How do you manage your MarTech stack?
Sam Melnick, the VP of Marketing for Allocadia, will be a part of the ‘How a $1B Startup Runs Marketing to Lead Digital Transformation’ panel at MarTech Boston. Hence our question: How do you manage your MarTech stack?
— Read on martechtoday.com/allocadias-marketing-vp-says-companies-must-pay-attention-manage-martech-stacks-203718
What are important theses from his interview?
Q: As part of a company that works with a number of major brands, where do you see the biggest gap when it comes to how they build their marketing technology infrastructure?
Melnick: We see the world of MarTech in two categories. A tool helps either to do marketing (plan, invest and measure results) or to do marketing (attract, acquire and retain customers).
With thousands of potential tools available, it’s easy for marketers to focus too much on the execution side — the “do side” — of their stack. Today’s technologies such as account-based marketing, predictive analytics, ad tech and more are focused on execution.
What marketers must not forget is supporting what goes on behind the scenes so that they can do marketing with operational technologies. Too many companies rely on spreadsheets and borrowed systems for this critical function.
The interview on “How do you manage your MarTech stack?”
How can companies avoid losing track of the operational side of their marketing technology?
Melnick: Our advice is to lay the operational foundation for long-term growth. There are no quick fixes for operational excellence, but it’s a mistake to let this run unchecked.
Think of it like a three-legged stool. The first leg is typically a system like marketing automation that provides engagement data. The next leg involves earnings data from a CRM system that is used by sales and houses the majority of the posted sales. What is often missing is the critical third leg of technology, which controls the activities, plans and investments and shows how the marketing team aligns with the business – core functions of marketing performance management.
Regardless of their size, all marketers need to think about their core operational foundation. When building a house, start with a foundation before installing walls and windows.
Make sure you can articulate the following: Where do I spend my money and time? How does what actually happens compare to planning? In what ways is marketing underfunded? How does this compare to external benchmarks? Do I achieve leads and activities? Do I bring in stores? Am I able to articulate (at a high level) what works and what doesn’t? What combination of tactics generated the most activity?
What else does it take to shed some light on this topic? e.g. In addition to the MarTech stack, the MarTech Org stack
