According to Gartner, CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs by 2017. Yes, I know many of you have heard this prediction over and over again but keep listening, because this prediction is so bold that it is hard to fathom. At least in B2B, marketers were the weak link on the executive team. They sat at the kid’s table at the party while the “adults” eat steak and patted each other on the back. Begging for money to do what they wanted to do was about pitching a bunch of people who had no idea what they were trying to do and hearing no. One of my favorites from years back was when my buddy who is a demand generation rockstar VP of Marketing was telling me that his CEO wouldn’t give him budget for anything but did feel like he should be spending his time trying to get him on Oprah. (Seriously). Boy, that has changed. The marketer has been given a checkbook.
With the marketing technology revolution upon us, I partnered with Lattice Engines to explore the marketing technology landscape. The brilliant content marketer, Amanda Maksymiw, lead the project. It was one of my favorite projects of all time. It was exhausting and awesome. Here is how we did it:
- Map the table of contents — The first thing we did was sit down and decide on the essential elements of the ebook. The idea was to create a useful resource for the CMO preparing themselves for the technology change. We wanted to cover people, process, strategy, and technology along the way.
- Identify and recruit thought leaders — We then researched the best thought leaders to address each issue. We based our decisions not on fame, but on the ability to provide valuable content. We didn’t just want third party experts like analysts or consultants, but real-life practitioners who have created modern marketing technology platforms. We chose Nick Panayi from CSC and Vala Afshar from Enterasys because they brought the technology renaissance to big, long-standing organizations.
- Video or phone interviews –Once we recruited the contributors, we then did video or phone interviews with them. This is a great lesson for content marketers — by interviewing them on video, we made it easier for them (they didn’t have to write) and created multiple content pieces (video and written). Some of the contributors just wrote the piece themselves and other just did a phone interview.
- Write, write, write – We then took the videos and other previous works from the contributors and created written content. This was harder than I had thought as people talk differently than they write. I digress…net-net: writing happened next.
- Design and publish — Amanda and team edited, designed, and now — published.
Below are the topics and featured thought leader:
- Today’s CMO - John Neeson
- Navigating the Marketing Tech Landscape - Scott Brinker
- The Marketing Technology Stack — Scott Albro
- Why Marketers Fail with Technology — Carlos Hidalgo
- The Buyer Centric View of the Organization — Adam Needles
- Rise of the Marketing Technologist – Scott Brinker
- The Adaptive Landscape of Modern Marketing and The New Species — Gord Hotchkiss
- The End of the Marketing Operations As We Know It — Larissa DeCarlo
- The Rise of Big Data – Brian Kardon
- Metrics and Optimization — David Raab
- Social Media And The CMO — Brian Vellmure
- Case Study: Marketing Technology In Action — Nick Panayi
- Case Study: The Social CMO — Vala Afshar
- The Future of the B2B Marketing Department — Matt Heinz
This ebook was a labor of love. (Side note: I also helped create another ebook with Lattice for sales leaders which is on the horizon) Both projects were a tremendous learning experience for me. Each contributor gave me something to think about. I hope you have the same experience. In the end, I am biased but I feel like this ebook is an extremely valuable. Thanks to Lattice Engines and especially Amanda and Brian Kardon for the opportunity. Click on the box to download or just click here.
Checkbook photo taken by RikkisRefuge Other
Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic and a co-founder of Topo. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter