6 Steps for Evaluating New Marketing Technology Tools

June 3, 2024 Stan

The marketing landscape is evolving at a speed that can be daunting and difficult to navigate. Customer expectations evolve, new platforms emerge, and data-driven insights become increasingly important. A stagnant marketing technology stack can quickly become a liability. Continually evaluating your existing tools ensures you leverage the latest capabilities and optimizations. This proactive approach allows you to identify areas for improvement, eliminate redundancies, and capitalize on new functionalities within your current suite.

New marketing technologies offer a powerful toolkit to streamline workflows, maximize efficiency, and enhance the customer journey through deep personalization and next-best-action recommendations. Advanced data analytics tools empower marketers to personalize campaigns and optimize content delivery, leading to higher conversion rates and a better return on investment.

Ultimately, any marketing technology stack aims to cultivate deeper customer relationships. By integrating the right tools, marketers gain a deeper understanding of their target audience. This empowers them to deliver personalized experiences across all touchpoints, fostering brand loyalty and driving customer engagement. New technologies play a vital role in achieving this by providing tools for audience segmentation, real-time campaign adjustments, and interactive and engaging content.

While it’s essential to stay abreast of technology advancements, undertaking a digital transformation requires an in-depth approach to ensure proper evaluation and selection. A thorough review of your current landscape and a deep analysis of vendors and technologies are needed to ensure all requirements are considered.

Six steps to assessing your Marketing Technology

Take A Deep Dive into Your Current Landscape

Before reviewing any marketing tools, conducting a thorough internal audit is crucial. This might seem counterintuitive, but there’s a strategic reason behind it. Imagine building a house on an unstable foundation. Adding new rooms or features (technologies) won’t solve the underlying problem. Similarly, a marketing technology stack built upon a shaky foundation of underutilized tools, data silos, and inefficient processes will only amplify these issues. The internal audit acts as a diagnostic tool, exposing weaknesses and inefficiencies within your existing system. This allows you to identify areas for improvement and streamline workflows before introducing new technologies.

Furthermore, conducting a comprehensive audit allows you to maximize the value you extract from your current tools. Many marketers underestimate the hidden capabilities within their existing software. An audit can reveal features you haven’t explored or integrations you haven’t considered. This can unlock a wealth of functionality within your current stack, potentially eliminating the need for additional tools. Additionally, a deep dive into your team’s skillsets and resource allocations becomes apparent during the audit. Are they equipped to handle the complexities of new technologies? By understanding your internal capacity, you can decide whether additional training or personnel are needed to support new additions to your marketing technology stack.

A thorough internal audit empowers you to approach new technologies with a clear vision. You’ll understand your specific needs, identify gaps in your current system, and avoid the temptation to be swayed by flashy features that don’t solve core problems. This targeted approach ensures you select the right tools for the right job, building an efficient and effective marketing technology stack while delivering a measurable return on investment.

Identify Your Marketing Objectives: Clearly define your current marketing goals. Are you aiming to increase brand awareness, generate more qualified leads, or boost customer engagement? Understanding your objectives allows you to identify areas where your existing marketing technology stack might fall short. For example, if boosting lead generation is a priority, you might explore marketing automation platforms that streamline lead nurturing campaigns.
Analyze Your Marketing Funnel: Next, deeply dive into your marketing funnel. Are there any specific stages where you’re experiencing bottlenecks or inefficiencies? Perhaps you’re losing leads during the qualification stage or struggling to nurture existing customer relationships. Pinpointing these pain points allows you to focus on technologies that address specific stages of the customer journey. For instance, a customer relationship management (CRM) platform could help manage interactions with existing customers. At the same time, social listening tools might provide valuable insights for audience targeting and content creation at the top of the funnel.
Embrace Data-Driven Insights: Don’t underestimate the power of your existing data. Leverage marketing analytics tools to pinpoint areas where your current strategies are performing well or falling flat. Analyze metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement data. By identifying trends and patterns in your data, you can discover areas where new technologies could significantly impact your marketing performance. For instance, data might reveal a growing segment of your audience engaging on social media platforms you haven’t yet explored. This could lead you to consider social media management or analytics tools to better tap into this audience.
Review Internal Operations and Processes: Remember that finding the right fit for your organization is just as important as finding the right technology for your marketing needs. In addition to looking at tools, you need to review resources and people. What personnel and skillsets exist within your marketing team? Can they effectively utilize new technologies? Review the organization to uncover any bottlenecks with current technologies, workflows, efficiencies, and scalability. It’s also essential to evaluate the skills of team members to ensure they are poised to take on new technologies.

Conducting this audit will give you a clear picture of your current capabilities and helps you identify potential gaps that new technologies can address.

Review the Landscape Capabilities

With a firm grasp of your existing marketing technology stack and internal needs, it’s time to delve into potential new tools. When faced with the vast array of marketing technologies, prioritizing which ones deserve a closer look can feel overwhelming. However, you can create a targeted approach by focusing on your current marketing goals and challenges. Here’s how to determine which marketing technologies warrant a review:

Leverage Industry Resources: Industry publications, blogs, and analyst reports offer valuable perspectives on current trends, capabilities, and marketing technology solutions. Seek resources that align with your needs. For example, search for articles like “Top Marketing Automation Tools for Increased ROI” or “Best CRM Platforms for E-commerce Businesses.” Pay attention to industry awards and recognition programs to identify leading technology providers.
Tap into the Power of Community: Don’t underestimate the power of online communities and forums dedicated to marketing. These platforms are goldmines for real-world user experiences and honest reviews of current marketing technology tools. Ask questions specific to your challenges and desired functionalities. Hearing from fellow marketers implementing these tools can provide invaluable insights and help you avoid potential pitfalls. Participating in online discussions can also spark your creativity, introducing you to tools you might not have considered before.
Seek Expert Guidance: Consider consulting with marketing technology specialists or analysts. These professionals deeply understand the marketing technology landscape and can provide personalized recommendations tailored to your needs and budget. Additionally, attending industry conferences and trade shows is a fantastic way to connect directly with vendors and see live demonstrations of the latest technologies. These events allow you to ask in-depth questions, compare features side-by-side, and understand how different tools function firsthand.

By adopting this multi-faceted approach, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the diverse landscape of marketing technology solutions. Leveraging industry resources, engaging with the marketing community, and seeking expert guidance will transform your search from a daunting task into a strategic exploration that leads you to the perfect tools to meet your business needs.

Build Your Use Cases, Requirements, and Priorities

Once you’ve identified where new or enhanced marketing technologies can satisfy organizational requirements, it’s time to dive deeper and define how they will be utilized within your organization. This involves crafting compelling use cases and outlining both business and technical requirements. This stage is crucial to ensure you choose the right tools to provide a proper return on investment.

Craft Compelling Use Cases: Imagine specific scenarios where the new technology will be employed. What marketing tasks will it streamline? Detail these scenarios as use cases, ensuring they are clear, concise, and directly address your identified need. For example, suppose you’re exploring a marketing automation platform. In that case, a use case might be: “Automate a nurture campaign for website visitors who download a white paper, sending them a series of personalized emails over a two-week period to educate them about our products and services.” Be specific and identify multiple types of use cases.
Defining Business Objectives: Move beyond specific tasks and delve into the broader business goals the technology should help achieve. These objectives should be measurable and directly tied to your overall marketing strategy. Align these objectives with your use cases. Continuing with the marketing automation example, a business objective linked to the use case could be: “Increase qualified leads generated from website traffic by 20% within six months.”
Identifying Technical Requirements: This is where you outline the technical specifications needed for the new technology to integrate seamlessly within your existing marketing technology stack. Consider factors like integrations, data security features, and scalability. Technical requirements should ensure the new tool can exchange data effectively with your existing systems and support your projected growth.
Prioritizing Requirements: Not all requirements are created equal. Analyze your business objectives and technical needs to prioritize them. Essential functionalities directly impacting your core goals should be prioritized over “nice-to-have” features. This prioritization will be crucial when evaluating different vendor solutions and ensuring you select a tool that addresses your most critical needs.

Defining requirements for a new technology involves a two-pronged approach. First, establish clear business objectives – the measurable outcomes you hope to achieve with the technology directly tied to your marketing strategy. Second, identify the technical specifications for seamless integration within your existing marketing technology stack. This includes data security features, API integrations to facilitate data exchange with other tools, and scalability to ensure the technology can grow alongside your business needs. Prioritizing these requirements based on their impact on your core objectives ensures you select a tool that delivers the required functionality and value.

By crafting well-defined use cases, outlining clear business objectives, and identifying both technical and prioritized requirements, you’ll create a comprehensive blueprint for your new marketing technology tool. This blueprint will guide your vendor selection process and ensure the technology delivers the functionality and value required to achieve your marketing goals.

Evaluate Vendors against Defined Needs

With your established use cases and requirements, you can begin evaluating potential vendors and their technologies. Selecting the right marketing technology vendor goes beyond simply acquiring a new tool. It’s about establishing a long-term partnership that fuels your marketing success. The chosen vendor should provide a solution that seamlessly integrates with your existing marketing technology stack, offers exceptional ongoing support, and prioritizes data security. By carefully evaluating vendors and prioritizing fit over just features, you’ll empower your team, optimize workflows, and achieve a measurable return on investment.

Leverage the Power of the Scoring Matrix: Create a scoring matrix, essentially a detailed grid listing your prioritized business and technical requirements across the top row. Each potential vendor solution gets a column. Systematically evaluate each vendor’s features and functionalities against your requirements. Assign point values based on how well each tool meets a specific requirement. For example, a perfect fit for a crucial requirement might receive five points, while a partial solution might earn three points.
Review Vendor Support and User Experience: Don’t be solely swayed by feature lists. Excellent vendor support is crucial for a smooth onboarding process and ongoing success. During vendor discussions, inquire about their support offerings, training programs, and response times to customer inquiries. Additionally, factor in user experience (UX) during your evaluation. Request demo sessions and assess how intuitive and user-friendly the interface is for your team. A powerful tool with a cumbersome UX can hinder adoption and negate potential benefits.
Reference Checks and Industry Recognition: Don’t underestimate the power of real-world experiences. Reach out to existing customers of the vendors you’re considering. Ask about their satisfaction level, the tool’s performance, and any potential challenges they’ve encountered. Additionally, research industry awards and recognition programs specific to marketing technologies. Shortlisted vendors with a proven track record and industry recognition inspire confidence and indicate a strong solution.

By employing a systematic scoring matrix, prioritizing vendor support and user experience, and leveraging reference checks and industry insights, you’ll be well on your way to selecting the ideal marketing technology tool. Remember, the goal isn’t simply to find a new marketing technology platform. It is strategically integrating a solution that empowers your team to achieve their marketing objectives and propel your brand forward. Ask vendors to demonstrate how their technology can address all of your needs.

Prioritizing Requirements and Vendor Evaluation

With a well-defined list of business and technical requirements, you’ve built a solid foundation for vendor selection. However, not all requirements are created equal. Here’s how to prioritize them to ensure you choose the vendor that best aligns with your needs:

Impact on Core Objectives: Revisit your established business objectives. Analyze how each requirement directly impacts your ability to achieve those objectives. For instance, if your primary goal is boosting qualified leads, prioritize requirements related to lead nurturing features, marketing automation capabilities, and data segmentation functionalities within the potential marketing technology tool. Features that provide tangential benefits can be considered secondary.
Addressing Critical Pain Points: Identify the most pressing challenges hindering your marketing efforts. These pain points often translate into essential requirements. For example, if data silos are a significant hurdle, prioritize solutions offering seamless data integration capabilities and robust reporting features. Addressing these critical needs will unlock significant improvements in your overall marketing effectiveness.
Scalability and Future-Proofing: Don’t just focus on your immediate needs. Consider your long-term vision and growth trajectory. Prioritize solutions that are scalable and adaptable to accommodate future business expansion. This could involve evaluating API flexibility, data storage capacity, and the vendor’s commitment to ongoing product development. Selecting a future-proof solution ensures your marketing technology stack continues to support your evolving needs.

By prioritizing requirements based on their impact on core objectives, their ability to address critical pain points, and their contribution to long-term scalability, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the vendor landscape. This strategic approach ensures you select a marketing technology tool that delivers the functionality and value needed to propel your marketing success, both now and in the future.

Demonstrations, Refinements, and Shortlists

Having evaluated potential vendors based on your defined requirements, it’s time to delve deeper into shortlisted vendors. Here’s how to leverage demonstrations and refine your shortlist to select the perfect marketing technology partner:

Requesting Tailored Demonstrations: Contact your shortlisted vendors and request personalized demonstrations. Don’t settle for generic presentations. Focus on showcasing your specific use cases. Provide vendors with detailed information about your marketing goals, target audience, and pain points. Request demonstrations directly addressing these use cases and showcase how the tool’s functionalities can be implemented to achieve your desired outcomes.
Scrutinizing Functionality Through the Lens of Use Cases: During demonstrations, actively engage with the vendor. Ask pointed questions to ensure the tool effectively addresses each of your use cases. Analyze the user interface and assess its ease of use for your team members. Pay close attention to how the tool integrates with your existing marketing technology stack and how data flows seamlessly between systems.
Refining Your Shortlist Based on Demonstration Insights: After completing all demonstrations, analyze the information gathered. Compare how effectively each vendor’s solution addresses your use cases and prioritized requirements. Review notes from demonstrations and assess the user experience of each tool. Beyond replicating existing workflows, explore innovative functionalities to enhance your marketing strategies. Based on these insights, refine your shortlist and focus your efforts on the vendors who best demonstrate the potential to empower your marketing team to achieve outstanding results.
Pilot Implementation: Before full-scale deployment, work with the vendor to implement the tool on a smaller scale, focusing on a specific use case or a select team. This pilot provides a valuable testing ground to identify potential challenges, refine workflows, and ensure seamless integration within your existing marketing technology stack. Addressing any issues during the pilot phase can ensure a smooth transition to full-scale implementation and maximize the return on investment for your new marketing technology.

By requesting tailored demonstrations, actively scrutinizing functionalities, and refining your shortlist based on the insights gained, you’ll move from a broad list of potential vendors to a select group of marketing technology partners with solutions that demonstrably align with your unique needs and strategic vision. Running a personalized pilot will give you hands-on experience with the tool, highlighting whether its capabilities solve your major use cases. This approach positions you to make an informed decision and select the technology that will propel your marketing efforts to new heights.

Additional Considerations for Success

Beyond the structured approach of evaluating features and functionalities, there are some important nuances to consider when selecting new marketing technologies. First, company culture and team fit should not be overlooked. A feature-rich solution might falter if its user interface is overly complex or its onboarding process proves cumbersome for your specific team. Demonstrations are a valuable opportunity to assess not just the technology itself, but also the vendor’s support structure and training philosophy. Second, don’t get caught up in the allure of the latest and greatest. While staying innovative is essential, prioritizing tried-and-tested solutions with a proven track record of success can mitigate potential risks and ensure long-term stability within your marketing technology stack.

Here are some additional considerations when evaluating marketing technologies:

Data Security and Privacy: In today’s data-driven world, safeguarding customer information is paramount. Evaluate the vendor’s data security practices, compliance with privacy regulations (like GDPR and CCPA), and their approach to data encryption.
Scalability and Future-Proofing: Consider your long-term marketing goals and projected growth. Will the technology accommodate your future needs? Evaluate the solution’s scalability regarding data storage capacity, API flexibility, and the vendor’s commitment to ongoing product development.
Return on Investment (ROI): While the initial cost is important, don’t lose sight of the potential return on investment (ROI) the technology can deliver. Focus on measurable outcomes and define key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the technology’s impact on your marketing goals.
Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with your existing marketing technology stack is crucial. Evaluate the technology’s API compatibility and data exchange capabilities. Look for solutions that offer pre-built integrations with popular marketing tools to minimize technical hurdles during implementation.
Change Management and Team Adoption: Implementing a new technology often requires a shift in how your marketing team works. Develop a comprehensive change management plan to ensure user adoption and maximize the value of the new tool. Provide training resources, encourage open communication, and address your team’s concerns.

Considering these additional factors alongside your defined requirements and use cases, you’ll be well-equipped to select a marketing technology that empowers your team, streamlines workflows, and ultimately drives sustainable marketing success.

If you are evaluating a new marketing technology, contact Relationship One. We are here to help.

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