Marketing technology is growing as a popular solution to weather the recession, and is making its presence felt in all facets of B2B marketing. Where once few applications existed, now a whole raft of platforms offer your business the opportunity to integrate software systems that can handle everything from email marketing, to customer relationship management. Technology has also delivered unprecedented levels of analysis and tracking that has long been common in the B2C sector, but is now available to even the smallest B2B enterprise.
Often overlooked when sourcing marketing technology is the impact this will have on the existing business model. Pamela Edmond, group account director at Volume Group, says: “User acceptance is the biggest challenge for any type of technology. A simple gap analysis, user audit, feedback session etc. will simply give you the issues you face against the processes your team uses. By understanding what the technology needs to address before you approach a suitable vendor, you won’t be enticed by a big long list of features.”
From a financial standpoint the investment in new technology can be substantial, particularly for smaller B2B enterprises. Good ROI should be your primary focus when choosing any new marketing technology.
“A business seeking to implement technology should not do so without thought to returns on investment,” says Clare Millar, MD of Brightwire. “This means taking the time to establish a business case, which should highlight any pain points in the organisation that the technology is perceived to resolve. These may be related to operational efficiencies, sales force effectiveness, and data management – all of which are issues that face many marketing driven organisations.
“Importantly the business case should set out hard facts and figures to fully evaluate the need for a new platform, and tangible business benefits should be clear and concise.”
Surveying the marketing technology landscape reveals a number of distinct groups of technology that all B2B enterprises can integrate into their marketing activities. There is a great deal of overlap between technologies, and your business may find one platform is all it requires to develop its use of marketing technology. However, generally most B2B companies will need to build their marketing technology services with a number of components. Also, niche markets are rapidly developing. The event management sector is a good example of this.
James Alty, managing director of Apteco, comments, “From our perspective marketing technology is rising up the agenda because of the pressure on marketers to produce more measured results. They can’t any longer get away with simply gut feel. Across all types of B2B marketing, people are under pressure to prove the value of what is being done, show the campaign is working, show that the marketing automation is working and show that the marketing budget is providing ROI.”
Natasha Berrow, event manager, TFM & A, comments, “Marketing is very much on the agenda in the boardroom – especially in the current economic downturn. As more companies look to save costs, deliver greater value to customers and win new clients, marketing and ROI is definitely under the radar. Investing in the underlying marketing technology platforms is pivotal going forward.”
Top 10 tips for sourcing marketing tech
1. Define your needs
With a plethora of technologies available to your business, it is vitally important to understand why you are buying marketing technology. Siim Vips, CEO of Modera, advises, “Define your needs and map your existing systems for the full picture of your opportunities.”
2. Analyse ROI
Marketing technology may be the must-have this year, but your enterprise still needs to ensure it gains a high enough ROI to justify the investment. Technology is now of interest at board level, but it can still be difficult to illustrate good ROI for your installation. Your shortlist of potential vendors can be a great help here. They should have case studies and current clients that can be used to build an ROI model your business can use.
3. Best of breed
With the wealth of technology platforms, the number of vendors can be bewildering. Researching the market is a prerequisite, as is investigating the systems your commercial partners and even sector competitors are using. Andrew Freeman, director of CRM Technologies, comments, “Don’t rely on the hype. Ask the vendor for similar organisations that already use the technology and go visit them or at least talk to them to see what their experience has been. Treat the investment as you would a business plan – look at the upside and the payback period, look at the risks and the effort and costs involved in implementation and adoption.”
4. Pilot your technology
It is also best practice to test any system your business is planning to install with non-critical or non-customer facing accounts first. This testing phase can’t be stressed enough as it is the time your business can use to see the applications in action and identify any issues that need to be nipped in the bud.
5. Platform integration
The next phase is to look closely at integration with your existing legacy platforms. In many cases the customer data that you rely on could be on systems that are not easily integrated with a modern marketing platform. Marcus Green, founder of Toolkit websites, says: “It is extremely important to have a back office system that is fully integrated with marketing technology.
“The marketing expert Seth Godin advises, in his book Purple Cow, that you put your marketing team on the shop floor for a day. In exactly the same way, the best pieces of marketing technology being developed today extract data from your back office systems that allow you to respond more effectively to your customers.”
6. Vendor evaluation
The companies you will be purchasing your marketing technology from will form a core component of your enterprise. As such, it is important to choose a vendor that understands your market sector, and that you can also work productively with. Don’t treat the marketing vendors as simply a shopfront for their applications. You should see them as part of your strategic marketing. Chris Hopwood, managing director of Marketingunity, says, “The functionality of a technology vendor’s solution is naturally a key factor. No amount of marketing hype can address weaknesses in the product.”
7. Customisation of your platform
It is rare that any business can buy a new technology off-the-shelf. As no two businesses are the same, always look for platforms that are flexible. Also, use a vendor that is prepared to work with you to deliver precisely the marketing technology your business needs. Often the costs will include an element of customisation, but check before you buy.
8. Service and support
From relatively simple email marketing platforms to complex customer referencing applications, the service you receive from your vendor should be clearly defined. Service-level agreements are essential to ensure your business receives the support it is paying for. Many technology platforms may be web based, but this still means your organisation should ensure it is fully aware of the service, support and maintenance it can expect once contracts have been signed and exchanged.
9. Include a contingency plan
As no technology is perfect, it is vitally important to have a contingency plan. Even what seems to be the most robust of systems can fail. B2B enterprises can live or die on the strength of their customer response. If your system is down you must be able to minimise the commercial damage. Talk to your vendor about these issues and your IT maintenance providers.
10. Stability of hosted systems
With the rise of the SaaS model of delivering software-based services, many businesses have committed to these platforms. However, these businesses are using hosted systems that the technology vendor usually maintains. Shifting any of your customer data to a third party can be risky if the vendor goes out of business for instance. When you are drawing up your shortlist, best practice dictates that you should check the financial health of each business on your list. Research their past history to ensure you are partnering with financially stable businesses.
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