Women in Martech
To kick off our Women in Martech Series, and to be considered one of 50 Women You Need to Know in Martech – 2018, we asked women to provide their thoughts in three areas: Career, Martech in Practice and Women in Martech.
Women in Martech is a weekly series, beginning in January 2018, based on the thoughts, advice and opinions of real women about marketing and marketing technology.
Please help us to congratulate Amy Fox! SELECTED AS ONE OF 50 WOMEN YOU NEED TO KNOW IN MARTECH – 2018.
Here’s what Amy had to say!
What advice would you offer someone getting into marketing in this landscape?
Be bold!
Both marketing and technology are careers that have historically been dominated by men, and to a certain degree, they still are.
However, for me, this presents an opportunity for women, especially if they have the confidence to stand up and present their own opinions.
Being in the minority can help you stand out — just don’t be intimidated by it.
I have had to promote myself a lot in my career. I learned very quickly that you can’t trust or depend on others to do it for you. Learning to be confident and self-assured, even at times when I might not be, is something I’ve tried very hard to do.
I’ve also tried to stay open and approachable. This space can be very stressful. But if you let that get to you and affect the way you are and how you treat the people around you, you lose people’s confidence in you.
I’m exposed to the UK market predominantly and I was lucky enough to be in a mentoring group with Karen Blackett, Mediacom Chairwoman. She was really inspiring and despite being in an incredibly senior role, she was very empathetic and quintessentially ‘female’.
It was invaluable learning that, as a woman, you don’t have to change who you are, or curtail your natural instincts to be a good leader.
Describe the biggest challenge that will need to be overcome in the next 5 years in marketing
Over the next few years the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have a huge impact on where marketing technology goes, but so will ownership and transparency around data source and quality.
Rising technologies such as blockchain will help make this happen. We’ll see more and more startups adopting that technology, and the IAB and other industry bodies will begin setting some key standards.
Within five years, the ad industry will likely transition to using blockchain as a transaction leger.
And within a decade, we’ll likely see it become a new industry standard, meaning it’s time for brands and their tech partners to prepare.
What is the #1 challenge facing women in martech today?
I’ve been lucky enough to grow my entire career in one company, from a graduating intern to Head of Product and one of my challenges has been to dispel the preconceptions that my age, along with my gender, can bring.
The entire senior management team at my company are men in their 40s and above, and convincing them to judge me based on my capabilities and work quality over other factors has been a challenge in many cases.
On the other hand, some of my biggest supporters have been from the same group, so it’s important to not be guilty of the same crime and judge all men in their 40s as the same… judge everyone as an individual, not by their ‘covers.’
Other challenges
This varies by market to be honest. Blis straddles so many markets that perhaps the biggest challenge for us will be to balance the needs of the U.S. market versus the European and Asian markets — Not to mention the up and coming regions like South Africa.
The common theme is that all markets are crowded with competition but often that competition is varied depending on where you are. So it’s like fighting many small battles all at once. It will be important to keep our eye on all the balls!
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