{"id":151377,"date":"2015-10-08T16:09:28","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T16:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/misterizzo.wordpress.com\/?p=151377"},"modified":"2015-10-08T16:09:28","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T16:09:28","slug":"there-is-no-autopilot-in-marketing-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikedrizzo.com\/2015\/10\/08\/there-is-no-autopilot-in-marketing-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Autopilot In Marketing Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

The way I see it<\/h2>\n

Everywhere you go (on and offline) people talk about the latest and greatest features and functionality in the growing suite of products available to marketers. If you haven’t already seen the landscape of marketing technology tools – a graphic produced by Chiefmartec.com – I highly suggest checking out the latest version<\/a> (it’s still growing). These\u00a0new tools are making marketing departments more valuable each year, but something is still missing.<\/p>\n

In my opinion there is a huge<\/strong>\u00a0void in the discussion about marketing technology in general. All too often we are swayed by the salesman on the other end of our demonstrations touting “easy-to-use” or “seamless integration” while we\u00a0completely ignore\u00a0our sense of rationale. I\u00a0hope this post will\u00a0start a discussion about the work<\/em> it takes to make these tools actually<\/em> function.<\/p>\n

Rethink Your Automation Investment ROI Model<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What drives your\u00a0decision to purchase marketing software today? Is it an ask from your\u00a0boss? Perhaps it’s a need to track something better, or deliver something faster. No matter what, I recommend approaching every decision the same way you would approach buying a car.<\/p>\n

Despite knowing very little about cars, I really\u00a0like to compare marketing technology to them. Cars, much like marketing technology, offer a lot of different makes and models\u00a0and\u00a0they all basically accomplish the same thing. Each\u00a0car will get you from point A to point B. Some can do it more efficiently, some can do it faster, and some can cost you a lot of money while others cost a lot less.<\/p>\n

In a traditional ROI measurement, you’ll typically look at how much you spent versus how much you made in return. When it comes to marketing technology, I believe you need to think of ROI as more than just “How much the software costs vs. How much I earned.” I believe\u00a0ROI should be approached from the perspective of “do I have the right people to make this new tool a positive investment?”<\/p>\n

Each marketing technology investment should consider costs on two fronts. The first being how much the tool costs and the second is how much the staff\u00a0to manage the tool costs.<\/p>\n

Let’s keep going with this car comparison. The one missing component to this comparison is the status we feel when we drive a nice car versus a “less-nice” car. Unlike purchasing a Ferrari vs a Ford Focus (no offense, I love fuel efficiency and I certainly\u00a0<\/em>can’t afford a Ferrari),\u00a0nobody will\u00a0look at you differently if you choose one SaaS solution over the other. In fact, most of the time they won’t even know.<\/em>No matter what product you decide to purchase in the end, be sure you have the right mechanic to keep things in line.<\/p>\n

In the car example, a mechanic does more than\u00a0keep the car running, he or she\u00a0could even make it run better<\/em>. You (as the car owner) may generally know how to drive and maintain your vehicle, but typically you don’t know how to make it run better or faster. When I talk with business owners about marketing tools, I feel the same way.<\/p>\n

Businesses today are purchasing\u00a0marketing technology with an\u00a0expectation that it will\u00a0magically\u00a0deliver results.<\/h3>\n

For instance, business owners\u00a0may think building a landing page is really simple (because the sales guy did a really<\/em> good job making it look easy), or tracking multiple touch points just happens after their $10,000+ implementation is over. What about future campaigns? What about\u00a0the next landing page that needs to be built? Do you<\/em> have the time to build it?<\/p>\n

There is no autopilot in\u00a0marketing technology. It\u00a0isn’t a flip-of-a-switch growth engine and it certainly doesn’t do all the stuff it\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>do…. unless you have the team to do it.\u00a0To make your investment\u00a0successful it will take\u00a0time, dedication, and the right staff.<\/p>\n

Questions for you<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Do you feel as though you’ve been sold something that hasn’t proven great ROI yet? When you purchased a new marketing technology tool, did you plan on hiring someone to manage the tool or did you hire someone after the fact?<\/p>\n

For the skimmers:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you’re like me and don’t always want to read everything… here is the point I try to make in this post:<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no autopilot in marketing technology. It\u00a0is not<\/strong> going to magically<\/em> work. It isn’t a flip-of-a-switch growth engine. It doesn’t actually do all the stuff it can<\/em> do….unless you have the team to do it.<\/p>\n

Questions to guide your buying process:<\/h2>\n

When I shop for marketing technology, I always ask\u00a0questions\u00a0that\u00a0are tailored to the business I’m working with. No\u00a0matter the industry, however, there are some general questions you can ask\u00a0to get you headed down the right path:<\/p>\n