The Rise of the Chief Marketing Technologist
uStudio | Industry Trends, Marketing
Video has gone from zero to 60 in just a few short years, a part of the online revolution transforming marketing. The ability to capture all sorts of customer insight from video analytics about consumption, engagement, behavior is a game changer. And the game is definitely changing. So are the titles and job roles.
In the beginning, there were just print ads and flyers. Then radio ads, followed by TV ads. Throw in a branded blimp flying over the beach, the stadium and the Indy 500 track. And that’s how customers learned about brands, bonded, and bought products. It was called advertising. It was a one way street.
Technology, however, kept on pushing the envelope. And so marketing slowly abandoned the real world for the virtual one. Then the world really changed. We moved from just push communication to providing experiences, to interacting, to socializing online with our customers, to amassing and analyzing a virtual tsunami of customer data.
Yesterday’s Mad Men of Marketing would probably feel they’ve walked into an alternate marketing universe … And, well, they have. Suddenly it’s a world of marketing and sales automation, analytics, big data, behavioral targeting, conversion optimization, social media, mobile consumption, signal in the noise, and software technology management. It’s enough to drive Don Draper to sober up.
One of the most interesting developments in this new world order has been the rise of a new breed of marketer — the marketing technologist. The most sophisticated among them are the executives now in charge of overseeing this goat rodeo. The Chief Marketing Technologist (that didn’t exist ten years ago!) is someone who bridges the gap between the business objectives of the marketing organization and the technology needed to power those objectives. A cross-section of this person’s DNA shows them to be part marketer, part data hound, part technology guru, and part strategist. (See the great infographic below from VentureBeat explaining it all.)
More evidence that this trend is real comes from Gartner in a new study. You can read all about it on Scott Brinker’s blog, chiefmartec.com, a great place to learn about this new corporate Super Hero.
So tell us, Mad Men fans, which character would you nominate to be the chief marketing technologist? (Not Roger, obviously.)
