Generation Shift – 1
We are seeing the emergence of Web3. As FreeCodeCamp explains:
Web 1.0 was the first iteration of the web. Most participants were consumers of content, and the creators were typically developers who build websites that contained information served up mainly in text or image format. Web 1.0 lasted approximately from 1991 to 2004.
Most of us have primarily experienced the web in its current form, commonly referred to as web2. You can think of web2 as the interactive and social web. In the web2 world, you don’t have to be a developer to participate in the creation process. Many apps are built in a way that easily allows anyone to be a creator.
Web3 has decentralization at its core. [It] enhances the internet as we know it today with a few other added characteristics. Web3 is verifiable, trustless, self-governing, permissionless, distributed and robust, stateful, [and has] native built-in payments. In web3, developers don’t usually build and deploy applications that run on a single server or that store their data in a single database (usually hosted on and managed by a single cloud provider).
Similarly, we are seeing the emergence of Martech 2.0. The first 20-25 years of the Internet were about Adtech – as consumers came online, they left a digital trail which businesses could use to target them via intermediaries like Google and Facebook. Then came the first generation of Martech, which helped companies build relationships with their existing customers to drive transactions. We will now see the second generation of Martech, where the focus will be on the upstream of transactions – attention, engagement and habits – to create hooked customers.
Here are some additional transformations between Martech 1.0 and Martech 2.0:
Purchase-centric to Complete Lifecycle: Martech 1.0 is about driving towards the transaction. All messages are in the “see this / buy this” mode. Martech 2.0 goes beyond that to consider pre-purchase, post-purchase and the journey beyond. It will be about creating mental availability for the brands – informative content which becomes a utility in the recipient’s life. Martech 1.0 messages felt like spam that one wanted to delete; Martech 2.0 will offer moments that will delight.
One-offs to Retention and Subscriptions: Martech 2.0 will shift the focus from discrete transactions to driving subscriptions, thus reducing the need to persuade each time a desire needs to be fulfilled. This is what creates the “forever transaction”, thus focusing not on the short-term but the long-term.
Reacquisition to Reactivation: In Martech 1.0, customers who became dormant or inactive ended up being reacquired via the ad platforms. In Martech 2.0, the focus will be on reactivation at a fraction of the cost.
Any New Acquisition to Referrals: In Martech 2.0, the focus will be targeted acquisition by driving referrals, especially from Best customers. This brings down the cost of new acquisition sharply.
