Top Marketing Technologists to Watch in 2019?

Submissions for this year’s report are now closed, but if you know any marketing technologists that are making an impact, we would love you to nominate them for 2020! To receive an update when nominations open, as well as the latest news from around the digital marketing ecosystem, subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

In 2018, CMO spend on marketing technology exceeded spend on people.

Yet, while there are lots of award shows and magazine covers honoring the best agencies of the year, there is scant recognition for the people who assemble best-in-class technology architectures, who wrangle messy data and make it possible to integrate the customer experience across marketing and other disciplines. We want to change that.

Part marketing strategist, part technology leader, the marketing technologist works with the CMO and the CIO to, as Scott Brinker writes, “set a technology vision for marketing.” They ensure that marketing can wield technology as a native capability while making certain that technology investments are in line with business goals.

As this individual can come from a multitude of different backgrounds, the marketing technologist position itself can exist in several different forms:

A marketing technologist with a growth mindset utilizes marketing tools and techniques with the north star of scaling user or revenue growth. They have the aptitude to become proficient in a broad range of technologies and optimize their strategies through experimentation.

Drawing from experience as a former data scientist or analyst, a big data marketing technologist utilizes advanced analytics and machine learning tools to execute a highly data-driven marketing strategy. They work closely with IT to act on customer data insights in real time, generating significant business insights from fast-moving customer data.

Marketing technologists with an innovative mindset possess the skill set to inspire change within the business. They are particularly valuable at larger companies, where leadership structures are complex and failure to incorporate new technologies can negatively impact future success. That said, they can also be the heartbeat of a disruptive early-stage company.

A customer experience-focused marketing technologist develops the technology stack with the focus of utilizing customer insights to drive innovation. These MTs thrive at companies that seek to differentiate themselves by optimizing customer experience across touchpoints.

A marketing technologist architect provides value by seeing the big picture. With a diverse range of technologies under his/her purview, the architect focuses on harmonizing tools and rationalizing the stack against current and future requirements. They have the experience to implement large-scale business applications and provide the technical foundation for enterprise marketing organizations.

Technological innovation is often made possible by the early adopters and the power users. In the case of marketing technology, progress would be nothing more than a pipe dream if not for the individuals that are able to use new tools to be successful. Do you know a marketing technologists that is making an impact today and paving the path for the innovation of tomorrow? Nominate them below!