Are marketers becoming redundant?

There is no corporate function that has been transformed more quickly — and more dramatically — by technology than sales and marketing. In this episode of The Marketing Companion, Tom Webster and I look at the state of the art of sales and marketing, and discuss the role and relevancy of this career path in a digital age.

Some of the incredibly interesting topics we cover include:

• Emerging technology focuses on many traditional marketing functions. Are marketers becoming redundant?
• Are we in an era of real-time sales … or real-time marketing? Or both?
• Sales has always been day-to-day/tactical, marketing is normally more long-term,  and cerebral … but is this still true? Are the roles merging?
• We unpack the key ideas behind marketing today — maneuverability and demand.
• Daniel Pink and the idea of the age of “servant sellers” — Isn’t that what content marketing is about? Is that enough?
• Google’s Moment of Truth — People consult 10 pieces of content before making a decision, double what it was a few years ago. What is driving this?
• Content Shock and analysis paralysis — How is this affecting sales?
• Does content mean anything in the decision process? Isn’t much of what we want simply an irrational and emotional decision? Can content contribute to that?
• Forrester projects that a quarter of the sales job will be eliminated in the next few years. WIll algorithms replace marketers?
• Why Tom believes CMO’s are an endangered species (and why I disagree).
• Why start-ups are particularly vulnerable to marketing issues.

You will NOT want to miss this. Ready? Here we go …

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Illustration courtesy Flicker CC and Steve Snodgrass