Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Perkuto MarTech Melange, a weekly roundup of news, views and other interesting happenings from across the martech world. Each week we’ll give you a brief overview of stories of interest to marketers, including marketing automation news, Marketo happenings, tips on improving revenue and enhancing your marketing operations and more. Got a news item or tip we can’t afford to miss? Let us know. In the meantime, here’s this week’s scoop:

  • Going beyond the giveaway If your marketing plan includes participating as an exhibitor or sponsor at industry events (look for us at the Summit!) you’ve likely already started making plans. But as you’re preparing for the event—from brainstorming an amazing booth giveaway to getting your electrical services ordered—don’t forget to think about the intangibles that will ultimately determine if your large investment pays a return. Advanced Field Marketing Strategies with ABM is a fabulous post by our partners at Engagio and a must-read by marketers who wants to have a truly comprehensive event preparation guide.

  • Spending lots of money wisely: As marketers, we oftentimes dream of having a much larger advertising budgets. So what happens when your dreams come true and you’re in charge of $1M+ in ad spend? Gulp! If you’re overwhelmed, you’re not alone. Approaching every campaign as an “experiment” from which to gather data for future campaigns is one effective strategy; personalizing the experience for customers—from emails to landing pages and beyond—is another. For more tips, check out Saranya Babu’s MarTech Advisor post.

  • Marketing automation adoption:  Travel marketers—especially those in the hospitality and transportation industries—plan on investing in marketing automation technology in the next year according to a recent joint survey by Econsultancy and Adobe. In fact, transportation marketers ranked social media marketing, data analytics and marketing automation as equally important, while hospitality marketers found marketing automation more important than programmatic commerce and conversation commerce (e.g. virtual agents) combined. If you’re in or around the business of marketing automation, you may want to take a closer look at the eMarketer post for more insights.

  • Redefining your role as CMO: It’s no secret that the role of the CMO has radically shifted over the past decade from brand builder to driver of revenue. But what may not be as clear, however, are exactly the areas where today’s CMOs should focus your energy—especially with many organizations taking a customer-centric view and placing all customer-related tasks squarely in the CMO’s lane. Research firm Deloitte recommends three specific areas a CMO should own and concentrate on; how does this align with your own experience?