Navigating the Spaghetti of Marketing Technology

Digital marketing's ever-evolving landscape presents both a wealth of opportunities and an array of challenges. Companies have access to an unprecedented array of tools designed to reach, engage, and convert audiences. Yet, the vast array of choices also breeds complexity. In the first article in this series I spoke about why digital marketing needs transformation, now let's untangle the complexities by focusing on key areas within marketing technology.

Technology Serves Strategy, Not Vice Versa

When adopting any new technology, it's easy to get excited by a multitude of features and functionalities. But one must remember that technology is a facilitator, not the core of your marketing strategy.?

• First, Define Objectives: Before even considering new tools, clearly outline what you want to achieve—whether it’s increased customer engagement, higher conversion rates, or better ROI on marketing spend.
• Tool Alignment: Once objectives are clear, then comes the tool selection. Choose technology that aligns with your goals rather than adapting your strategy to fit a specific tool.

The Build vs Buy Dilemma

In an ideal world, a bespoke solution perfectly tailored to your needs would be the best route. However, we don't live in an ideal world. Custom solutions are time-consuming and expensive.?

• Cost Factor: Custom building a solution usually entails hidden costs, including long-term maintenance and updates.
• Focus Shift: Building in-house technology requires significant resources, diverting attention from core business operations.

Speaking as someone who has built custom content management systems multiple times in my career, the reality is that you can never compete with the resourcing of a big vendor like Adobe and Salesforce.? The flip side of this is dealing with the bloated feature sets that seem to be built to suit the highest number of customers but never seem to hit the mark.? I get it, the temptation is real. In the end, especially in the world of marketing tools, trying to do this yourself will be biting off more than you can chew, every single time.?

Choose Wisely: Matching Tools to Tasks

Finding the perfect tool is a task in itself. With various departments like paid media, content, and loyalty programs often operating in silos, it’s essential to choose a tool that brings everything under one umbrella.

• Integration: Ensure the tool can integrate easily with existing systems.
• Data-Driven: Opt for platforms that offer data analytics to make more informed decisions.

Anyone who has sat on a RFP panel evaluating marketing tools for a large organisation will tell you the tools rank quite similarly in terms of functionality, on paper.? Below is a table showing how similar these tools and marketing clouds compare and they are all converging so quickly that by the time you read this they will have levelled ever further.

What makes these decisions even more complicated is that your peers out there in the market are telling you over beers that none of these tools do what they say on the tin and there is some truth in that, making evaluations tricky and based on a level of faith.? Because the feature parity is so high, a lot of the time it ends up coming down to price, vendor preference and whatever contractual conditions matter most.

I can say, hand on heart, that there are vast differences between these tools when you are living with them that are not immediately apparent during a selection process.? Evaluating these tools often requires looking beyond the surface-level features and ratings. Here are some differences you may encounter that aren't always obvious during the selection process:

1. User Experience: How intuitive is the interface? A clunky UX can be a hindrance to effective use.
2. Customization Capabilities: Some platforms are highly customizable but may require significant coding or configuration, while others are more 'out-of-the-box'.
3. Resource Requirements: Different platforms may require varying levels of staffing for effective operation, from data scientists to content creators.
4. Learning Curve: How steep is the learning curve? Complex systems can offer more capabilities but may take longer to master.
5. Ecosystem Integrations: While all platforms claim to integrate well with others, the depth, quality, and ease of those integrations can vary significantly.
6. Vendor Support and Community: Quality of customer support and the vibrancy of the user community can be a key differentiator, especially during problem-solving.
7. Cost Structure: Beyond the licence fee, platforms may have additional costs like API call fees, data storage costs, or fees for additional modules.
8. Scalability: As your business grows, will the tool scale with you both in terms of features and cost?
9. Data Handling and Security: Capabilities to handle data volume, velocity, and variety, as well as compliance with security and privacy standards, can vary.
10. Workflow Automation: Some platforms provide more granular control over workflow automation, which might be crucial for specific business needs.
11. Robustness of Analytics: The depth, quality, and customization options for analytics can differ widely.
12. Innovation Rate: How frequently does the tool introduce new features or improvements? A slow pace can be a disadvantage in fast-moving digital landscapes.
13. Quality of Documentation: Comprehensive and easily understandable documentation can dramatically impact the speed of resolving issues.
14. Localization: Support for languages, currencies, and legal requirements can differ, which is important for global operations.
15. Real-time Capabilities: Some tools excel at real-time data processing and actions, while others may have a latency.

Understanding these aspects in-depth often requires hands-on experience, testimonials from current users, or a pilot testing phase.

Unlocking Automation and Segmentation

Automation and segmentation are the workhorses of modern marketing technology.?

• Time-Saving: Automation takes care of repetitive tasks, freeing up time for strategic planning.
• Targeted Campaigns: Segmentation allows for more personalised marketing, grouping your audience based on varying criteria like behaviour, geographical location, or past interactions.

Automation also has a strange way of causing change management challenges on a people level because it tends to shift the focus away from what people are doing today towards analytical and data-driven decision-making one level higher up than people are used to.? Automation tools also tend to be silo-breakers so you will suddenly discover who on your teams are invested in the silos, and to what degree.

Laying Foundations for Advanced Technologies

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are no longer just buzzwords; they are essential components of modern marketing tech stacks. As technology evolves, it's essential to future-proof your marketing stack. AI is already playing a crucial role in marketing, offering functionalities like:

• Predictive Analytics
• Chatbots for customer service
• Generative creative solutions

The tool you choose should ideally be capable of integrating future advancements in AI and machine learning, so you're not left playing catch-up later.

• AI-Readiness: Ensure the chosen platform has capabilities for advanced data analytics and machine learning algorithms.
• Generative Capabilities: Look for tools that offer generative creative options, enabling automated yet personalised content creation.

Developing a Skilled Workforce

Winning with a new Martech stack is 20% technology and 80% people. Even the most advanced technology requires a skilled team to harness its capabilities effectively. Aspects to focus on include:

• Regular training modules
• Conferences and workshops
• Cross-departmental knowledge sharing

An investment in people and culture will pay dividends, enabling your organisation to get the maximum benefit from your stack.

In the next article in this series, I will shift focus from technology to how you can use data analytics to enhance your marketing strategies further. It will delve into why data is a cornerstone in digital marketing, guiding you through the complexities of data-driven decision-making and, more specifically, the differences between analytics and data activation. Stay tuned.

Read part 1 here: Why Digital Marketing Needs Transformation

Read part 3 here: Transitioning to Data Activation in Digital Marketing

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