How Much of Marketing Technology Does Marketing Really Need?
When thinking of marketing technology (martech), I often feel like the sentence: “A jack of all trades is a master of none. And saying that I’m the “jack of all trades”, or the “master of none” on a public network may sound detrimental to my career, but the truth is that this isn’t just me.
In recent conversations with colleagues of my generation I’ve come to realize that a lot are on the same boat as me. Studied traditional marketing, saw the rise of digital, jumped on it!
The problem here is that ‘jumping on it’ and ‘living it’ are 2 very distinct things. The bias of what we’ve learned in university or experienced through varied work and projects is still there, yet, digital is non-stop, growing left right and centre and it’s often hard to keep track of the latest trend.
In August 2019 Dave Chaffey published an article in Smart Insights sharing today’s marketing technology. His info-graphic pulled from the 7,040 highlighted by Martech supergraphic from Scott Brinker for 2019, and… it’s growing!
Technology evolution in the last decade alone has been massive and with it a new array of skills has become needed to support/digest and ultimately be able to work this new tech effectively.
This rapidly translates into the ‘jack of all trades’ story, where one needs to stay aware, catch up on the latest trend and master it in a matter of days. And unfortunately, it may just happen that this latest tech trend you spent hours working with, becomes obsolete in the next few months or even weeks.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve seen my fair share on marketing tech. Fortunately because it allowed me to learn and evolve, often do things differently and test my own knowledge and assumptions regarding marketing standards. Unfortunately, because it’s a struggle, every time a new solution gets implemented there is testing, processes and integrations that need to be considered, and this often leaves a lot of loose ends.
Don’t take me wrong, I’m not trying to answer what tech is best for what business, I think this is down to each business unique needs. What I would challenge is the ‘jumping on’ any new shiny tech before properly evaluate if it’s the right fit.
Many organisations will have their own ways of evaluating what tech needs they would have; marketing departments will often have their needs quite defined so looking within a list of 7,040 might not be as daunting as it may seems because you know what you want! But, in my humble opinion, I would ask the following questions before considering any tech change:
1. What is the main benefit?
This is a given, right? The question we all ask when looking into something new: What will I gain? Efficiency, time, or even actual savings? Ultimately any change needs to deliver on something tangible. Something that differentiates this new tool from anything else already in use that ‘kind of does the job’.
2. How will that affect current processes?
Even though today’s generations are much more accepting of tech changes and have pretty much all become early adopters. Truth is that any change may eventually lead to chaos. It is important to consider not just how to avoid it but also how to make the transition smooth, easy and without any unnecessary breaks into current processes. There could even be the added benefit where the implementation of a new tech will adjust, simplify or even make current processes more efficient, and that is always a win.
3. How long will it take for my team to adopt it?
We often forget that there is a time in between implementing a new technology and adopting it where it’s ‘business as usual’. Teams/Departments and even organisations do not stop when changes happen and adjusting often takes its time. How can this ‘in between’ time be planed ahead effectively? Or will changes be so disruptive that throughout the time it takes to implement productivity will suffer? It’s important to consider that not all-time assumptions are correct, often, these are not, so planning for delays if often better than assuming a deadline will be kept.
4. Will it benefit others outside my team?
It’s easy to consider the changes in tech affecting only a department but as ‘no man is an island’ no department works in isolation. Being able to communicate, share and work alongside other solutions is great for any department’s productivity and no technological enhancement should really disrupt that.
These 4 questions may seem obvious, and probably are. But obvious questions are often the ones that challenge the need vs the new. These are often the questions that makes us re-think shiny and new versus what we really need and will make us productive.
So, in the future, ask questions! Personally, I’m a strong believer that there are no bad questions when you’re learning.
