Businesses place their bets on the latest trends including research into the latest marketing theory and practices. Marketing technology has evolved and changed rapidly in the past decade, mostly due to the advance of technology and social media. How does a marketer survive in this current world where things can change or go viral in a split second?
This article discusses the roles of a marketer and how they’re impacted in the future. It also looks at the skill set that will be required to stay ahead of the curve with evolving technology and the data driven aspect of our world.
The Modern Marketer
Putting the focus back on the customer is clearly the next trend in marketing. This is often easier said than done and how do you convey a real connection to client? Sometimes it takes a significant sea change to bring this about, but it can be accomplished.
In the business-to-business model (B2B), companies are changing their approach to place the emphasis on the customer rather than gimmicks. For many, this involves an entire retrofit of their marketing plan if not their entire marketing department. For many, this is merely in the planning stages rather than being fully realized.
This is where technology also comes into play and where the savvy enterprise can leverage their tech to win customers. Technology will also feed back into the infrastructure of the business, streamlining everything from internal workflows to employee interactions and management. For example, to integrate technology into your marketing model today means taking advantage of cloud-based services. These services actually further streamline the process of retrofitting your marketing schema.
The Marketer of the Future
Is the marketer of the future a realistic vision? Can this person master and straddle the worlds between creativity and technology?
In order to be effective as a market technologist you have to synergize the things that make someone great at either industry. You have to be someone who is savvy with technology but not aloof enough to lose your audience. This is someone who is creative yet analytical. Definitions and roles for this position are still evolving, like everything else is the world of marketing.
Simply put, a marketer of the future is someone who has the vision, the clarity to look into the future and see how technology works for you and will work beyond its current ability. This is a futuristic process by design, one that connects with your customer through the technological interface which has been notoriously disconnecting at times.
The marketer of the future must embrace technology without forgetting their human connections. This person must inhabit both worlds and do so with skill.
So how does this Jack or Jill of all trades accomplish this? Through the use of data, analytics, technology and creative prowess. The marketer of the future is like the conductor in an orchestra, taking all these separate pieces and making them into a symphony.
This is a great position if you can straddle the worlds between the analytical and the introspective or creative outlets.
So what do you think, do you have what it takes to be the marketer of the future?