Marketing Technology is both a blessing and a curse
Marketers can do things that were once unimaginable only a few years ago. From targeting specific accounts with advertising messages to validating data before it even enters the CRM can yield some really exciting results for today’s B2B marketers.
But on the downside, we see B2B organization failing to keep up with the pace of change required to fully make use of these new tools. Whether it’s about training people, ensuring alignment between teams, or addressing change management, CMOs are faced with even tougher challenges that goes well beyond the traditional remits where they once played.
Change is coming from all directions. From more savvy customers who require an integrated customer experience as well as from a growing martech industry that is making it possible to automate all aspects of the buying journey.
To address these challenges, Leadfabric has launched a new set of strategic business consulting services for its clients after listening to requests from clients. And the company has recruited David Shell, an ex-Oracle and Microsoft veteran, with over 20 years of marketing practitioner experience to lead this effort.
“I’m excited that David has joined the management team of LeadFabric,” explains Koen De Witte, general manager of LeadFabric. “David has led large global digital change management programs for Microsoft, Nokia, Carlson Wagonlit and Ingenico Group. In addition, his experience supporting Oracle’s cloud transformation and CX business most recently will enable the new unit to act as a trusted partner for CMOs.”
I’m truly excited about leveraging my client-side and vendor-side experience to support LeadFabric’s client base
“I’m truly excited about leveraging my client-side and vendor-side experience to support LeadFabric’s client base,” Shell elaborates. “I understand well the challenges that marketing technology creates and have created solutions and programs to overcome them when I was leading a global marketing function. At LeadFabric, my intention is to be strategic guide to the CMO who needs an unbiased view of the marketplace and a strategic partner to address any people, process or technology challenge that comes with automation.”
Customer Experience Is Becoming Tantamount
B2B marketing leaders know that today they can’t just rely on traditional email and web based tactics to acquire and retain customers.
That means that marketing is becoming more and more essential for the B2B organization to get it right. Holding an annual marketing summit or sending out periodic newsletters is not enough. Focus should be on finding new ways to be impactful including:
-
Adding account-based marketing (ABM) elements to their strategy
-
Improve internal alignment with sales, services and customer success teams
-
Partner with IT to ensure the data and martech stack enbales the best possible experience
Furthermore, today’s marketing organization requires a diverse set of skills, including technologists, creative types, strategists and data junkies. Modern CMOs fundamentally need to figure out how to recruit and retain this diverse set of talents while keeping the C-Suite aligned to their vision.
The new unit will focus on a full set of CMO challenges including marketing technology assessment, business case development, digital marketing maturity, martech systems and data enablement, organizational alignment and process redesign, and marketing skills development.
For more information on LeadFabric’s business consulting unit, please get in touch with David at dshell@leadfabric.com.
