AI-driven marketing is transforming everything: Peeyush Dubey, CMO, Tech Mahindra

Peeyush Dubey is the Chief Marketing Officer at Tech Mahindra and leads the global marketing charter for the company. He has nearly 25 years of experience in marketing communications, digital marketing, and B2B marketing, and is passionate about enhancing stakeholder confidence in the brand and reducing friction to sales.

Excerpts:

In your new role as Chief Marketing Officer at Tech Mahindra, what are your plans for the company?

Over the last few weeks, my meetings with various leadership teams at Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Group have helped me develop a deeper appreciation of our unique strengths. Tech Mahindra is one of the best-known brands in the industry, and my primary focus will be to align marketing strategies with the company's long-term vision to be the undisputed leader in technology-led transformation. To this end, we will leverage innovative approaches to enhance our brand presence and drive growth from new and existing clients.

One of my key priorities is to give heightened emphasis to customer engagement and experience. We will prioritize understanding the changing needs of our customers to tailor our offerings and communications. This includes investing in account-based marketing initiatives, leveraging data analytics and AI-driven technologies to deliver tailored experiences across various touchpoints.

Another crucial aspect is to build a strong MarTech (marketing technologies) stack. We will revamp our owned, earned, paid, and shared marketing strategies to amplify our online visibility and engagement.

Finally, I envision fostering a culture of innovation within our marketing team, encouraging creative thinking, embracing emerging technologies, and promoting collaboration across departments.

We are formulating these plans under a robust framework I call the 'Banyan Tree Marketing Model', which aims at ensuring that our marketing efforts are synergistic with our overall business objectives.

How do you think marketing has evolved in the IT sector and what are some of the focus areas at the top of your priority list?

Marketing in the information technology sector has undergone a profound transformation driven by rapid technological advancements and changing customer expectations. One notable shift is the transition from traditional outbound marketing to a more customer-centric, inbound approach. Customers are more empowered than ever, conducting extensive research before making purchase decisions. As a result, our focus has shifted toward building credibility through thought-provoking content and powering relationships through personalized interactions across multiple digital channels. Keeping these changes in mind, the top priority areas on our agenda are:

- AI-driven marketing: We will invest in AI technologies to optimize marketing efforts, automate processes, and deliver more personalized experiences.
- Immersive experiences: We will leverage our research and development arm, Makers Lab to develop compelling experiences that educate, engage, and resonate with our audience.
- Strategic partnerships: We will activate multi-channel campaigns for our flagship programs like Global Chess League to expand our reach and access new markets and customer segments.
- Winning large deals: We will position Tech Mahindra as the ideal partner for high-value, large deals that drive substantial growth.

What are the new marketing trends that in your opinion are going to be the focus in 2024?

As we progress through 2024, several impactful trends are poised to reshape the way businesses engage with their audiences. These trends reflect the evolving consumer behaviors, technological advancements, and the dynamic nature of tech marketing. Some of the trends that I see as critical are:

1. AI-Driven Marketing: AI is increasingly integral in marketing strategies. Beyond the chatbots, AI-powered analytics and tools will enable marketers to gather deeper insights into consumer behavior, personalize content at scale, enhance customer experiences, and optimize marketing campaigns.
2. Dominance of videos: With attention spans getting shorter than ever, short-form videos will make deeper inroads in technology marketing as well. Companies will create engaging, snackable content to tell their brand story in seconds. Another important video trend is live streaming, which helps connect with the audience in real-time and foster loyalty. Be it Q&A sessions, product demos, or behind-the-scenes glimpses into company culture.
3. Hyper-personalization: This involves leveraging data to create highly individualized interactions, tailor-made recommendations, and customized content that resonate with each consumer's preferences, behavior, and context.
4. Purpose-driven marketing: Today’s customers not only look at what they are buying, but also who they are buying from. They will continue to support brands that demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
5. New content formats: Interactive formats like AR/VR experiences, quizzes, polls, etc. are emerging. They will engage the audience more deeply, fostering higher levels of interaction and participation.
6. Influencer marketing is gaining ground in B2B marketing as well. Beyond mere endorsements, tech brands will collaborate with micro-influencers, focusing on authenticity and niche audiences.
7. Data privacy and Ethical marketing: With increasing concerns about data privacy, marketers will prioritize transparent data practices, ensuring compliance with regulations, and ensuring ethical use of consumer data to build trust with their audiences.

AI and other emerging technologies are becoming an important factor in communications, how do you think these emerging technologies will impact the marketing arena?

During the last 25 years, I have witnessed multiple cycles of disruption in the way we market to our audience. AI-driven marketing is one of the most disruptive of them all. What started with AI-powered copywriting is already transforming everything from audience targeting to content creation, campaign optimization, and customer support. It enables deeper personalization, predictive analytics, automation, and the creation of immersive experiences. I am closely monitoring the developments around multi-modal LLMs and platforms, which are revolutionizing marketing by converting ideas to videos in minutes. With AI, marketers can create hyper-targeted advertising campaigns that reach the right audience at the right time, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of their advertising efforts.