How can you compare your marketing technology stack with competitors?

I don’t think this is an important thing at all. It’s like asking if you use the same guitar as the guy in the other band. Use the tools you find you need to do the things you need to do.

I don't see the need or benefit in comparing your tools to your competitors'. If I find a competitor uses Marketo instead of HubSpot, why/how would that impact my business? Tech stacks exist to help a business accomplish its goals and won't work without a strategy. Based on your goals and painpoints, evaluate solutions that are right for you. Sure, a category leader might be deployed consistently across an industry and that might factor into your decision, but starting on the technology layer will only lead to misalignment, lots of long-term contracts and tech debt.

Competitor analysis is the foundation of a robust marketing strategy. Beyond their visible online presence, delve into their tech stack. Tools like BuiltWith provide insights into their choice of analytics, CRM, and more. This knowledge sets the stage for strategic differentiation.

In marketing, discovering and implementing the right technologies can be game-changing. Analyzing competitors' tech stacks can reveal insights into better meeting customer needs. I maintain a spreadsheet of my tech stack, detailing features and costs, and keep lists of considered and future platforms. Annual sales calls with vendors ensure we fully utilize features. I prioritize vendors that pivot quickly, listen to improvement recommendations, and are transparent. By continually assessing our tech stack and learning from competitors, we stay ahead in delivering innovative solutions to our customers.

It is important to constantly assess our position in the market and determine what sets us apart from our competitors. This knowledge informs our marketing mix strategy especially pricing and promotion strategy

A SWOT analysis unveils your competitors' tech prowess. Understand how they leverage tools, integration, and metrics. Customer reviews and testimonials reveal their value delivery. This deep dive illuminates opportunities for outperforming them.

As we review our business strategy, it is important to recognize both our strengths and weaknesses. One of our greatest strengths is our ability to focus on the task at hand. However, we must also acknowledge that there are potential threats that may require us to redirect our attention. It is crucial that we develop a plan to address these challenges and ensure that we continue to thrive in the ever-changing business landscape.

Most marketing technologies have "fingerprints" you can detect on your competitors' websites. With a few free tools, you can quickly identify the core pieces of your competitors' marketing tech stacks. Here's how: There are several free browser extensions and websites (like Wappalyzer and builtwith.com) that are designed to scan websites and identify 3rd-party code and scripts related to different marketing and IT tools. Using the tools, scan your competitors' websites and campaign landing pages. In most cases, you'll uncover what technologies they're using for: - Website CMS - Marketing automation - Web analytics - Display advertising While this isn't all you'll want to know about your competitor's MarTech stack, it's a great start.

It's also worth considering the application of the SOSTAC model. SOSTAC is an acronym that stands for: Situation - Where are we now? Objectives - Where do we want to be? Strategy - How do we get there? Tactics - What actions will we take to achieve this? Action - What is our detailed plan? Control - How will we measure our progress? The SOSTAC model can assist in a deeper analysis of your competitors strategies and tactics, as well as understanding how competitors measure and control their marketing activities. When combined with a SWOT analysis, SOSTAC can provide a holistic view of competitors' technological approach to marketing

Let's explore a hypothetical example to illustrate how conducting a SWOT analysis of a competitor's marketing technology stack can provide valuable insights. Imagine you work for a company that offers a subscription-based online fitness platform, and one of your primary competitors is "FitCompanyX". Through your research, you can find out that "FitCompanyX" excels with AI-driven personalization and seamless integration. However, it lags in social media presence and customer support. Opportunities lie in VR fitness and community building. Emerging competitors and evolving regulations pose threats. This example illustrates how a comprehensive assessment of a competitor's marketing technology can guide your marketing decisions.

Comparing your stack to competitors' requires objectivity. Create a scorecard focusing on features, usability, and ROI. Consider both internal and external feedback. A responsive tech stack is pivotal in the evolving marketing landscape.

In my experience, embracing a culture of continuous improvement is invaluable. Regularly assess your stack's performance, update it with emerging technologies, and refine processes to stay agile and maintain a competitive edge. Remember that the marketing technology landscape evolves rapidly, and adaptability is a key driver of long-term success.

Visual tools like Miro can be invaluable. Miro offers a collaborative online whiteboard platform that can help visualize technology landscape. By creating a visual representation of your marketing tech stack, you can: Identify gaps: Clearly see where you might be lacking tools or platforms compared to competitors. Highlight strengths: Showcase areas where your stack might have an advantage in terms of functionality or integration. Facilitate discussion: Engage with internal and external stakeholders in a more interactive way, gathering feedback directly on the visualized tech landscape. Track evolution: As your technology stack evolves, a visual representation can help track changes, additions, and removals over time. It's helpfull!

I think it should be based on business objectives that we want to achieve. We should benchmark our own tech stack for business/revenue growth goals. And if we are able to do that - It's A Win! We must surely keep ourself updated on latest technologies like what latest CRM personalization tools are making way into market, and should assess if they will help our business or not. We must take a calculated approach while evaluating competitor's tools/technologies (if they will serve us any benefit or not). Rest, its purely strategy that will help us stay ahead of the game.

To assess your marketing tech stack against competitors, use tools like BuiltWith to identify their technologies. Engage in industry forums and webinars for insights, as companies often discuss their preferred tools. Analyze competitors' content like blogs to glean tech insights. In open industries, simply asking competitors can be effective. Platforms like G2 offer invaluable user reviews on tools. Lastly, compare your performance metrics to theirs; gaps might highlight their tech advantages. This holistic approach ensures you stay competitive in your field.

Gap analysis is an eye-opener. Not every gap should be filled immediately; some can be strategic. Prioritize based on customer behavior and competitive positioning. Leverage your strengths and explore trends to capitalize on opportunities.

Gaps are easy to see with just a slight change of your normal point of view. And at this moment the first wish is to cover them as soon as possible. These blind zones appear because of the patterns that skip opportunities for some reason. And here you may be surprised but not all the gaps should be always filled. Some of them may give you resources to focus better on your core strategic tools. The good thing is to be aware of them and calculate your hypotheses wisely in the context of your position and scale. Sometimes it's more efficient to focus on the gaps that you have according to the behavior of your customers and not in comparison with the competitors. If these two intersect, it's definitely something you should pay attention to.

Looking at your competitors Marketing Tech stack gives a sense of understanding of the tools they use to structure different information. I have personally found Wappalyzer and Builtwith plugins to understand the tech infrastructure useful. This helps me 1. Tools or categories missing in our tech stack 2. Understand different usecases and tools that we are not currently following Outside of this I also see improvements that I can make over competitor tools by doing required due diligence.

Gaps don't necessarily mean a tool or platform you're missing; it could be a functionality or integration that could streamline processes. For instance, in the realm of customer data (a field of your interest), are there tools that provide a more integrated view of the customer journey, from first touchpoint to conversion?

My recommendation is to understand where your company is currently and think about whether a very advanced technology that would require a super high investment would solve it immediately. Sometimes you can optimize several smaller processes to get a more immediate result, after which you start thinking about bigger projects.

My recommendation is to worry less about your competition and how they do things and instead focus on what your doing. Marketing ops often manages a lot of marketing technology. Buying another tool, often, isn't the answer. Doing something because a competitor is doesn't mean that is the right solution. What are the goals of your company? Are there gaps in what you are able to do because of technology? Consider adding a technology, however, it is important to remember proper resourcing. Adding a tool will add an additional system to manage. Is adding a tool creating more noise? Can mastering a smaller tech stack create more streamlined efficiencies for the marketing and sales teams?

Execution is the key. Develop a roadmap for stack improvements based on your analysis. Test changes rigorously and gather feedback for continuous optimization. Flexibility and adaptation are paramount in maintaining a competitive edge.

Don't blindly copy your competition when it comes to marketing stacks. A tool doesn't exist in isolation, it needs to fit into processes and needs support. When you grab the tools that others are using, you end up with a multiple tools that are each used for 10% of the features. For each of your tools, make a list of features, how you will benefit, and measure the impact of the tool, who owns the tools and will report on the adoption and ROI, and what support is required to implement and manage the tool. This will help you to assess the tool, align internal resources, and report on the adoption later.

Get specific about how you plan measure success. Align metrics with your overall business goals. On time and on budget is not enough, your martech investment should be linked to your primary sales and marketing KPIs.

Iterate continuously. Implement changes gradually, allowing you to A/B test and truly measure the impact. New Zealand's marketing tech community, being closely-knit, could be a resource. Engage with peers for feedback on your adaptations, as a third-party perspective can be invaluable.

If you're comparing marketing stacks with competitors, you're focusing on the wrong things. Marketing isn't about chasing the latest and greatest tech stack. Focus on understanding your customers deeply, meeting them where they are, and delivering unique and valuable content. Any tech that helps you scale that strategy and execute it more efficiently is well worth considering. But please don't just buy a tool because your competitor uses it.

Respect your competitors. Why is that? They must be doing something you're not doing if they are going after the audience you are trying to reach. Then focus on your differentiators, and that's how you win.

Each new tool has a cost, but also an opportunity cost - what else could you be focused on rather than implementing a new tool? Always try to start a tool on monthly payments, or on trial or POC basis. Jumping into an annual contract and realising after 3 months that it doesn't work as planned is more common that you think. Build your marketing stack incrementally. Major overhauls have a huge probability of failure - I often see marketing departments that have invested in a new stack but are still using the old one at the same time because the new one is stuck/not integrated/doesn't do what they want.

My 2 cents: 1. Use aggregation tools like StackShare to compare martech capabilities. 2. Run competitor websites through journey mapping and UX analysis tools like Hotjar, FullStory, UserTesting. 3. Compare social analytics and listening with tools like Sprinklr, Sprout Social, Mention. 4. Evaluate ad tech and data stacks with SimilarWeb, BuiltWith, Ghostery. Advanced technology should simplify, not complicate.

I would suggest you ask yourself WHY you want to compare your tech stack against your competitors in the first place. The main reason would be comparison in terms of go-to-market speed, or efficiency. However tech stack parity with a competitor does not translate to competitive advantage, only parity, so this is good to keep in mind when comparing your technology to another firm.