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An Interview with Peter O’Neill

by | Nov 12, 2021 | Interviews,

Peter O

Peter O'Neill

Industry Analyst at Marchnata

Key Topics:B2B Marketing, Marketing Automation Software, Marketing Automation Software Vendors
Location:Germany
Bio:

Peter works as an industry analyst, collaborating with Research in Action GmbH, and with the B2B Marketing organisation in London. He also writes and curates content on an ongoing basis for several clients.

After serving at Forrester/Gartner/META for 20 years as an analyst and research director, He now loves being more involved in direct client interactions. With Research in Action, Peter does global surveys of 1500 marketing practitioners to get their assessments of vendors in various marketing process automation areas, add his assessment and publish Vendor Selection Matrix reports based on the users' ratings. With B2B Marketing, Peter contributes to the "Premium Research" reports throughout the year.

Topics like Lead Management, Band Content Management, Web Experience Management, Sales Engagement, Channel Enablement, ABM, and CDP are covered in various reports.

How did you get to become an expert in your key topics?

I worked in Marketing for HP between 1981 and 2001; including product marketing, field marketing, sales, and corporate marketing. I worked within Germany, on a European level and also had worldwide responsibility in some positions. Then I advised technology vendors on their marketing working for META Group and Gartner. This expanded to advising marketers in all B2B sectors when working at Forrester. I understand firstly the processes and organizational challenges .. which helps me to understand how technology can help (or not).

What sub-topics are you most passionate about?

Account-Based Marketing, Engagement Marketing, Customer Experience, Sales Enablement.

Who influences you within these topics?

I am lucky that I work with both sides of the business. My business partner B2B Marketing provides me with interview and inquiry access to practitioners and licenses my reports to users. My other business partner Research in Action earns report reprint license revenues from vendors and I get the chance to run global surveys of businesses and talk to most of the vendors in the marketing automation industry.

What challenges are brands facing in this space?

Marketing Automation software has been a rampant business for the last decade and there are now over 8,000 vendors involved. But CMOs now want to obtain better control over software spending and develop a more strategic approach. Marketing software brands must now prove their true value and achieve a different level of trust with business executives outside of Marketing.

What do you think the future holds in this space?

It is all about the experience. What experience does the marketing software offer to buyers and/or customers? What experience does the software offer to the marketers operating it? What experience does the software provider for business executives in terms of reporting and analytics?

What brands are leading the way in this space?

This would depend on the context being discussed.

If a brand wanted to work with you, which activities would you be most interested in collaborating on?

My main body of work is writing research-based reports with insights and actionable advice. As well as the Research in Action and B2B Marketing work, I also write white papers for vendor clients who prefer to publish thought-leadership content with external authors. I am also experienced in making presentations and appearing in webinars and videos.

What are your passions outside of work?

I am an avid golfer. Back in my corporate research days, I was often booked for speeches at customer events that included rounds of golf. In fact, I had some marketing clients who would invite me to play at their golf club and were ruthless in taking advantage of 4-5 hours access to me during a round – but I didn’t mind at all.

What would be the best way for a brand to contact you?

By email.

 

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