As with crime and politics, if you want to reveal the real plot in marketing’s evolution, follow where the money is going. Hmm. That’s probably not the most flattering of metaphors. Okay, scratch that image. But it is why I always look forward to Gartner’s annual CMO Spend Survey report. Allocation of budget is a […]

Surveys are nice, but they have their limitations. They’re swayed by who participates (selection bias) and the way those participants interpret your questions in their own minds — which varies wildly for reasons a psychologist would be best suited to explain. The results can be directionally useful, but they’re not “facts.” The ground truth is […]

The good folks at BrandMaker recently released a study of CMOs and their perceptions of The State of Marketing Operations. In short, marketing operations has risen from being “an overshadowed marketing function that worked in the background to solve internal pains” to “an integral part of the marketing organization.” (And there was much rejoicing.) 70% […]

A few weeks ago, I read a white paper produced by Rackspace Technology, How Applications Impact Customer Experience. (Spoiler alert: in a digital world, applications are customer experience, so you’d better make them delightful. As a result, CX has become the top priority CIOs and IT. Yay.) Almost in passing, however, there was the chart […]

Two days ago, I delivered my keynote for the latest (still virtual) MarTech conference, titled Marketing Superpowers: How AI & No Code Transform Every Marketer into a Maker. I wanted to begin with an original epic-sounding musical theme played by a full orchestra that would get everyone in the superhero mood. But I didn’t spend […]

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted, as I’ve been heads down working on my keynote for the upcoming MarTech conference. It’s all about “no code” for marketers, and I’m seriously looking forward to sharing it with you: KEYNOTE — Marketing Superpowers: How AI & No Code Transform Every Marketer into a Maker Faster […]

Just last month, I wrote that salestech is the new martech, and that it’s supercharging both professions. Here’s more data to support that case. First, the 2021 Enterprise SalesTech Landscape above, produced by Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools, was released last week. It now features 1,078 solutions across 45 unique categories. It reminds me […]

Bubble is one the leading no code platforms for building web apps. The team at Blue Green and I dabbled with it a bit for producing The Martech 5000 online database last year, and I was impressed by its power and flexibility. (For a richer example of what can be built, check out Martechbase, built […]

Hot off the presses, I just read Ask Your Developer: How to Harness the Power of Software Developers and Win in the 21st Century by Jeff Lawson, founder and CEO of Twilio. It is, by far, the best book I’ve read explaining the real dynamics of modern software to business executives. The core premise: in […]

Anyone can cook. Anyone can create. In August of last year, Emily Jacobsen, an elementary school teacher, posted a musical ode to Remy, the talented rat chef star of Disney-Pixar’s Ratatouille, on TikTok. “Remy, the Ratatouille, rat of all my dreams!” It caught the attention of Daniel Mertzlufft, a composer and arranger, who orchestrated her […]