The role of the Chief Marketing Technologist (CMT) role is becoming ever more important, with 64% of UK marketers believing that understanding marketing technologies has become critically important to their career success, according to new research.
The study, from DataXu, called ‘Modernizing The Mix: Transforming Marketing Through Technology and Analytics’ polled a total of 532 senior marketers; including 156 in the UK.
The study was conducted by market research specialists Morar, defines senior marketers as decision makers who manage annual marketing budgets of approximately £570,500 (USD $750,000) or more.
Some key stats include:
• The single biggest challenge marketers face is creating an efficient, evidence-based marketing mix across channels, according to 33% of UK marketers
• 64% of UK marketers state that understanding marketing technologies has become critically important to their career success
• By 2017, 51% of UK marketers expect to be managing more marketing technology in-house
The report reveals that 63% of UK marketers currently have a Chief Marketing Technologist (CMT), or senior marketer focussing on technology, analytics and data, in their organisation, compared to 80% of marketers in Continental Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) and 53% in the US. When looking at companies who do not have a CMT role in place, 21% of UK respondents state their company is looking to create this position over the next year.
‘Unlike a traditional CMO role, the CMT role bridges the knowledge gap between marketing and technology by offering expertise in both disciplines,’ comments Chris Le May, DataXu SVP and Managing Director of Europe & Emerging Markets. ‘It also brings, at board level, a new perspective from someone who can advise and lead on areas such as procurement, management of marketing technologies and the team structure required below them.’
Solving the Cross-Channel Marketing ROI Challenge
The research shows that the proliferation of marketing technologies is not without its difficulties. 24% of UK marketers identified their team being stretched too thin across multiple tech vendors as the largest threat to their marketing team’s success. Additionally, as the number of marketing channels increases, marketers are struggling to understand the impact of each channel. 33% of UK marketers stated their biggest challenge is creating the most efficient marketing mix across channels, while another 19% struggle with finding the right attribution model and 18% find it challenging to quantify the effect of marketing efforts on sales.
In spite of being stretched too thin, 51% of marketers are planning to manage more marketing technologies in-house; this is a 10 percentage point increase from last year’s results. For UK marketers, the main benefits of taking marketing technologies in-house are cost-effectiveness (33%) and greater levels of transparency (22%).
DataXu’s report, “Modernizing The Mix: Transforming Marketing Through Technology and Analytics,” can be downloaded here.
Methodology
This research was carried out by market research specialists Morar on behalf of programmatic marketing and analytics platform DataXu in collaboration with Withpr. An online survey of 29 questions was completed by a total of 532 senior marketers; 50 were based in Germany, Italy and Spain, 52 were located in France, 174 in the U.S. and 156 in the UK. The survey defines senior marketers as decision makers who manage annual marketing budgets of approximately £570,500 (USD $750,000) or more. This research was carried out in May 2016.