7 MarTech Blogs to Follow

As the world of marketing continues to expand and the user experience becomes an increasingly critical focus for businesses everywhere, marketing operations and marketing technology (a.k.a., MarTech) become crucial areas to focus on. What better way to stay on top of this subject than by reading the thought leadership of the bloggers in the space? Here is our list of 7 MarTech blogs you should be reading:

1. Marketing Land's Martech Today:

http://marketingland.com/library/channel/martech
Run by Matt McGee and the same team that produces Search Engine Land, Marketing Land reports on everything marketing-related. But it is Marketing Land's MarTech Today channel that falls within the scope of this post. The channel is well-stocked and updated daily with the latest in the marketing technology space.

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2. Brian Solis:

http://www.briansolis.com
Brian Solis, futurist and digital analyst at Altimeter Group, studies the effects of disruptive technology on business and even society in general. His posts may tackle marketing and disruptors in the MarTech space, but will also touch on the customer experience, and Silicon Valley behind-the-scenes.

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3. Marketing TechBlog:

www.marketingtechblog.com
The Marketing TechBlog run by the team at DK New Media and founded by Douglas Karr, is another news source that covers a wide range of topics — from advertising and analytics to automation, mobile, ecommerce, and much more.

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4. Chief Marketing Technologist Blog:

http://chiefmartec.com/blog
Written and edited by Scott Brinker, this blog was started in 2008 back before MarTech was a common term. Check out the breadth of coverage in the blog's archives and you'll see how much the space has grown, and how Brinkner has consistently been at the forefront of discussions involving data software and marketing/sales.

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5. Inspire MarTech:

http://inspiremartech.com
This is the blog of digital evangelist Mayur Gupta, who was one of the first high-profile marketing technologists at major brand Kimberly Clark. Aside from being at the forefront of discussions related to marketing technology for the past decade or so, he's also passionate about the usage of Agile methods within marketing organizations.

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6. The Hub: The Marketing Technology Resource:

http://www.thehubcomms.com/
While the other blogs have categories for everything MarTech-related, The Hub limits its "channels" to six: customer experience, marketing cloud, social media, analytics, mobile, and content marketing. But that's not to say they cover less. At least twice a month, they release podcasts as well. They also have a long-running feature called "Five Minutes With..." where they interview other marketing thought leaders. They do a good job of profiling companies in their space as well.

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7. MarTech Advisor:

www.martechadvisor.com
The blog touts itself as the world's leading source for marketing technology news, research, product comparisons, and expert views. And they don't kid around. This is the go-to source for news on technology and tools for sales and marketing professionals. Their blog post categories are exhaustive and cover everything from AdTech to social media, content marketing, event marketing, and email marketing.

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A final tip:

Subscribe to the email newsletters of the blogs you like so you get updates directly to your inbox. And if you're concerned about inbox bloat, use Unroll.me to compile all your marketing-related newsletters into one.

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Marketing 3 min read

Your Guide to Top MarTech Conferences in 2015-2016

Conferences are perfect opportunities to make networking connections, stay abreast of industry news and trends, and learn new tips and best practices to apply to your business. If you're looking at your calendar to plan which events and conferences you'll attend in the upcoming year, here are 11 top martech and adtech conferences to consider (in no particular order): 1. MarTech This international conference series is the flagship event for marketing technology (the martech definition, FYI). With 1,200 attendees at the 2015 event, marketing strategists and technologists discuss how emerging tech is impacting marketing as a discipline and its potential for improving companies' bottom lines.When: March 21-22, 2016; San Francisco 2. AdTech AdTech brings marketing and technology communities together to share strategies, build partnerships, and examine the future of the martech industry.When: Dates vary by location (worldwide) 3. Programmatic I/O This is the world’s largest conference focused entirely on programmatic media and marketing. It brings together hundreds of marketing executives, media agencies, and tech providers to discuss the future of marketing automation technologies.When: October 29, 2015; New York 4. SM2 Innovation Summit This conference from the Mobile Marketing Association covers emerging technologies that are poised to unlock the full potential of mobile marketing. Past speakers include execs and leaders from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Mashable, Microsoft, and more.When: September 28-29, 2015; New York 5. AdMonsters OPS The OPS conference is focused on digital ad operations and technology. Keynote sessions with industry leaders and journalists from companies like Mashable, Forbes, Yahoo, Advertising Age, and Bloomberg Business, plus sponsored sessions hosted by marketing ops tech and service providers.When: 2016 dates TBD 6. FutureM This 3-day conference is packed with over 100 speakers, 50 sessions, and 2,500 attendees. FutureM looks at the concepts and innovations on both the near and distant horizon.When: October 6-8, 2015; Boston 7. Ignition: Future of Digital Pioneers in media and technology industries, from Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to Bethany Kota, share their insights into what’s in store for marketers and business leaders.When: December 8-9, 2015; New York 8. Marketing Operations & Technology Summit Note: attendees are vetted and limited to marketing professionals who control multi-million dollar enterprise budgets. While the conference hosts keynotes and speakers like any other, the real value is in the time set aside for strategic group discussions with fellow marketing operations leaders. Because you help set the agenda for these discussions, you’ll leave with actionable takeaways for your business.When: October 18-21, 2015; New Orleans 9. WebSummit This major technology conference attracts over 22,000 attendees each year from all around the world. Among the 800 speakers are CEOs and execs from top companies like Pixar, Slack, Adobe, Cisco, LinkedIn, and more.When: November 3-5, 2015; Dublin 10. SXSW Interactive SXSW Interactive spans 5 days of presentations and panel discussions featuring leaders in emerging technology, networking events, and special programs showcasing must-see technology and ideas. Past keynotes include execs from GoogleX, Lyft, SpaceX, and 3D Robotics.When: March 11-16, 2016; Austin 11. The Next Web Listen to 20 curated keynotes, plus fast-paced, 5-minute intros to 100 exciting new startups to get a snapshot of future tech innovations. Past keynote speakers include Kevin Rose, Michael Arrington, David Allen, Kevin Kelly, and Alexis Ohanian.When: November 18, 2015; New York What did we miss? Have you already blocked off your calendar for any of these martech conferences? Did we miss a few? Let us know which conferences are worth attending in the comments below! Wrike for Marketing Teams Find out how Wrike's work management app can help your marketing team exceed customer expectations and get more done.

Marketing 3 min read

State of Marketing Operations and MarTech in 2015

The marketing technology and marketing operations landscapes are shifting rapidly, as marketing departments adapt to an increasingly digital world and tech-savvy consumers. Find out the current trends, strategies, and common practices for many marketing ops and martech professionals with this collection of current statistics, to help you build your martech stack. 1. Marketing Operations Statistics 64% of marketing operations teams have 10 or fewer members. (Source: Mo-cca.com) 83% of marketing ops teams report to the most senior marketing leader (CMO). (Source: Mo-cca.com) Most-Desirable Skills in Marketing Ops Professionals: -General marketing skills -Analytics skills -Project management skills -IT skills -Change management skills -Lead management experience(Source: Mo-cca.com) 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing, but only 36% believe they're effective at it. (Source: Webbiquity) 73% of B2B marketers use video in their content marketing. (Source: Business2Community) SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate. (Source: Hubspot) Search Engine Marketing will continue to get the largest share of resources, at 14% of total marketing budgets. 10% of the budget will go to online display advertising, like banner ads and re-marketing/re-targeting campaigns. (Source: Business2Community) 60% of B2B marketers measure success by web traffic rather than sales lead quality or social media sharing. (Source: Business2Community) Many marketing organizations say managing data is their biggest challenge: data storage (36%), data quality (23%), and making data actionable (15%). (Source: The Wise Marketer) 84% of top-performing companies are currently using or plan to start using marketing automation by 2015. (Source: Business2Community) Yet only 5% of all marketers are currently using a full-featured marketing automation solution. (Source: Hubspot) Of companies using marketing automation and ROI metrics, 69% report an increase in total marketing revenue contribution. (Source: CMO.com) 2. Marketing Technology Statistics Scott Brinker's 2015 marketing technology landscape includes 1,876 companies in 43 categories. The landscape has seen year-over-year growth of 170%. (Source: Radius.com) 65% of marketing executives plan to spend more money on marketing technology in the coming year, including 28% who plan to increase spending by more than 25%. (Source: Conductor) 51% of marketing execs say that their marketing technologies are only loosely integrated or not at all. (Source: Signal.co) 76% of marketers say that analyzing performance data has made either "more" or "much more" of an impact on their decision making. (Source: Chiefmartec.com) Only 7% of those in a martech role have "marketing technologist" in their title. Marketing, business, and technology titles dominate. (Source: Chiefmartec.com) 43% of marketing technologists come from a technical/programming background. 33% come from a marketing/communications background. (Source: Chiefmartec.com) Top 5 Skills for Future Marketing Success: 1. Marketing Strategy and Positioning 62% 2. Target Market Identification 44% 3. Web design (including responsive and adaptive) 43% 4. CRM systems and platforms 43% 5. Ability to persuade and negotiate 42%(Source: Chiefmartec.com) Want to Learn More About MarTech? Check out our guide to the top martech conferences and events in 2015 & 2016.

Marketing 3 min read

3 Questions to Make Your Marketing Technology Stack Even More Powerful

Marketing technologies can be powerful assets, helping you automate routine tasks, improve customer engagement, and coordinate and collaborate with your team. But you only reap the full benefits when your tools work together, fitting naturally into your established processes and tangibly moving the needle when it comes to converting customers. Just because a tool seems useful, doesn't necessarily mean you should use it — and adopting too many just gums up the works. So when it comes to setting up or revising your marketing technology stack, ask yourself these three questions to identify where adding a tool might be helpful, as well as where you can easily streamline. 1. "Where does this tool fit into the customer journey?" As a marketer, your customer personas and detailed buyer's journey should always be top of mind. Take a look at your customer journey and list which of your tools contribute to each step. This will help you see gaps where new marketing asset management software could help you out, as well as identify unnecessary or overlapping technologies. 2. "Does this tool help convert prospects?" A popular tool may help you tweet 1,000 times a day, but if your customers aren't on Twitter, what's the point? Look at the data and be realistic about which technologies make a real difference when it comes to conversion rates and team productivity. 3. "What if this tool didn't exist?" Although it’s only a hypothetical, taking this question seriously can help you see other ways of accomplishing the same objective, think creatively, and streamline the number of tools you're using (and paying for). What's Next? Asking these questions will help you be strategic in building an effective marketing technology stack that helps you accomplish — and even exceed — your goals. Free Marketing Tech Map Template Download our free eBook, 5 Steps to Transforming Marketing Operations For Maximum Growth, for a simple template you can use to start building or improving your own marketing toolkit.

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7 MarTech Blogs to Follow

1. Marketing Land's Martech Today:

2. Brian Solis:

3. Marketing TechBlog:

4. Chief Marketing Technologist Blog:

5. Inspire MarTech:

6. The Hub: The Marketing Technology Resource:

7. MarTech Advisor:

A final tip:

Turn Your Marketing Team Agile

Lionel Valdellon

Related articles

Your Guide to Top MarTech Conferences in 2015-2016

State of Marketing Operations and MarTech in 2015

3 Questions to Make Your Marketing Technology Stack Even More Powerful

7 MarTech Blogs to Follow

1. Marketing Land's Martech Today:

2. Brian Solis:

3. Marketing TechBlog:

4. Chief Marketing Technologist Blog:

5. Inspire MarTech:

6. The Hub: The Marketing Technology Resource:

7. MarTech Advisor:

A final tip:

Turn Your Marketing Team Agile

Lionel Valdellon

Related articles

Your Guide to Top MarTech Conferences in 2015-2016

State of Marketing Operations and MarTech in 2015

3 Questions to Make Your Marketing Technology Stack Even More Powerful

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