In the past we’ve talked at length about the roles you should staff within a marketing department.

I’ve wondered if a Marketing Automation Administrator would become a prominent role within most marketing departments or if such responsibilities would be add-on duties for the CRM Administrator.

Thinking about the explosion of marketing technologies in the last 5-10 years, it’s probably more likely that small and medium sized marketing departments instead opt for a more generalized Marketing Technologist whose responsibilities cover all MarTech tools (including Marketing Automation).

I think it makes sense for large marketing departments to have dedicated Administrators of CRM, Marketing Automation and perhaps other strategic technologies (Analytics, Data etc.), but that’s a topic for a different blog.

Marketing Owns Its Technology, Right?

I imagine the answer to this question changes as the organization and marketing department get bigger, but most marketers would probably say ‘yes’. Frankly, any marketer or marketing department who answers ‘no’ is probably one that needs a Marketing Technologist the most! If marketing is going to onboard a new technology – and according to Gartner Research technology investments now make up 27% of marketing budgets – it should really own the vision and strategy for the tool.

While Gartner has suggested the onboarding and adoption of marketing technologies have become something of a challenge for many marketers, Marketing should understand what role the technology is to play in its broader program(s)/campaign(s) and how it will work with other existing technologies. If these things aren’t well established, then there probably isn’t a very sound business case for the technology in the first place. (Note: I haven’t touched on ROI of the technology investment – that too is a topic for a another blog.)

It’s Time To Have a Marketing Technologist

Vision and strategy are one thing. Maintenance and usage of the tool(s) are other things to be mindful of. Finally, it’s important to be taking stock of the value these tools are bringing to a marketing program and what role they could play in the future. In my opinion, none of this is the responsibility of IT or any other department. However, it most definitely would be the responsibility of a Marketing Technologist.

Perhaps this is part of the reason many marketing technologies are poorly adopted or long term value isn’t realized. It’s my (not very) bold prediction this type of role becomes more and more common in the next couple of years. In fact, given the strategic value we believe Marketing Automation plays in marketing programs, it’s a big part of the role we play with our clients.

Does this sound like a gap in your marketing department? We’re happy to help. Contact us to learn more.