This headline makes the case for Marketing Automation
It its most mature state, I believe that the goal of Marketing Automation is to tie Marketing Activity directly to the Financial (code for Sales) activity of any company. The cost of the tools, technology and personal required to this used to make it out of reach of SMB and many Enterprises. However, the rise of Marketing Automation and Marketing Technology has put achieving this goal within reach of every company. Hosted Marketing Automation solutions bring down the level of technological sophistication needed to implement these solutions and allow companies to align the monthly cost with their actual level of activity.
CEOs say: “Marketers disconnected from financial reality” – exploreB2B.
Even so, while Marketing Automation packages certainly provide the “engine” to achieve the goal of aligning Marketing with the overall company goals and make it possible to calculate a real ROI of marketing activity, this does give rise to the need for a new type of executive to oversee the integration of all of this technology and activity. It is now falling to the Chief Marketing Technology Officer ( or a CMTO for hire for smaller organizations or those who are just beginning to explore this opportunity). It is similar to the rise of the CIO we have seen in the past decade where someone is needed to develop strategies and implement new technologies as overall business processes rely more on technology and the integration of process and data.