Seeing as I get asked this question every time I whip out a business card, it probably deserves some attention here.
I won't be able to cover it in one post, so perhaps this will be the first in a series. I'd love to know what others think about this growing area of marketing (or is it technology?).
So what is Marketing Technology?
First and foremost, it is not the process of marketing a technology product (that's "technology marketing" in my book). I come at it from the "technology for marketing" standpoint.
I'm not convinced there's an official definition (care to write the Wikipedia entry, anyone?) so here's mine:
The process of identifying, defining, specifying and implementing technologies that help organisations develop new markets, grow existing ones or increase the efficiency of their marketing and communications.
How does that sit with you - make sense or not?
There are clearly other practices that overlap with this definition, including marketing operations management, marketing resource management, and enterprise marketing management. But whilst those might require an element of technological skill they are not completely dependent on it as marketing technology is.
It's my view that the best marketers of tomorrow will be the technologists of today - that's something I'll cover in my next post. In the mean time, let me know if you agree.