How to Build It So They Will Come
Just one in five marketers have a strategy to optimise their MarTech stack, making for some low-hanging fruit. Marketers can adopt the following framework to build a stack that’s fit-for-purpose:
1. Identify business goals
Assembling a MarTech stack without clearly defined goals and objectives will lead to wasted resources. Before purchasing any tools, it’s crucial for brands to understand their desired impact. For example, if the goal is to increase organic traffic, then it may be necessary to map out the following strategy:
- Goal: Improve organic traffic
- Strategy: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Tools: To be determined
2. Identify business challenges
Marketers can conduct brainstorming sessions with the team to understand their daily challenges and pain points, as well as to find out what they need for better productivity. Using the previous example of improving organic traffic, some questions that may be asked include if the keyword search is taking too long, or if page load time is a challenge. After understanding the issues, the strategic framework evolves to the following:
- Goal: Improve organic traffic
- Strategy: SEO
- Challenge: Keyword research too tedious
- Tools: Automated keyword research tool
3. Allocate a budget
By deciding beforehand how much they can afford, brands obtain a first-mover advantage in selecting the tools that fit their budget. Marketers also need to remember that the total cost of ownership may include miscellaneous subscription, maintenance, and other add-on costs.
4. Research tools
Once the groundwork is done, marketers can start looking at curated lists by industry professionals or groups. Criteria such as pricing, product reviews, and general fit with the team should be included when considering which MarTech solutions to buy.
5. Test and learn
Some buffer time will be needed before the team is comfortable with using a newly-acquired tool and before it can add value to the business. To ease into that process, brands should adopt a test-and-learn mindset to find out what works best for the team and iterate until the tool begins delivering on its desired outcome.