Buying Martech when things start to pick up

Buying Martech when things start to pick up

We will feel the effects of COVID-19 for many years. It is uncertain how it will change aspects of the way we live and think forever. What is certain though, is that it is more important than ever to be able to effectively communicate with your customers. You will need the right marketing technology (or martech) for this even more so when the economy starts to pick-up again.

However, procuring marketing technology is a complex process. The variety of technologies and the similarities between them make it difficult to find the key differentiators. It is especially difficult to find those that will make a difference to your business. And most businesses won’t have experience of procuring over Teams or Zoom.

Another thing to consider is that changing technologies is often done unnecessarily. The cost of change can be as much as the software itself. You may find that there is some conflict when you are looking to buy. This is because you may also have to keep an eye on expenditure if you have lost revenue.

At TAP we have been working with Econsultancy to develop a whitepaper that will help you navigate through this conflict. We will help you to make a decision to either keep the technology you have or to enter the procurement process for the right reasons.

Here are a few of the key pointers ahead of the whitepaper release:

Why are we doing this?

What is the motivation for this change? If you started the process before March, then the reasons for doing this may have changed. It could be that you need more capabilities than before to make up lost ground or you may be needing to scale back. Either way, it’s important to make sure you are looking to change your martech for the right and current reasons.

Who will architect the solution?

Martech often fails to reach its full potential. This can be because the architect of the solution misses the vision of the company or because they don’t see the process through to completion.

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ to solve this. It depends on whether you are looking to do this in-house or to outsource to a company like TAP. It is, however, important to know that you are working with a person, department or company that fully understands your vision AND they can see the solution through to its completion. This includes business acceptance. You will need to consider who the business owners are and who is accountable for success. Too often this isn’t clearly defined.

How do we measure it and where is the customer in all of this?

Before you can understand if your investment has succeeded, you will need to consider what success looks like. This could be in the form of increased open rates or throughput of campaigns. If this is the case, then you should ask why your current platform can’t provide these. Is it due to a lack of features or difficulty of use? Or could it be a lack of training and understanding of the platform?

A key consideration for measurement is to define what’s in it for the customer. And whether it makes any difference to them. If your procurement has no impact to the customer or the impact can’t be measured, then the decision to invest needs to be seriously questioned – cost savings will often be put forward, but the true cost of change can negate these savings. Certainly in the short to medium term.

We’ve been successful in helping clients define and measure the business impact of martech. We’ve done this where clients have rejuvenated or reused their martech. And when it has been a new implementation.

If you are interested in more information on how TAP could help you or you would like to receive a copy of the whitepaper, then please drop us a note here.