Choosing the right marketing platform for your analytics, reporting, recommendations, and data often means going through a demo and sales calls. Here are some tips on how to get through that process painlessly and still make the right choice.

1. How to survive a
marketing platform demo
and make the right choice

2. Your
Marketing
Team
has tons of data & needs

3. Looking for
marketing intelligence
software is like looking for a new car.
You have an idea of what you want and
how much you want to spend, but you
need to look under the hood and kick the
tires before making a decision.

4. There are some things you can do
before, during,&after the demo
to make the best choice.

5. Before the demo, do a little
soul searching &strategic planning.
?

6. ✦ What are you trying to accomplish?
✦ What are your overall corporate goals?
✦ How do you hope to contribute to those goals?
✦ What are your pain points? What do you need help with?
✦ Who else will be using the tool?
✦ Who else will you want to share data and recommendations with?
✦ What are you currently using and what do you like/not like about those tools?
✦ What’s your budget?
✦ Who else should be part of the demo?
Sit down and ask yourself these questions about
your marketing needs:

7. During the demo,
keep your goals in mind.

8. Sitting through a demo can be a bit like a
roller coaster ride.
Seemingly lightening fast and maybe a little nauseating.

9. If the tool has a lot of features and functionalities, the
person giving the demo is going to show you an
overview of everything the tool can do, so
keep your specific
features&goals in mind,
and communicate them prior to the demo so the
demonstrator can dive deeper into those needs.

10. Expecting to leave the demo with a deep
understanding of the product is a
mistake.
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Use it to gauge the
overall match with your goals
and compare it against your list.

11. Here are 10 things to find out during the demo
✴ Flexibility - Can the tool be customized to fit your needs? Do customizations cost extra or take additional time?
✴ International capabilities - You may want access to specific countries, and languages. (Remember - search
engines vary from country to country - make sure the tool incorporates other search engines.)
✴ Competitive search - Does the tool find competitors and their content automatically or do you have to add them?
✴ Reporting - Does the tool automatically generate reports? Can you set up report templates to use across multiple
accounts, or do they need to be recreated each time. How easy is it to share reports?
✴ White labeling - Do reports have the SaaS company logo or yours? Can you white-label the entire dashboard?
✴ Recommendations - Does the tool provide clear and easy to follow recommendations to improve findability?
✴ Workflow - Is there a feature that allows you to assign tasks to team members and track progress toward goals?
✴ Onboarding - How long will it take to get started with the tool? Is there a charge for onboarding? What about new
team members? How long does it take to learn to use the product? What is the cost of training?
✴ New features - What features are in development? How often are features released? What’s the long-term roadmap?
✴ Final cost - Is everything they discussed with you included in the pricing? If not, what is the final cost?

12. After the demo…
Ask for a trial period,
you may be able to get a
discounted rate
and try out the product
without commitment to a contract.

13. A trial period is the perfect time to
ask questions
and figure out technical integrations.
Commit to your trial by
using the platform daily
so you’ll be sure to know whether or not it’s the right fit.
? ? ?

14. If you decide to move forward, schedule a separate time for
onboarding for you&your team,
as well as a
follow up call
two weeks after starting your account to review questions
and features.

15. Enjoy your platform!
The End

16. Looking for a
marketing platform?
Contact GinzaMetrics
karen@ginzametrics.com
www.ginzametrics.com