Why is Mailchimp advertising on TV?

I was watching a bit of TV the other day and saw an ad for Mailchimp. This was traditional TV, not a targeted ad. That same week, I heard an ad for Klaviyo on my favourite history podcast. As I listened to the well-learned host less-than-enthusiastically expound upon the importance of email personalisation, it struck me – aside from not being able to escape MarTech (even in my spare time), how and when had it become relevant to market an ESP on mainstream media channels?

Part of the answer probably lies in the fact that there are a lot of SMEs in the UK – 5.6M to be precise. Advertising business solutions with traditional media isn’t new, but until now, it was the land of accounting tools like QuickBooks and one-stop-shop web hosting platforms like Squarespace. The difference is that pretty much every single business needs some kind accounting and a web presence, irrespectively of their size or business model. The same cannot be said for marketing automation…or can it?

I did wonder…had multi-channel data marketing made it to the ‘must-have’ list for small businesses? Yes and no. For many SMEs at the beginning of their digital marketing journey, first-party data strategy and marketing automations probably aren’t top of mind (yet). However, engaging, empathetic and personalised content has become the expectation for customers of businesses big and small, and in order to achieve this, businesses need a better understanding of their customers. Ultimately, customers want to feel seen by the brands they love. As we all become more aware of the value exchange between customer data and service, it makes sense that digital and data marketing platforms are becoming more commonplace considerations for businesses of all sizes.

And if you’re a CRM marketer at an enterprise brand, what might this mean for you? Well, you might not be the target market for the aforementioned marketing platforms, but their ATL activity only supports the growing importance of first-party data. While the C-suite is undoubtedly more and more literate in the need for data-led customer strategy, perhaps the increasingly commonplace customer engagement conversation can help result in better visibility and budget for CRM teams.