I just landed back in Dallas from a whirlwind three days at MarTech: The Marketing Technology Conference in San Francisco. As usual, the insights shared at Scott Brinker’s conference did not disappoint.

Whether you were able to attend the conference or not, here are my six takeaways for visionary marketers like yourself. 

Takeaway #1: She Who Embraces Agile Marketing, Wins

The software industry embraced Agile development many years ago as a way to quickly discover and resolve issues and adapt to changing conditions. Businesses now operating in the modern digital environment are embracing the Agile methodology and bringing it into the marketing realm. As Marketing Land details in their post, key characteristics of Agile marketing are:

• early and continuous delivery for enhanced customer satisfaction;
• continual iteration with changing requirements;
• close, daily cooperation among teams;
• attention to quality content and design;
• simplicity;
• marketing teams becoming more involved, visible and accountable;
• achievements recognized and celebrated; and
• teams more readily able to reflect on what works and what doesn’t.

Overall, proponents have cited Agile’s ability to quickly discover and resolve issues, as well as the speed with which it can adapt to the changing conditions marketers often face.

Bottom line: The teams that are going to win are the ones that are adaptable, bold and motivated by the pace of change inherent in Agile marketing . 

Takeaway #2: Experiments Aren’t for Just the R&D and Development Team Anymore

Barre Hardy, Associate Partner at CMG Partners pointed out that, with more and more companies focused on customer experience (CX) in order to secure the business and loyalty of restless customers, marketing has increasingly become the practice of managing experience. The experimentation inherent in Agile marketing “keeps marketing teams focused on customer experience” by quickly building hypotheses about what CX will work best, and then testing and revising them. Marketers “need to learn as much about the customer as soon as possible” when they undertake a new effort, she noted.

Bottom line: Visionary marketers are embracing experimentation through developing smaller, faster efforts to see what works, and then revising, testing, and revising.

Takeaway #3: The Evolution and Growing Complexity of Marketing Has Created More Silos Than Ever

The irony of marketing embracing Agile methodologies is that, thanks to the growth in consumer channels and the addition of digital marketing practices, data analysts and more, the marketing team has more silos than ever. In fact, the act of uncovering insights that help marketers get the work done in the most rapidly changing business environment in recent history can feel like an almost insurmountable task. 

Bottom line: Marketers who can break down and integrate the silos have the upper hand.

Takeaway #4: We Don’t Need More Data; We Need Better Data and More Insights

Marketing teams are inundated with data and platforms, tools and other data solutions. Just look at the 3,874 marketing technology solutions represented in Scott Brinker’s 2016 Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic. That’s more than twice the number than last year!

Any business with a data orientation knows that data and analytics platforms and solutions have become not just ubiquitous, but more complex, providing a seemingly endless fire hose of data to sift through. Now more than ever, there’s a need for simple, easy-to-use SaaS solutions that provide SMART Data to enable marketers to uncover actionable insights faster.

Bottom line: Marketers need less data but need more insights and a faster path to obtaining them.

Takeaway #5: Companies Need to Invest Less in “MadMen” and More in “MathMen”

Even as simpler, less complex solutions providing SMART Data come online, the human element is more critical than ever.

Current marketing models don’t allow this evolution to occur. As Scott Brinker shared in the venture capital roundtable, The Future of MarTech, companies need to invest less in Marketing “MadMen” and more in Marketing “MathMen” who can leverage the solutions at-hand but still do the human side of the analysis without depending upon algorithms to give them the answers.

Bottom line: Companies will be more successful when they rethink the marketing team and get the right members on the bus.

Takeaway #6: Services Will Separate the Wheat from the Chaff

While there is still a lot of opportunity in a marketing technology industry where many platforms still rely on flat and vanity metrics (I’ll save that issue for another post), even those providing more dimensional, SMART Data need to come face-to-face with the fact that many companies without a large, sophisticated marketing technology practice need experts who can help them translate the data into actionable insights. 

Anyone can have an x-ray machine, but many marketing teams today need the x-ray machine and the radiologist who can quickly and accurately interpret it so that insights can be applied. At VizSense, our turn key services hunt for your influencers and brand advocates and can quickly engage and mobilize them to help marketers more quickly achieve their goals and grow ROI.

Bottom line: Platforms, alone, are not true “solutions” for today’s brands working to be relevant in today's constantly-shifting marketing environment.

So What Are the Overall Takeaways for Marketers AND the Marketing Technology Industry?

1) Less Data, More Insights

As customer touch points become more complex, marketing technology solutions that provide more insightful, actionable data - not more data - will be increasingly high value tools in the toolbox of marketers who need to move faster, adapt more quickly to market feedback and scale.

2) Agile Marketing is the Way Forward

Consistent with @ChiefMartec’s new book, Hacking Marketing, the conference put a stake in the ground that modern marketing has more in common with the software profession than it does with classic marketing management. And, for companies to succeed, marketers need to get on-board and embrace the shift.

The conference takeaways were certainly validating for our team here at VizSense. Our commitment to services and platforms focused on insights, while helping marketers be more agile, further cements our belief that we are giving customers an unfair advantage in today’s ever changing marketing landscape.

To learn more about how VizSense is providing today's most visionary brands, corporations and agencies with smarter, more insightful data, allowing marketers to move faster and more easily adapt in today's social media environment, contact us here.