The rise of digital marketing strategies means that marketers are working more closely with IT specialists to develop the best ways of launching and managing online publicity campaigns.

How it works

Marketers need to know how to use technology to increase revenue. At the same time, chief information officers (CIOs) are adapting to changes in external technology. This has led to an increasing overlap between the marketing and IT departments, and to the emergence of a new hybrid professional role—the marketing technologist (see below).

Convergence of marketing and IT

Communicating with customers online has become a vital part of many businesses. As a result, marketing relies so much on IT that in some companies marketing teams spend more money on technology than their IT departments do.

Marketer

Must grasp
technology required to execute and track online campaigns.

Areas of overlap

Digital marketing Developing a technology program for publicity campaigns

Real-time transactions Installing a system for recording and tracking online sales as they happen

Big data Locating key statistics from vast amounts of online information to improve marketing

Data analytics Using advanced tools to gather and analyze data for developing future marketing strategy

Mobile technology Understanding and keeping up to date with advances in mobile applications and e-commerce potential

Data storage Building infrastructure and software for storing and retrieving sales, campaign, and customer history

Social media Developing the best methods for increasing online traffic via social media channels

Tracking Following a customer through the online engagement and sales process

IT person

Must find or develop software tools to
implement and manage online campaigns.

RISE OF THE MARKETING TECHNOLOGIST

Online marketers rely on software to monitor and analyze campaigns, generate content, and extract data. The job of the marketing technologist, who has knowledge of both marketing and IT, requires a broad knowledge base.

• IT OPERATIONS
• DATA AND ANALYTICS
• SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING
• WEBSITE ARCHITECTURE
• MARKETING SOFTWARE
• SOCIAL AND MOBILE
• PLATFORMS
• CONTENT MARKETING AND SEO

NEED TO KNOW

❯ MarTech Annual business conference that focuses on overlap of marketing strategy and technology

❯ Actionable metrics Measurement of campaign results which enable businesses to make informed decisions

❯ Vanity metrics Measurements of campaign results that appear positive but are not meaningful

❯ Growth hacking Low-cost online marketing techniques, such as using social media to improve sales