Allant, a marketing optimization solution provider, announces today that Eric Schmitt will join the company, effective May 10, as executive vice president and as a senior principal in its Professional Services Group.
Mr. Schmitt is widely recognized in the industry, having forecast and documented marketing’s transformation into a technology- and analytically driven discipline.
Mr. Schmitt will serve as an architect of the Naperville, IL, company’s growth strategy and corporate development. He also will work to ensure that the marketing capabilities of Allant clients, from customer acquisition through retention and growth, rank at the forefront of their industry.
Previously, Mr. Schmitt spent more than eight years at Forrester Research, where he interviewed, surveyed, advised and consulted with thousands of marketers and technology professionals in his role as an industry analyst.
He has published more than 150 best practices, forecasts and vendor assessment research reports on topics including database and direct marketing, CRM, the future of TV advertising, e-mail marketing and Web analytics. His 2004 report, “Left Brain Marketing,” is viewed as an industry landmark, and his opinions are sought regularly by trade and mainstream business publications including Fortune and The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Schmitt said that though he has had an incredible experience at Forrester, he was at a point in his career “where I ought to put my money where my mouth was and get out there in the field, and instead of writing about things from the sidelines to really get involved firsthand.”
When he announced his decision to leave Forrester earlier this year, he “was humbled by the level of interest from potential employers, including many leading database marketing service providers,” he said. After much consideration, “I became convinced that Allant is the optimal fit for me. Marketing services is the place where I am most knowledgeable, and (it is) one of the most exciting segments of the business.”
Consumer behavior is changing, so marketers face pressure to do things differently, such as take a multichannel approach, be more measurable or be more accountable, he said. This means lots of change in the marketing services world.
“For the marketers to adapt to consumers they need to do things differently, and the service providers then need to adapt,” he said. “With Allant, I saw a relatively early stage marketing services company where I could really have an impact and a voice in defining what the solutions would be.”
