5 Strategies to Create Immediate Impact with a MarTech Payback Model

Author:  Connor McClure

The role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has evolved significantly since the year 2000. To the extent that the core marketing philosophies may remain the same, but the strategies and tactics required to drive revenue are entirely different. CMO’s face continuous, complex, and often hidden, challenges in a business environment that is increasingly defined by big data, customer experience design, and consumer privacy.

One major imperative of every modern CMO is the implementation, integration, and optimization of marketing technology (martech). It would not be a surprise to most marketers to know that this is what keeps their leaders awake at night- in fact, most martech stacks are only 33% utilized which points to an obvious need for most marketing organizations to urgently pay back massive investments in such technology (Gartner 2023).

Back in 2023 we outlined, in a two-part article, our MarTech Payback Model. Part 1 presented the reasons for the under performance of MarTech investment and our optimization model to help achieve North Star objectives. In Part 2 we outlined five categories of best practices and some examples of the companies that are implementing them.

In this article, we explore the increasing complexities surrounding the CMO role, including specific challenges due to their increasingly complex martech stack, and then suggest six strategies and tactics you can adopt to immediately drive impact and a better return on marketing investment (ROMI). To begin, we will explore the specific transformations that have helped define the modern CMO:

Growth wise, marketing technology has witnessed a severe boost in the last decade. Scott Brinker, now the Godfather of MarTech, thought of releasing his most famous visualizations of MarTech called the MarTech Landscape. This started [roughly] a decade ago in 2011 with only 150 companies and expanded to 8,000 companies in 2020 and has now touched a whopping 9,932 MarTech solutions.
[Source: Martech360.com]

1. Scope of Responsibilities:

Then: The CMO’s role primarily focused on the timeless optimization of channels such as print, television, radio, advertising, and beyond- while being an integral influence on product development, product marketing, pricing, market research, branding and more.
Now: The scope has expanded dramatically to encompass digital marketing, social media, content marketing, influencer partnerships, data analytics, and customer experience. CMOs now often oversee a broader range of functions including digital strategy, and customer engagement. Additionally, the products and services themselves, compared to 25 years ago, are more complex than ever with innovations such as SaaS, decisions over whether to prioritize best-of-breed solutions or ecosystem platforms and the recent bursting onto the scene of genAI AI.

2. Data and Analytics:

Then: Data analysis was limited primarily to market research surveys and sales reports. CMOs relied heavily on intuition and past experience to make marketing decisions. Research was always performed with a balance struck between qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Now: Data-driven decision-making is at the forefront. Sophisticated analytics tools track consumer behavior, measure campaign effectiveness, and personalize marketing efforts. Marketing teams use big data, AI, and machine learning to gain insights into customer preferences and optimize marketing strategies in real-time.

3. Technology Integration:

Then: Technology played a supporting role in marketing, mainly through CRM systems and basic email marketing platforms.
Now: Technology is at the core of marketing operations. CMOs are responsible for integrating and leveraging marketing technology stacks, including marketing automation platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data management platforms (DMPs), and more. They work closely with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) to ensure seamless integration and innovation.

4. Customer Engagement:

Then: Communication with customers was primarily one-way through advertising and PR campaigns. Feedback was slower and less immediate.
Now: CMOs prioritize building meaningful relationships with customers through two-way communication channels such as social media, email marketing, and community engagement. They focus on delivering personalized experiences tailored to individual preferences and fostering brand loyalty.

5. Agility and Adaptability:

Then: Marketing strategies were often planned months in advance and executed according to a predefined annual marketing calendar.
Now: CMOs operate in a fast-paced, constantly evolving landscape. They need to be agile and adaptable, capable of quickly responding to market changes, emerging trends, and shifts in consumer behavior. Agile marketing methodologies are increasingly common, allowing for rapid experimentation and optimization of campaigns in real-time.

Upon understanding this new business environment, one can see how martech has quickly become a crux for organizations; it can seamlessly provide a solution to many of the challenges directly related to customer engagement, analytics, or technology, but- in being the only way forward, these technologies must be built for excellence or they could rapidly leave organizations in a poor position. With this in mind, Verticurl has taken some of the most pragmatic strategies from the Ogilvy Payback Model and provided them here as a means to rapidly bolster your martech strategy. Here are six key principles amplifying marketing success for some world’s largest brands:

1. Marketing Optimization

Begin with prioritizing the retention of high lifetime value (LTV) customers, establish a hierarchy of customer and prospect marketing strategies and tactics based on their efficacy in revenue generation. Consistently refine marketing budgets to maximize revenue generated per unit of technology expense. Expedite incremental revenues to outpace incremental costs, ultimately striving to attain Peak Revenue.

2. Costs

Seek to understand your martech stack’s total value of ownership (TVO) and compare it to the total cost of ownership (TCO). Operational efficiencies to minimize TCO must be applied. Accelerate marginal revenues faster than marginal costs by focusing on the highest revenue generating strategies.

3. Innovation

Master the tech functionality that is relevant to your marketing model. Balance the effort spent developing “relevant tech mastery” with an investment in ongoing marketing innovation. Establish a MarTech Center of Excellence to manage this balance.

Probably the most underutilized remedy for underutilization is investing in good enablement. Training, coaching, peer engagement, reference materials, managerial encouragement to experiment and learn, access to great help desk support, a culture of learning, etc., can all make a world of difference in the value you get out of your martech stack.
[Source: Chiefmartec.com]

4. Process & Automation

Seek to define the revenue cycle as it relates to marketing operations and which MarTech investments are supporting peak revenue. Implement appropriate governance to ensure rigor of applying incremental revenues to accelerate the tech payback cycle and automate repeatable tasks available on the technology platforms.

5. Organization & Metrics

Define the shared KPIs between marketing and IT and implement accountability measures. Cooperation and soft collaboration across departments is a core strategy for a successfully optimized martech strategy. Adding shared compensation could additionally benefit organizational synergy and empower both business functions.

Brands that don’t focus relentlessly on eliminating issues and redundancies in their martech stack tend to fall behind. With the right approach, strategies and tactics guided by the core principles above you will give your organization the best foundation for success.

If you feel your martech stack is running away with you, we would love to help. Please let us know below and we will be in touch!

As previously mentioned, the ideas presented here are derivative of a further in-depth martech pay back model designed by our CEO, Ab Gaur. We encourage those interested to delve into the wealth of knowledge available in two whitepapers on the subject of martech stack optimization.

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