Can partner networks help B2B tech brands drive more impact? Alexander Bachmann, CEO of Mitgo weighs in:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Alexander, take us through the story of Mitgo and how the platform/services are now positioned?

Mitgo is a dynamic global tech company, bringing together diverse business units under one umbrella. Our passion lies in delivering innovative solutions and fostering entrepreneurship. We focus primarily on MarTech and AdTech domains, with around 70-80% of our products dedicated to performance marketing.

Our offerings include cutting-edge solutions like the Admitad partner network, TakeAds native advertising platform, FairSavings coupon and voucher advertising, ConvertSocial influencer marketing platform, Tapfiliate affiliate and referral tracking software, and Univibes education and vocational training network.

As a versatile platform, we empower businesses with the tools and strategies for optimal marketing performance and tangible results. We also function as a venture builder, supporting startups and individual entrepreneurs, and operate as an investor network for promising IT projects. Headquartered in Germany, Mitgo boasts a dedicated team of over 700 specialists spread across 10+ offices worldwide, including the USA, Europe, Brazil, the UAE, and India.

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When it comes to publisher and partner networks, how do you see today’s businesses use these models to boost brand growth?

Today, businesses use publisher and partner networks, particularly through affiliate marketing and referral programs, to boost brand growth. These models offer a stable and measurable approach to customer acquisition. Unlike uncertain advertising channels like Facebook, affiliate marketing allows businesses to estimate their expenses and potential revenue.

However, it may not scale quickly and requires time to build strong partner relations. Typically, companies don’t rely solely on this channel, but it contributes to about 10-15% of their sales on average. Overall, these models serve as valuable customer acquisition channels for brands.

How can digital and online businesses rethink how they use their partner networks to capitalize on relevant reach / audiences?

First, it is crucial to segment your affiliate program with current trends in mind. The landscape has evolved, and we now have various affiliate categories, such as cashback sites, coupon sites, and content sites. Segmenting affiliates and their respective terms can yield significant benefits. Influencers nowadays prefer promo codes over links, as platforms like Instagram or TikTok require more engaging methods to generate revenue.

Secondly, a thorough reevaluation of integration methods is necessary, especially considering data privacy regulations like GDPR, the ongoing struggle for cookieless solutions, and Apple’s iOS initiatives against third-party cookies. Finding innovative ways to track the origin of customers and attributing them to specific partners becomes paramount.

Rethinking payment structures for sales made through mobile applications is essential, as many advertisers are currently hesitant to compensate for such transactions on affiliate marketplaces. They often assume that they don’t need to pay for mobile app-driven sales, but it is imperative to create technical solutions that enable accurate tracking and remuneration in such cases.

The prevalent trend of transitioning from desktop to mobile usage has posed challenges for businesses. A significant portion of sales remains hidden when users switch to mobile apps to make purchases. Consequently, certain business models, like loyalty cashback programs, face challenges in providing satisfactory rewards, as the lack of visibility impedes fair sharing of benefits with users. In light of these developments, advertisers and companies must adopt innovative technologies to track sales on their websites and invest in robust tracking methods for mobile apps.

By staying attuned to the latest trends, rethinking integration methods, and embracing cutting-edge technologies, businesses can optimize their affiliate programs and ensure sustainable growth in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Closer home, at Mitgo: how are you seeing recent trends in martech and adtech reshape the digital marketing / digital advertising ecosystem?

Our innovation centers around a data-free approach known as “cookieless.” We’ve made significant progress in integrating GPT chat into tech support, saving time and improving efficiency in handling certain issues and interacting with new customers. This advancement has allowed us to operate at ten times the speed and collect valuable information, greatly increasing our capabilities.

Despite initial concerns about job displacement, we’ve found that these technologies empower employees to process data more efficiently, particularly in IT and development roles. Even in my personal experience, I’ve found GPT chat helpful for writing emails and other tasks.

Looking ahead, our goal is to create promotional materials on the fly, based on the content of websites, with little information about the user aside from the page they are currently on and its contents—text, images, and videos. The potential to tailor ads precisely to the user’s context excites us, providing an ideal advertising experience. While there are some challenges to overcome, such as rendering speed, we firmly believe that we will eventually reach a format where repetitive banner ads will become a thing of the past. Instead, users will encounter advertising material that feels custom-made for them, blurring the line between content and ads.

What type of martech and adtech features will become more prominent in this space in your view in the near-future?

In the past, we invested in a startup that created similar advertising formats for companies, though not as advanced as the ones available now. The future will undoubtedly focus more on user recognition analytics, especially considering the trend of reducing the amount of data we have about users. Companies are likely to develop enhanced analytical tools to compensate for this data limitation. Google has already released a system that constructs a user profile based on certain parameters, enabling identification with a certain level of probability. As these analytical capabilities expand, we can expect to see more contextualized ad formats. Additionally, there will be a heightened emphasis on user retention within services. This trend has been evolving for the past two years. With the increasing availability of analytics, companies are prioritizing user retention over mere engagement. The goal is to build lasting relationships with users, ensuring their continued satisfaction with the services provided.

This shift towards more sophisticated analytics and personalized experiences is an exciting prospect, and it is likely to reshape the landscape of digital advertising in the years to come. As technologies continue to advance, users can anticipate advertisements that align seamlessly with their preferences and needs, fostering a more meaningful and relevant online experience.

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If you had to share three thoughts about the state of martech in 2030, what would it be?

1. The industry is rapidly progressing towards a state where the line between content and advertising will become increasingly blurred, making it challenging to discern one from the other without explicit labeling.
2. All advertising endeavors are becoming highly traceable. This means that we will gain a comprehensive understanding of the entities responsible for these ads. In the past, the focus was on simply labeling the content as advertising, but in the near future, we will be able to identify the specific advertisers and beneficiaries behind each promotion.
3. A noteworthy trend that accompanies this development is the growing emphasis on privacy and the desire for a cookie-free online experience. This shifting landscape will inevitably lead to a significant transformation in performance marketing, prompting the adoption of alternative tracking methods to meet the changing demands of consumers.