Increasingly, the boundaries of regular marketing and digital marketing are becoming blurred. The reason for this is that we live in an age where marketing almost necessarily requires the use of technology which, in turn, makes it digital marketing. There are some limited uses of marketing which are completely free of technology and certainly the ideas generation phase doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with technology. But, on the whole, marketing means digital marketing. And digital marketing means ‘martech’. Given how ubiquitous martech is now when it comes to marketing, optimizing the process of using it is now a vital and quite challenging aspect to the marketing field. The use of a martech stack is one of the best ways to integrate your marketing-oriented tech solutions but can get a little complex and, a relatively new idea at least in the collective conscious, it requires some real thought and effort to decipher the best policy for maximum productivity. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at how to achieve this.
Martech: What’s it all about?
Martech is a portmanteau which, broken apart, refers to ‘Marketing Technology’. In an ideological sense it refers to the increasingly important reliance on technology which has wormed its way into marketing. “Martech is a broad term which encompasses all sorts of different technological fields, from social media marketing, to software used to track marketing and marketing results”, explains Jean DeLuca, tech blogger at Paper Fellows. It has rapidly become a very important way to think about marketing particularly in connection with the next concept.
What Is A Technology Stack?
A technology stack refers to a ‘stack’, ‘pile’, ‘structure’ or ‘web’ of interconnected software and digital tools, very likely produced by a wide range of different companies and developers which, when combined, create a complete toolkit, as it were, for handling all of the ins and outs of digital marketing, of ‘martech’ in one solidified digital solution. When the tools are specifically chosen for use in the field of marketing, that is when you have the titular ‘martech stack’.
What’s The Point?
Stacking your martech solutions and tools in a consolidated way gives you a few benefits. Firstly, it keeps you organized as you can align the software with the different individual tasks that it will be used for, ensuring that everyone on a marketing team is able to see where each tool or piece of software becomes involved in the process of digital marketing. Secondly, it allows you to save money. You can save money by seeing where in the process you have programs that are doing a job that is already being done elsewhere, allowing you to eliminate one. The clearer your overview of all the parts at play the better you will be able to streamline the process. Similarly, you are able to spot where your overall marketing process is a bit thin and reinforce it with further tools if need be. In a more general sense it also promotes a synergy in your marketing tools department.
How To Build A Successful Stack Geared For Productivity
The first thing worth noting is that no one man or woman can be responsible for stack design. The reason that this is important is that the technology that makes up the stack is relevant at all different stages in the marketing process, in all sorts of different ways. It can’t be up to one person to make the investment in the tech, it needs to be a consultation on what technology ought to be in the stack. This way productivity is likely to rise since all parties are connected to the stack and have an investment in it.
Secondly, where possible, applications ought to have pre-existing connections. As much as is possible you want to be building technological threads through your stacks. It’s not ideal having 30 completely disparate applications in your stack, so you might note that your word processor is Microsoft and decide to use Excel as your spreadsheet software, for example. The integration and compatibility of software will lead to much more effective results and ease of access.
Finally, constant review is necessary. It can be easy to pour effort into developing a stack, finishing and then washing your hands of the whole thing. Maximum productivity is achieved by having the best products and the only way to ensure that is to do frequent reviews of product performance and of other industry options.
Conclusion
It’s a lot of a simpler idea than it might sound, and your company might already have a martech stack without you even realizing it, but it’s something that is worth formalizing as an idea. That way, by thinking more directly about it, you will be able o optimize your stack for more effective and productive marketing.