analyzing the chief marketing technologist | by sheldon monteiro (chief technology officer), hilding...

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/


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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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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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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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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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


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


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 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 Content Management Expert57.8%

A Writer or Content Creator53.3%


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


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


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 Sofware Developer, Coder, or Programmer35.6%

An Entrepreneur


33.3%

33.3%

11.4 9.0

An IT (Inormation Technology) Specialist46.3%

A Systems Integrator41.5%


A Sofware Developer, Coder, or Programmer39.0%

An Entrepreneur


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


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


72.4%51.7%

44.8%

37.9%

31.0%

58.4 47.3 24.1 16.6

13.5


10/19

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


11/19

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


12/19

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


13/19

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.


19/19

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.

[email protected]

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

[email protected]

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

[email protected]

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

analyzing the chief marketing technologist | by sheldon monteiro (chief technology officer), hilding...

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