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The Gist
- Martech mastery. Expertise unlocks potential. True potential of martech tools is unleashed with deep understanding and specialized skills, beyond just having them.
- Data’s dual role. Art and science unite in marketing. Data bridges art and science in marketing, revolutionizing strategies with its creative and analytical fusion.
- Strategic simplicity. Focus for efficiency. Marketing efficiency comes from focusing on core needs and mastering them, rather than accumulating more tools.
Many marketing teams struggle to realize the promise of martech solutions. In some cases, it’s because they’re asking too much of a tool without fully understanding its capabilities or putting the expertise and talent behind it. A tool can only do so much: Anyone can get behind the wheel of a Formula I racecar, but only an experienced driver and team can elicit the best performance.
In other instances, lackluster martech performance is driven by a combination of intimidation and inclination. The current batch of Gen X marketers likely chose marketing in their college or university because it did not involve math and science. They were intrigued by the notion of branding, influence, perception and persona — the art and psychology of building human connection and driving intent and action. Numbers and metrics were outside their wheelhouse.
But the 2010-2011 Martech Big Bang changed all that, forcing marketers to adapt to a new world of data, analytics, metrics and (gasp!) mathematics. Suddenly, it became equally art and science, and the people who embraced measurement and optimization came either from a math/science background or other technical fields, like IT, engineering or product development.
Today’s Martech Solutions Problem
The problem is, today those art-driven folks of my generation are the ones in charge. They’re the senior leaders and CMOs making decisions about how and in which tools to invest. Because of their lack of training and interest in math and measurement, vendors are eating it up, promising the world. Too many decision makers can’t separate the wheat from the chaff. With martech and analytics now consuming close to 30% of the marketing budget and expected to grow, they end up with bloated, complex tech stacks and tool chains that still don’t deliver meaningful, measurable value.
Related Article: How Effective Are Marketers at Using Martech Tools?
Martech Solutions From Engineers
It’s time marketers took a lesson from the engineers to build a clutter-free martech stack that creates efficiency through structure. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be Methodical
Most senior marketers are used to working in real-time, making reactionary, fire drill decisions in response to changing consumer sentiment and desires. The idea of slowing down, leveraging historical data and automation to forecast, strategize and execute is foreign. Without data to guide them, they’re all about gut instinct, but what they need now is consistency, procedure and to slow down. While the tools can work fast with regard to ingesting and analyzing data, when it comes to strategy, it’s the tortoise, not the hare, who wins the race.
Related Article: Trends Shaping Martech Strategy in 2023
2. Embrace Measurement
To optimize anything, you first have to establish a baseline or benchmark, then experiment and see how different variables improve the result. Too often marketing leaders are uncomfortable with KPI measurement. Instead, they lean on simpler, readily-available metrics like email opens and webpage visits that don’t really prove how their work is driving the needle on sales and revenue — the business metrics that matter.
Today’s marketers have to build instrumentation (measuring devices, in engineering-speak) into everything: the sensors, tracking pixels and other digital devices that send signals back to your tools to show you how well things are working. There’s too much on the line to rely on hunch and intuition.
Related Article: Strategic Playbook for Martech and Digital Operations Integration
3. Prioritize Data Hygiene
There’s an old IT adage you’ve probably heard: “garbage in, garbage out.” In marketing, dirty data yields bad results and in order to make confident decisions, marketers need to prioritize good data hygiene, data governance and accurate, reliable measurement. This is another reason it’s important to slow down and be methodical: Building a spectacular campaign on inaccurate data is a huge waste of time and money. Start with solid data before you even talk about creative.
Related Article: Have Martech and Marketing Become Synonymous?
4. Keep It Simple
One of the biggest pitfalls marketing leaders fall into is the shiny bauble syndrome. Every vendor promises the world and marketers need to up their performance, so they often over-buy without considering the total cost of ownership. First, decide how much of a differentiator you need over your current approach or your competition. Do you need something “good enough” or do you need unparalleled excellence? The price for each will vary widely, and you don’t have to start out with every feature. Pick a few that are core to your needs, find a just-right solution and master it relative to all the above (methodical, measurement, data hygiene).
Related Article: A Definitive Checklist to Reduce Marketing Technology Sprawl
5. Think Long-Term
While you want to start out simply, you also need to frame purchase decisions around long-term needs. Is this a core competency you’ll rely on for the next several years, or should you outsource it to a partner because your core competency is something different? Ask, “what will it do for me in a year? Two? Or even three?” Will it give you the ability to expand, to support international outreach and co-branding, for example? You’ll want to choose a platform and a vendor who’s also forward-thinking, because the cost to rip-and-replace two years down the road will be stupidly expensive.
Related Article: How to Simplify the MarTech Stack
6. Acquire Specialized Skills
As many marketing teams have discovered, tools don’t run themselves — at least not well. And don’t assume that hiring young people will solve the problem. University programs are just now starting to teach martech solutions and tools and emphasizing measurement and analytics in their curriculum. Some platforms have developed their own in-house learning academies, and consultancies have emerged to teach the basics.
You’ll want to either look for people with this training, send your people to this training or consider hiring outside the conventional marketing industry, such as business analysts, data scientists, business intelligence or even database administrators.
Related Article: Martech Stack Resolutions: Tips for Decluttering
Final Thoughts
As business tech needs have expanded, every IT department has become overwhelmed and underfunded. So, it only makes sense that marketers want to move martech solutions into their realm, to give them more agility and speed so they don’t have to wait for IT to catch up.
But without an analytical, scientific and engineering-based strategy for procuring and utilizing martech solutions and tools, even the best platforms will fall flat on delivering results.
While marketing will always be rooted in creativity and the art of persuasion — and no martech solutions or tools can ever replace that — marketing leaders must adopt a more methodical, data-based approach in order to master blending art and science of modern marketing.
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