored to fit specific industries. Marketers are always looking for the best technology tools, that fit their team’s needs and result in the highest return on investment. To this end, a single-vendor marketing cloud might not always be the best fit.

In 2017, single-vendor marketing clouds will need to be flexible to survive — especially when it comes to integrations with specialist tools. Marketers want flexibility to use their favorite technology, without worrying about data being siloed on different platforms.

Throughout this year we will see a maturing marketing industry flex to fit the technology era. The change has already occurred and it is now time for marketers to realise the amazing opportunities that lie within.