On Marketing Technology

MTS: Tell us a little bit about your role and how you got here.

This has all been a giant mistake! I studied journalism and political science at the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) and after a brief stint at a suburban newspaper ended up at a PR agency, then Microsoft, then running marketing for a couple start-ups, and eventually with my own shingle.

I’m a B2B marketing guy which inherently means I’m a B2B martech guy. But translating needs for each company – their market, their teams, their go-to-market strategy, their culture – is a lot of fun.

MTS: Given the massive proliferation of marketing technology, how do you see the martech market evolving over the next few years?

We’ll see more tools and more consolidation. We’ll also see more confusion and frustration by B2B marketers who struggle to identify and adopt the right tech mix to support their strategy.

MTS: What do you see as the single most important technology trend or development that’s going to impact us?

Leveraging the right data to personalize customer and prospect decisions. It’s not about big data but the right data and fast data. Even simple, lightweight implementations can dramatically improve engagement, response and conversion.

MTS: What’s the biggest challenge that CMOs need to tackle to make marketing technology work?

Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Choose technology that supports your strategy, not the other way around. Know your objectives, and relentlessly focus tech selection, implementation and optimization with those externally-focused objectives in mind.

MTS: What startups are you watching/keen on right now?

Sales enablement is coming into its own right now. Companies like Highspot, Outreach, SAVO, CaliberMind, MindTickle and others are appropriately getting a lot of traction and attention.

MTS: What tools does your marketing stack consist of in 2017?

We recently did an audit of our martech stack and have 40+ tools! That’s after culling a few out we weren’t using anymore. It starts with CRM (Salesforce.com for us) and marketing automation (Marketo) but includes a wide variety of additional content creation, curation, attribution and lead follow-up tools – many of which play precise but important roles in our sales process.

MTS: Could you tell us about a standout digital campaign? (Who was your target audience and how did you measure success)

Using Socedo, we identify people daily who are talking about ABM, marketing automation and a variety of other B2B sales & marketing topics. We use Socedo to engage with those people, start a conversation and offer related information. It’s helping us increase Twitter followers by 200+ a day, and generate 20+ new registered leads a day as well.

MTS: How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a marketing leader?

Know your target audience. Know the personas key to making buyer decisions. Know their buying signals and trigger events that indicate a heightened need or pain you can begin to address and solve. In other words, all the data in the world isn’t valuable unless you know which of that data can help you.

This Is How I Work

MTS: One word that best describes how you work.

Focused.

MTS: What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

Outlook, WordPress, Pocket, SproutSocial, MLB.TV

MTS: What’s your smartest work related shortcut or productivity hack?

Task lists. I am relentless about managing projects and tasks in a David Allen, Getting Things Done format.

MTS: What are you currently reading? (What do you read, and how do you consume information?)

Currently reading The 1950’s by David Halberstam

MTS: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Life is short. Spend time with people you enjoy.

MTS: Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

My family taught me the value of hard work – honest, humble work.

MTS: Tag the one person whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

Brian Hansford

MTS: Thank you Matt! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.