MarTech Interview with D. Scott Bowen, CEO at Tenovos

With the growing need for marketers to rely more on first-party data, DAM solutions and customer data platforms will come to the fore a lot more, D. Scott Bowen, CEO at Tenovos delves into these shifting trends in this chat with MarTech Series:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat Scott, tell us more about yourself and your role as CEO at Tenovos?

Thank you for taking the time to connect. Here’s a quick elevator pitch on me! My experience as a technology executive and entrepreneur truly runs the gamut – from blank-page entrepreneurial startups to global leadership teams of $1B+ enterprise software and e-commerce companies. I’m a results-driven tech leader and as the CEO of Tenovos I am responsible for the strategy, growth and oversight of the business.

We’d love to hear the highlights of your latest funding? What can users expect from the platform in the coming months?

It’s an $8 million series A-1 round that tripled the valuation of the company and we’re very excited to expand our partnership with our investors. The round was led by Progress Ventures and was supported by all our previous investors including Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Revel Partners and Dublin Capital. Our product is our priority right now and we plan to leverage much of this investment to accelerate development of the intelligent features and go-to-market of our modern, data-first Digital Asset Management platform.

What are some of the benefits of DAM platforms that marketers today need to capitalize on more in your view?

Marketers should expect more from their DAM. It’s a new age, where data and insights inform everything we do so that marketers can make the best possible decisions – yet legacy DAM technology solutions are stuck in 2010. We’re changing that with Tenovos by introducing a whole host of intelligent features that help marketers tell better stories by understanding more about their content. For instance, we can help marketers understand where assets are being used, and how they performed in the channel. These critical insights can make a big difference in how marketers and their agency partners budget and strategize.

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Content and creativity are key to driving brand experiences today, can you share a few thoughts on the best content intelligence practices that can help here?

You really don’t have to look any further than some of our marquee customers to see examples of the best practices in content intelligence. We’re working with some really incredible brands including Amazon, Google, Brown-Forman, Glossier and more. Each of these companies is putting a priority on telling a story through their content and extending the value they glean from the various assets they own. They’re thinking bigger than one asset and one campaign – they’re thinking omnichannel. They’re building their brand through an ongoing narrative that primes and extends the customer journey and it all starts with insights. Insights and intelligence need to inform broader strategy when it comes to content and stories – and that needs to be a primary focus for every marketer out there.

What are some of the common mistakes you see marketers make when assessing their data to drive future campaigns? A few data and insights management techniques you feel marketers should be following more?

One of the most common mistakes and challenges when it comes to any aspect of data management is incomplete data or dirty data. These challenges lead to questions about data integrity and the potential for implicit bias. In addition, marketers sometimes myopically focus on data coming from a single channel when considering data from multiple channels will ensure that the insights are an accurate representation of audience needs and engagement. 

It’s also critically important that any technology platform that you select has an open architecture and can play nicely with other key marketing technology solutions, like product information management and work management technology solutions, to simplify and optimize the user experience and value for the brand.

A few thoughts on the future of digital marketing and content marketing and what trends will shape these areas in B2B?

There’s no question that ad spend will continue to escalate, which means that content supply chains will become more complex, dispersed and unruly to manage for global marketing and creative teams – particularly in the wake of the pandemic and an increasingly remote workforce. We’ll also continue to see more brands investing in earned and owned platforms, and with a renewed focus on capturing first-party data about their customers. 

I also expect that the use of data is going to be a mainstay across the industry, but we should expect to see a greater emphasis on data integrity to help ensure that digital marketing professionals are able to make sound decisions and trust in the insights they glean from data.

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A few martech tools you feel marketers today need to integrate into their overall tech stack and why?

I think every brand needs a DAM, but I’m biased. I’d argue that we’ll see growing adoption for customer data platforms across the industry, given the increasing importance of first-party audience data. Coupled together with a modern, data-first DAM like Tenovos the ability to combine a 360 data view of customer with a 360 data view of content will provide the two key ingredients for modern marketers to tell stories at scale in more personalized ways.

Some last thoughts and takeaways for CEOs in B2B and marketing leaders to always keep foremost in mind?

Be nimble and fail fast! Listen intently and always put the customer first. Embrace change and be ready to take risks as you look to adapt to the changing marketing and business landscape. This industry is moving at breakneck speed and it’s important to make informed decisions based on insights and data quickly and confidently. Leaders that are slow to adapt and react will fail to remain relevant and compete in this increasingly competitive market.

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