A research study performed by Strategy First found several key findings about how marketers select and use technology:
1. The most important factors in selecting technology providers are the functionality of the platform and its compatibility with other systems, though training is also important.
2. Marketers want to better utilize data assets and improve marketing execution to drive ROI, which is why they often change technology providers.
3. A lack of skills in using popular marketing technologies creates risks, and vendors need to provide better post-sales support.
4. The best marketing leaders clearly articulate goals and technology needs to achieve strategies and drive results.
Strategy First : How Marketers Can Avoid Common Technology Pitfalls & Drive Real ROI
1. How Marketers Can Avoid Common
Technology Pitfalls & Drive Real ROI
A research study performed by
Strategy First
2. Billy Loizou
Vice President, Go-To-Market APAC at Cheetah Digital
● Father of 1...soon to be 2
● Marketing graduate - Monash University
● Marketer by day - 10+ years (Agency & Tech Side)
● Musician by night - 13+ years (One Album)
● Recently completed a research piece called
50 Marketers in 50 Days
○ How Has The Role Of Marketing Changed?
○ How Do You Define Customer Loyalty?
4. Digital Explosion
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Widgets
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Voice
Mobile Wallet
Mobile Email
SMS
Email
Store
Events
Direct Mail
Telephone
TV
Radio
Print
Display
Cable TV
Website
Search
Online Display
Paid Search
Landing Pages
Microsites
Online Video
Webinars
Affiliates
Blogs
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Social Ads
Virtual Worlds
Augmented Reality
7. The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but
data - $25bn in net profit in the first quarter of 2017
8. Data
is King Marketers
require the
technology to
mine it and
activate it99%of the world’s data
was created in the
last 12 months
93%of companies see an
increase in conversion
rates using personalisation
5-8xthe ROI on marketing
spend, and can lift sales
by 10% or more
Harvard Business Review - How marketers can personalize at scale report
9. Trust is on a
Knife’s Edge
HYPOTHESIS
Brands Consumers
Vendors
12. Marketers Role Is Always Evolving
Consumers Are Becoming Aware
Vendors Need To Deliver Results
We Need Each Other
To Be Successful
13. We interviewed 170 seasoned
marketers, with over 2000 years
of experience between them to
find out how we can be successful
...and avoid the pitfalls
14. The Perception of Marketing
1
Marketing is
the colouring in
department, only
7% of CEOs hold
this view compared
to 22% of
marketers
The C-Suite generally believes its marketing leaders have the right stuff, though it is interesting
that the CMOs we spoke to do not necessarily agree. In our survey, only 7% C-Suite executives
rated the performance of marketing poorly and over 40 per cent rated it very high - more highly in
fact that the overall marketing cohort.
15. EXPERIENCE
Understand the current
customer experience, from
communications broadcasted
to the market, through to the
channels, relevancy of the
messages & moments of
impact across the lifecycle.
Advocacy
TECHNOLOGY
Understand the existing
marketing technology stack,
from P.O.S, analytics &
e-commerce platforms
through to data modelling
to determine level of
integration that exists
Efficiency
STRATEGY
Understand the existing
business vision, marketing
KPI’s and critical success
factors which will drive
future campaign planning
& investment
Growth
BRAND
Understand how we are
communicating what the
brand stands for today,
its market position, unique
differentiation, trends which
are disrupting the category
& customer loyalty
Preference
PERFORMANCE
Understand the process
for designing, building,
sending & measuring
marketing programs,
through to campaign
results & optimisation
Effectiveness
The Role of Marketing has Evolved
2 One of the most important relationships to evolve over recent years is that between Marketing and IT. While
there is an acknowledgment that the relationship with IT has improved, there is still much to be done.
16. The Importance of Aligning
Technology with Strategy3 The CMOs we interviewed were adamant: alignment is critical to success. The emergence of buying
committees, the importance of integration and the contribution of marketing to revenue mean that an
increasing number of people and factors influence marketing technology decisions — even though
marketing owns the process and budget.
marketers rate
the relationship
with IT as a fail,
it’s over half if
if you look at the
bare pass mark
1in5
17. Permission Based Marketing is
Making a Comeback4
We understand
the importance
of data, but
struggle to make
good use of it
Personalisation has been a big driver of marketing plans in recent years, but rapid changes in
consumer sentiment amid a growing number of privacy scandals has left many senior marketers
feeling like the ground has been pulled from under them.
“Not all departments understand how marketing
requires data to be able to provide a personalised
and relevant experience to customers. They also
don’t understand the different methods we use to
collect data, such as progressive profiling.”
18. 71% reported being willing to do so,
in order to receive a more relevant
experience or benefits.
Would You Be Willing To Share Personal Information?
^ Achieving Advocacy and Influence in a Changing Loyalty Landscape - A MasterCard Asia Pacific Study
Only 36% of consumers are satisfied
with the level of personalisation in
their current loyalty programs.
19. Let Your Customers Have A Say
Relevant
Dashboard
Survey
Results
Multiple
Questions
20. The Drivers in Selecting or Changing
Technology Providers5
The functionality
of the platform is
most important,
but compatibility
with other systems
and training provided
The need to better utilise the brand’s data assets and the need to improve marketing execution to
deliver ROI are the top reasons CMOs revisit their technology choices. So it is hardly surprising that
one of the biggest reasons companies gave for changing marketing technology was to get more
value from their data.
feature in the top 3
21. The Skills Gap Remains a Big Problem
6
Unfortunately the is
currently no degree in
martech today, vendors
need to invest in client
CMOs told us that a scarcity of skills in the Australian market for some popular marketing technology
tools creates risk for them. They also complained that the post-sales support from vendors can be poor
and they feel abandoned. It is clear internally businesses need a product owner to drive utilisation.
success to ensure clients
achieve their desired
business outcomes
“Our vendor did a marvelous
job of selling us a product suite
that it couldn’t support.”
22. 7
They can describe
the strategy they
want to pursue
and can articulate
the role technology
plays to drive results
Our interviews with CMOs revealed a very clear profile of a successful marketing technology buyer. These
leaders consistently displayed the same qualities.
The Best Leaders Are The Best Buyers
Skilled Revolutionaries Lucky Generalists Habitualist
Clearly articulate goals and
the path to success.
Know what marketing
programs will help them
achieve their goals.
Can articulate clearly the
foundational capabilities
and technologies needed.
While they share some of
the qualities of the Skilled
Revolutionaries, they lack a
clear view of the programs
and struggle to articulate
specifics.
They don’t make the link
between strategic
outcomes and
foundational capabilities.
These are the executives
who outsource tech
decision making.
They allow that familiarity
to drive the decision, rather
than studying the
alignment of the vendor’s
platform to the
organisation’s goals.
23. Key Takeaways
1. The best marketing leaders put strategy first - aligning the marketing strategy to the technology
choice is critical to long term success
2. Marketers want to be able to plug and play with all the elements in their technology stack - they are
frustrated by the difficulty of system integrations
3. The seamless flow of data across the enterprise is necessary to deliver great experiences - to do
this marketers need allies especially in the IT department
4. Marketers know that the data-driven marketing world requires consumer trust - they need their
peers in other departments to understand that data privacy and protection are not merely about
compliance — they are absolutely critical to creating trust and loyalty
5. Successful businesses place as much focus on hiring the right people as on partnering with the
right vendor - they typically have an internal product owner who is responsible for the adoption and
utilisation of the tool
