How to build a strong martech stack?

When digital marketers join organisations, they usually look at these key things:

1. The shape of the team;
2. The business expectations; and
3. The current marketing stack (aka martech).

The latter is even more so important since it is critical to achieve team efficiency and meeting business expectations.

In fact, martech is an essential component of modern business strategy as it enables businesses to develop marketing intelligence, automate processes, be more customer-centric.

Yet, very often it is a real challenge to select and build a strong martech stack for various reasons, including:

1. The associated costs
2. The ever-growing list of tools available
3. The legal compliance
4. The skill-set required

When properly set up, a good martech stack can help organisations achieve digital maturity; hence driving more ROI and improve customer experience.

Growth of Marketing Technology landscape over the past 11 years.

What are the 5 key steps in defining a strong martech stack?

Step 1: Define your objectives and goals

Jumping on the latest technology is tempting and easy; considering most of the tools are cheap (or free) nowadays. However, bad martech alignment can be costly.

It is essential to outline the objectives that you want to achieve. These can be commercial as well as functional ones. Are you looking to generate more leads, improve your conversion rates, or boost customer engagement?

Once you’ve identified your goals, you can begin to evaluate the martech tools that will help you achieve them.

Step 2: Research and evaluate martech tools

There are countless martech tools available on the market today, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. When researching martech tools, consider the following factors:

• Features: What features does the tool offer? Does it have the capabilities you need to achieve your marketing objectives?
• Integration: Will the tool integrate with your existing tech stack? How easy is it to set up and use?
• Cost: What is the cost of the tool? Is it within your budget?
• Support: What kind of support does the tool offer? Is there documentation or training available?

As I mentioned earlier, jumping onto the latest tech can be tempting. But, is it the best option?

I think this MarTech Manifesto is an excellent one to gear the thinking while choosing tools to be part of a digital ecosystem.

Some popular martech tools include:

• Google Analytics: This tool provides detailed insights into website traffic and user behavior.
• HubSpot: This all-in-one marketing platform offers tools for lead generation, email marketing, social media, and more.
• Marketo: This marketing automation platform offers features for lead scoring, email marketing, and campaign management.
• Salesforce: This customer relationship management (CRM) tool allows you to manage customer interactions and track sales leads.

Step 3: Build your martech stack

A strong martech stack come in layers and these usually includes:

1. The data layer – where your data is stored, such as CRM and data management platforms (DMPs).
2. The automation layer – how you enable tools to communicate with each other. This could be through API, Webhooks, or tools like Zappier.
3. The collaboration layer – how you enable cross-business units team to interact and collaborate.
4. The Marketing or Advertising Layer – how you send targeted information across different platforms, backed by data about your leads.
5. The Reporting Layer – where you create dashboard with data visualisation for reporting.
6. The Compliance / Governance Layer – where all the legal and accountability aspects come into play to secure and protect both your organisation and the lead.

Here's a glimpse of how it maps out, with Marketo as the central repository of the different levels.

Step 4: Implement and integrate your martech stack

Once you’ve built your martech stack, it’s time to implement and integrate your tools.

This involves setting up your tools and configuring them to work together seamlessly.

Depending on your tech stack, you may need to work with a developer or IT team to ensure that your tools are properly integrated.

Step 5: Continuously optimize and refine your martech stack

Your martech stack should be a constantly evolving system that you optimize and refine over time.

This involves monitoring your marketing metrics and identifying areas for improvement.

As you identify areas for improvement, you may need to add new tools or replace existing ones to better meet your marketing objectives.