Martech 2.0
iDarpan is the latest in a series of innovative marketing concepts that I’ve discussed over recent years. The overarching theme, which I refer to as Martech 2.0, challenges the current imbalance in ad budgets, which are predominantly allocated towards new customer acquisition. This practice often results in AdWaste and subsequent strain on brand profits. Martech 2.0 seeks to answer a constant query among marketers: “How can I reduce the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)?” The solution isn’t merely to optimise the ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) on prominent adtech platforms. Instead, it advocates a different approach – —concentrating on harnessing the spending power of existing customers.
Martech 2.0 revolves around increasing sales while reducing marketing costs, thereby enhancing profitability. It is about bringing back existing customers for more, and ensuring they get their friends. It is about laying the groundwork for exponential forever profitable growth, and eventually, a profipoly, by building remarkable products that function as profit generators, enabling brands to establish a competitive edge and ultimately, a profit monopoly (or ‘profipoly’).
Here is a summary of these concepts.
ProfitXL (PxL): The ultimate goal is to revolutionise the Profit & Loss statement by substantially increasing profits. This transformation utilises the SHUVAM framework, comprising Storytelling, Hotlines, Unistack, Velvet Rope Marketing, Acquisitions, and Metrics. It includes advancements like Email 2.0 (utilising AMP for interactive emails) and Loyalty 2.0 (providing Atomic Rewards – micro-incentives – for customer attention and data). Velvet Rope Marketing prioritises the top 20% of customers, who contribute to 60% of the revenue and can yield 200% of profits, acknowledging the long tail phenomenon’s inefficiency.
Inbox Commerce: Minimising the ‘funnel friction’ can be achieved by bringing conversion actions closer to the customer—directly in their inbox. Tactics such as Email Shops, Reactivation Sequences, and Engaging Footers can eradicate three profit pitfalls: a vast majority of email recipients not clicking through to the website, a large fraction of clickers not making a purchase, and a significant portion of email IDs in the database remaining disengaged.
Adtech-Style Martech: By adopting a performance pricing model, martech companies can rectify their past mistakes and benefit from unlimited budgets. This adjustment necessitates a ‘progency’ mindset, merging the product’s power with the creative approach of an agency. This strategy could significantly mitigate the $200 billion AdWaste faced by B2C/D2C companies, providing a sustainable profitable growth model for brands.
iDarpan: The focal point of this series, iDarpan leverages the concepts of mirror worlds, digital twins, and the technologies driving the Metaverse and Generative AI. It helps brands beautify every profit killing customer experience—delighting both the customer and the eCommerce manager. Central to iDarpan is the Large Customer Model (LCM), which predicts and navigates customers on their journey to satisfaction.
Martech 2.0 is about bringing these new ideas to fruition. As Peter Drucker once said, “There are only two things in a business that make money – innovation and marketing, everything else is cost.” Here is my adaptation: “There is only one thing in a business that makes a money machine – innovation in marketing.”
