Marketing Management

The image above is from a MuleSoft presentation, Application Networks: Microservices at Netflix. This is Part 2 of a 5-part series on 5 Disruptions to Marketing (you can start with Part 1 if you haven’t already): Digital transformation redefines “marketing” beyond the marketing department. Microservices & APIs (and open source) form the fabric of marketing infrastructure. Vertical competition presents a greater strategic threat than horizontal competition. AR, MR, VR, IoT, wearables, conversational interfaces, etc. give …

5 Disruptions to Marketing, Part 2: Microservices & APIs Continue Reading »

The cartoon above is “Disruptive Innovation” by Tom Fishburne. This is not your typical “predictions for 2017” story. I confess, those things aren’t my cup of tea. But it is a serious call to prepare yourself for a transformative year ahead. I believe that marketing is in the middle of five major disruptions that are reshaping our whole industry and profession. I know, that sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not. These are big tectonic shifts, …

5 Disruptions to Marketing, Part 1: Digital Transformation Continue Reading »

Looking for the latest data on enterprise marketing technology spend? Look no further. Gartner recently released their CMO Spend Survey 2016-2017. It’s already been in the news because their report showed that marketing budgets climbed for another consecutive year, now up to 12% of total company revenue. It’s also received due fanfare because it shows that Gartner’s once flabbergasting prediction from back in 2012 — that by 2017 CMOs would spend more on technology than …

Gartner shares latest data on enterprise marketing tech spend Continue Reading »

Back at the MarTech conference in San Francisco this past March, we conducted a study of marketing technologists with SapientNitro. After analyzing the data, Sheldon Monteiro, the global CTO of SapientNitro, and his team finally released their report from that research this week. It’s a terrific report — well worth the wait! You can download a copy here. It reveals a number of insights into the evolution of our marketing technologist profession. More marketing technologists …

Marketing technologist study reveals digital business transformation Continue Reading »

Three years ago, I described a conundrum that I dubbed Martec’s Law: Technology changes exponentially, but organizations change logarithmically. As shown in the graph above, we know that technology changes at an exponential rate. This is the phenomenon of Moore’s Law — and, more broadly, Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns. But we also know that human organizations don’t change that quickly. Changes in behavior and culture take time. There are only so many changes in …

Martec’s Law: the greatest management challenge of the 21st century Continue Reading »

I’ve just returned from MarTech Europe in London, which was an incredible experience. I am immensely grateful for all of the amazing speakers who shared their insights and experiences with us — from ABB to Unilever — and I’ll have more to report from that event soon. But first: the opening day of MarTech Europe coincided with the release of the latest State of Marketing Technology 2017 report from Walker Sands, which I was delighted to …

The State of Marketing Technology 2017 (hint: best-of-breed is big) Continue Reading »

Wow, this year is flying by — and definitely without a dull moment in marketing technology. If you’re bored, you’re doing it wrong. And 2017 promises to be an even more spectacular whirlwind of change and innovation. Speaking of 2017, I’m excited to announce that the next MarTech Conference will take place in San Francisco on May 9-11, 2017. Mark it your calendars now — it will be the biggest and best one yet. Two …

Call for speakers for MarTech 2017 in San Francisco Continue Reading »

Dear Ken Wheaton, I read your editorial from October 3, Martech Is So Boring — and It Should Stay That Way, and felt compelled to respond. First, let me say how influential AdvertisingAge has been to me. Growing up in the 80’s, when my parents ran a small agency, I eagerly read copies at their office each week. (Yeah, I was a strange kid.) AdAge seeded my fascination with marketing, and I’m grateful for the …

An open letter to the editor of AdAge on boring martech Continue Reading »

Good news! Marketing technology — as a sector and a discipline — is starting to mature. “Massive vendor consolidation?” you might ask hopefully. Well, not necessarily — at least not in aggregate. I’ll let you know if we’ve finally passed peak martech (as I not-quite-predicted last year) once I start working on the 2017 version of the marketing technology landscape. But ancedotally, I continue to learn about new marketing technologies every week. In computer science …

Marketing technology utilization takes a major swing upward Continue Reading »

The rock singer Jim Morrison once said about life, “Nobody gets out of here alive.” As the world continues its digital metamorphosis, we could riff on that: “Nobody gets out of here undisrupted.” Digital will disrupt your business. Odds are, it will happen sooner, faster, and to a far greater degree than you dare to imagine. The only question is who will be your disruptor. An industry insider or an industry outsider? An incumbent firm …

Everybody has a plan — until they get digitally disrupted Continue Reading »