Marketing Management

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 »

In my previous post, I boldly predicted that we’re on the verge of a whole series of martech innovations: AI, composability, AR/VR, even, yes, “Web3”. While I agree with the pessimists that 2023 will be a challenging year for a lot of martech vendors, I believe this is more of a business cycle bump in the road, rather than the end of an industry. We’re just getting started. But my real faith in martech’s growth …

Tech layoffs? Great companies are actively hiring marketing technology talent Continue Reading »

Yesterday, my brother-in-martech Frans Riemersma and I gave a tour de force presentation of the current martech landscape as it stands at the end of 2022 (now officially over 10,000 solutions!), five major trends that we expect will shape martech and marketing in 2023, and a framework for managing it all in what is sure to be a highly “fluid” year ahead. You can watch the complete 60-minute session on YouTube and also download the …

A whirlwind tour of the new martech map, major martech trends for 2023, and how to manage it all in the year ahead Continue Reading »

Ever see the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon? Great story about the Apollo moon missions. I’m pretty sure it was in one of those episodes that I most remember the impactful difference between “unit tests” and “system tests.” Getting people on the moon required a huge number of different component technologies, many each breakthrough innovations on their own. But success depended on how well the entire system worked. All those components needed to …

Tech stacks are still large, but orchestration can make all the difference Continue Reading »

2023 will be a fascinating but challenging year for marketing. Macroeconomic headwinds are colliding with rising customer expectations for better digital experiences. Martech stacks are consolidating under economic pressure. Yet at the same time, major innovations with generative AI, first-party/second-party data, ecosystem strategies, and fragmenting media channels are driving important changes to marketing’s digital capabilities. On December 6 at 11am EST — 5pm CET and 8am PT — Frans Riemersma and I will give the …

What to expect in martech in 2023 and how to harness it to your advantage Continue Reading »