Marketing Management

How do you know you’re at the peak of a Hype Cycle? When means outweigh ends. Martech professionals and marketing ops leaders are being driven to apply AI in marketing — use it for something, anything! — with the belief that automating and accelerating things with AI, especially with generative AI, must produce beneficial outcomes. It reminds me of the old joke about the overly-optimistic kid excitedly digging through a giant pile of horse manure, …

Will AI in martech make buyer experiences better or worse? It depends… Continue Reading »

The CMO Survey, a bi-yearly study of trends and perspectives from CMOs run by Duke University, Deloitte, and the AMA, has been one of the keystone research projects in the marketing industry for over a decade. It’s very well run, and I eagerly look forward to reading it every time it’s published. I was particularly excited to read the Spring 2024 edition just released, because they’d added a detailed section on marketing technology. What were …

16 years later, the present — not future — of martech is here, but unevenly distributed Continue Reading »

If you only attend one online event this year… well, then it’s clearly not 2021 anymore! 😀 But this one is worth it. I guarantee you will be surprised, if not shocked, by what we share. On Tuesday, May 7, Frans Riemersma and I will host our annual #MartechDay celebration. We’ll release the epic 2024 martech landscape. We’ll publish a deeply researched State of Martech report. We’ll host the 2024 Stackie Awards. And we’ll interview …

This isn’t hyperbole: we have some big counterintuitive revelations coming on #MartechDay 2024 Continue Reading »

“Everyone within Publicis will become a data analyst, an engineer, an intelligence partner, with all the information they need at their fingertips to supercharge client growth.” Publicis Groupe made that bold statement last week in a press release and presentation celebrating their performance from last year “after shifting from a holding company to a platform” and charting their course for their future in the age of AI. Now, if you’ve raised a skeptical eyebrow to …

Every marketer a data analyst and an engineer… delusion or destiny? Continue Reading »

To regular readers, it’s no surprise that I’m bullish on ecosystems. I’ve long advocated that platform ecosystems solve many of the challenges of an ever-changing, highly-diversified martech landscape. It’s also what I focus on at HubSpot, with the company’s ecosystem of technology partners. (So, yes, I’m biased. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.) In my post earlier this month, I explained why platform ecosystems are powerful as an engine of innovation. Today, I’d like to …

Breaking through the noise getting harder? Here’s one marketing channel that’s getting more effective Continue Reading »

I’m excited to announce a new book coming out this summer, The New Automation Mindset: The Leadership Blueprint For An Age When Anyone Can Automate Anything With AI. Written by Vijay Tella, CEO of Workato, with contributions by Massimo Pezzini and myself, it offers a framework for harnessing automation as an engine of innovation, not merely efficiency. When you think of automation, what comes to mind? Most people would say automation is having a machine …

Three pillars of The New Automation Mindset, for an age when anyone can automate anything with AI Continue Reading »

Okay, so martech-tacular isn’t a word. It isn’t even a very good portmanteau. But it’s what I’m feeling as I prepare for a full month of spectacular martech adventures. The 1st Tuesday in May is Officially #MartechDay First up is the brand-new Best of Breed Marketing Summit that Frans Riemersma and me are hosting on #MartechDay, Tuesday, May 2. If you haven’t yet signed up for this free event, register now. It’s a full day …

From #MartechDay to a European martech tour, May will be martech-tacular Continue Reading »

If you’re working in marketing operations, life is probably pretty good. 74% of marketing ops pros say they’re somewhat satisfied or extremely satisfied in their roles. Over half have been promoted or taken new jobs in the past year. And on average, they make about 25% higher salaries than other kinds of marketers in their organizations. Not bad for a role that used to be considered the “island of misfit toys” a decade ago. Our …

Marketing ops careers are good today — and likely to get much better; here’s the latest data on these roles Continue Reading »

The first Tuesday in May is #MartechDay — a day to celebrate all the wonderful people working in the martech industry and the amazing practitioners who bring these capabilities to life in marketing organizations around the world. On last year’s #MartechDay, Frans Riemersma and I released the updated 2022 marketing technology landscape and hosted the The Stackies 2022: Marketing Tech Stack Awards. Over 1,200 marketing and marketing operations leaders joined us online for those sessions. …

Join us for the new Best of Breed Marketing Summit for this year’s #MartechDay (May 2) Continue Reading »

15 years ago, sitting at a wobbly kitchenette table in our cramped apartment, on a frigid February morning outside Boston, I started this blog for marketing technologists. Of course, at the time, almost nobody knew what a marketing technologist was. It sounded like an oxymoron. While there were certainly people already working at the intersection of IT and marketing, they were few and far between. Their roles were often ill-defined and underappreciated. But it was …

15 reflections on martech and more from 15 years of writing chiefmartec.com Continue Reading »