MarTech Today: The year in martech, Cortana’s mad skills & authentication as a branding asset

Here’s our daily recap of what happened in marketing technology, as reported on MarTech Today, MarTech and other places across the web.

From MarTech Today:

• 2017: The year in martech
  Dec 18, 2017 by Barry Levine
  So many corners were turned this past year, we are now looking right at marketing and ad tech that increasingly resembles us.
• Cortana’s got mad skills but faces big distribution challenges vs. rivals
  Dec 18, 2017 by Greg Sterling
  Cortana already has 148 million global users, but it’s still an underdog.
• How authentication can be a compelling branding asset
  Dec 18, 2017 by Davor Sutija
  Contributor Davor Sutja urges marketers to employ technology that can demonstrate the authenticity of their brand and its products.

From Marketing Land:

• Reddit’s mobile apps now let people view only visual posts, block ads through in-app browser
  Dec 18, 2017 by Tim Peterson
  In an update to its iOS app, Reddit will also test out a way for people to send private messages to one another.

From Around The Web:

• 2017: The Year That Changed Everything in Online Video, Tubular Insights
• 3 ways to build a data-driven marketing team, Think with Google
• Building a Marketing Tech Stack: 3 Crucial Steps, MarketingProfs
• Tech, Marketing and Work Predictions for 2018, CMS Wire
• Your 21-Point Blog Post Search Optimization Checklist, Convince and Convert