Technology has reshaped marketing in ways that go far beyond new tools or channels. It has fundamentally changed how customers behave, how they expect to be spoken to, and how businesses must respond if they want to remain relevant.
For marketers, this has created both opportunity and pressure in equal measure, according to Kajsa Luca, director, international channel marketing at Federated Hermes Limited.
She notes that marketing has undergone a “seismic shift” over the past 10 years, driven by advances in technology, a more consolidated market and downward pressure on spending.
“As technology has become smarter, client expectations have accelerated, and only highly relevant and personalised information gets read,” she says.
This shift has made it increasingly difficult for businesses to cut through, with Lucas pointing to the growing challenge of standing out in a “sea of sameness”.
As a result, marketers are under pressure not just to communicate, but to ensure their messaging is genuinely distinctive and relevant.
At the same time, technology has opened the door to a wide range of new tools and platforms for marketers. However, Lucas cautions against being drawn in by novelty for its own sake.
“New and shiny tools are always tempting,” she says. “There is a deluge of AI-driven marketing innovation available, and no shortage of agencies eager to sell it to you.”
Instead, she stresses the importance of due diligence, recommending that marketers take time to understand how any new tool will deliver real value to the business. If they do experiment, she advises starting small rather than committing on a large scale too quickly.
Alongside these challenges, Lucas also highlights the benefits that digitisation has brought. In particular, she points to the increased availability of data as a major advantage for marketers.
“By tracking user journeys and product preferences, we can provide insight into the client’s mind, insights that were previously based largely on guesswork and arbitrary conversations,” she says.
These changes point to a more disciplined era of marketing, where technology amplifies both opportunity and scrutiny.
The challenge for marketers is no longer access to tools or data, but how thoughtfully they are used to create work that is genuinely relevant and meaningfully different.