Scott Brinker

This CMO wrote the book on big data marketing, literally

October 14, 2013 / Interviews / By Scott Brinker / 2 Comments

As marketers, we have more data at our disposal now than our predecessors could have imagined in their wildest dreams. However, this bounty of data is not without challenges. Two recent posts I wrote on these challenge — data is the most underutilized asset in marketing and strategic data vs. data theater — were inspired by some excellent research on data-driven marketing conducted by Teradata Applications (formerly known as Aprimo). In discussing their report with …

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10 reasons why marketing nerds are so darn lovable

October 9, 2013 / Other / By Scott Brinker / 10 Comments

Lattice Engines was kind enough to include me in a recent list of their favorite marketing nerds. I’m certainly honored by the esteemed company they put me in, with true tech-savvy marketing wizards such as Ann Handley, Mike Volpe, Christopher Penn, David Raab, Joe Chernov, and many others whom I admire. But I have to admit, I find the label flattering unto itself. When I was growing up, “nerd” wasn’t usually a complimentary label. But …

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Debunking 3 myths of agile marketing

October 7, 2013 / Agile Marketing / By Scott Brinker / 1 Comment

Agile marketing continues to grow in popularity. Why? The old “waterfall” approach to marketing planning and execution simply can’t keep pace with the speed at which prospects (and competitors) can move in the superconductive digital world. In a Forrester report earlier this year, from which the graph below was excerpted, analyst Laura Ramos wrote, “The traditional annual planning routine is ripe for extinction, as 69% of our B2B marketing leaders say that conditions change too …

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2 human strengths that are also 2 data weaknesses

October 1, 2013 / Marketing Data / By Scott Brinker / 1 Comment

Two of the greatest strengths of the human mind in marketing: Our ability to detect patterns from imperfect information. Our ability to tell stories that resonate and spread. Ironically, these are also two of our biggest weaknesses in data-driven marketing I’m presenting today at DemandCon on a panel about effective marketing management with data. The official title of the session is “measuring marketing impact.” Yet while I am firm believer in the power of data …

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Fire the funnel — 5 stages of the real buyer’s journey

September 22, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 22 Comments

The funnel model of marketing and sales doesn’t reflect reality very well. We know this. Buyers don’t proceed in lock-step fashion down a pipeline. They never did, actually. But the wide-ranging journeys of exploration that buyers can take today on the web have only exacerbated the disparity between the model and reality. This more realistic diagram of the “funnel” by Lori Wizdo of Forrester Research brilliantly illustrates that point. The real funnel doesn’t look like …

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Ripples from software, to marketing, to manufacturing

September 17, 2013 / Marketing Management, Uncategorized / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

We can learn a lot by watching how a revolution moves from one profession to the next. When it comes to rapid prototyping and adaptive development, as a result of digital technologies, the software industry naturally led the way. The very technology they invented helped change the way they work. So, while the early days of software engineering were long cycle projects — waterfall project management at its grandest scale, often spanning a year or …

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14 rules for data-driven, not data-deluded, marketing

September 13, 2013 / Marketing Data / By Scott Brinker / 6 Comments

We’re now in the crossfire of a peaking hype cycle for big data and its inevitable backlash. One marketer the other night was yelling on Twitter, “Big Data People need to GET OFF MY LAWN.” I confess, I empathize with his frustration. Of course, I believe that data — the right data, used in the right ways — is immensely powerful in modern marketing. As I wrote in a post about pragmatic marketing, “Relying solely …

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Front row to the merging of marketing and technology

September 9, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 1 Comment

Bob Lord and Ray Velez, respectively the CEO and CTO of digital agency Razorfish, teamed up to write a book on the intertwining of marketing and technology. It’s called Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology. How could I not love such a book? Actually, Bob Lord is now the former CEO of Razorfish. He was recruited away for the job of CEO of AOL Networks earlier this summer by Tim Armstrong. …

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Strategic data vs. data theater in data-driven marketing

September 2, 2013 / Marketing Data / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

Let’s face it: we’re swimming in a sea of essentially infinite data at this point. In a recent Teradata report, “lack of needed data” was cited as the least common obstacle to data driven-marketing. Only 22% of the marketers surveyed said that’s what held them back. The most common obstacle? “Lack of process to bring insights into decision-making.” Data may be marketing’s most underutilized asset, but it’s hardly its most scarce. Teradata honed in the …

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Conquering the challenges of social media at scale

August 29, 2013 / Interviews / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

“Marketing infrastructure.” Not too many years ago, that might have been nominated as an oxymoron, right up there with a deafening silence, sweet sorrow, and jumbo shrimp. But now, that’s where some of the most interesting developments in marketing are happening. Marketing operations is on the rise. Process is “the new black” in data-driven marketing. Even social media marketing, when it’s tackled at scale, is in many ways an infrastructure challenge. It’s one thing when …

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