#MarTech Recap: The Convergence of Marketing and Technology

Still reeling from a jam-packed two days last week at the 2016 MarTech USA conference in San Francisco. Over a thousand professionals within the digital marketing and technology space gathered at the intersection of marketing, technology, and management.

Scott Brinker, the program chair of the MarTech conference series, kicked things off with the opening keynote covering key themes from his new book, Hacking Marketing. As software continues to bleed into everything and the dominance of digital forges ahead, marketers must adapt, evolve and innovate to avoid extinction. As the evolution of marketers persist the “myth” of the 10X Engineer 10X Marketer has emerged. The three main components of great marketers are:

1. Talent
2. Opportunity
3. Leverage

The collision of digital marketing and technology has created a new hybrid professional, the marketing technologist.

“10x marketers are made, not born, and half the battle is creating a platform where one can work.” – Seth Godin

And what would this new type of marketing professional be without her very own playground? Take a look at the 2016 marketing technology landscape supergraphic.

In an environment where change is the sole constant the saying ‘innovate or die’ becomes more than a mere saying, it is the mantra.

With over 38 sessions and 100+ vendors MarTech was brimming. Here are a few session highlights:

The Rise of the Super Intelligent Marketer

– Gerry Murray, Research Manager, CMO Advisory, International Data Corporation (IDC)

• Big data, big analytics, and intelligent processes have scaled way beyond the capacity of the human mind
• Cognitive computing is already in beta mode, and IDC predicts that by 2020, 50% of companies will use cognitive computing to automate marketing and sales interactions with customers
• Cognitive will enable marketers to deliver more compelling value to their customers and the journey.
• Customers are beginning to demand more control over the brand content they receive and expect to be a part of the conversation

5 Characteristics of Confident Marketers                                             

– Aaron Dun, SVP of Marketing, SnapApp

• Walk in the buyer’s shoes. Personas should be based on real conversations with buyers, not assumptions
• Take stock of your tools and simplify your technology stack. Account based marketing (ABM), advocacy and content interactivity should be your top 2016 MarTech priorities
• Be a trail blazer. Push the boundaries, continually test and iterate, and expand content types throughout the customer journey
• Have extreme empathy. Identify the challenges your customers have and create content around those challenges. Share the experience and connect personas to action
• Achieve resonance. Find a nugget of insight, and personalize the experience for your customer to deliver an A-ha moment that resonates

Agile Marketing Measurement

– Jennifer Zeszut, CEO, Beckon

– Shubu Mitra, Director, Connection Planning Effectiveness & Productivity, Coca-Cola

• Everything is speeding up. Marketing in this digital age is a force that demands agile measurement and management
• Key program performance questions still remain. Agile marketing needs agile measurement
• Agility is the new name of the marketing game
• Agile marketing best practices:

For access to all the speaker presentations and sessions from MarTech visit: http://martechconf.com/presentations/martech-usa-2016-speaker-presentations/