Jun 9

Written by: Insights Account
6/9/2009 3:19 AM

Author: Lindsey Hill, R2integrated

Sort of like a middle school dance, girls on one side of the room, boys on the other…marketing and technology teams often find themselves in similar situations. Yes, marketing and IT professionals do come from different worlds, but I would argue that they intersect more often than not and that both parties should really embrace that.

When I started with R2i over three years ago, I quickly discovered that marketing and technology intertwine and that you really can’t have it any other way. This was a new idea for me, but it made perfect sense and still does.

Marketers need to work closely and effectively with their counterparts who are ultimately responsible for managing online business technology. Why? Because technology is an integral part of all your online initiatives.  The more you understand the technology, the more you are able to work in unison with your IT department… help each other spark ideas and assure that all of your projects will run smoothly. The key here is building cohesion.  Developers tend to be introverted and don’t focus as much on the target verticals and brand strategies. Marketers understand the pulse of the business world and can help craft a more robust technical strategy by keeping closer relationships with the teams which ultimately build the products and services they will provide.

Marketers can devise killer ideas, but if it’s not possible to build out, what does it matter?  Programmers can build out an amazing application, but if marketing isn’t involved to push it out and get people using it, what’s the point?

I like to think of technology as “the marketing enabler.” The technology is what makes it possible to do 95% of marketing initiatives. Whether it’s content distribution, launching a marketing campaign or measuring the success of those campaigns, technology is in the driver’s seat a good portion of the time (or at least giving me directions from the back seat). Technology allows us to create online initiatives that take R2i into new markets and serve our audience in new and innovative ways. Thinking of the technology as the enabler provides a better sense of the constraints and possibilities of implementing marketing ideas.

The technology team has to now expand their job description to “think tech”, but keeping marketing in mind. And marketing must continue to be innovative, not only with strategies but with the technologies used to implement them. With technology and marketing co-mingling, the dance will always be in full swing.

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