Stacking too many martech systems as part of your martech stack isn’t progress – the key lies in modernizing marketing with a purpose.
In the constant race of getting ahead, brands are bombarded with promises of new marketing technologies – each of which claim to keep them ahead of the curve. But does that happen? Despite investing millions of dollars in creating a mighty martech stack, 40% of the brands do not realize the anticipated ROI. So, what is happening? Where are they falling short? Let’s try to understand this martech mirage in the following section.
As marketing leaders go forth in overhauling their martech stack, they must realize that digital transformation is far more complex than simply layering on tool after tool. Outdated systems, scattered data, and internal talent gaps are creating bottlenecks, leaving them scrambling to meet their own ambitions. In short, excessive martech adoption leads to greater inefficiencies and possible silos.
What matters is how two of your martech tools work together, how do they operate, and how far they are able to deliver the anticipated results. The brands that thrive in the future will not be the ones with a mighty martech stack, they will be the ones who modernize their stack with purpose and rethink martech for real growth.
The martech mirage – more tools, more work, more problems
Today, businesses are pouring in a lot of money into the martech mirage, in the name of digital transformation and scalability. But the catch is: less than 20% don’t have a clear idea of how to modernize. They are adding to their martech stack, hoping that the tools will solve their problems and add efficacy to their marketing efforts. The reality? It doesn’t. More tools create more work and aggravate operational problems.
Why does this happen? When marketers are already investing in martech to achieve efficient results, do their existing martech tools not work well enough? Aren’t they made using the latest marketing technology features as promised?
Well, the fault doesn’t lie in any technology. The real fault lies in its optimization of use, integration and adoption. Without a clear blueprint, even the best of the martech turns into a jumble of disjointed systems. Data silos increase, workflows get tangled, and marketing teams end up spending more time in troubleshooting rather than paying focus on other tasks.
Research by Business Reporter revealed that 66% of the businesses complain about overlapping functionalities, and more than half of them say that these redundancies lead to undermined marketing performance and budget bleed. However, martech isn’t the problem, martech mirage is. Marketers must come up with a strategy to reduce the redundancy and bring tools that are valuable for our organization.
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Decluttering and optimizing martech for the better
With more than a million martech tools available in the market, it is easy to fall for even the ones that are not very useful for your organization. A decluttering session works for all.
At the end of this section, you will learn how to ensure that each tool in your martech stack turns into a building block for marketing success. Let’s pull down the martech mirage here.
The process starts with understanding your current martech stack and assessing the capabilities of each of them. Here are the steps to follow:
Conduct a martech audit
First things first, to ensure your martech works seamlessly, you should first know the kind of tools you have in your arsenal. Here is what you must do:
- Start jotting down all the tools available with your team. Note down their capabilities, functionalities, and categorize them that will help you cut through the noise.
- The next step is to evaluate all of these tools on the basis of its impact, usage, adoption, integration, and investment.
- Once you are clear on the number of tools you are using and the value you are deriving from each one of them, you can remove the ones that are not in use.
Identifying gaps in your martech
The goal of this martech audit is to prevent yourself from signing up from more tools. So before you optimize your current martech, first consider what you want to achieve from it.
In this process, you will figure out new ways to integrate your tools that may help you avoid expensive experimentation once the martech tool kit is simplified. It can be achieved through conducting a functional analysis, involving your team and taking feedbacks, and market research.
Set clear marketing goals
To break the martech mirage, you must know what you are working towards. Your goals must be such that you can easily share those with your team. One way to set clearly achievable and communicable goals is to adopt specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that helps you align your efforts.
Finally, you can remove the martech tools that are no longer useful and focus on the tools that are helping your organization to achieve its marketing endeavors.
Wrapping Up
The overload of tools has definitely created a martech mirage that all marketers want to relish, but the farther we travel, the farther it goes. We need to understand that the real revolution won’t come by stacking latest martech tools, it will come from the understanding of using them properly.
The future lies in building a well-connected network of marketing technologies that are agile, adaptable, and above all, purposeful.
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