Earlier this year, Matthew Mobley wrote an article in Ad Age titled “There Is No Universal Digital Marketing Technology Stack.” Mobley notes that “even the most advanced marketers are desperate to understand and procure the capabilities they need in order to accomplish their customer-centric business objectives, and what it means within their own unique organizations to integrate those capabilities for seamless execution.”
Before marketers make moves to integrate disparate point solutions they should consider what exactly they need their technology to achieve. While there may be no universal stack, what the stack must accomplish is clear. A tech stack must:
● Collect data
● Aggregate it into meaningful segments
● Activate those segments via channels and media
Understanding the significance of each of these tasks with regard to your organization will help determine which components are most important, and where your investments should ultimately be made. That said, there are many, many companies and technologies that could potentially fit into your marketing tech stack. The obvious questions from there is, how do you figure out exactly what you need? Here are few steps that may help guide your path:
1. Choose the right business partner. This decision should be based as much on culture as it is on technology; the people driving the technology vision are as important as the technology solution itself. As you consider each potential partner, look for a technology that offers a broad set of functionalities and has an open approach to point solutions. A marketing operating system may be good place to start as they have a broad set of addressable media-buying capabilities that connect and activate first-party and third-party data. MediaMath supports a system of integrating partners in an open and flexible way through its OPEN Partner Marketplace. Once you’ve selected the technology, get to know the people beyond the sales team. Acquaint yourself with the account representatives, as well as the head of product. You’ll know if they have a vision of where they are taking their technology, and how it will support your business now and into the future. Switching costs can be significant, so it’s important to be sure this is a partner who can grow with you long term.
2. Don’t be lured in by bright, shiny objects. The proliferation of new technology providers means marketers have countless solutions to choose from. However some of these companies are too nascent to have proven their value. For that reason, it’s usually best to hold off until there is market traction. When something seems too good (or too cool) to be true, it probably is. Really, the best question to ask yourself is this: Is that new technology going to directly impact your key business KPIs this year? If the answer is no, then move on. You have more important investments to consider right now.
3. Educate yourself and tie everything back to business priorities and solving organizational problems. The marketing technology landscape is vast and confusing — and changing every day. While it’s not necessary (or even possible) to learn every player or even every bucket, there are areas that are going to be very important to your business. Take the time to focus and learn about these existing and emerging technologies and how they can impact your business and improve experiences for your customers. Listen to pitches. Network and share experiences with others in your vertical or other verticals. Read the trades. Ask lots of questions. The more you learn, the more effective you’ll be when it comes time to make choices for your stack.
In the end, your technology stack will be unique to your business, as Mobley says. By combining the best of your existing technology with the best available technology and partners you can find — always keeping your business goals at the forefront — the best tech stack is within reach.
This post is the eight in a series for marketers with an understanding of programmatic technology who are looking to step it up. Keep up with this series by following the Step It Up Series on the blog.
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