Marketing Management

I want to share an idea with you that’s been in my head for a while. It may sound fairly obvious — and perhaps it is, to most of you. It is how I’ve seen people make choices with marketing technology that materially alters the outcome. But I suspect that they’re not always consciously aware of it. I call it: the frame and the field. The Frame: The Label That Shapes Your Decision Space The …

The Frame and the Field: the art of making marketing technology decisions Continue Reading »

The marketing technology world is on fire! And I mean that in a good way. Billions of dollars in investment. Billions of dollars in revenue. Big IPOs. Big partnerships. A new generation of marketing leaders. Hundreds of software programs entwined in marketing’s “new normal” of daily operations. And those are just a handful of stories that I’ve touched on over the past two months since our last MarTech conference in Boston. Imagine how much further …

Call for speakers for MarTech 2015 — share your brain! Continue Reading »

Almost everyone you meet in technology is an advocate of more STEM education — science, technology, engineering, and math. We appreciate that (a) technology careers are relatively stable and pay well; (b) the demand for technologists exceeds their supply, which is a real challenge when you’re looking to hire more technology talent; and (c) our future as a nation and a global community will depend on the breadth and depth of these capabilities in our …

A STEAM engine to create marketing technologists for the future Continue Reading »

Last month, the CEB assembled a two-day meeting of “chief marketing technologists” from nine Fortune 500 consumer brands to have a confidential exchange among peers. I was the only outsider who was permitted to participate, as I facilitated the segment of their discussion around marketing technology stacks — in particular, exploring issues around single-vendor suites, open platforms, and point solutions. With permission from the group, they agreed to let me share some of the insights …

How 9 brands think of their marketing technology stacks Continue Reading »

What is the profile of a marketing technologist? The prominence of marketing technologists and the chief marketing technologist (or CMTO) role has greatly expanded over the past six years. Just in the past year, the topic has been featured in an article in the July-August 2014 edition of the Harvard Business Review, and the first MarTech conference completely sold out. There is no denying marketing technology is hot right now. But few studies have been …

8 discoveries from our marketing technologist survey Continue Reading »

Want to get a glimpse of what the inaugural MarTech conference was like? We recorded 7 of the sessions on video, and after a little editing, we’ve released them on YouTube to share (if you’re reading this in email, click here to watch on the website): Opening remarks on martech, oxymorons, and bad-ass unicorns My introduction on the morning of the first day of the conference, describing why marketing technologists are sexier than data scientists …

7 videos from the inaugural MarTech of August 2014 Continue Reading »

Two trends, each racing forward, that have the potential for disastrous collisions: The need for truly customer-centric organizations in a fully connected world. The use of algorithms, predictive analytics, and big data to optimize everything. In many cases, these can be synergistic. But some are train wrecks. I experienced just how badly those two things can clash first-hand this week, when the Westin Cleveland Downtown reneged on my supposedly prepaid reservation at Content Marketing World. …

Predictive analytics and customer experience can be a dangerous mix Continue Reading »

Wow. Where do I begin? The inaugural MarTech conference that took place last week was, at least for me, nothing short of an extraordinary experience. I am so immensely grateful to all of the speakers, sponsors, producers, advisors, and — above all — attendees who came together for two special days to celebrate the epic collision of the two worlds of marketing and technology. Thank you! But, wow, my head is still spinning. From the …

5 things that amazed and inspired me at #MarTech Continue Reading »

As this post goes live, the inaugural MarTech conference will have started. About 400 of you are here at this sold out event — and let me say, I am thrilled to be here with you. For the rest of you, I wish you were here — and I’d like to share with you my opening remarks for the event, marking this milestone in our emerging profession. I started this blog over six years ago, …

The inaugural #MarTech begins, wish you were here… Continue Reading »

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “Marketing technologists are as marketing technologists do.” Or maybe that would be Forrester Gump? (Or Gartner Gump?) Pardon the slightly silly intro. I’m a little giddy here on the eve of the inaugural MarTech conference. Whether you’re coming to MarTech or not, here’s an opportunity to participate in a crowdsourcing exercise for our community that will help us shed more light on the emerging profession of “marketing technologists” — and be …

What does a marketing technologist actually look like? Continue Reading »