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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
1/19
ANALYZING THE
CHIEF MARKETINGTECHNOLOGISTSHELDON MONTEIRO, HILDING ANDERSON & SCOTT TANG
http://www.sapientnitro.com/ -
7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
2/19
RESEARCH
A reflective survey of MarTechprofessionals and what it meansfor brands and the profession
Its yesterdays news that marketing
and technology have become inex-tricably intertwined. Tectonic forces,
enabled by technology, have fueled
more disruption and competition for
customer attention in the last five years
than corporations experienced in the
fifty years prior.
On the one hand, Chief Marketing Of-
ficers (CMOs) have realized that mar-
ketings success is gated by the digital
acumen of their own organizations. On
the other, Chief Information Officers(CIOs) find that the expectations of
their engineering teams are influenced
more by digital exemplars like Amazon,
Google, and Silicon Valley start-ups
than by peer benchmarks within their
own industry.
Its no surprise then that Harvard
Business Review recently joined the
chorus and profiled the Rise of the Chief
Marketing Technologist (CMT) a new
type of executive responsible for bringingmarketing and technology together.1
According to a 2014 Gartner study,
81 percent of large organizations now
have a CMT.2
1Scott Brinker and Laura McLellan. The Rise of theChief Marketing Technologist. Harvard Business Review.July, 2014.
2Gartner. How the Presence of a Chief MarketingTechnologist Impacts Marketing. https://www.gartner.com/doc/ 2652017/presence-chief-marketing-technologist-impacts.
Marketingtechnologistscluster intosix distinctarchetypes
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
Despite the excitement around market-
ing technology and the CMT role, the
ambiguity as to who these individuals
are, the skills they possess, and where
they sit organizationally has led to con-
siderable confusion. And the confusionresults in two related issues. One,
executives need better clarity regarding
how they can identify, recruit, bring
on board, and retain these talented
individuals. Second, aspiring market-
ing technologists have no guidelines
against which to benchmark and level
up their own skills.
To help us shed more light on these
issues, SapientNitro partnered with
Scott Brinker, the host of the MarTechconference and popular chiefmartec.
comblog to conduct a first-of-its-kind
study of marketing technologists skills,
career paths, attitudes, and behaviors.3
For the first time, we have been able to
x-ray the professional marketing tech-
nologist. And the results are striking.
Todays marketing technologists cluster
into six distinct archetypes, and they
are not equivalent or interchangeable.
Of the six archetypes, three are focused
on technology and three are focused on
marketing (see Figure 1). Respondents
self-identified skills fell into distinct
clusters, revealing the archetypes.
MARKETING MAVENS 26%With marketing skills emphasized over
technology, mavens specialize in build-
ing marketing programs using expertise
in marketing strategy, strategic position-
ing, and promotion.
3We asked the community of marketing technologists recruited from the MarTech 2014 fall conference and ScottBrinkers popular chiefmartec.comblog to help us document this group. We contracted an independent marketresearch firm Decision Analyst to execute the survey. Our study had 280 respondents, and took place fromAugust 15th, 2014 to September 8th, 2014. (For more details, see About the Survey at the end of the article.)
DATA DIVAS 17%Divas are skilled in marketing opera-
tions management, customer rela-
tionship management (CRM), data
science, analytics, and modeling. They
know how to acquire, integrate, andmake data perform.
CONTENT CURATORS 16%Storytellers. Message crafters.
Marketing strategists. Content man-
agement platform experts. This type
exercises considerable knowledge of
content marketing and related tech-
nologies to direct communications-
oriented marketing.
INFRASTRUCTUREARCHITECTS 16%Enterprise-level technology chops
define this archetype, but they are
also business consultants and bring a
high-level understanding of a compa-
nys marketing initiatives.
EXPERIENCE ENGINEERS 15%One foot in technology and the other
in experience. They are experts in
cutting-edge technology: from
e-commerce to front-end technology
and mobility.
MEDIA & MARKETINGANALYZERS 10%This archetype specializes in
research, consumer insights, and
strategic planning. Members think
strategically about segmentation and
connections planning.
The six archetypes have two mainareas of focus
We ound that marketing technologists
are grouped into six archetypes threewith a marketing ocus and three with
a technology ocus.
52% Marketing
10% Media & Marketing Analyzers
16% Content Curators
26% Marketing Mavens
48% Technology
17% Data Divas
16% Inrastructure Architects
15% Experience Engineers
FIGURE01
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
The emergence of these archetypes
may represent specialization within
the profession, often seen in mature
fields such as medicine or engineering.
However, we doubt it.
More likely, the skill gaps we found
indicate that the archetypes are emerg-
ing through a Darwinian selection pro-
cess as individuals who may not meet
the full job specifications are promoted
into this new role.
One immediate implication for those
organizations in search of the best
person to steward marketing tech-
nology through a period of profound
disruption is that they need to define
the role more specifically than simply as
marketing technologist. The needs of
an organization may in fact require that
the CMT embodies a combination of at
least two and possibly as many as all
six of the archetypes.
This said, the archetypes are a starting
point to contain search efforts and
costs, as they are clear segmentations
of todays talent.
Marketing technologists report
to marketing
While 69.2 percent report to the
C-suite, just 8.6 percent of marketing
technologists reported to the CIO,
with the majority reporting to the
CMO or CEO/President. Our findings
matched other recent industry surveys
in this regard.
In our view, this reporting bias could
explain the surprising underweightingof science, technology, engineering,
and math (STEM) academic back-
grounds in the population, which we
describe further below. Our hypothesis:
Marketers and business leaders are
promoting from within their own depart-
mental ranks and backgrounds. This is
understandable, but executives shouldconsider where pure-play digital firms
who are setting the pace of todays
disruption are sourcing their talent,
and then consider proactive skills
development to level up existing talent,
or increase the diversity of their talent
sourcing, for instance, by overweighting
IT and business analytics capabilities.
Todays practitioners are learning
technology on the job
Today, marketing technologists are
strongest in core marketing skills, and
only 26 percent have STEM degrees.
Additionally, nearly half of the respon-
dents reported that their prior job was
managing technology or programming
often in a marketing context provid-
ing the job environment for developing
technical skills. We believe the lack of
hybrid academic programs is forcing
talent to train on the job. The implica-tion? Rudimentary preparation in com-
puter science fundamentals, systems
and algorithmic thinking, statistics,
and data science may be glossed
over or completely skipped, which will
undoubtedly impair job effectiveness.
Interestingly, technology-oriented mar-
keting technologists are 20 percent
more likely to be the primary or chief
marketing technology officer, indicating
that greater responsibilities are award-
ed to those with technical proficiency.
The emergence ofthese archetypesmay represent
specializationwithin the
profession...however, wedoubt it.
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
Current and desired job skills are
balanced between marketing,
technology, and business
The top five skills that respondents
report possessing are marketing strategyand positioning, marketing operations
management, website design, the
ability to persuade and negotiate, and
marketing channel strategy/connec-
tions planning. Perhaps attributable in
part to confirmation bias (the tendency
to search for or interpret information
in a way that confirms ones precon-
ceptions), three of these were also fea-
tured in the five skills that respondents
said are most important to the future
of marketing.
Regardless, we are delighted to
observe a balance between marketing,
technology, and business domains, all
three of which are essential for success
in the role, in our view (see Figure 2).
There are alarming deficiencies in
current skill sets
Advertising technology, system per-
formance and resiliency, and severalomnichannel-enabling technologies
are featured in the bottom ten of
self-assessed current skills, with infor-
mation security coming in dead last.
This lack of skills is of huge concern
in light of recent, massive security
breaches across industries, the extreme
scale at which digital businesses must
operate during periods of high demand,
and the ever-increasing requirements
for brands to imagine and deliver
immersive and pervasive experiences.
The future of the CMT role
The most important uture job skills,according to our survey, include
marketing, technology, and businessskills (see Finding #6).
In addition, when we examined the
largest skill gaps (differences between
stated future importance and current
self-assessment), big data techniques
and technologies emerged as the skills
with the widest gap. The absolute de-ficiencies in current skills, the gap be-
tween current and desired future skills,
and the under-representation of STEM
academic backgrounds reinforce our
view that todays marketing technolo-
gists must level up their technology
chops with great urgency.
The gap between marketing and
technology is real, even for marketing
technologistsWhile 94 percent believe that market-
ing and IT skills could be combined in
a single person, respondents identified
a stark polarity between marketing and
systems integration expertise.
Most technology archetypes are
less likely to describe themselves as
marketing experts and marketing
archetypes dont think of themselves as
systems integrators. This subtle indi-
cation of how respondents describedwho they are may be indicative of the
culture gap that must be overcome for
the role to attain its highest potential.
In our view, the CMT role must strad-
dle both functions as a native, rather
than majoring in one and minoring in
the other.
Business
Skills
MarketingSkills
TechnologySkills
FIGURE02
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
1
Findings and analysis
Although most organizations may
have a CMT, they are certainly not
all alike or interchangeable.
The CMT role is pervasive, with Gartner
recently reporting that 81 percent of
large organizations now have a CMT.
But the roles are not alike.
The July 2014 edition of Harvard
Business Review defined the CMT
role noting, CMTs are part strategist,
part creative director, part technology
leader, and part teacher. Our survey
findings took this analysis one step
further, providing deep insight into the
ratio of those parts in the current cadre
of professionals.
We asked our survey respondents
to rank their skills in relative, not
absolute, terms. We also asked them to
choose from monikers they might useto describe themselves professionally.
Analyzing these data sets, we found
clear evidence that the population of
marketing technologists is fractured
around distinct areas of expertise.
We identified six different archetypes
of marketing technologists by identify-
ing distinct clusters of skills (rank your
strongest/weakest skill) and attitudes
(I think of myself as). Sorted by size
within the overall population, the sixarchetypes are:
Marketing Mavens: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Mavens view themselves as proessional marketers, business consultants, and
customer experience specialists. They are the oldest (43% are 45+ years old) andhave the highest mean salary ($149k).
THE MARKETING MAVENS26%The largest single group. The skills and
attitudes of this group show that more
than one in four marketing technolo-
gists have a much stronger marketing
orientation (and, conversely, a weaker
technology orientation) than we had
previously assumed. This groups key
skills are dominated by marketingstrategy and positioning, and (to a
much lesser extent) marketing opera-
tions. They think of themselves as mar-
keting experts, business consultants,
and customer experience specialists.
MarketingStrategy andPositioning
MarketingOperationsManagement
The Ability toPersuade andNegotiate
MarketingChannelStrategy andConnectionsPlanning
WebsiteTesting andOptimization
A Marketing Expert80.8%
A Business Consultant61.6%A Customer Experience Specialist41.1%
An Entrepreneur38.4%
A CRM Expert27.4%
79.7 20.5 20.4 17.0
11.8
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RESEARCH
THE DATA DIVAS 17%The second-largest group loves its
data. Member skills are grounded in
marketing operations management,
CRM, data science, analytics, and
modeling. They scored themselveshighly in managing big data one of
the biggest skill gaps identified by the
overall survey population and they
are also proficient in data management
software/systems. With their expertise
in systems; tag management; CRM
tools; and data science, analytics,
statistics, and modeling, they know
how to acquire, integrate, and make
data perform. Sixty-eight percent of
members of this group said that they
are the primary marketing technologistsin their organizations the highest of all
the archetypes reflecting the impor-
tance of data-driven marketing.
Data Divas: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Data Divas have much stronger sets o skills in database marketing, system inte-
gration, and data scientist related skills than the other archetypes. They were the
most likely to be the primary marketing technologists in their organizations (68%reported being the CMT).
Content Curators: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Content Curators specialize in content creation, content management, and the cus-
tomer experience. They are also the youngest, with 42% being under 35 years old.
THE CONTENT CURATORS16%If you want to tell a story and efficiently
disseminate it to your consumers this
is the group you want. With consid-
erable expertise in content creation,content optimization, marketing strategy
and positioning, and content and digital
asset management platforms, this
group helps your brand converse
with customers.
MarketingOperationsManagement
CustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM) Systems
and Platorms
Data Science,Analytics,Statistics, and
Modeling
Marketing Strategyand Positioning
DataManagementSofware andSystems
A Marketing Expert55.3%
A Database Marketing Specialist53.2%
A Business Consultant53.2%
A Systems Integrator51.1%
A Data Scientist, Statistician, Analyst
A CRM Expert
A Customer Experience Specialist
42.6%
42.6%
40.6%
35.0 34.0 31.7 17.4
16.8
A Marketing Expert64.4%
A Content Management Expert57.8%
A Writer or Content Creator53.3%
A Business Consultant46.7%
A Customer Experience Specialist35.6%
MarketingChannel Strategyand ConnectionsPlanning
Content Creation,Copywriting,and ContentOptimization
MarketingStrategy andPositioning
ContentManagementand Digital AssetManagement
Systems
WebsiteTesting andOptimization
Website Design,IncludingResponsive andAdaptive Design
The Ability toPersuade andNegotiate
45.6 39.8 24.6 23.4
21.6 17.2 16.0
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RESEARCH
THE INFRASTRUCTUREARCHITECTS 16%This is a classically trained cohort
of technologists, with expertise in
developing enterprise marketing
platforms. With a deep understand-ing of technology architecture and
selection, software development, and
content and digital asset management
platforms, they describe themselves as
the IT specialists, systems integrators,
and business consultants that deploy
marketing technology at scale within
an enterprise.
Infrastructure Architects: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Inrastructure Architects are much more aligned with technology. Inormationtechnology, systems integration, and even developing/coding scored highly. They
are also the most male (89%) and 40% had an undergraduate technology degree(versus a 25.3% average across all archetypes).
THE EXPERIENCEENGINEERS 15%This group pushes boundaries at the
intersection of technology and experi-
ence. They have remarkable proficien-
cies in the technologies (e-commerce,
front-end, and mobility) that directlytouch the customer experience.
Experience Engineers: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Experience Engineers play a hybrid role blending depth in IT and SI (system in-
tegration) skills but also have breadth in the orm o customer experience. They
have considerable skills in mobile app development, e-commerce technology, andother core competencies, as well.
EnterpriseArchitecture,Tech Selection,and Liecycle
Management
SofwareDesign,Programming,
and Coding
ContentManagementand Digital AssetManagement
Systems
SofwareDevelopmentOperations andIT Operations
Front-endTechnologies(e.g., HTML5,Javascript, andCSS)
Visual Displayo Data IincludingInographics andDashboards
46.8 31.6 23.3 17.1
An IT (Inormation Technology) Specialist73.3% A Systems Integrator64.4%
A Business Consultant60.0%
A Sofware Developer, Coder, or Programmer35.6%
An Entrepreneur
A Customer Experience Specialist
33.3%
33.3%
11.4 9.0
An IT (Inormation Technology) Specialist46.3%
A Systems Integrator41.5%
A Business Consultant39.0%
A Sofware Developer, Coder, or Programmer39.0%
An Entrepreneur
A Customer Experience Specialist
31.7%
31.7%
GIS,Geomapping,and Geotargeting
WebsiteDesign IncludingResponsive andAdaptive Design
ContentManagementand Digital AssetManagementSystems
Design andDevelopmento Mobile Appsand Platorms
E-commerceTechnologiesand Platorms
Front-endTechnologies(e.g., HTML5,Javascript,and CSS)
SofwareDesign,Programming,and Coding
33.9 29.8 21.5 17.0
17.0 13.6 12.9
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RESEARCH
THE MEDIA AND MARKETING ANALYZERS 10%A rare breed in our survey, this type has
significant skills in research, consumer
insights, and strategic planning. They
think strategically about segmentationand connections planning.
Media and Marketing Analyzers: Self-reported skills
Professional self-description: I think of myself as...
Our final archetype is also the smallest. Media and Marketing Analysts bringstrengths in advertising, business, and customer experience. They tend to be
younger 45% are under 35 years old and are the most likely to have a graduate
degree 59% have a graduate degree, o which most (71%) are in business.
The existence of these archetypes
shows us that todays marketing tech-
nologists do not have equivalent com-
petencies. In fact, the differences in the
ratio of skills between the archetypes
are quite large.
One immediate implication for brands
looking to appoint a CMT is that they
must be more specific in creating a
job description the term marketing
technologist is simply insufficient.
Lacking specifics when casting the role
will increase the odds of professional
failure. For instance, recruiting a Mar-
keting Maven when the job situation
calls for a Data Diva or InfrastructureArchitect will require additional senior
team members with complementary
skills to build out a capable marketing
technology function.
We recommend an outline of the
specific skills required, followed by
a determination of which primary
and secondary (or more, if needed)
archetypes fit best. Brands with stable
business models should be able todefine their needs succinctly (e.g., evolve
and manage the marketing automation
infrastructure). By doing so, they will
be able to focus on the archetypes
required, which will increase the likeli-
hood of finding experienced candidates
who can fill the roles effectively. Of
course, employers concerned about
changing consumer behavior or digital
disruption to their core business will
need a unicorn with breadth and
depth across multiple or each of thearchetypes to lead the marketing
technology office. In this case, expect
the candidate pool to be much smaller
and the search to take longer.
MarketingResearch,ConsumerInsights, and
CompetitiveIntelligence
MarketingStrategy and
Positioning
Advertisingand MarketingCommunicationDevelopment
MarketSegmentationandPsychographics
MarketingChannelStrategy andConnectionsPlanning
A Marketing ExpertAn Advertising Expert
A Business Consultant
An Entrepreneur
A Customer Experience Specialist
72.4%51.7%
44.8%
37.9%
31.0%
58.4 47.3 24.1 16.6
13.5
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
2Archetypes are split evenly
between marketing and technology
disciplines. Marketing archetypes
are more likely to operate as a
team, while technology archetypes
are more likely to play the role of
Chief Marketing Technologist.
In our data, we found a roughly even
split between marketing and techno-
logy orientations (see Figure 3) 52
percent of the respondents are cla-
ssified in one of the three marketing
archetypes (Marketing Mavens, Con-
tent Curators, or Media and Marketing
Analyzers), while the remaining 48 per-
cent are in the technology archetypes
(Data Divas, Infrastructure Architects,
or Experience Engineers).
Interestingly, those with a marketing
orientation are far more likely to ope-
rate with a team rather than as the sole
marketing technologist. We hypothe-size that marketing-oriented archetypes
need additional technology support
in order to realize the marketing
technology function.
MARKETING ARCHETYPES52% OF RESPONDENTSMarketing-oriented archetypes tend
to be self-taught in technology, have
more marketing academic training, and
be equally divided by gender. They
are slightly more likely to report to
the CMO than any other group (33.9
percent report to the CMO versus an
overall average of 31.4 percent).
TECHNOLOGY ARCHETYPES48% OF RESPONDENTSTechnology archetypes are younger, are
more likely to have STEM degrees, and
are more likely to report to non-marketing
leaders (e.g., the CEO, CIO, or others).
A full 55 percent of the three techno-
logy archetypes reported that they are
the CMT, a moniker roughly equivalent
to the Chief Marketing Technology
Officer (CMTO). In contrast, only 35
percent a full twenty percentage
point change of the three marketing
archetypes report themselves to be the
Chief Marketing Technologist.
Our hypothesis is that todays techno-
logy archetypes (Data Divas, Infra-
structure Architects, and Experience
Engineers) possess more of the skills
needed to align the marketing team,
technology vendors, service providers,
and corporate IT. Our recommendationfor brands? Evaluate your CMTs ability
to be the glue between these teams,
including his/her ability to represent the
interests, viewpoints, and concerns of
the different stakeholders without bias,
to see the big picture while not missing
key details, and to show his/her gravi-
tas as a cross-functional leader.
The six archetypes have two mainareas of focus
Our six profiles are evenly split between
marketing-ocused and technology-ocused archetypes consistent with
the blended nature o the role.
Data
Divas
Inrastructure
Architects
Experience
Engineers
Technology48%
17% 16% 15%
MarketingMavens
ContentCurators
Media & MarketingAnalyzers
26% 16% 10%
Marketing52%
10%
FIGURE03
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
3Marketing technologists most
likely work for the CMO. They also
have marketing titles.
Our respondents report to a marketing
function most frequently. Just 8.6 per-
cent of marketing technologists report
to the CIO; most report to the CMO
(31.4 percent), CEO/President (23.9
percent), or CDO (Chief Digital Offi-
cer)/CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) (5.3percent). In sum, 69.2 percent report to
the C-suite. CMTs are similar, with just
5.5 percent reporting to the CIO.
In our view, this distribution of report-
ing relationships is supportive of our
thesis that the marketing technologist
is broadly the equivalent of a CIO or
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
dedicated to marketing, and the CMO
or CEO needs a trusted advisor skilled
in technology and marketing on
his/her team.
Current job titles are predominantly in
the marketing domain (see Figure 4).
CMTs were 7 percent more likely to
have a marketing title. We also found
that the title of Marketing Technolo-
gist is rarely used and made up only a
small fraction (11 percent) of CMTs in
the field.
Participant job titles Overall and CMT
The most common title or a marketing technologist is a marketing title such as
Director o Marketing or Marketing Manager. CMTs are even more likely to have
marketing titles than overall respondents. And a ormal Marketing Technologytitle is quite rare.
6050403020100
Given the title variance and reporting
to IT by exception rather than norm,
we recommend that the individual
tasked as the CMT: has explicit
objectives; is socialized with all con-
cerned stakeholders; is tasked to alignmarketing and technology concerns;
and owns the blueprint for how
marketing technology is deployed and
will evolve in the context of the enter-
prise technology estate.
Business Title CGO/CSO/Director/VP/Manager o Strategy Project Manager/Account Manager/Director/VP/Manager o Business, Product, or Applica-
tion Development/Strategist
Technology Title CTO/CIO/Director/VP/Manager o IT Director o Market Automation Director o CRM Director o Analytics Market Automation Specialist
Marketing Technology Title Marketing Technologist Marketing Technology Consultant Marketing Technology Manager
Marketing Title CMO Director/VP/Manager o Digital Marketing Marketing Manager/Director/VP/Manager oMarketing Technology
CMT
55.9%Overall
48.9%
CMT
16.5%Overall
23.2%
CMT
18%Overall
16.8%
CMT
11%Overall
7.1%
FIGURE04
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7/24/2019 Analyzing the Chief Marketing Technologist | By Sheldon Monteiro (Chief Technology Officer), Hilding Anderson (Dir
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RESEARCH
4
However, we are concerned that prepa-
ration in computer science fundamen-
tals, systems and algorithmic thinking,
statistics, and data science are hard
to pick up on the job absent curricula,
coaching, and skill roadmaps for whichthere is no industry consensus. The
marketing technologist is, by its very
moniker, a technical and marketing
role, and those recruiting or planning
their own careers must have a strong
grounding in the fundamentals of both.
We recommend that both brands
looking for CMTs and aspiring CMTs
themselves evaluate their skills across
the archetypes to understand existing
gaps, and then create development
plans or source additional talent to fillthose gaps.
Areas of study for marketing technologists
Marketing technologists are a highly educated group, with 92% having atleast a bachelors degree compared to 29.5% or the general U.S. population.
Undergraduate areas o study include liberal arts, and, at the graduate level,skew toward business.
Only a quarter of todays mar-
keting technologists have STEM
degrees. Predictably, technology
training is done on the job, not
in school.
Surprisingly, three in four marketing
technologists do not have a traditional
STEM degree. Approximately 25.3
percent have a STEM undergraduate
degree, while 18.8 percent have a
STEM graduate degree. Instead, themost common academic majors for
marketing technologists (see Figure 5)
are business and business administra-
tion (13.7 percent of undergrads and
41.4 percent among graduates).
Once in the workforce, marketing
manager is the #1 job leading to a
marketing technologist role, followed
by web/CRM/automation platform
technology management. But when
we group all responses by domain
(see sidebar entitled What Were the
Previous Jobs of Marketing Technolo-
gists?), the technology/programming
domain emerges as the most com-
mon prior job focus, followed by the
business/management and marketing/
communications domains.
Almost half of all the respondents had
a prior role in technology, and primary
marketing technologists skew higher
53.5 percent report having a technical/
programming role prior to their currentprimary marketing technologist role.
Our conclusion? Todays talent has
cross-skilled themselves, especially
in technology, on the job. This is
understandable given the paucity of
cross-discipline academic programs.
Business or BusinessAdministration
Marketing
Communications
Computer ScienceInormation Technology
Engineering
Science or Math
Social Sciences(Economics, Sociology, Psychology)
Art and Other Majors (Net)
AREAS OF STUDY Undergraduate Graduate
41%14%
16%11%
8%9%
14%12%
3%9%
2%4%
5%10%
11%31%
FIGURE05
We are concerned that preparation in computer sciencefundamentals, systems and algorithmic thinking,statistics, and data science are hard to pick up on the
job absent curricula, coaching, and skill roadmaps forwhich there is no industry consensus.
- Sheldon Monteiro
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RESEARCH
39%Business/ManagementBackground
Business/management was
also a popular job category,
and we observed prior general
management roles described as
consulting, managing teams, and
project management.
37.3%Marketing/Communica-tions Background
While marketing background/
marketing manager/marketing
is the single most common(historic) role or marketing
technologists, the marketing/
communications category as a
whole ranked below technology-
ocused prior roles.
Web/CRM Management/Automation Platorms
Web Developer/Programmer/Sofware Engineer
IT/Tech Background
SEM/SEO/Search Engine Management
Background in Mobile Platorms/Apps
20.7%
14.5%
14.1%
4.6%
3.7%
2.9%
E-commerce
01
02 03
04 05
06
Consulting/Management Consultant/User Experience Consultant
Management Background/Manage a Team
Account/Project Management
Sales/Lead Generation
Business Development/Strategy/Research Strategy
Analytics/Business Analyst/Business Background
Market Research/Research and Development
10.4%
9.1%
9.1%
8.3%
7.5%
5.4%
4.1%
01
03
04 05
06 07
02
Marketing Background/Marketing Manager/Marketing
Digital/Interactive Marketing
Digital Producer/Graphics/Animation/Video/Audio Engineer
Communications/Market Communications/Database Marketing
Background in Social Media/Social Platorms
22.4%
13.7%
4.6%
3.3%
3.7%
01
02
04
03
05
01
02 03
04
05
01
02
03
04
05
06
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
4We asked respondents How did you transition into the marketing technologist role? That is, what were your job responsibilities and role before your current market-ing technologist role?
46.9%Technical/ProgrammingBackground
Technology/programming is the
dominant background or mar-
keting technologists. Specifically,
we ound ocus areas in web/CRM
platorms, web development, and
general IT/technology.
WHAT WERE THE PREVIOUS JOBS OF MARKETING TECHNOLOGISTS?4
RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
5Marketing technologists are stron-gest in core marketing skills, and
weakest in information security and
system performance/resilience.
Our respondents say their strongest
skills are marketing strategy/position-
ing, followed by marketing operations
management and website design
(including responsive and adaptive
design). At first glance, this is great
a mix of strategy, operations, and tech-
nology, in that order (see Figure 6).Our concern? Operations the second
strongest skill is ranked 2.5 times
weaker than strategy, while technology
website design (responsive and
adaptive) is ranked almost three
times weaker. Given the demo or die
mode in which most digitally native
competition operates, marketing
technologists must be as proficient in
the details of execution (operations and
technology) as they are in strategy.
System performance and resiliency,
advertising technology, and several
omnichannel-enabling technologies
(e.g., in-venue/in-store experience tech-
nology, physical computing and IoT,
tag management, and geotargeting) all
featured in the lowest ten self-assessed
current skills, with information security
dead last (see Figure 7).
Of all our findings, we were concerned
with this one the most. In our view,
marketing technologists must envisionand lead the delivery of omnichannel
experiences that are integrated, scal-
able, and reliable. This, in fact, is a core
mandate of the role. Further, the bottom
ten list also included some core mar-
keting topics, such as loyalty programs,
internationalization, media, and ad-tech.
In light of recent massive security
breaches in many industry verticals, the
extreme scale with which digital busi-
nesses must operate during periods of
high demand, and the need for brands
to imagine and create immersive andpervasive communications and experi-
ence, the lack of needed skills in these
areas is worrisome.
Our recommendation? Understand
your weakest skills and source help
from specialists to mitigate risks and
avoid blind spots. Consider immediate
audits in gap areas and strategy
retainers for forward planning.
Current job skills: Strongest skills
In these data, we were particularly surprised at the strength o marketing
strategy/positioning and the relatively balanced set o current strengths
across disciplines.
Current job skills: Weakest skills
We were startled by the importance o several o the skills on which marketing
technologists evaluated themselves poorly. Inormation security, particularly,is o growing importance, yet was the weakest job skill in the study.
38.1
15.6
13.3
12.3
12.2
Marketing Strategy/Positioning
Marketing Operations Management
Website Design Including Responsive and Adaptive Design
The Ability to Persuade and Negotiate
Marketing Channel Strategy/Connections Planning
In-venue/In-Store Experience Technology
Physical Computing and the Internet o Things
Tag Management and User Management (United User Profile)
Loyalty Programs
Media Planning and Buying
International Marketing/Translations/Legal Issues
Digital Ad Networks and Real-Time Bidding
System Perormance and Resiliency
GIS, Geomapping, and Geotargeting
Inormation Security/Firewalls/Encryption/Data Recovery
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
FIGURE06
FIGURE07
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RESEARCH
6In the future, desired skills spanmarketing, business, and technolo-
gy, but mind the data gap.
We asked our respondents which job
skills were the most important for the
future success of marketing (see Figure
8). Of the top five skills important for
the future, two are marketing-related,
two are technology-related, and one
is business-related. This supports our
view that the marketing technologist
must span marketing, technology, andbusiness. However, the technology-
oriented skills are narrower than
wed anticipated.
We also compared responses for skills
ranked important in the future to those
for skills they have today. By doing
so, we identified specific skill gaps and
their magnitudes (see Figure 9).
The most significant skill gaps are seen
in target market identification; CRM
systems and platforms; data science,
analytics, statistics, and modeling; and
big data and marketing segmentation.
The list indicates that leveling up is
required on both the marketing and
technology sides. But by far, the most
significant absolute gap is in big data:
techniques and technologies for hand-
ling data at extreme scale.
We recommend a careful analysis of
skills needed for the future of your
business, and building these skills
through development, talent sourcing,and retainers. In particular, given that
data centricity will dominate marketing
for the foreseeable future, we suggest
additional emphasis on acquiring data
science and data management compe-
tencies within the marketing techno-
logy function.
Marketing Technologist skill gaps
When we compared the most important skills with their current strengths/weaknesses, we identified a set o skills with the greatest gaps, shown below. Its
notable that the biggest gaps span technology, marketing, and business skills.
JOB SKILLS
Target Market Identification
Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM)Systems and Platforms
Data Science, Analytics,Statistics, and Modeling
Big Data: Techniques andTechnologies for HandlingData at Extreme Scale
Market Segmentationand Psychographics
IMPORTANCE TO
FUTURE SUCCESS5
2
3
6
7
9
GAP
-20
-7
-6
-27
-8
STRENGTH OF
TODAYS SKILLS6
22
10
12
34
17
FIGURE09
Most important future job skills
When we asked respondents or
the top skills or uture success, thetop two skills which emerged were
traditional marketing skills, although
technology skills rounded out the nexttwo slots.
0 20 40 60 80
62.1%
44.3%
43.9%
43.9%
42.9%
Marketing Strategy/Posi-tioning
Target MarketIdentification
Website Design IncludingResponsive and Adaptive
CRM Systems andPlatorms
The Ability to Persuadeand Negotiate
FIGURE08
5Importance to Future Success: Lower numbers are more important.
6Strength of Todays Skills: Lower numbers are stronger.
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RESEARCH
With the shif rom analog to digital,
rom communications to experience,
rom story yelling to the Storyscaping
approach, companies need a new breed
o technologist. This new breed sees
around corners, paints the big picture,
and gets marketers, ad types, and
marketing. They are scrappy innova-
tors who also understand scale and
complexity, and who are awesome at
influencing people.
For all the hand-wringing about Chie
Marketing Technologists (CMTs or
CMTOs), talent that gets both marketing
and technology is rare. While marketing
technology talent is in very high demand,
there is an enormous industry skill gap.
SapientNitro decided to do something
about it by creating a CMTO University
within our agency.
The CMTO University is an internal lead-
ership development program dedicated
to growing some o our best technolo-gists and ocusing on three core topic
areas: technology, marketing, and com-
municating with influence. It is a year-
long experience that combines elements
o a corporate leadership development
program with the rigor, challenge, and
learning o an executive MBA.
Modeled as a cohort-based program,
our students are selected through a
competitive application process which
includes a ormal application rom the
prospective student, agency business
sponsorship and reerences, and a re-
erence interview with a SapientNitro
client who has worked closely with
the applicant and can attest to his/her
prowess. SapientNitro technologists
hailing rom any o our global offices at
the Vice President, Director, and Senior
Manager career levels are eligible to
apply. Participants are required to com-
mit to investing an extra ten to fifeen
hours every week over the course o the
program year, in addition to their de-
manding jobs. In our most recent cohort,
ewer than one in three applicants who
applied were admitted into the program.
The curriculum includes our inten-
sive workshops, conducted in different
SapientNitro locations around the globe,
with interim periods between theworkshops (see Figure 10). Each inten-
sive and interim has a specific ocus;
activities include group projects, weekly
individual assignments and discussions
through an online collaboration tool,
and semi-weekly virtual classroom
sessions (with presentations) held over
the weekend.
GROWING UNICORNS: SAPIENTNITROS
CMTO UNIVERSITY
RESEARCH
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RESEARCHRESEARCH
Sessions are taught by SapientNitro
thought leaders across the globe, in-
dustry and academic external experts,
and by the participants themselves as
their skills and knowledge are honed.
Throughout the program, participants
are assessed or progress, share eed-back with their peers, and receive per-
sonalized coaching rom the program
aculty. The curriculum is designed and
delivered in collaboration with Hyper
Island, a leader in digital learning and
executive training.
Students must also complete an inde-
pendent study project, the capstone
experience o the CMTOu program.
Similar to a thesis, the independent
study demonstrates competency in a
specific aspect o critical marketing
technology as well as the opportunity to
creatively communicate thinking.
Intensive (4+ days, over weekend)
E-meet (3 hours, Sunday, virtual)
OCT JAN APR JUL
FIRST INTERIM Marketing Technology Breadth
Physical Computing
Marketing Theory
SECOND INTERIM Marketing Technology Depth
Individual DevelopmentPlanning
THIRD INTERIM Independent Study
Work Emotional Intelligence
Marketing Theory
FOURTH INTERIM Complete Independent Study
External Conerence Proposals
Plan or Influencing SapientNitro
CHICAGO
Marketing Fundamentalsor a Digital World
Group Dynamics
Influence Skills
ATLANTA
Marketing Deep Dive,Culture, Practice
The Storyscaping Approach
Influence Skills
LONDON
Authentic and FearlessCommunication
Pitching and Story Practice
Design Aesthetics
INDIA
Conerence ThoughtLeadership Presentations
Evangelizing the CMTO Role
Participants select a topic and then de-
sign, plan, and complete this work with
the assistance o internal and external
advisors, including several industry
luminaries. Each student is required to
present in public at a conerence held
during the final intensive.
This program also imparts the tools to
ensure that the graduates continue to
stay on top o whats next a critical
skill in the digital world as many mar-
keting technologies become obsolete and
new ones rise in importance. Our clients
reap the benefits through the work we
produce, and our participants see the
impact o their collective transormation
throughout the program, both in the
curriculum and on client work.
Program Schedule
The CMTOu is a year-long, internal leadership development program. The curriculum
includes our intensive workshops, conducted in different SapientNitro locations
around the globe, with interim periods between the workshops.
FIGURE10
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RESEARCH
Conclusion
The rise of the Chief Marketing
Technologist is bridging the worlds of
marketing and IT. In these data, we see
a new picture emerging of the market-ing technologist. This first-ever analysis
of the professional population gives
us a remarkable view of six discrete
archetypes, their skills, and where in
the organization they sit. Importantly,
we have a clear view of the skills and
attitudinal gaps which employers must
recognize when hiring and that the
profession (and, ultimately, academia)
must address.
We can logically infer from the data that
marketing technologists are cultivating
their skills on the job. Thats great news.
But, it should be deeply concerning to
both marketing technologists and the
brands that rely on them that the largest
skill gaps are in areas of significant
opportunity (e.g., targeting, CRM, and
data) and high risk (e.g., information
security, performance, and resiliency).
Academia has yet to create programs
for hybrid talent that must operate
at the intersection of marketing and
technology. The need for marketers
who understand technology, data, and
algorithms is as pressing and urgent as
the need for technologists who have
a grasp of marketing, advertising, and
the art of growing customers. Againstthis backdrop, we believe it is critical
for organizations to invest in ongoing
training and skill development to grow
marketing technology talent.
As an agency, our clients often ask
us to play advisory CMTO roles. To
fulfill the demand, we founded our
own CMTO University. We decided to
challenge, rather than coddle, our best
technologists. We go deep by teaching
marketing, business, applied influence,and persuasion skills, modeled in the
style of an executive MBA. For busines-
ses that want to thrive, and increasingly
those that want to survive, grooming
leaders with relevant skills to operate
with competence and confidence in
the age of the customer is the single
biggest investment we can make in
our future.
About the survey
The survey was an online questionnaire distributed through two primary channels chiefmartec.comand the 2014 Boston MarTech conerence (August 1820). Sur-
vey responses were collected rom August 15 to September 8, 2014. The majority
(76 percent) o respondents were based in the U.S., while 24 percent were basedoutside the U.S. (mostly Europe and Canada).
A total o 280 surveys were completed. The distribution o the sample appears to
be representative o the marketing technology community, as defined by the blog
and attendees rom the 2014 Boston MarTech conerence. SapientNitro sponsoredthe study and worked alongside Decision Analyst, a market research firm, todesign and execute it.
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SapientNitro, part of Publicis.Sapient, is a new breed of agency redefining storytelling for an always-on world. Were changing the way our clients engage todays
connected consumers by uniquely creating integrated, immersive stories across brand communications, digital engagement, and omnichannel commerce. We call
it our Storyscapingapproach, where art and imagination meet the power and scale of systems thinking. SapientNitros unique combination of creative, brand, and
technology expertise results in one global team collaborating across disciplines, perspectives, and continents to create game-changing success for our Global
1000 clients, such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target, and Vodafone, in thirty-one cities across The Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
For more information, visit www.sapientnitro.com.
SapientNitro and Storyscaping are registered service marks of Sapient Corporation.
COPYRIGHT 2015 SAPIENT CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
INSIGHTS WHERE TECHNOLOGY & STORY MEET
The Insightspublication features the marketing intelligence, trend forecasts,
and innovative recommendations of boundary-breaking thought leaders. The
SapientNitro Insights app brings that provocative collection now in its digital
form to your on-the-go fingertips.
Download the full report at sapientnitro.com/insightsand, for additional
interactive and related content, download the SapientNitro Insights app.
Hilding AndersonDirector Research & Insights,SapientNitro Washington, D.C.
Hilding is the Editor-in-Chief of Insights 2015, and a Di-
rector of Research and Insights at SapientNitro. He helps
set the thought leadership agenda across the agency, and
advises global clients on emerging trends.
Scott TangHead of Global Consumer & Industry Research,SapientNitro Chicago
Scott leads a team of researchers that supports SapientNitro
worldwide through secondary and quantitative analysis on
topics regarding consumers, industries, and all things digital.
Sheldon MonteiroGlobal Chief Technology Officer,SapientNitro Chicago
Sheldon leads global technology capabilities, engineering,
quality, methods, devops, and tools. He sponsors and is asenior faculty member at SapientNitros CMTO University,
an in-house executive development program to grow
SapientNitros marketing technologists.
http://www.sapientnitro.com/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sapientnitro.inhouse.insightsandroid&hl=enhttps://itunes.apple.com/hu/app/sapientnitro-insights/id1043181610?mt=8