A strong MarTech stack will help you engage existing customers and move prospects down the sales funnel. What challenges do businesses face and how can you overcome them?
Executing competitive marketing campaigns has never been more difficult. Today’s marketing teams must be equipped with the necessary technologies in order to scale up, stay within budget, outperform competitors, and achieve a return on investment. Of course, doing all of this manually is impossible. That’s where the marketing technology you choose, often known as a MarTech stack, comes into the picture. In this blog, we will discuss the challenges that businesses face when creating or improving their MarTech stacks and how businesses can stay out of them.
MarTech stack integration
The goal of marketing technology platforms and tools is to simplify tasks, but if you build a stack without a defined plan, you run the risk of these platforms and tools operating in silos. Make sure every component in your stack can connect with one another, as marketing technology integrations save both resources and time.
Aim for integrations that enhance your workflow, which means that tasks and operations should be automatically triggered from one piece of technology to the next. Your integration must be data-driven. In order to avoid having inconsistent and perplexing data that makes it difficult to assess the success of your marketing efforts, it is important that the data be synchronized across several platforms in real time.
Try to understand how the integration will be put together when you decide which solutions to include in your MarTech stack. Next, focus on how the data will be exchanged. Additionally, run internal tests to make sure the workflows function as planned.
Selecting the right MarTech stack
We all want to use the most up-to-date technology, but adding innovative platforms and applications when they aren’t genuinely necessary poses the risk of cluttering your stack. After all, having different systems and platforms can make managing relationships and integrations challenging.
You won’t make much progress with marketing solutions that are set up incorrectly or that use irrelevant metrics. And because of this, it’s crucial to consider it as a single technological system rather than a collection of different tools. You must prioritize simplicity of use in addition to making sure your marketing stack is completely connected, since doing so will help you save both time and funds on things like training and guarantee that your team is making the most of the technology you choose. Additionally, make sure your stack enables audience segmentation because more tailored marketing messages have a higher likelihood of standing out in the competitive space.
Determine precisely the tasks that must be completed before choosing, designing, and optimizing your tech stack. Do not simply add more tools as new technologies come into the market or as new problems arise.
“A strong MarTech stack will help you engage existing customers, move prospects down the sales funnel, and increase sales.”
Stack Bloat
Marketing teams might want to work on the latest technology, which can result in a bloated tool stack with a lot more tools into one than actually required. Think of your tech stack as a single integrated system of technology rather than a collection of individual tools while developing and optimizing it. Teams can prevent a bloated stack of underutilized technology by first determining precisely what tasks must be completed by their entire tech stack rather than continuously adding new tools as new problems arise.
Take a step back to examine your complete MarTech stack and spot any functional overlap between various tools if you’re starting to suspect that your current technology stack might already be overstuffed. Working with MarTech integration professionals can assist in identifying opportunities to reduce stack bloat across your technologies because it can be challenging for internal team members to see the whole picture objectively.
Dealing with data and privacy
Customers today want to know that their personal data is secured, and with numerous data policies being implemented in markets all around the world, it’s more crucial than ever to take privacy seriously and exhibit transparency and reliability.
Analyze the data policy of each technology by mapping your current stack. The best services and platforms are frequently offered in software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud storage formats, both of which present a number of security risks that you should be aware of. Additionally, whenever you’re thinking about adding a new product or platform to your stack, make sure the seller complies with CCDPA and GDPR, and give preference to those who take additional security precautions above what is required by law.
Similar to this, if many users are managing the same accounts and using the same login information, you should often update your passwords, implement two-factor authentication, and regularly remove users who have left the company.
Overinvestment in Tools
Without enough research, teams risk wasting money on either expensive tools they don’t need or several tools that each do a very specific job. Since many platforms come with built-in eCommerce capabilities, many businesses might cut their spending on digital commerce by more carefully incorporating their digital commerce strategy within their content management systems (CMS).
The team may occasionally buy marketing products without fully understanding their capabilities and tech integrations. It is practically hard to determine if a tool is the best choice for achieving your goals without having a clear understanding of its value. Working with specialists in MarTech tools can help teams choose the solutions that are best suited for their objectives and existing knowledge while not overspending on the marketing technology they require.
Wrapping Up
Marketers who have a MarTech stack that is well optimized can deliver relevant experiences to the appropriate clients across all touchpoints, increasing engagement, conversion rates, and ultimately ROI. Because of how quickly marketing technology is developing, teams may find it challenging to manage complex, disconnected tech stacks. It takes optimizing the stack and simplifying it with specific marketing objectives to turn MarTech into business outcomes. Leaders in marketing must also think about developing teams to handle the management and use of these technological resources. It’s crucial that the tools or platforms you choose support the current stack and speak to each in a logical and connected way if you want to make sure that your MarTech stack produces a seamless customer journey, accomplishes your marketing goals, and enhances productivity.