Marketers have come to realize that siloed efforts do not set a foundation for success. An integrated approach to marketing has become the pinnacle toward a successful omni-channel communication strategy. 

CMOs are now tasked with effectively and seamlessly putting all of these pieces together – the right teams deploying and using the right martech tools in order to have a successful program that includes content, social, PR, email, SEM and PPC. 

The Stack 

The rate at which new disruptions and innovations accelerate has made it impossible for any one vendor to deliver everything that every marketer needs in a digital world. That’s why it’s best to build out a stack of tech that integrates with one another rather than trying to find one tool that claims to have it all. If you’re just beginning, then it can be daunting to prioritize and understand which tools equivalate to meeting your marketing goals. 

Issac Wyatt, director of marketing operations at New Relic, said it best: “Your stack needs to address three essential elements: people, technology and process.”

Before buying any tool, you should always ask: “Will this tool addresses a specific business problem or process that needs improving?” Beyond that, make sure you have a team member with the skillset to run that tool before purchasing it. 

The Martech Scene in an Integrated Space

Martech has come a long way in the last few years, and recent reports indicate that investment toward martech tools will only continue to increase. In Q1 of this year we saw an increase of 128 percent in overall funding of martech companies compared to Q1 2017. 

However, it’s not just the investment that’s changing. Implementation and execution of marketing programs with the use of marketing tools drive campaigns toward success. There are several assets that come into play for effective implementation: press releases, case studies, bylines and blogs all need to be delivered to the right people at the right time via the right channels using your martech stack. 

Measurement, analysis, and optimization needs to occur along the way so that your brand can achieve the most powerful story and message, securing customer obsession and advocacy.

MarTech’s Place in the Priority Lineup

Every year, PAN Communications conducts a Content Fitness Survey and Report to uncover the health and state of content marketing within the industry. This year, we uncovered that a mere 20%  of marketers were listing martech investment as a priority. Several other marketing components took precedence: 

• Content and social media marketing
• Thought leadership 
• Demand gen (webinars, events, gated content), 
• Digital advertising, 
• Overall department growth
• Influencer marketing
• and finally, employee and customer advocacy.

While investments toward martech are on the rise we aren’t seeing the adoption from marketers at the pace that it should be. 

This could be due to several constraints including: budget, lack of research, ROI, and fear of the tool being unused or widely adopted. It’s time that marketers started reassessing their priorities and understand the benefits that martech can bring to the table – personalization, automation, marketplace intelligence, customer loyalty, and deeper emotional marketing, to name a few. 

How an Integrated Agency Delivers

At PAN, our approach to measurement and the use of martech is to combine analysis on both the quantitative and qualitative sides of the spectrum. We then match those efforts with data-driven insights, key observations and specific recommendations. 

We deliver this report in real time so that our clients can see  the progression of their campaigns while we continue to adjust, target and optimize. It’s designed to strategically deliver the most impactful insights to improve marketing spend for ROI.

Constantly measuring, monitoring and adapting your marketing based on analytics is a practice that will pay in dividends if you and your team have the discipline to do so. Many companies realize that they don’t have the resources to do it all. The successful ones use analytics to understand where to spend their marketing dollars for real-time impact.

Don’t Forget to Reassess!

Because of the fast-paced digital age and the evolving landscape of consumer behavior, it’s always important to reassess your martech stack. We tend to leave the technologies we have because evaluating new ones is time-consuming – but don’t make this mistake. Technology is only improving and there may be more effective tools to replace pieces of your existing stack. 

At the same time, don’t fix what isn’t broken. Keep in mind those limited dollars and hours, acknowledge what is working well, and focus on what needs attention. How often depends on your team’s size, budget and time constraints. Monthly or quarterly is best, and yearly if you consider your team time-strapped. 

Download PAN’s 5th annual Content Fitness Report and discover how marketers feel about content marketing in 2018!