The Rise of the Chief Marketing Technologist

Marketing has quickly become one of the most tech-friendly functions in an organization. Even at an agency level, marketing has been one of the most adaptive functions in the brand. There have been multiple innovations and disruptions in the industry leading to more tech-influence throughout the function.

CMOs are now focusing even more on technology solutions that can change the way that we think about their industry. Marketing is truly seeing a renaissance period in its lifespan, with more information being passed through than ever before.

Managing Data and Marketing

Marketing professionals need to run through everything on the basis of data. That data needs to be collected, adapted and prepared for the management strategy. Whether that’s customer data or data from brands in the field, it’s important to find out what’s happening out there. That’s where a thorough understanding of data and stats comes in, along with a requirement for tech inputs.

You need to have a great CRM system in place to be able to provide insights to each section of product development and operations. You also need to be able to take advantage of the latest innovations that are present in the industry. Marketing’s job is to understand the market, and the market of 2018 is becoming increasingly tech oriented. That’s why the job of a CMT is becoming that much more crucial.

If not being a fully fledged CMT, most marketing CMOs are becoming more and more tech-friendly, trying to understand the basics of AI and distributed tech. Blockchain and cloud have become ubiquitous in the industry and marketing is trying to figure out the best way to make sure that it can take advantage of that.

Introducing Tech Innovation

Companies need to become more tech-savvy and a lot of the times it’s not up to the tech team to figure that out. A CTO may be too busy running things in their operations, and CMOs are focused solely on bringing in more customers. That’s where a Chief Marketing Technologist comes in and starts to offer value where there was none before.

A CMT also has the job of ensuring that tech can be leveraged to bring in more clients and to ensure that the tech behind the solution stays on-point. Since marketing has a great idea of what’s happening in the competition, it can provide unique insights that may be leveraged for future success.

Tech innovation also comes in the form of new marketing innovation as well. You can design apps around AI and VR, also creating new engaging experiences at events. Tech is a key area of study and understanding and only a handful of marketers understand it’s true reach.

Everything Going Digital

With the digital wave hitting us over the last few years, we have become more open to the ideas of technology taking it one step ahead. We want to introduce new marketing initiatives and leverage the power of digital to make it happen.

CMOs that understand the deep impact of tech can truly call themselves CMTs as they are on top of all the latest digital happenings in the industry. Knowing about Facebook isn’t enough, understanding how the Facebook pixel code works makes you a thorough marketer.

With everything going digital in 2018, we have to be able to ride the wave through the end. We need to be super tech-savvy if we’re going to protect our jobs and the only way to do so realistically is by becoming hybrids. With AI taking over in the decades to come, we need to be more tech-oriented to continue providing value to large organizations.

A Holistic Approach

Since marketing and tech have infiltrated nearly every part of our everyday life, it's important to have a holistic approach to both. We need someone who can do both at the same time. Someone who can look at one picture and analyze it both ways simultaneously. That’s the true power of marketing and technology coming together.

That’s where we need people in the labor force who can guide companies through digital transformation and provide information on how companies can best position themselves if such a situation arises.

That’s why a lot of non-tech companies are hiring CMTs so that they can get the best of both worlds and stay one step ahead of the competition at all times. They may not necessarily be from an IT background, but they need to have managed tech projects before or have a tech team working for them directly.

Facilitating Interactivity

With so many different segments within one company, it’s important to have someone in the firm who understands the various languages of tech and marketing. It’s critical to have someone, and it can’t be a junior person, to speak to all sides of the table and introduce strategies.

That’s a key area where CMTs really shine is that they can lead projects that require a thorough understanding of tech as well as core marketing process. We can’t expect a CTO to take on the job as they’re focused on enhancing the tech. We can’t also focus on relying on CMOs who aren’t able to understand the jargons and code behind much of what they use.

That’s why a hybrid approach works best in these situations where different parts of a company can come together and create harmony under one CMT. That CMT holds a lot of power, which they need to delegate and diffuse across the firm.

Conclusion

In the end, it’s really about providing value and what brands can do to provide that to their customers. That’s where the CMT comes in and changes the way that we see marketing and technology. If they’re providing value beyond what a separated system can bring, then more power to these companies. They’re some of the most innovative firms in the world, and they’re changing the way that we view marketing and technology. They’re also bringing in more talent that has a hybrid of these skills to the table.