Even if it seems over-hyped, digital transformation has reached the tipping point, says Tom Stein

There is so much

talk about digital transformation

that the term can feel over-used and over-hyped. But ‘DX’ is anything but. In fact, the IDG projects that spending on digital transformation technologies will reach $2.1 trillion by 2021.

The reasons are clear enough. Organisations are embracing emerging digital technologies to seek out efficiencies. AI, the IoT, machine learning and big data are among the new systems powering this digital revolution.

Digital transformation has reached its tipping point – the point at which digital transformation has become synonymous with business transformation.

But there is an attendant digital transformation underway: digital marketing transformation. You may think digital marketing transformation has already come and gone. After all, every marketer has a digital marketing strategy and track record.

Yet today’s marketers are looking at digital in a more fundamental and foundational way. They’re seeking stronger results, measurable ROI, and greater efficiency and scalability. They are endeavouring to connect with the customer experience. And, they are turning to digital marketing technology to do so. Little wonder then, that brands in the UK and North America

increased their martech budgets by 44% over the past year to $52 billion

.

Tipping point: from martech to digital marketing transformation

Instead of adopting digital tools or adding digital approaches to the mix, marketers are transforming their go-to-market approaches, their organisations and their processes to be fully digital.

Marketers are now starting to seek agency support to connect all the dots necessary to digital marketing’s transformation. They must connect strategy, creativity, content and technologies. Integrated competencies are now essential and agencies must not only reflect that but deliver it reliably and at scale.

The shape of things to come: the post-modern B2B marketing agency

This is nothing new to Stein IAS. We’ve operationalised our ability to help brands transition through the digital- and tech-enabled landscape of the past 20 years. Along the way, we’ve fused modern marketing technologies with bold, institutive and emotionally-driven creative and content experiences that hark back to marketing’s pre-modern

Mad Men 

roots. As the post-modern B2B marketing agency, we provide consultative and activation support to connect each dot in digital marketing’s transformation.

To further help brands transform, Stein IAS also has developed a pioneering digital marketing transformation framework (DMTF) designed to calibrate the power of digital strategy and technology at the marketing function and GTM activation levels.

Suffice to say, digital marketing transformation is a journey. It can only be achieved if a staged roadmap is defined and aligned against the business strategy and marketing maturity. Agencies must meet this need and opportunity – and re-shape their operations accordingly.