What do you get when you cross a techno geek with a word nerd? A Marketing Technologist. You also get one of the hottest IT jobs for 2015.
The demand for Marketing Technologists far outweighs the supply, pushing salaries well into the six figures. The job is so new that it isn’t even listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although it is cropping up on LinkedIn and CraigsList.
What is a Marketing Technologist? As the title suggests, this person is someone who applies IT management and software engineering skills to the needs of marketing. The Garner report describes the Marketing Technologist as “part strategist, part creative and part technologist.” The Marketing Technologist handles all the usual aspects of marketing, such as branding and content management, but does so with the help of technology.
Most Marketing Technologists will be at least familiar with the following areas, while the best of the best will be proficient in several of them.
- Data & Analytics
- Marketing Software
- Advertising Networks
- Social & Mobile Platforms
- Content Marketing
- Web Mechanics
- Software Programming
- IT Operations
The Chief Marketing Technologist takes the job one step further, making both creative and technology decisions, and probably collaborating with the CIO, as he improves his company’s competitive edge. Experts predict that by 2017, the chief marketing officer will be spending more money on technology than the chief information officer.
The rise of the Marketing Technologist is, experts say, an inevitable result of our digital world, in which technology serves as an interface between client and vendor. The demand for professionals who can function effectively as both a creative and technological resources will only grow. Now’s a good time to enter the field.