Tag Archives: chief marketing technologist

07.31.13
by

A Recent Mobile Optimization Data Set Example

It blows my mind that many fantastic websites and companies have yet to embrace mobile optimization. A couple of months ago I discussed (in this post) my recent studies on mobile conversion optimization. I had recently spent time learning and then putting to use the mobile optimization skills that I had learned on my company’s website. The results are in and they are more than I had initially hoped for.

Prior to the mobile responsive redesign (and yes, responsive is the only way to go – not a mobile subdomain) we had put some lead gen mechanisms in place that made mobile / tablet conversion, and desktop conversion for that matter, a touch more easy. So the 60 days post adding those lead gen mechanisms we saw an increase of about 20% across the board on both desktop and mobile / tablet. I was pleased, obviously.

Post Mobile Optimization
Here is where it gets good… We designed the site around the mobile experience first, and then adjusted the desktop user interface to meet those demands. Most mobile experts will tell you this is the way to come at your design, think mobile first, desktop on the backend.we were able to incorporate mobile best practices, without overthrowing the desktop side. In fact, in doing so, it appears as though we slightly improved the desktop experience, probably because of a ease of use factor.

In the first 60 days post mobile optimization we saw an increase in desktop conversion of around 30%, that’s excellent, especially considering desktop is still the majority of my traffic. BUT, on the mobile side of traffic, we saw an increase in conversion of 100%, it doubled! But thats not all…

Mobile Versus Tablet
Here is where it gets even sweeter!

The mobile conversions I was referring to above is a combination of mobile (primarily cell phone) traffic and tablet traffic. When you break down the numbers a little further, the picture gets a little prettier.

In the 60 days post mobile responsive redesign, we experienced a percent increase in tablet traffic of about 100% and a percent increase in mobile (again, primarily cell phone) of 425%, yes, 425%!! This increase brought mobile (cell phone) conversions up to almost the exact same percentage as tablet conversions. So obviously, the new, responsive design, combined with some of the mobile conversion best practices I had wanted to try, really worked on the much smaller screens of cell phone users. Getting a cell phone user to convert into a lead at this new rate was something I was really proud of.

Now, that alone sounds pretty great right? but wait, there is more… Mobile (cell phone) traffic is a number that is about 4X tablet traffic. So this increase in converting the mobile / cell phone user has meant huge things to our lead flow. So far the sales conversion side has been status quo as well, so all in all, great things came from this investment.

Advertisement
04.06.13
by

The Emerging Role of the Chief Marketing Technologist

As we all know, technology changes fast in the modern world. This is particularly true in business and marketing where the tools used to promote a product become more advanced every day. Many businesses have assigned the tasks of utilizing these new technologies to an emerging position starting to be referred to as the “Chief Marketing Technologist”, aka CMT or CMTO.

The Chief Marketing Technologist role is not a simple one. The person holding the position is usually responsible for a wide range of marketing tools and tactics from SEO to Marketing Automation to Social Media Strategy. The CMT usually needs to have a firm understanding of a variety of skill sets such as IT, finance, marketing, sales and more.

Digital Marketing
Digital marketing and inbound marketing are key terms in the role of the Chief Marketing Technologist. In fact, according to most definitions, digital marketing makes up the majority of the role. Things like video and delivery networks, content marketing, webinars, white papers, PPC, SEO, social media, content marketing, mobile marketing, web analytics, online lead generation, email marketing, website CMS etc. are all things that a Chief Marketing Technologist must be a Subject Matter Expert in.

A Chief Marketing Technologist also has the know how to plan the design and functionality of a company’s website. Layout, contact capture strategy, UI, URL structure, conversion optimization and more.

Mobile marketing is an emerging aspect of digital marketing. Google Analytics makes it pretty easy to pick through your website’s traffic data and see how well or not well your website is performing when it comes to mobile traffic. In general, mobile traffic requires a slightly different approach in order to optimize conversions. A successful CMTO has experience implementing the various best practices around mobile traffic conversion.

Social Media
Social media is still so under-utilized by many organizations. Even many great marketing organizations have yet to figure out what it takes to be successful in social media. A CMTO has experience in social media success. Define the company’s social media goals (all of which are pretty similar no matter the industry), identify the tools, identify and train the talent, educate the entire organization on do’s and don’ts (yes, an entire organization, each employee should play a role in social media for business, but that’s another post entirely), implement the strategy and succeed. There is so much that social media can do for a company, a good CMTO knows what is out there for the taking and has the knowledge to go and get it.

Analytics
Big data, website analytics, multivariate testing, business analytics etc. are key terms to a CMTO. Marketing has always been about tracking and analyzing data to be able to improve a campaign’s effectiveness. Today, more data is available and greater metrics are able to be utilized. A CMTO has deep experience mining data and using it for improved ROI and revenue performance management.

Sales
Its no secret that marketing and sales go hand in hand. A strong Chief Marketing Technologist has experience and strong knowledge in the role of the sales staff. The lead pipeline is perhaps the most essential element to this. lead nurturing, lead scoring, CRM and marketing automation are knowledge points essential today’s lead marketer.

Social selling is the next aspect directly relating to the CMTO. This is an emerging area for sure. Some would classify this under the actual sales department, some would classify it under social media, but it requires a strong Chief Marketing Technologist’s leadership to truly champion social selling. Along with the actual social selling tactics and strategy are the tools needed to be successful. There are many social media tools out there, which ones are essential to your sales staff in order for them to be successful? You better ask the CMTO.

Information Technology
IT now plays a key role in marketing. Everything from application development to web development to video hosting platforms requires a somewhat firm grasp of information technology principles. In order to now implement the full set of marketing tools needed by a successful digital marketing organization, the Chief Marketing Technologist needs to know how the IT resources behind them work.

Perhaps the Chief Marketing Technologist is simply a redefinition of the CMO. Maybe this is where marketing is headed. Either way, its a really cool role that requires completely unique experience. For more information and to see my inspiration behind this post, check out what Scott Brinker is doing here. He has some great stuff on his blog!