What Skills Do Marketing Technologists Need?

Brian Kenyon asked:

“What are the Job titles and skills that a Marketing Technologist must have if one wants to pursue a career in that area?”

Let’s begin with skills. What skills do marketing technologists need?

The role of a marketing technologist, by definition, is to blend marketing and technology together, creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Thus, the skills we need come from both the marketing discipline as well as the technology discipline.

Key Marketing Skills

What are the top marketing skills? According to LinkedIn’s annual surveys, marketers should understand:

• Statistical analysis and analytics
• Data presentation
• SEO and SEM/PPC marketing
• Social media marketing
• Marketing campaign management
• Channel marketing
• Public relations and communications

To that, I would add the basics of marketing:

• Marketing strategy
• Marketing operations
• Email marketing
• Display advertising

Key Technology Skills

Using the same surveys, LinkedIn recommends the following top technology skills:

• Cloud and distributed computing
• Data mining
• Middleware and integration software
• Mobile development
• Network and information security
• Storage systems and management
• Web architecture and development frameworks
• User interface design
• Data engineering and data warehousing
• Algorithm design

Skill Blending

While a marketing technologist doesn’t need to be a master of every skill on the lists above, some background is necessary. A good marketing technologist must be fluent enough in all the areas above to speak with, manage, or direct specialists in each area. The skilled marketing technologist is part do-er, and part conductor of the orchestra.

For example, suppose we have a new marketing campaign for an app. A marketing technologist should know enough about mobile development, UI, and mobile analytics to understand what the app can and can’t do, as well as what we can measure. The marketing technologist should know enough about storage systems to direct an engineering team about what kind of analytics engine and storage we’ll need. The marketing technologist should also know enough about mobile marketing, app stores, and display ads to successfully garner attention for the app, as well as email marketing to nurture users into making in-app purchases.

Titles

The marketing technology job titles are all over the place at the moment; the field is still being defined. That said, look for titles such as:

• Marketing analyst
• Marketing technologist
• Marketing innovator
• Marketing operations specialist
• Marketing innovation manager
• Manager, marketing operations
• Manager, marketing technology
• Director, marketing operations
• Director, marketing technology
• VP/SVP/EVP, marketing operations
• VP/SVP/EVP, marketing technology
• Chief Marketing Technology Officer (CMTO)
• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Any role which incorporates marketing and technology in a balanced fashion is likely to be a job title fit for a marketing technologist.

How to Become a Marketing Technologist

The path to becoming a marketing technologist is not a short one. You must study in two disciplines simultaneously. Even specialized degrees are only the beginning. Once you have enough background in marketing and technology, you will need to spend years honing your craft.

The good news is that any marketing role can be transformed over time into a marketing technology role as long as an organization is open-minded enough. Every time an organization adds a marketing system, software, or service from a vendor, your role has a chance to be involved and to evolve into the marketing technology role.

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