Marketing technology (‘martech’) accounts for nearly one-third of a CMO’s marketing budget (Gartner). This is the single largest investment when it comes to marketing resources and programs. Consider that a typical marketing budget for a life science company is around $10 million annually, that is a huge investment. However, many life science companies are drowning in data or wasting money on martech they can’t get the most out of.
Martech deployments often fail because companies have not clearly defined the objectives for the technology. Nor have they ensured a team is in place to optimize the deployment. It is therefore essential that companies ensure they have the operations and infrastructure in place to support any deployment, prior to purchase.
Preparing to Successfully Deploy Martech
A successful deployment requires a thorough evaluation process. This starts with defining needs and tying those to company goals (critical for getting budget approval). Once objectives have been set, an audit of your team’s willingness and ability to manage the deployment is critical. Without this, you are at risk of spending a lot of wasted time and budget, and ending up with technology no-one uses. The tool is only as good as the people who use it.
Ensuring Technology Adoption After Deployment
If a team does not use the solution, it is the technology itself that becomes the scapegoat. This is even though, technically, it is the deployment that failed. The main cause of failure is usually that there was no single advocate internally for the platform. Combine this with failing to dedicate the resources to train the core users of the platform, you end up with an expensive tool that sits idle. The solution is having a highly trained ‘super user’ act as the main point of contact. This person should work to ensure every user is trained properly and understands how to incorporate the new tech into workflows.
The key tip to successfully deploy martech? Make sure you have the right team in place prior to purchasing technology. It will save a lot of budget and heartache in the long run.
