Wayne St. Amand — April 5, 2018 — April 5, 2018
Anemone123 / Pixabay
Ask this:
Is it possible to conduct short-term tests prior to installation? (If not, why not?)
Here’s why:
CMOs now have almost too much technology at their fingertips. It’s all designed to help their teams be more efficient and effective, but is it? The beginning of the year is a great time for marketers to review their current tools and determine which marketing and advertising functions could benefit from a technology facelift.
Today, modern technology stacks include core platforms essential to the marketers’ day-to-day, such as CRM and marketing automations systems, as well as additional tools for email marketing, online and offline advertising, and more. But true innovation tends to happen on the edges of these underlying systems. It’s not about simply “tweaking” the core anymore; it’s also about adding new technologies that enhance collaboration and facilitate interactions with customers and prospects at every stage of their journey.
Functionality, however, isn’t the only aspect to consider. Marketers must also ensure that a new tool works in tandem with existing solutions in their marketing stack. It’s therefore critical for marketers to pilot new software prior to a full-scale implementation. So, marketers must always ask prospective vendors if it’s possible to conduct short-term tests prior to installation. Most will comply; if they say no, ask why.
This move towards testing will also drive a shift in how martech vendors sell their solutions: They’ll “push and sell” less and instead do more to work hand-in-hand with CMOs to determine if their solution is the right fit for a prospective customer’s organization. The pilot shouldn’t be daunting to a marketing department, either. It should be a fast-tracked, low-overhang process with a set timeframe to measure impact.
Even if it’s a paid pilot program, testing will help CMOs make the best possible decision about which new technology to incorporate in their martech stack. Here are three reasons why:
Each business has unique challenges
Every marketing team faces challenges that are unique to their organization. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all in martech, and each organization’s stack must be flexible enough to meet a variety of different needs. Just because one marketing technology benefits one business doesn’t mean it will benefit another. And just because one technology integrates well in one organization’s marketing stack doesn’t mean it will be so easy for others.
The makeup of marketing departments differ
Each marketing team is structured and staffed differently. A marketing department might not have the people or resources required to support an implementation. The ability to test and prove an application prior to implementation (through a pilot program) allows teams to be flexible in their approach and more successful in hitting their goals.
The stakes are high
Although marketing technologies are designed to save teams time and money in the long run, they require an upfront investment — and CMOs need to carefully choose where they spend their budget. Every purchase a CMO makes must map
back to an organization’s overall strategy and business objectives, and the technology they select should lead to improved performance.
Pilot programs can give the CMO more confidence that a technology will ultimately deliver on its promised returns. Additionally, by being able to test a solution, marketers can identify potential implementation challenges early, so that the larger-scale adoption runs more smoothly, saving the organization time and money.
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