Marketing Technology Decisions from Complex to Common Sense

Technology is an integral part of a company’s progress and decision making, it impacts all functions and organizations of a company. CMOs are now accountable for revenue and Marketing technology has become a key driver for a company’s revenue growth. A good system can improve the bottom line and conversely bad technology can negatively impact company’s fortune. It is a daunting task to evaluate marketing solutions out there (5,341 per chiefmartech) and decide on solutions that fit a company’s current and future needs and aspirations. Especially for enterprise companies because many of these vendors knock the CMO, CIOs and Directors’ doors and try to sell their solutions every day.

However, I found that the system selection becomes less challenging if we adopt a “fail-fast” approach. I am sure you heard this phrase before and probably a lot – fail-fast is OK but learn and optimize. I adopted the fail-fast approach in selecting marketing technology solutions. Test the system fast, learn and move on. And the methodology is working and providing time-tested outcomes. I try to refresh our marketing technologies annually, so we are always on the lookout for new and modern technologies that create the performance differential.

I adopted the Define-Pilot-Adopt approach:

1.    Define Criteria – Document user scenarios and requirements in no more than 3-5 pages. Focus on customer experience and consciously document platform interoperability, reporting, compliance and regulation requirements. We need to ensure the new solution fits into our current marketing and sales automation technology stack and adheres to the defined processes

2.    Choose Three Solutions – I entertain several vendor meetings and encourage teams travels to different industry conferences to stay connected with the latest technology. I refer to our past vendor meetings, Gartner and Sirius Decision frameworks, and invite three vendors- and each vendor for a 3-hour session.

3.    Assess the Solution – In these 3-hour sessions, get a demonstration of the solution, understand the solution architecture, the technology that binds the solution and of course checkmark the criteria developed in Step 1. I always tell the vendors what other solutions we are vetting to get their perspective as well.

4.    Pilot the Solution – In case of core technology, pay a visit to the company’s headquarters to ensure the vendor can support a large enterprise company and check one customer references for real life buying journey experience. The Pilot runs for a month to three months depending on the type and complexity of the technology. We test for customer experience, interoperability, ease of use, training materials, technology and data.

5.    Buy and Adopt – Many times, if the solution is not a good fit, we discover incompatibility in less than a month. If this happens, immediately stop the pilot and move on. if the solution is proving to be impactful and passes the inspection then the solution will be adopted globally.

With good project management, this process can be fast. I have made some great and some not so desirable decisions in the past. However, following a process which is quick and vets the vendor with good conscience always help in making progress.

How do I make Marketing Technology decisions?

When I go to our customer meetings, or events, many attendees ask me “how do you select marketing technology?” This question was moot eight years ago because there was not much marketing technology then. Coincidentally, I was in a similar role six years ago, helping my healthcare customers choose inpatient and outpatient systems. 

Today with 5,381 marketing solutions (per chiefmartech.com), choosing any marketing technology has become a daunting task. What are CMOs most worried about? They are worried about changing customer expectations and driving growth. We all have targets to hit. 

In this mobile and social world, technology companies not only compete with other technology companies but also every other company providing customer service like AirBnb and Costco. So, the CMO challenge is to connect with customers across their devices and create campaigns that blend social media, events and paid advertising. 

My take on arriving at the right technology is in addition to looking for core scenarios, I framework my selection based on the following criteria:

 

• First, Customer Experience – the technology I choose must support consistent customer experience through all marketing channels. For example, when we look for an event platform, we not only look for registration experience and integration with sales automation system, but also a good real-time check in experience for our customers and can post and create demand on social channels. Given marketing technology is still maturing, It is difficult to find all these features in one seamless solution. However, we can stitch two solutions together to get what we need. 

• Second, Interoperability - I will look for a solution that fits into our current MarTech stack, for good customer experience and real-time marketing leads flow. The reasoning is very clear-every day that goes by that a qualified lead sits unattended, the deal goes nowhere, because the optimal time for lead conversion to opportunity is the first 3 days 

• Finally, the Ecosystem. Ecosystem of partners and vendors are critical for a MarTech solution to success. To stand up a MarTech solution quickly, I hire services directly from the MarTech vendor in the short term. But In the long run, I get innovation and guidance from technology partners and consultants. Now, how do I narrow down to a single marketing or sales solution in the next article.