• by Michael McLaren , Op-Ed Contributor, December 2, 2020

Last week’s column looked at cognitive computing, analytics, and brand protection. This week, we’ll look at how select marketing channels are faring with brand marketers and how the past year has put a premium on collaboration tools. 

“DoubleClick Search” saw a more significant uptick among brands last week after plateauing in mid-October. eMarketer found that two in five digital marketing dollars will go toward search advertising this year, underscoring the pandemic’s effect on ecommerce and digital transactions.

Search — historically a safe bet for marketers — allows advertisers to capitalize on intent in a very straightforward manner.

Providers like Google are innovating their platforms’ automation capabilities so that marketers can spend more effectively. And as we’ve seen in past articles, interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning has been a constant throughout the year. 

Lastly, Microsoft-owned “Yammer” saw an increase in intent among brands last week, as measured by Bombora.

The communications and collaboration platform acquired by Microsoft in 2012 underwent a revamp this year, positioning itself as a broader, top-down communications tool for businesses.

Yammer won’t compete with Microsoft’s other collaboration tools such as Teams and Skype, which focus on one-to-one or teams-based collaboration. Yammer can integrate with Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams, tools used widely across organizations forced to adopt remote working environments this year. 

Intent data for the “Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)” increased among brands around the time of the U.S. election, presumably related to the massive influx of robocalls targeting swing state voters, many of which propagated false information.

Under the TCPA, telemarketers must receive customer consent before placing a call, putting companies that fail to do so in hot water with regulators.

While telemarketing holds onto a shrinking piece of the ad-spend pie, the fine line between spam and legitimate marketing calls (not to mention the annoyance on behalf of consumers for both), may hurt the channel’s long-term vitality.