Scott Brinker

Does marketing science mean you can predict the future?

April 22, 2013 / Marketing Data / By Scott Brinker / 2 Comments

If I were a marketer psychologist — that is, a therapist to marketing teams, for which I’m sure there’s a market — I could imagine making a fine living by asking open-ended questions, such as “What does marketing science mean to you?”, and holding up a mirror to people’s responses. I hear you say data-driven. What’s your earliest memory of working with data? “Marketing as a science” strikes me as a bit of a Rorschach …

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Haves vs. have-nots in marketing/sales alignment

April 11, 2013 / Interviews / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

I first met Brian Kardon a couple of years ago, when he was the CMO of Eloqua. He was one of the early advocates for this blog, and he provided a lot of encouragement on the emergence of this new breed of “marketing technologists” that they were seeing appear among many of their customers. When we first met for coffee, I remember him asking me what my hobbies were. I replied that this blog was …

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In the land of marketing, operations may become king

April 9, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 9 Comments

Last month, I attended the Marketing Operations Executive Summit — an intimate gathering of around 100 marketing operations executives — to give a talk on agile marketing. What I left with, however, was a profound appreciation for the ascendency of the marketing operations role. In the words of Craig Moore, a director at Sirius Decisions and the opening speaker, until recently, marketing operations was the island of misfit toys. It was definitely not the sexy …

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Marketing Operations: From Misfit Toys To Strategic Advisory

64% of B2B marketers feel underinvested in technology

April 4, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 1 Comment

Any doubt that marketing is becoming a technology-powered discipline? The ITSMA (Information Technology Services Marketing Association) shared results from their latest survey on marketing technology at a briefing outside of Boston earlier this week. The slide above shows the big picture result: today, 21% of B2B marketers believe that marketing technology is critical to deliver on marketing’s business objectives. But in 2 years, 60% expect marketing technology will be critical to that mission. This survey …

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Marketing Technology Critical to Success

Marketo seeks $75 million IPO in marketing automation

April 3, 2013 / Marketing Software / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

Late yesterday, the story broke on TechCrunch that Marketo has filed for a $75 million IPO. Congratulations to everyone there, but a special nod to the early founders Phil Fernandez, Jon Miller, and David Morandi, who were key folks at early marketing software pioneer Epiphany 10 years ago (which itself, tangentially, was founded by Steve Blank, the fellow who inspired Eric Ries in the launch of the Lean Startup movement). Taken in the context of …

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Marketing takes over IT, sales takes over marketing

April 1, 2013 / Other / By Scott Brinker / Leave a Comment

The start of this new quarter has proven to be a tipping point. We’ve now heard of several leading enterprises that are undertaking a major restructuring of marketing, IT, and sales to better align themselves with the market forces of the 21st century. Under this new organizational structure — code-named “Greener Grass” at one Fortune 500 firm — the following changes are being implemented immediately: Marketing will now officially take over IT. This shift was inevitable …

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Marketers must be equal parts creative, tech, and finance

March 27, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 1 Comment

Earlier this month, I read Oracle/Eloqua’s new report on Defining the Modern Marketer: From Ideal to Real. One of the more fascinating aspects of the report, based on a survey of 556 B2B marketers, was the shifting balance between the “art” of marketing and the “science” of marketing. Which lead me to write: what do you mean by marketing as a science? To better answer that question, I was able to have the following Q&A …

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A CMO, a CIO, and a chief digital officer walk into a bar…

March 24, 2013 / Marketing Management / By Scott Brinker / 15 Comments

The CMO asks for a drink. The bartender says, “Hmm, no, sorry, from the look of you, I don’t think you know how to hold your liquor.” The CIO asks for a drink. The bartender replies, “I know you know how to drink, but sorry, you haven’t paid off your tab from all those drinks you bought over the past 10 years.” The chief digital officer approaches the bar, but before he can ask, the …

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Build and nurture an analytical culture across marketing

March 22, 2013 / Interviews / By Scott Brinker / 2 Comments

I’ve come to believe that organizational culture is the quintessential competitive advantage. That’s why, for all the tremendous changes underway in the world of marketing today, I’m most fascinated by the evolution of culture in marketing departments, as a function of new responsibilities, new technologies, and — most of all — new people with new skills and perspectives. My presentation earlier this week on agile marketing was, at its core, a talk about culture. One …

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Agile marketing for a world of constant change

March 19, 2013 / Agile Marketing / By Scott Brinker / 13 Comments

[UPDATE: I’ve also posted a video recording of this agile marketing presentation that I gave at the Marketo User Summit in April 2013.] Today I’m giving a presentation at the Marketing Operations Executive Summit on agile marketing. Given the tremendous disruption in marketing and business today, I truly believe that embracing an agile approach to marketing management may be the single most valuable decision an organization can make. Here’s my slide deck, along with an …

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