Why martech is a marketing issue for every CMO

#MarTechFest, taking place on 30 October 2019 in Central London, is designed to make sense of that landscape. With speakers ranging from the martech godfather himself, Scott Brinker, to Twitter, Vodafone and Vice, in a single day this event is going to undertake the mammoth task sending each and every attendee away with a workable, actionable approach to their own martech needs.

Why do we need an event dedicated just to martech?

Agency powerhouses are already on board. Global agency network, Ogilvy, is full of creatives, right? That may be so, but it’s also got a 900-strong martech ARMY. Publicis thinks martech’s so hot, it spent $4bn acquiring Epsilon, a technology and platforms company. Nearly a third of marketing budgets are dedicated to martech (29%) and 62% of CMOs plan to dramatically increase martech spending in 2019.

If you’re a marketer today, you cannot afford to stick your head in the sand and pretend martech is somebody else’s problem. You’re going to be using it more and more – you probably already are. That’s already a pretty compelling reason to head along to #MarTechFest this October.

Another is buyer’s remorse. You know the one, it all sounded so good on paper and you signed on the bottom line, only to find your shiny new system is causing havoc with all your creaky old ones, it’s not doing what you thought it would and there seem to be large lumps of functionality you’re not even using. The CFO is asking uncomfortable questions and it’s all looking a bit shaky.

Contrary to what you might read, there really are very few martech snake oil salesmen out there. What there are, are lots of unsure marketers who haven’t fully explored the true martech needs of their organisation, understood how it needs to fit in with other users and departments, had little or no time to make an informed decision and who are now getting to regret it at their leisure.

One of the key sessions at #MarTechFest will be uncovering The 4Ps of Marketing Technology, a proprietary methodology (available in full as a free ebook here) developed by MarTech Alliance founder and CEO, Carlos Doughty. Sounds fancy but in fact it’s a step-by-step framework, accessible to even the most technophobe marketer, that sets out how to approach the whole martech procurement and implementation process.

Why 4Ps? Because they relate to the four most critical elements of any martech – Plan, People, Platform and Process. Understand how martech impacts each of these parts of your business and you understand how to get the most out of any investment. It really is that simple.

#MarTechFest is called the anti-conference for a reason. Yes, it’s got the big names you want to hear – miss Scott Brinker and miss out – but it’s not the same old stories, rehashed for a different day, different venue. It’s not about sending you away with powerpoint fatigue and a branded stress ball. It’s about getting the unvarnished truth about martech that will work for you – and martech that won’t. And knowing the difference.