Rise of theMarketing Technologist(And What It Means for Agencies)

by Scott Brinker

@chiefmartec

October 2011

Who am I?

Hybrid software architect & marketer.

Blog about that intersection atwww.chiefmartec.com.

Co-founded interactive agency in 1998.

Transformed agency into a specializedmarketing technology software vendorwww.ioninteractive.com.

What’s a marketing technologist?

A digital strategist?

A creative technologist?

Something else?

Based on predictive analytics:

Digital has won.

if (digital_strategy != marketing_strategy){

fail();}

Digital strategist.

Digitally-savvy account planners.

Digital marketing specialists.

Search engine optimizationPaid search marketingSocial media marketingDisplay advertisingContent marketingMobile marketing

A digital strategist must befluent in using technology.

A digital strategist modern marketer must befluent in using technology.

But not necessarily building it.

Enter the creative technologist.

Brain of a software developer

Heart of an artist

Anatomy of a Creative Technologist

Brain of a software developer

Heart of an artist

Balls of a hacker

Eye of an interface designer

Anatomy of a Creative Technologist

(figuratively speaking)

A creative technologist builds technologyfor creative “campaigns.” (Obviously.)

HTMLCSSJavascriptFlashAPIsMVC frameworks

Facebook appsiPhone/iPad appsAndroid appsGamesDynamic adsData sharing

Art Director(Images)

Copywriter(Words)

Creative Technologist

(Code)+ +

Concepts

The modern creative triumvirate.

Agencies are becoming more and moretechnically sophisticated.

Some faster than others.

The digital strategist (and variations) andthe creative technologist are key roles.

But they’re primarily agency roles.

Something else is happening…

Across the agency-client divide…

A fundamental shift is underway in mostmarketing departments.

From technology adverse…

…to technology savvy.

“I feel more like a CIO than a CMO! I have marketing automation, CRM, listening platforms—I’m up to my eyeballs in technology.”

But let’s start with the root cause.

The marketing world (not so long ago):

ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, Jim Lecinski

Agency’s Responsibility

Marketer’s Responsibility

//

The marketing world (not so long ago):

ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, Jim Lecinski

ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, Jim Lecinski

Query search engines

Visit company web site

Read educational content

Follow on Twitter

Visit competitor web sites

Read reviews

Discuss with friends

Check online communities

Comparison shop

The ZMOT is a flurry of activity:

5 killer properties of the ZMOT:

1. Almost entirely digital (or digital-ish).

2. Many touchpoints.

5 killer properties of the ZMOT:

1. Almost entirely digital (or digital-ish).

2. Many touchpoints.

3. Real-time dynamics.

5 killer properties of the ZMOT:

1. Almost entirely digital (or digital-ish).

2. Many touchpoints.

3. Real-time dynamics.

4. Shattered boundaries.

5 killer properties of the ZMOT:

1. Almost entirely digital (or digital-ish).

2. Many touchpoints.

3. Real-time dynamics.

4. Shattered boundaries.

5. Experience defines brand.

New Prospects

Existing Customers

Marketing/Advertising

Product/ Service

New Prospects

Existing Customers

Marketing/Advertising

Product/ Service

Customer Experience

It’s

@$%*&!#

complex.

From Stretched to Strengthened, IBM Global CMO Study 2011

Oh, and it’s hard to outsource.

At least hard to outsource wholesale.

Because ultimately, the brand must ownthe customer experience.

(CX for those in the know.)

How do we get control of this complexity?

1. Almost entirely digital (or digital-ish).

2. Many touchpoints.

3. Real-time dynamics.

4. Shattered boundaries.

5. Experience defines brand.

digital (or digital-ish)measurable

scalablefast

malleablefrictionless

…but most importantly…

It’s programmable by software.

And thanks to Moore’s Law,cloud computing and SaaS models,open source and expert communities,a wealth of new languages and frameworks,it’s never been easier or faster to buildgreat software.

…which has led to one ofthe greatest explosions inthe history of software…

CORE WEBSITE

WEB TESTING & OPTIMIZATION

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS

MARKETING AUTOMATION

EMAIL MARKETING

CRM

SALES AUTOMATION

CUSTOM DATABASES

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

E-COMMERCE LOYALTY MANAGEMENT

CUSTOM WEB APPS

WIDGETS/PLUG-INS

MOBILE APPS

SEO TOOLS

Marketing Technology Landscape

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING MANAGEMENT

VIRTUAL EVENTS

AGILE/PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CUSTOMER ANALYTICS

VIDEO AD MANAGEMENT

SEARCH AD MANAGEMENT

SOCIAL MEDIA AD MANAGEMENT

DISPLAY AD MANAGEMENT

VIDEO CONTENT

MOBILE MARKETING

MARKETING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

CREATIVE TOOLS

by Scott Brinker @chiefmartec http://www.chiefmartec.com

COMMUNITIESLANDING PAGES & MICROSITES

BLOGS

APIs

GAMING/FACEBOOK APPS

MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETNG MANAGEMENT

CALL TRACKING

PERSONALIZATION

INTEGRATED SUITES & ENTERPRISE MARKETING MANAGEMENT

August 2011

WEB ANALYTICS

EVENT MANAGEMENT

TARGETING

DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

CREATIVE OPTIMIZATION

External Promotion Customer Experience Marketing Management

The Golden Age of Marketing Software.

Software is now the interface by which marketing sees and touches the world.

Analytics shapes perceptions.

Automation guides processes.

Optimization hones tactics.

Listening leads engagement.

Targeting defines segments.

CRM structures relationships.

Software doesn’t just help marketersmanage the new customer experience.

It often defines the customer experience.

But all this wizardry raises a question…

Who choreographs thismarketing technology ballet?

Or is it moreof a mosh pit?

In the “old days,” marketing would havesimply handed off requests to IT.

That kinda worked on a small scale.

But as volume and speed increased, themarketing/IT relationship began to feel…

IT

Marketing

Marketing’s perceptions of IT:

IT is the department of “no.”

IT doesn’t speak marketing’s language.

IT doesn’t understand the need for speed.

IT isn’t concerned with the customer.

Mastering Customer Data—A CIO Imperative, Forrester Research July 2011

IT’s perceptions of marketing:

Marketing is spin.

Marketers don’t care about integration.

Mastering Customer Data—A CIO Imperative, Forrester Research July 2011

So how do we reconile this?

Well, there’s always a committee…

Real action is required for four cataclysmicforces reshaping marketing today.

The marketing technology explosion.

Agility — the new clockspeed of marketing.

Accountability — new performance culture.

The new ZMOT customer.

Collectively, these forces demand a fundamental shift in marketing culture, structure, and operations.

The foundation of that shift must bethis affirmation…

Marketing must leadits own technology.

Marketing is now atechnology-powered discipline.

A new kind of marketing professional is emerging in this environment…

A technical/marketing hybrid…

The marketing technologist.

Analogous to the creative technologist role at agencies, but different.

Less about building stimulus “creative.”

More about building:

The extended customer experience (CX).

The new marketing operations.

How should we organize professionals in this new discipline?

Traditional MktgIT

The original marketing-IT organization:

no marketingperspective

no IT/technology perspective

Traditional MktgIT

Estranged MktgIT

The original marketing-IT organization:

In really bad situations:

no marketingperspective

no IT/technology perspective

King Solomon’s Marketing-Technology Split

(Not a good idea.)

MT

A marketing technologist team should provide an integrated, holistic view.

Understand good IT practices

Understand good marketing practices

Think natively in the combined domain of marketing technology

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MTPractice Center

Colocated

Joint Venture

Embedded

The marketing technology team should be led by a chief marketing technologist.

Or whatever title you prefer:

VP/Director Marketing Technology

VP/Director Marketing Operations

VP/Director Customer Intelligence

Marketing CTO

What’s important is the role.

And we can define it with 5 missions.

Build and lead a superb team of marketing technologists.

Mission #1

- Tech experience- Marketing passion- “T-shaped”- Self-learners- Highly collaborative

“Not simply a collection of design-savvy developers.

To meet the explosion in channels, devices and touchpoints, build a team that blends skills in analysis, programming, and user experience.”

– Forrester Research, October 2011

Investing In Marketing’s Technology Future

Help the CMO translate strategy into technology (and vice versa).

Mission #2

- Prepare the CMO- Map tech & business- Drive innovation- Justify investment

Choreograph data and technology across the marketing organization.

Mission #3

- Manage vendors- Integrate & operate- Interface to agencies- Champion data- Balance cost/value

Standardize Experiment

The Marketing

Technology Cycle

Fuse technology into the DNA of marketing—practices, people, and culture.

Mission #4

- Teaching their peers- Illuminate possibilities- Tech transparency- Cross-pollinate ideas- Agile marketing

Enforce and inform IT policy and governance for all marketing technology.

Mission #5

- Mind security- Mind regulation- Share infrastructure- Support the CIO

In the words of Seth Godin, thisperson should be a linchpin.

He’d definitely call them weird (in agood way).

“Splintering touchpoints and the growing torrent of data force marketers to build up investments in technology to keep up with customers. To manage and direct the increasingly complex marketing technology stack, Forrester recommends that organizations create a marketing technology office.”

– Forrester Research, October 2011

3 Approaches to the Marketing Technology Office

Marketing

Marketing Technology

Who’s packing your parachute?

Motivation:

So what does this mean for agencies?

Advertising automation and optimization will continue to accelerate…

This value will be eroded by software andnetwork synchronization.

but will increasingly need to integrate with the client more deeply.

Creative technology will continue to growand thrive…

This will be a high value service.

but will increasingly need tointegrate with the client more deeply.

New demand for designing and building customer experience elements will arise…

This will be a high value service.

but must integrate with the client deeply.

There’s apattern here…

Agencies will needto integrate with theirclients more deeply.

Will require more “marketing technologist”—not just “creative technologist”—technicalcapabilities.

Account managers must also learn towork with more technical stakeholders on the client’s team.

A client-side marketing technology team should be your new best friend.

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MT

MktgIT MTPractice Center

Colocated

Joint Venture

Embedded

Agency

Agency

Agency

Agency

With the advantage of perspective acrossmany clients…

This too can be a high value service.

Agencies have the potential to becomecurators of “best practices” for the future of marketing technology.

The Marketing Technology Express

Will you be a conductor, a passenger, or someone left behind?

Thank you.

Get these slides at www.chiefmartec.com

Follow me on Twitter @chiefmartec