ANALYZING THE

CHIEF MARKETING
TECHNOLOGIST
SHELDON MONTEIRO, HILDING ANDERSON & SCOTT TANG

A reflective survey of MarTech

professionals and what it means
for brands and the profession
Its yesterdays news that marketing
and technology have become inextricably intertwined. Tectonic forces,
enabled by technology, have fueled
more disruption and competition for
customer attention in the last five years
than corporations experienced in the
fifty years prior.
On the one hand, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) have realized that marketings success is gated by the digital
acumen of their own organizations. On
the other, Chief Information Officers
(CIOs) find that the expectations of
their engineering teams are influenced
more by digital exemplars like Amazon,
Google, and Silicon Valley start-ups
than by peer benchmarks within their
own industry.
Its no surprise then that Harvard
Business Review recently joined the
chorus and profiled the Rise of the Chief
Marketing Technologist (CMT) a new
type of executive responsible for bringing
marketing and technology together.1
According to a 2014 Gartner study,
81 percent of large organizations now
have a CMT.2

1
Scott Brinker and Laura McLellan. The Rise of the
Chief Marketing Technologist. Harvard Business Review.
July, 2014.
2
Gartner. How the Presence of a Chief Marketing
Technologist Impacts Marketing. https://www.gartner.
com/doc/ 2652017/presence-chief-marketingtechnologist-impacts.

RESEARCH

Marketing
technologists
cluster into
six distinct
archetypes

Despite the excitement around marketing technology and the CMT role, the
ambiguity as to who these individuals
are, the skills they possess, and where
they sit organizationally has led to considerable confusion. And the confusion
results in two related issues. One,
executives need better clarity regarding
how they can identify, recruit, bring
on board, and retain these talented
individuals. Second, aspiring marketing technologists have no guidelines
against which to benchmark and level
up their own skills.
To help us shed more light on these
issues, SapientNitro partnered with
Scott Brinker, the host of the MarTech
conference and popular chiefmartec.
com blog to conduct a first-of-its-kind
study of marketing technologists skills,
career paths, attitudes, and behaviors.3
For the first time, we have been able to
x-ray the professional marketing technologist. And the results are striking.
Todays marketing technologists cluster
into six distinct archetypes, and they
are not equivalent or interchangeable.
Of the six archetypes, three are focused
on technology and three are focused on
marketing (see Figure 1). Respondents
self-identified skills fell into distinct
clusters, revealing the archetypes.

MARKETING MAVENS (26%)

With marketing skills emphasized over
technology, mavens specialize in building marketing programs using expertise
in marketing strategy, strategic positioning, and promotion.

DATA DIVAS (17%)

FIGURE01

Divas are skilled in marketing operations management, customer relationship management (CRM), data
science, analytics, and modeling. They
know how to acquire, integrate, and
make data perform.

The six archetypes have two main

areas of focus

CONTENT CURATORS (16%)

Storytellers. Message crafters.
Marketing strategists. Content management platform experts. This type
exercises considerable knowledge of
content marketing and related technologies to direct communicationsoriented marketing.

INFRASTRUCTURE
ARCHITECTS (16%)
Enterprise-level technology chops
define this archetype, but they are
also business consultants and bring a
high-level understanding of a companys marketing initiatives.

EXPERIENCE ENGINEERS (15%)

One foot in technology and the other
in experience. They are experts in
cutting-edge technology: from
e-commerce to front-end technology
and mobility.

MEDIA & MARKETING

ANALYZERS (10%)
This archetype specializes in
research, consumer insights, and
strategic planning. Members think
strategically about segmentation and
connections planning.

3
We asked the community of marketing technologists recruited from the MarTech 2014 fall conference and Scott
Brinkers popular chiefmartec.com blog to help us document this group. We contracted an independent market
research firm Decision Analyst to execute the survey. Our study had 280 respondents, and took place from
August 15th, 2014 to September 8th, 2014. (For more details, see About the Survey at the end of the article.)

RESEARCH

We found that marketing technologists

are grouped into six archetypes three
with a marketing focus and three with
a technology focus.

52% Marketing
10% Media & Marketing Analyzers
16% Content Curators
26% Marketing Mavens

48% Technology
17% Data Divas
16% Infrastructure Architects
15% Experience Engineers

The emergence of these archetypes

may represent specialization within
the profession, often seen in mature
fields such as medicine or engineering.
However, we doubt it.
More likely, the skill gaps we found
indicate that the archetypes are emerging through a Darwinian selection process as individuals who may not meet
the full job specifications are promoted
into this new role.
One immediate implication for those
organizations in search of the best
person to steward marketing technology through a period of profound
disruption is that they need to define
the role more specifically than simply as
marketing technologist. The needs of
an organization may in fact require that
the CMT embodies a combination of at
least two and possibly as many as all
six of the archetypes.
This said, the archetypes are a starting
point to contain search efforts and
costs, as they are clear segmentations
of todays talent.

Marketing technologists report

to marketing
While 69.2 percent report to the
C-suite, just 8.6 percent of marketing
technologists reported to the CIO,
with the majority reporting to the
CMO or CEO/President. Our findings
matched other recent industry surveys
in this regard.
In our view, this reporting bias could
explain the surprising underweighting
of science, technology, engineering,
and math (STEM) academic back-

RESEARCH

grounds in the population, which we

describe further below. Our hypothesis:
Marketers and business leaders are
promoting from within their own departmental ranks and backgrounds. This is
understandable, but executives should
consider where pure-play digital firms
who are setting the pace of todays
disruption are sourcing their talent,
and then consider proactive skills
development to level up existing talent,
or increase the diversity of their talent
sourcing, for instance, by overweighting
IT and business analytics capabilities.

Todays practitioners are learning

technology on the job
Today, marketing technologists are
strongest in core marketing skills, and
only 26 percent have STEM degrees.
Additionally, nearly half of the respondents reported that their prior job was
managing technology or programming
often in a marketing context providing the job environment for developing
technical skills. We believe the lack of
hybrid academic programs is forcing
talent to train on the job. The implication? Rudimentary preparation in computer science fundamentals, systems
and algorithmic thinking, statistics,
and data science may be glossed
over or completely skipped, which will
undoubtedly impair job effectiveness.
Interestingly, technology-oriented marketing technologists are 20 percent
more likely to be the primary or chief
marketing technology officer, indicating
that greater responsibilities are awarded to those with technical proficiency.

The emergence of
these archetypes
may represent
specialization
within the
profession...
however, we
doubt it.

Current and desired job skills are

balanced between marketing,
technology, and business
The top five skills that respondents
report possessing are marketing strategy
and positioning, marketing operations
management, website design, the
ability to persuade and negotiate, and
marketing channel strategy/connections planning. Perhaps attributable in
part to confirmation bias (the tendency
to search for or interpret information
in a way that confirms ones preconceptions), three of these were also featured in the five skills that respondents
said are most important to the future
of marketing.
Regardless, we are delighted to
observe a balance between marketing,
technology, and business domains, all
three of which are essential for success
in the role, in our view (see Figure 2).

There are alarming deficiencies in

current skill sets
Advertising technology, system performance and resiliency, and several
omnichannel-enabling technologies
are featured in the bottom ten of
self-assessed current skills, with information security coming in dead last.
This lack of skills is of huge concern
in light of recent, massive security
breaches across industries, the extreme
scale at which digital businesses must
operate during periods of high demand,
and the ever-increasing requirements
for brands to imagine and deliver
immersive and pervasive experiences.

RESEARCH

In addition, when we examined the

largest skill gaps (differences between
stated future importance and current
self-assessment), big data techniques
and technologies emerged as the skills
with the widest gap. The absolute deficiencies in current skills, the gap between current and desired future skills,
and the under-representation of STEM
academic backgrounds reinforce our
view that todays marketing technologists must level up their technology
chops with great urgency.

The gap between marketing and

technology is real, even for marketing
technologists
While 94 percent believe that marketing and IT skills could be combined in
a single person, respondents identified
a stark polarity between marketing and
systems integration expertise.
Most technology archetypes are
less likely to describe themselves as
marketing experts and marketing
archetypes dont think of themselves as
systems integrators. This subtle indication of how respondents described
who they are may be indicative of the
culture gap that must be overcome for
the role to attain its highest potential.
In our view, the CMT role must straddle both functions as a native, rather
than majoring in one and minoring in
the other.

FIGURE02

The future of the CMT role

The most important future job skills,
according to our survey, include
marketing, technology, and business
skills (see Finding #6).

Marketing
Skills

Technology
Skills

Business
Skills

Findings and analysis

Although most organizations may

have a CMT, they are certainly not
all alike or interchangeable.
The CMT role is pervasive, with Gartner
recently reporting that 81 percent of
large organizations now have a CMT.
But the roles are not alike.
The July 2014 edition of Harvard
Business Review defined the CMT
role noting, CMTs are part strategist,
part creative director, part technology
leader, and part teacher. Our survey
findings took this analysis one step
further, providing deep insight into the
ratio of those parts in the current cadre
of professionals.
We asked our survey respondents
to rank their skills in relative, not
absolute, terms. We also asked them to
choose from monikers they might use
to describe themselves professionally.
Analyzing these data sets, we found
clear evidence that the population of
marketing technologists is fractured
around distinct areas of expertise.
We identified six different archetypes
of marketing technologists by identifying distinct clusters of skills (rank your
strongest/weakest skill) and attitudes
(I think of myself as). Sorted by size
within the overall population, the six
archetypes are:

RESEARCH

THE MARKETING MAVENS

(26%)
The largest single group. The skills and
attitudes of this group show that more
than one in four marketing technologists have a much stronger marketing
orientation (and, conversely, a weaker
technology orientation) than we had
previously assumed. This groups key
skills are dominated by marketing
strategy and positioning, and (to a
much lesser extent) marketing operations. They think of themselves as marketing experts, business consultants,
and customer experience specialists.

Marketing Mavens: Self-reported skills

79.7

Marketing
Strategy and
Positioning

11.8

Website
Testing and
Optimization

20.5

Marketing
Operations
Management

20.4

The Ability to
Persuade and
Negotiate

17.0

Marketing
Channel
Strategy and
Connections
Planning

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Mavens view themselves as professional marketers, business consultants, and
customer experience specialists. They are the oldest (43% are 45+ years old) and
have the highest mean salary ($149k).
80.8%
61.6%
41.1%
38.4%
27.4%

A Marketing Expert
A Business Consultant
A Customer Experience Specialist
An Entrepreneur
A CRM Expert

THE DATA DIVAS (17%)

The second-largest group loves its
data. Member skills are grounded in
marketing operations management,
CRM, data science, analytics, and
modeling. They scored themselves
highly in managing big data one of
the biggest skill gaps identified by the
overall survey population and they
are also proficient in data management
software/systems. With their expertise
in systems; tag management; CRM
tools; and data science, analytics,
statistics, and modeling, they know
how to acquire, integrate, and make
data perform. Sixty-eight percent of
members of this group said that they
are the primary marketing technologists
in their organizations the highest of all
the archetypes reflecting the importance of data-driven marketing.

THE CONTENT CURATORS

(16%)
If you want to tell a story and efficiently
disseminate it to your consumers this
is the group you want. With considerable expertise in content creation,
content optimization, marketing strategy
and positioning, and content and digital
asset management platforms, this
group helps your brand converse
with customers.

Data Divas: Self-reported skills

35.0

Marketing
Operations
Management

16.8

Data
Management
Software and
Systems

34.0

Customer
Relationship
Management
(CRM) Systems
and Platforms

31.7

Data Science,
Analytics,
Statistics, and
Modeling

17.4

Marketing Strategy
and Positioning

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Data Divas have much stronger sets of skills in database marketing, system integration, and data scientist related skills than the other archetypes. They were the
most likely to be the primary marketing technologists in their organizations (68%
reported being the CMT).
55.3%
53.2%
53.2%
51.1%
42.6%
42.6%
40.6%

A Marketing Expert
A Database Marketing Specialist
A Business Consultant
A Systems Integrator
A Data Scientist, Statistician, Analyst
A CRM Expert
A Customer Experience Specialist

Content Curators: Self-reported skills

45.6

Content Creation,
Copywriting,
and Content
Optimization

21.6

Website
Testing and
Optimization

39.8

Marketing
Strategy and
Positioning

24.6

Content
Management
and Digital Asset
Management
Systems

17.2

Website Design,
Including
Responsive and
Adaptive Design

16.0

The Ability to
Persuade and
Negotiate

23.4

Marketing
Channel Strategy
and Connections
Planning

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Content Curators specialize in content creation, content management, and the customer experience. They are also the youngest, with 42% being under 35 years old.
64.4%
57.8%
53.3%
46.7%
35.6%

RESEARCH

A Marketing Expert
A Content Management Expert
A Writer or Content Creator
A Business Consultant
A Customer Experience Specialist

THE INFRASTRUCTURE
ARCHITECTS (16%)
This is a classically trained cohort
of technologists, with expertise in
developing enterprise marketing
platforms. With a deep understanding of technology architecture and
selection, software development, and
content and digital asset management
platforms, they describe themselves as
the IT specialists, systems integrators,
and business consultants that deploy
marketing technology at scale within
an enterprise.

Infrastructure Architects: Self-reported skills

46.8

Enterprise
Architecture,
Tech Selection,
and Lifecycle
Management

31.6

11.4

Front-end
Technologies
(e.g., HTML5,
Javascript, and
CSS)

9.0

Software
Design,
Programming,
and Coding

Content
Management
and Digital Asset
Management
Systems

23.3

Visual Display
of Data Iincluding
Infographics and
Dashboards

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Infrastructure Architects are much more aligned with technology. Information
technology, systems integration, and even developing/coding scored highly. They
are also the most male (89%) and 40% had an undergraduate technology degree
(versus a 25.3% average across all archetypes).
73.3%
64.4%
60.0%
35.6%
33.3%
33.3%

THE EXPERIENCE
ENGINEERS (15%)
This group pushes boundaries at the
intersection of technology and experience. They have remarkable proficiencies in the technologies (e-commerce,
front-end, and mobility) that directly
touch the customer experience.

17.1

Software
Development
Operations and
IT Operations

An IT (Information Technology) Specialist

A Systems Integrator
A Business Consultant
A Software Developer, Coder, or Programmer
An Entrepreneur
A Customer Experience Specialist

Experience Engineers: Self-reported skills

33.9

E-commerce
Technologies
and Platforms

29.8

Front-end
Technologies
(e.g., HTML5,
Javascript,
and CSS)

21.5

Software
Design,
Programming,
and Coding

17.0

Website
Design Including
Responsive and
Adaptive Design

13.6

Content
Management
and Digital Asset
Management
Systems

12.9

Design and
Development
of Mobile Apps
and Platforms

17.0

GIS,
Geomapping,
and Geotargeting

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Experience Engineers play a hybrid role blending depth in IT and SI (system integration) skills but also have breadth in the form of customer experience. They
have considerable skills in mobile app development, e-commerce technology, and
other core competencies, as well.
46.3%
41.5%

RESEARCH

An IT (Information Technology) Specialist

39.0%

A Systems Integrator
A Business Consultant

39.0%

A Software Developer, Coder, or Programmer

31.7%

An Entrepreneur

31.7%

A Customer Experience Specialist

THE MEDIA AND MARKETING ANALYZERS (10%)

A rare breed in our survey, this type has
significant skills in research, consumer
insights, and strategic planning. They
think strategically about segmentation
and connections planning.

Media and Marketing Analyzers: Self-reported skills

58.4

Marketing
Research,
Consumer
Insights, and
Competitive
Intelligence

13.5

Marketing
Channel
Strategy and
Connections
Planning

47.3

Marketing
Strategy and
Positioning

24.1

Advertising
and Marketing
Communication
Development

16.6

Market
Segmentation
and
Psychographics

Professional self-description: I think of myself as...

Our final archetype is also the smallest. Media and Marketing Analysts bring
strengths in advertising, business, and customer experience. They tend to be
younger 45% are under 35 years old and are the most likely to have a graduate
degree 59% have a graduate degree, of which most (71%) are in business.
72.4%
51.7%
44.8%
37.9%
31.0%

The existence of these archetypes

shows us that todays marketing technologists do not have equivalent competencies. In fact, the differences in the
ratio of skills between the archetypes
are quite large.
One immediate implication for brands
looking to appoint a CMT is that they
must be more specific in creating a
job description the term marketing
technologist is simply insufficient.
Lacking specifics when casting the role
will increase the odds of professional
failure. For instance, recruiting a Marketing Maven when the job situation
calls for a Data Diva or Infrastructure
Architect will require additional senior
team members with complementary
skills to build out a capable marketing
technology function.

RESEARCH

A Marketing Expert
An Advertising Expert
A Business Consultant
An Entrepreneur
A Customer Experience Specialist

We recommend an outline of the

specific skills required, followed by
a determination of which primary
and secondary (or more, if needed)
archetypes fit best. Brands with stable
business models should be able to
define their needs succinctly (e.g., evolve
and manage the marketing automation
infrastructure). By doing so, they will
be able to focus on the archetypes
required, which will increase the likelihood of finding experienced candidates
who can fill the roles effectively. Of
course, employers concerned about
changing consumer behavior or digital
disruption to their core business will
need a unicorn with breadth and
depth across multiple or each of the
archetypes to lead the marketing
technology office. In this case, expect
the candidate pool to be much smaller
and the search to take longer.

Archetypes are split evenly

between marketing and technology
disciplines. Marketing archetypes
are more likely to operate as a
team, while technology archetypes
are more likely to play the role of
Chief Marketing Technologist.
In our data, we found a roughly even
split between marketing and technology orientations (see Figure 3) 52
percent of the respondents are classified in one of the three marketing
archetypes (Marketing Mavens, Content Curators, or Media and Marketing
Analyzers), while the remaining 48 percent are in the technology archetypes
(Data Divas, Infrastructure Architects,
or Experience Engineers).
Interestingly, those with a marketing
orientation are far more likely to operate with a team rather than as the sole
marketing technologist. We hypothesize that marketing-oriented archetypes
need additional technology support
in order to realize the marketing
technology function.

MARKETING ARCHETYPES
(52% OF RESPONDENTS)
Marketing-oriented archetypes tend
to be self-taught in technology, have

RESEARCH

more marketing academic training, and

be equally divided by gender. They
are slightly more likely to report to
the CMO than any other group (33.9
percent report to the CMO versus an
overall average of 31.4 percent).

TECHNOLOGY ARCHETYPES
(48% OF RESPONDENTS)
Technology archetypes are younger, are
more likely to have STEM degrees, and
are more likely to report to non-marketing
leaders (e.g., the CEO, CIO, or others).
A full 55 percent of the three technology archetypes reported that they are
the CMT, a moniker roughly equivalent
to the Chief Marketing Technology
Officer (CMTO). In contrast, only 35
percent a full twenty percentage
point change of the three marketing
archetypes report themselves to be the
Chief Marketing Technologist.
Our hypothesis is that todays technology archetypes (Data Divas, Infrastructure Architects, and Experience
Engineers) possess more of the skills
needed to align the marketing team,
technology vendors, service providers,
and corporate IT. Our recommendation
for brands? Evaluate your CMTs ability
to be the glue between these teams,
including his/her ability to represent the
interests, viewpoints, and concerns of
the different stakeholders without bias,
to see the big picture while not missing
key details, and to show his/her gravitas as a cross-functional leader.

FIGURE03

The six archetypes have two main

areas of focus
Our six profiles are evenly split between
marketing-focused and technologyfocused archetypes consistent with
the blended nature of the role.
Technology
48%

17%
Data
Divas

16%
Infrastructure
Architects

15%
Experience
Engineers

Marketing
52%

26%
Marketing
Mavens

16%
Content
Curators

10%
Media & Marketing
Analyzers

Marketing technologists most

likely work for the CMO. They also
have marketing titles.
Our respondents report to a marketing
function most frequently. Just 8.6 percent of marketing technologists report
to the CIO; most report to the CMO
(31.4 percent), CEO/President (23.9
percent), or CDO (Chief Digital Officer)/CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) (5.3
percent). In sum, 69.2 percent report to
the C-suite. CMTs are similar, with just
5.5 percent reporting to the CIO.
In our view, this distribution of reporting relationships is supportive of our
thesis that the marketing technologist
is broadly the equivalent of a CIO or
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
dedicated to marketing, and the CMO
or CEO needs a trusted advisor skilled
in technology and marketing on
his/her team.
Current job titles are predominantly in
the marketing domain (see Figure 4).
CMTs were 7 percent more likely to
have a marketing title. We also found
that the title of Marketing Technologist is rarely used and made up only a
small fraction (11 percent) of CMTs in
the field.

Given the title variance and reporting

to IT by exception rather than norm,
we recommend that the individual
tasked as the CMT: has explicit
objectives; is socialized with all concerned stakeholders; is tasked to align
marketing and technology concerns;
and owns the blueprint for how
marketing technology is deployed and
will evolve in the context of the enterprise technology estate.

FIGURE04

Participant job titles Overall and CMT

The most common title for a marketing technologist is a marketing title such as
Director of Marketing or Marketing Manager. CMTs are even more likely to have
marketing titles than overall respondents. And a formal Marketing Technology
title is quite rare.
Marketing Title

CMT

55.9%

CMO
Director/VP/Manager of Digital Marketing
Marketing Manager/Director/VP/Manager of
Marketing Technology

Overall

48.9%

Business Title 

CMT

16.5%

CGO/CSO/Director/VP/Manager of Strategy
Project Manager/Account Manager/Director/
VP/Manager of Business, Product, or Application Development/Strategist

Overall

23.2%

Technology Title 

CMT

18%

CTO/CIO/Director/VP/Manager of IT
Director of Market Automation
Director of CRM
Director of Analytics
Market Automation Specialist

Overall

16.8%
CMT

11%

Marketing Technology Title 

Marketing Technologist
Marketing Technology Consultant
Marketing Technology Manager

Overall

7.1%
0

RESEARCH

10

20

30

40

50

60

Only a quarter of todays marketing technologists have STEM

degrees. Predictably, technology
training is done on the job, not
in school.
Surprisingly, three in four marketing
technologists do not have a traditional
STEM degree. Approximately 25.3
percent have a STEM undergraduate
degree, while 18.8 percent have a
STEM graduate degree. Instead, the
most common academic majors for
marketing technologists (see Figure 5)
are business and business administration (13.7 percent of undergrads and
41.4 percent among graduates).
Once in the workforce, marketing
manager is the #1 job leading to a
marketing technologist role, followed
by web/CRM/automation platform
technology management. But when
we group all responses by domain
(see sidebar entitled What Were the
Previous Jobs of Marketing Technologists?), the technology/programming
domain emerges as the most common prior job focus, followed by the
business/management and marketing/
communications domains.
Almost half of all the respondents had
a prior role in technology, and primary
marketing technologists skew higher
53.5 percent report having a technical/
programming role prior to their current
primary marketing technologist role.
Our conclusion? Todays talent has
cross-skilled themselves, especially
in technology, on the job. This is
understandable given the paucity of
cross-discipline academic programs.

RESEARCH

However, we are concerned that preparation in computer science fundamentals, systems and algorithmic thinking,
statistics, and data science are hard
to pick up on the job absent curricula,
coaching, and skill roadmaps for which
there is no industry consensus. The
marketing technologist is, by its very
moniker, a technical and marketing
role, and those recruiting or planning
their own careers must have a strong
grounding in the fundamentals of both.
We recommend that both brands
looking for CMTs and aspiring CMTs
themselves evaluate their skills across
the archetypes to understand existing
gaps, and then create development
plans or source additional talent to fill
those gaps.

FIGURE05

Areas of study for marketing technologists

Marketing technologists are a highly educated group, with 92% having at
least a bachelors degree compared to 29.5% for the general U.S. population.
Undergraduate areas of study include liberal arts, and, at the graduate level,
skew toward business.
AREAS OF STUDY

Undergraduate

Business or Business
Administration

14%

Marketing

11%

Communications
Computer Science
Information Technology

Science or Math

Social Sciences

10

Art and Other Majors (Net)

16%
8%

12%
9

(Economics, Sociology, Psychology)

41%

9%

Engineering

14%
3

%
%
%

31%

Graduate

5%
11%

We are concerned that preparation in computer science

fundamentals, systems and algorithmic thinking,
statistics, and data science are hard to pick up on the
job absent curricula, coaching, and skill roadmaps for
which there is no industry consensus.
- Sheldon Monteiro

WHAT WERE THE PREVIOUS JOBS OF MARKETING TECHNOLOGISTS?

46.9%

Technical/Programming
Background

01

02

Business/Management
Background
Business/management was
also a popular job category,
and we observed prior general
management roles described as
consulting, managing teams, and
project management.

37.3%

04

05

Web/CRM Management/Automation Platforms

02

14.5%

Web Developer/Programmer/Software Engineer

03

14.1%

IT/Tech Background

04

4.6%

E-commerce

05

3.7%

SEM/SEO/Search Engine Management

06

2.9%

Background in MobilePlatforms/Apps

06

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

01

Marketing/Communications Background
While marketing background/
marketing manager/marketing
is the single most common
(historic) role for marketing
technologists, the marketing/
communications category as a
whole ranked below technologyfocused prior roles.

20.7%

03

Technology/programming is the
dominant background for marketing technologists. Specifically,
we found focus areas in web/CRM
platforms, web development, and
general IT/technology.

39%

01

02

01

10.4%

Consulting/Management Consultant/User Experience Consultant

02

9.1%

Management Background/Manage a Team

03

9.1%

Account/Project Management

04

8.3%

Sales/Lead Generation

05

7.5%

Business Development/Strategy/Research Strategy

06

5.4%

Analytics/Business Analyst/Business Background

07

4.1%

Market Research/Research and Development

01

22.4% Marketing Background/Marketing Manager/Marketing

02

13.7% Digital/Interactive Marketing

03

4.6%

Digital Producer/Graphics/Animation/Video/Audio Engineer

04

3.7%

Communications/Market Communications/Database Marketing

05

3.3%

Background in Social Media/Social Platforms

03

04

05

We asked respondents How did you transition into the marketing technologist role? That is, what were your job responsibilities and role before your current marketing technologist role?

RESEARCH

Marketing technologists are strongest in core marketing skills, and

weakest in information security and
system performance/resilience.
Our respondents say their strongest
skills are marketing strategy/positioning, followed by marketing operations
management and website design
(including responsive and adaptive
design). At first glance, this is great
a mix of strategy, operations, and technology, in that order (see Figure 6).
Our concern? Operations the second
strongest skill is ranked 2.5 times
weaker than strategy, while technology
website design (responsive and
adaptive) is ranked almost three
times weaker. Given the demo or die
mode in which most digitally native
competition operates, marketing
technologists must be as proficient in
the details of execution (operations and
technology) as they are in strategy.
System performance and resiliency,
advertising technology, and several
omnichannel-enabling technologies
(e.g., in-venue/in-store experience technology, physical computing and IoT,
tag management, and geotargeting) all
featured in the lowest ten self-assessed
current skills, with information security
dead last (see Figure 7).
Of all our findings, we were concerned
with this one the most. In our view,
marketing technologists must envision
and lead the delivery of omnichannel
experiences that are integrated, scalable, and reliable. This, in fact, is a core
mandate of the role. Further, the bottom
ten list also included some core marketing topics, such as loyalty programs,
internationalization, media, and ad-tech.

RESEARCH

In light of recent massive security

breaches in many industry verticals, the
extreme scale with which digital businesses must operate during periods of
high demand, and the need for brands
to imagine and create immersive and
pervasive communications and experience, the lack of needed skills in these
areas is worrisome.
Our recommendation? Understand
your weakest skills and source help
from specialists to mitigate risks and
avoid blind spots. Consider immediate
audits in gap areas and strategy
retainers for forward planning.

FIGURE06

Current job skills: Strongest skills

In these data, we were particularly surprised at the strength of marketing
strategy/positioning and the relatively balanced set of current strengths
across disciplines.
38.1 Marketing Strategy/Positioning
15.6 Marketing Operations Management
13.3 Website Design Including Responsive and Adaptive Design
12.3 The Ability to Persuade and Negotiate
12.2 Marketing Channel Strategy/Connections Planning

FIGURE07

Current job skills: Weakest skills

We were startled by the importance of several of the skills on which marketing
technologists evaluated themselves poorly. Information security, particularly,
is of growing importance, yet was the weakest job skill in the study.
0.6

In-venue/In-Store Experience Technology

0.6

Physical Computing and the Internet of Things

0.5

Tag Management and User Management (United User Profile)

0.4

Loyalty Programs

0.4

Media Planning and Buying

0.3

International Marketing/Translations/Legal Issues

0.3

Digital Ad Networks and Real-Time Bidding

0.2

System Performance and Resiliency

0.2

GIS, Geomapping, and Geotargeting

0.1

Information Security/Firewalls/Encryption/Data Recovery

In the future, desired skills span

marketing, business, and technology, but mind the data gap.
We asked our respondents which job
skills were the most important for the
future success of marketing (see Figure
8). Of the top five skills important for
the future, two are marketing-related,
two are technology-related, and one
is business-related. This supports our
view that the marketing technologist
must span marketing, technology, and
business. However, the technologyoriented skills are narrower than
wed anticipated.
We also compared responses for skills
ranked important in the future to those
for skills they have today. By doing
so, we identified specific skill gaps and
their magnitudes (see Figure 9).
The most significant skill gaps are seen
in target market identification; CRM
systems and platforms; data science,
analytics, statistics, and modeling; and
big data and marketing segmentation.
The list indicates that leveling up is
required on both the marketing and
technology sides. But by far, the most
significant absolute gap is in big data:
techniques and technologies for handling data at extreme scale.
We recommend a careful analysis of
skills needed for the future of your
business, and building these skills
through development, talent sourcing,
and retainers. In particular, given that
data centricity will dominate marketing
for the foreseeable future, we suggest
additional emphasis on acquiring data
science and data management competencies within the marketing technology function.

RESEARCH

FIGURE08

Most important future job skills

When we asked respondents for
the top skills for future success, the
top two skills which emerged were
traditional marketing skills, although
technology skills rounded out the next
two slots.
Marketing Strategy/Positioning

62.1%

Target Market
Identification

44.3%

Website Design Including

Responsive and Adaptive

43.9%

CRM Systems and

Platforms

43.9%

The Ability to Persuade

and Negotiate

42.9%
0

20

40

60

80

FIGURE09

Marketing Technologist skill gaps

When we compared the most important skills with their current strengths/
weaknesses, we identified a set of skills with the greatest gaps, shown below. Its
notable that the biggest gaps span technology, marketing, and business skills.
IMPORTANCE TO
FUTURE SUCCESS5

GAP

STRENGTH OF
TODAYS SKILLS6

Target Market Identification

-20

22

Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
Systems and Platforms

-7

10

Data Science, Analytics,

Statistics, and Modeling

-6

12

Big Data: Techniques and

Technologies for Handling
Data at Extreme Scale

-27

34

Market Segmentation
and Psychographics

-8

17

JOB SKILLS

Importance to Future Success: Lower numbers are more important.

Strength of Todays Skills: Lower numbers are stronger.

GROWING UNICORNS: SAPIENTNITROS

CMTO UNIVERSITY
With the shift from analog to digital,
from communications to experience,
from story yelling to the Storyscaping
approach, companies need a new breed
of technologist. This new breed sees
around corners, paints the big picture,
and gets marketers, ad types, and
marketing. They are scrappy innovators who also understand scale and
complexity, and who are awesome at
influencing people.
For all the hand-wringing about Chief
Marketing Technologists (CMTs or
CMTOs), talent that gets both marketing
and technology is rare. While marketing
technology talent is in very high demand,
there is an enormous industry skill gap.
SapientNitro decided to do something
about it by creating a CMTO University
within our agency.
The CMTO University is an internal leadership development program dedicated
to growing some of our best technologists and focusing on three core topic
areas: technology, marketing, and communicating with influence. It is a yearlong experience that combines elements
of a corporate leadership development
program with the rigor, challenge, and
learning of an executive MBA.

RESEARCH

Modeled as a cohort-based program,

our students are selected through a
competitive application process which
includes a formal application from the
prospective student, agency business
sponsorship and references, and a reference interview with a SapientNitro
client who has worked closely with
the applicant and can attest to his/her
prowess. SapientNitro technologists
hailing from any of our global offices at
the Vice President, Director, and Senior
Manager career levels are eligible to
apply. Participants are required to commit to investing an extra ten to fifteen
hours every week over the course of the
program year, in addition to their demanding jobs. In our most recent cohort,
fewer than one in three applicants who
applied were admitted into the program.
The curriculum includes four intensive workshops, conducted in different
SapientNitro locations around the globe,
with interim periods between the
workshops (see Figure 10). Each intensive and interim has a specific focus;
activities include group projects, weekly
individual assignments and discussions
through an online collaboration tool,
and semi-weekly virtual classroom
sessions (with presentations) held over
the weekend.

Sessions are taught by SapientNitro

thought leaders across the globe, industry and academic external experts,
and by the participants themselves as
their skills and knowledge are honed.
Throughout the program, participants
are assessed for progress, share feedback with their peers, and receive personalized coaching from the program
faculty. The curriculum is designed and
delivered in collaboration with Hyper
Island, a leader in digital learning and
executive training.
Students must also complete an independent study project, the capstone
experience of the CMTOu program.
Similar to a thesis, the independent
study demonstrates competency in a
specific aspect of critical marketing
technology as well as the opportunity to
creatively communicate thinking.

Participants select a topic and then design, plan, and complete this work with
the assistance of internal and external
advisors, including several industry
luminaries. Each student is required to
present in public at a conference held
during the final intensive.
This program also imparts the tools to
ensure that the graduates continue to
stay on top of whats next a critical
skill in the digital world as many marketing technologies become obsolete and
new ones rise in importance. Our clients
reap the benefits through the work we
produce, and our participants see the
impact of their collective transformation
throughout the program, both in the
curriculum and on client work.

FIGURE10

Program Schedule
The CMTOu is a year-long, internal leadership development program. The curriculum
includes four intensive workshops, conducted in different SapientNitro locations
around the globe, with interim periods between the workshops.

Intensive (4+ days, over weekend)

E-meet (3 hours, Sunday, virtual)

CHICAGO

ATLANTA

LONDON

INDIA

Marketing Fundamentals
for a Digital World
Group Dynamics
Influence Skills

Marketing Deep Dive,

Culture, Practice
The Storyscaping Approach
Influence Skills

Authentic and Fearless

Communication
Pitching and Story Practice
Design Aesthetics

Conference Thought
Leadership Presentations
Evangelizing the CMTO Role

OCT
FIRST INTERIM

JAN
SECOND INTERIM

APR
THIRD INTERIM

JUL
FOURTH INTERIM

Marketing Technology Breadth

Physical Computing
Marketing Theory

Marketing Technology Depth

Individual Development
Planning

Independent Study
Work Emotional Intelligence
Marketing Theory

Complete Independent Study

External Conference Proposals
Plan for Influencing SapientNitro

RESEARCH

Conclusion
The rise of the Chief Marketing
Technologist is bridging the worlds of
marketing and IT. In these data, we see
a new picture emerging of the marketing technologist. This first-ever analysis
of the professional population gives
us a remarkable view of six discrete
archetypes, their skills, and where in
the organization they sit. Importantly,
we have a clear view of the skills and
attitudinal gaps which employers must
recognize when hiring and that the
profession (and, ultimately, academia)
must address.
We can logically infer from the data that
marketing technologists are cultivating
their skills on the job. Thats great news.
But, it should be deeply concerning to
both marketing technologists and the
brands that rely on them that the largest
skill gaps are in areas of significant
opportunity (e.g., targeting, CRM, and
data) and high risk (e.g., information
security, performance, and resiliency).

technology. The need for marketers

who understand technology, data, and
algorithms is as pressing and urgent as
the need for technologists who have
a grasp of marketing, advertising, and
the art of growing customers. Against
this backdrop, we believe it is critical
for organizations to invest in ongoing
training and skill development to grow
marketing technology talent.
As an agency, our clients often ask
us to play advisory CMTO roles. To
fulfill the demand, we founded our
own CMTO University. We decided to
challenge, rather than coddle, our best
technologists. We go deep by teaching
marketing, business, applied influence,
and persuasion skills, modeled in the
style of an executive MBA. For businesses that want to thrive, and increasingly
those that want to survive, grooming
leaders with relevant skills to operate
with competence and confidence in
the age of the customer is the single
biggest investment we can make in
our future.

Academia has yet to create programs

for hybrid talent that must operate
at the intersection of marketing and

About the survey

The survey was an online questionnaire distributed through two primary channels
chiefmartec.com and the 2014 Boston MarTech conference (August 1820). Survey responses were collected from August 15 to September 8, 2014. The majority
(76 percent) of respondents were based in the U.S., while 24 percent were based
outside the U.S. (mostly Europe and Canada).
A total of 280 surveys were completed. The distribution of the sample appears to
be representative of the marketing technology community, as defined by the blog
and attendees from the 2014 Boston MarTech conference. SapientNitro sponsored
the study and worked alongside Decision Analyst, a market research firm, to
design and execute it.

RESEARCH

Sheldon Monteiro
Global Chief Technology Officer,
SapientNitro Chicago
smonteiro@sapient.com
Sheldon leads global technology capabilities, engineering,
quality, methods, devops, and tools. He sponsors and is a
senior faculty member at SapientNitros CMTO University,
an in-house executive development program to grow
SapientNitros marketing technologists.

Hilding Anderson
Director Research & Insights,
SapientNitro Washington, D.C.
handerson@sapient.com
Hilding is the Editor-in-Chief of Insights 2015, and a Director of Research and Insights at SapientNitro. He helps
set the thought leadership agenda across the agency, and
advises global clients on emerging trends.

Scott Tang
Head of Global Consumer & Industry Research,
SapientNitro Chicago
stang@sapient.com
Scott leads a team of researchers that supports SapientNitro
worldwide through secondary and quantitative analysis on
topics regarding consumers, industries, and all things digital.

INSIGHTS WHERE TECHNOLOGY & STORY MEET

The Insights publication features the marketing intelligence, trend forecasts,
and innovative recommendations of boundary-breaking thought leaders. The
SapientNitro Insights app brings that provocative collection now in its digital
form to your on-the-go fingertips.
Download the full report at sapientnitro.com/insights and, for additional
interactive and related content, download the SapientNitro Insights app.

SapientNitro, part of Publicis.Sapient, is a new breed of agency redefining storytelling for an always-on world. Were changing the way our clients engage todays
connected consumers by uniquely creating integrated, immersive stories across brand communications, digital engagement, and omnichannel commerce. We call
it our Storyscaping approach, where art and imagination meet the power and scale of systems thinking. SapientNitros unique combination of creative, brand, and
technology expertise results in one global team collaborating across disciplines, perspectives, and continents to create game-changing success for our Global
1000 clients, such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target, and Vodafone, in thirty-one cities across The Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
For more information, visit www.sapientnitro.com.
SapientNitro and Storyscaping are registered service marks of Sapient Corporation.

COPYRIGHT 2015 SAPIENT CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.