Marketing is many things, but there is one thing it most certainly is not: A shortcut to instant success, as if the subject itself is nothing more than a shake-and-stir powder – a marketing trick unto itself – wherein one adds water, drinks said mixture and enjoys immediate enlightenment; thereby acquiring the wisdom to transform prospects into buyers, while providing for all necessities, tranquilizing all anxieties and amusing all those suffering from boredom.
The truth is, and here I write from experience, marketing is both an art and a science. It will always have its roots in the former, but its future rests with the latter. It depends on the increasing use of technology, specialized tools and proprietary resources, to convert so many ones and zeroes – to translate the language of the Web – into the vernacular shoppers understand.
To do that, and to do it well, requires a union between the so-called poets and quants; two distinct groups of business school students (and graduates), who treat marketing as, respectively, an attempt to appeal to emotion and an effort to focus on reason; an exercise in creativity, on the one hand, and the use of facts, on the other; a seemingly endless brain storming session among copywriters, designers and directors, at one extreme, and a scrupulous review of data by developers, engineers and mathematicians, at the other.
Both professionals are – and will remain – relevant to marketing. Their insight is crucial not only for businesses that seek to market to consumers; their intelligence is indispensable to businesses that must market to other businesses.
In the B2B space, technology is a marketer's greatest asset. Notice, too, what that sentence does not say: It does not say technology alone is a marketing solution; it does not say technology will be a marketing panacea; it does not say technology will be the gospel or the ultimate revelation.
Rather, technology is important – very important – to the ever-changing nature of marketing.
In my conversations with various executives about this issue, I think Brian Giese, CEO of True Influence, gets to the heart of the matter. He says:
"Technology should be autonomous, with regard to its ability to monitor and curate online signals – behavioral patterns, for example – that make it easier for marketers to identify and engage prospective clients. That means the technology marketers use must be ahead of the curve, so to speak. It must alert users, in real time, about potential opportunities; it must shape the way marketers communicate."
The final responsibility belongs to marketers, as they must decide when and how to act. Technology can clarify that process – the right technology does just that – but its application requires the judgment of experts; its use demands the feedback of professionals.
Technology may not be the answer, but it offers many possible answers.
Marketers should acknowledge the value of that material.