Marketing Software

Will marketing technology consolidate into a handful of behemoth super-platforms? Or will it continue to diversify with more innovative new software? My theory on marketing technology consolidation vs. diversification has been both. I believe that a set of “backbone” platforms will serve as the foundation of marketing’s technology infrastructure, but they will promote open APIs and robust third-party developer communities. Marketers will have the best of both worlds: a coordinating platform for standardized data and …

The emerging third-party era of marketing automation Continue Reading »

There is a myth that implementing a marketing technology point solution is a bad idea. Like giving your significant other a bathroom scale as a birthday present is a bad idea. First aid kit sold separately. But it is a myth. (The bathroom scale is still a bad idea though.) I’ll explain what a point solution is, why they’re considered bad, and why that’s bunk. I’ll discuss what the real problem is with point solutions …

In defense of marketing technology point solutions Continue Reading »

In the competition for the best visualization of the kaleidescopic marketing technology space — other entries include my marketing technology landscape from last year and the marketing technology LUMAscape from last month — I’d say Gartner has just jumped into the lead with their new digital marketing transit map. Their high-level map is visualized around types of products and services — represented as stations on the map — rather than the individual vendors themselves. However, …

Gartner’s mind-blowing digital marketing transit map Continue Reading »

Terry Kawaja and the brilliant folks at LUMA Partners — a modern investment bank specializing in the intersection of media and technology — have just released their Marketing Technology LUMAscape, shown above. A few years ago, Terry put together a similar landscape for the more specialized ad tech space, which became the reference document for that industry. It was also what inspired me to create a marketing technology landscape in a similar vein. However, while …

The very cool marketing technology LUMAscape Continue Reading »

Late yesterday, the story broke on TechCrunch that Marketo has filed for a $75 million IPO. Congratulations to everyone there, but a special nod to the early founders Phil Fernandez, Jon Miller, and David Morandi, who were key folks at early marketing software pioneer Epiphany 10 years ago (which itself, tangentially, was founded by Steve Blank, the fellow who inspired Eric Ries in the launch of the Lean Startup movement). Taken in the context of …

Marketo seeks $75 million IPO in marketing automation Continue Reading »

The Jordan Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI), a leading investment bank in the marketing and media space, recently released a new report on the enterprise marketing management (EMM) stack. They start by noting that from 2010-2012, four companies (“The Big Four”) have invested over $20 billion in marketing technology M&A: Adobe, IBM, Oracle, and Salesforce. But they quickly point out that some of the biggest disruption resulting from these acquisitions hasn’t been in the enterprise software …

The blurring of agencies, software vendors, and IT shops Continue Reading »

Here’s another way to visualize the relationship between big data and the other innovations happening in the marketing department. I propose that there are three epicenters of innovation in modern marketing: The first is customer communications and the revolution brought about by social media. Marketing communications has, rather quickly, moved from being a one-way broadcast to a more personal, two-way interaction with customers, prospects, and influencers, all interconnected together. Organizations have had to embrace operational …

3 epicenters of innovation in modern marketing Continue Reading »