In a Dutch magazine I read an interesting development, which as far as I can tell also applies to other countries, is that the 45+ marketer is out of jobs, but marketers with IT knowledge are scarce. This person, a director at Yacht, a recruitment company, sees opportunities to retrain ICT professionals in what I believe are marketing technologists.
It is said that it is easier to (re)training ICT professionals with marketing skills than (re)train a marketeer with ICT skills, so here definately lies a challenge for HR managers.
Himanshu Sareen, founder and CEO of the IT consultancy Icreon, elaborates on five top technologies that marketers are harnassing to learn about their customers. As he rightfully explains, CMOs and marketing teams need IT knowledge to get their jobs done in new style. So this means a technology infusion in their daily jobs more and more.
The top five technologies according to Sareen are:
- Data Streaming and Application Data: Data streaming from Facebook and Twitter as well as application data from mobile devices, provides marketers with a wealth of data to mine and analyze.
- Advanced Data Analytics: Through advanced data analytics and customer relationship management technologies, enterprises can connect and establish direct relationships with customers to better understand their feedback and consumer needs.
- CMS and CRM Solutions: Code free content management systems (CMS) and customer relationship management solutions (CRM) are specifically designed for marketing in the era of Web 2.0 and beyond.
- Web Design and Development: Aesthetic layouts and functionality are central to how customers and potential clients interact with a business webpage. Marketers must heed the importance of a well-designed webpage that is intuitive and provides a seamless user experience.
- Marketing Attribution and Digital Breadcrumbs: Demographic information as well as transaction and interaction data stemming from user actions on smart devices and online communities, provides real-time insights regarding marketing metrics and marketing attribution.
Read here further on the full elaboration on each technology.
The overarching challenges are the data-heavy environments people are being “pushed” in. Secondly the additional tools to manage and analyze all this data from these five technologies is a second challenge.
Back then I did several courses to enhance my knowledge on Excel modeling, VBA for Excel and all kinds of statistical courses to better understand what all the data is telling.
Needing IT knowledge has two sides, how to use them, and how to benefit from the data is produced from all these technologies, which ultimately is the responsibility of the marketer, not handling the technology efficiently.
The non-data challenge that I get from Himanshu’s list is the creative and aesthetic one. This means marketers need to be well equipped both left- and right brain. This perhaps is the biggest challenge.
This is also the reason why there are arising more silos in the marketing silo, due to all these specializations, therefore fragmenting the marketing workforce.
Not technology but culture and leadership are the means that will effectively tackle this change.
What do you think of the five technologies, which one would you add and/or replace?
Gianluigi Cuccureddu is co-founder of Damarque, helping you to improve your commercial performance through better engagement with your employees, customers and strategic business partners.
We offer high-impact training, coaching and consulting services for professionals, teams and organizations to help improve people ánd organizational performance and innovation capability in an efficient and sustainable way.
