2019 #MarTechFest review
Understanding MarTech’s benefits | Planning for 2020 | Building the perfect team
I recently attended the annual #MarTechFest in London. Having been before I knew how good this event can be and this year’s event did not disappoint. The biggest brands in the world were represented including Pepsi, Sky, Vice, The Financial Times and Barclays to name a few. Hearing from the marketers and organisation at the cutting edge of martech was fascinating as it sounds like the future for martech is going to be exciting for anyone involved.
The main takeaway for me was understanding what constitutes the perfect blend within a modern martech team.
There were a few stats which I found really interesting, and it hit home just how quickly the world is evolving for Marketer as we move towards 2020.
- There are 25B connected devices in the world. Given that there’s approx. 7 billion people in the world that’s an average of 3 devices per person.
- 73% of CEO’s anticipate AI to be a key element in their business
- By 2022 it’s expected that $122B will be spent by CMO’s in the US on investments in marketing technology
The perfect Martech team
Marketing teams evolve and are of course different depending on the organisation. However, the speakers at MarTechFest confirmed what I am seeing within marketing recruitment – there is a growing need for a well-balanced Martech team.
It was argued that the following composition of skill sets, experience and external resource presents a balanced, agile and high-performing Martech team:
- Full Stack Marketer’s: A division of personnel that provide depth in some, but not all, of the following – Growth, Search, Social, Content etc.
- Emerging Full Stack Marketing talent
- Marketing automation specialists and Data Scientists
- Consultancies and Agencies Marketing operations lead and their assistants
At Carter Murray, we have certainly seen a spike in hiring requirements from both B2C and B2B clients for automation specialists. This is a reflection of the importance on customer acquisition via personalisation. In addition skill sets associated with search (PPC and SEO) are increasing in demand from businesses in the leisure/hospitality industry – as they seek to become less reliant on third party revenue streams and more focused on direct-to-consumer sales.
Whilst technology’s importance will become greater as will marketing’s reliance on it, there was one quote which still made me feel that people will always be the most important thing in marketing:
“Technology only magnifies the quality and effectiveness of the strategy, people and processes behind it”