MarTech is the next Shangri-la for marketers looking at digital transformation
Ryan Bonnici is the Director of Marketing at HubSpot Asia Pacific & Japan. Prior to working at HubSpot, Ryan led a team of fifteen marketers across the Asia Pacific region in his role as the Head of Marketing at Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
He was the youngest director working for Salesforce globally at the time. Ryan is incredibly passionate about helping businesses of all sizes grow through the use of inbound sales and marketing. When he's not doing marketing at HubSpot, you can find him writing for BRW, Boss, B&T, and Marketing Mag. We caught up with him for a quick interview on marketing in 2016 and here’s what he had to say, verbatim.
1. Define the depth of passion that you have for digital.
I consider myself a digital native in the sense that I grew up using the internet and have always been really interested in new technologies. My passion for digital is deeper than any of my other interests; it pretty much impacts every aspect of my life in some way. I'm also never more than two metres away from my iPhone; I couldn't live without it.
2. B2B and the road ahead... what is your opinion on it?
Marketers are realising that B2B marketing doesn't have to be difficult. You can do super advanced marketing really easily, as long as you have the right tool set at your fingertips. I get excited every day when I speak to our customers and hear about the innovative ways they're using the HubSpot marketing and sales platform to grow their traffic and leads in a way that actually connects with their audience. It's amazing to see the impact inbound marketing is having on their businesses in terms of accelerating their sales process and enabling them to create demand for their products and services in a really meaningful way.
3. What has changed in marketing technology in the last three years?
Definitely the development of best-in-class technology.
Software that can do everything is starting to become a much better option than having a range of different tools to service different aspects of your marketing strategy. The level of advancement marketers have at their fingertips as a result of the development in software and tools is growing exponentially - it's a super exciting time.
4. Which are the three websites that you can’t live without ?
blog.hubspot.com - I may be biased, but every time I read the HubSpot blog I come away having learned something insightful.
quora.com - Quora is valuable for so many reasons, but my favourite thing about it is that it's full of learnings from smart people at a senior level that you might not otherwise be exposed to. However, it's also peer reviewed, so you don't have to be well-known to have a meaningful impact on the conversation.
getpocket.com - Pocket is the reason I'm able to stay up-to-date on what's going on in the marketing industry. If colleagues share links, or if I come across an interesting article whilst I'm busy at work, I can just add it to Pocket and read it when I have more time.
5. Why should someone attend your keynote at Click Asia Summit 2016?
With so many game-changing developments happening around inbound marketing and sales, there has never been a more crucial time for marketers to shift from outbound marketing tactics (interruptive in nature) to inbound marketing tactics (attraction-oriented in nature). I'll be walking you through the top trends that are taking our industry by storm, key inbound marketing strategies and hacks to improve your own efforts, and we'll have a little bit of fun too, of course!
Ryan Bonicci keynotes at Click Asia Summit 2016 on the 21st of April at Taj Lands’ End, Mumbai. Registrations for the only digital transformation focused event in India are on at www.clickasiasummit.com