TLDR readers: Technology and big data disrupted marketing in case you missed it. Today, there is a Chief Marketing Technologist or CMT in most fortune 500 companies. Marketing and sales software packages are often sold together. Checkout the Salesforce (CRM) stock price in the past few years for proof of demand. CTO budgets are increasing, and marketing majors are required to be technologically adept hen
Marketing has seen explosive growth in the past decade with the advent of technology enabled market insights. There are key marketing metrics gleaned from the data a company collects on its clients and from its business that can be used to drive the growth of the core business. In fact, technology is playing such a major role in the marketing division of business that there is a new role emerging---that of the Chief Marketing Technologist or CMT. More than ⅔ of large companies plan on increasing their marketing technology budget in the next year and close to 90% of large companies surveyed employ a CMT according to a 2016 Gartner survey. There are more than a 1000 different software solutions for the marketing department that can handle everything from customer relationship management (CRM), content management of a company’s digital content, automation of marketing (emails, press releases, etc), platforms to manage multiple social media user handles, and more. Every commercial software product requires training and alignment of the company resources. The role of the CMT requires deep domain expertise navigating through all that technology has to offer and must work in concert with a company’s CIO and IT team on whose infrastructure this marketing technology will depend on.
The Big Data Predictions from top CMOs interviewed by Forbes’ Kimberly Whitler hint at the following potential developments to watch out for:
Artificial Intelligence will make mass marketing extinct with the potential for highly personalized and automated advertising.
Design in the form of visual media content based off insights from big data will play a larger role in driving the core business mission.
As competition increases in a crowded digital space, partnership marketing, where a campaign benefits two different companies will begin to become more common.
As CMO tech budgets surpass CIO tech budgets, the CMO will have to form a stronger relationship and partnership with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) as it relates to cyber security of big data to protect personal information as well as business insights.
A new (but likely slow) shift in digital marketing will occur towards B2B marketing.
Increased attention will be paid in the building of the right marketing team with a balance of poets (creative talent) and quants (technical talent).
In a survey of more than 2200 Marketing profesionals conducted by Teradata, found a strong push for data driven marketing strategies. Customer-centric marketing using big data is one strategy that is viewed as a positive change in the digital revolution of marketing. Broadly however, the top three reasons cited to adopt data-driven marketing are:
● Improve Efficiency
● Prove effectiveness with outcomes and metrics, and
● Achieve better cross-channel integration.
References:
Brinker, S., & McLellan, L. (2014). The rise of the chief marketing technologist. Harvard Business Review, 92 (7): 14 – 15.
Whitler, Kimberly. Predictions From CEOs, CMOs, And Authors For 2017. (2016). Forbes Magazine. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2016/11/06/predictions-from-ceos-cmos-and-authors-for-2017/#3e13d82a57e3. Accessed on 11/07/2016.
Teradata. Data-Driven Marketing Delivers Enterprise-Wide Value, Global Teradata Survey Says. (2013).
http://www.teradata.com/News-Releases/2013/Data-Driven-Marketing-Delivers-Enterprise-Wide-Value-Global-Teradata-Survey-Says/ Accessed on 11/07/2016.