Julian is an entrepreneur, advisor, board member and writer. He’s also co-founder of Shaw/Scott, Sageflo and Nfluence Analytics.
I have always been baffled by one phenomenon particular to our industry: the constant migration from one technology solution to another. Much to the chagrin of many a marketing technology salesperson, I’ve said countless times that no marketing technology, no matter how amazing, is magic. Mastering any solution takes an ongoing investment in strategy, training and time. Without these, it’s nearly impossible to leverage any martech solution’s full potential.
So, when a company signs onto a new solution and migrates to it, only to declare a year or two later, “We need to move again,” it is often done for reasons that are not truly valid. One scenario I see over and over again is a senior leader stepping in and bringing in their old team and partners, which usually prompts a move from their current technology to whichever one they were using in a previous role (and thus are most familiar with). Of course, it’s human nature to revert to the familiar, but is it the best approach from a business perspective?
The other common scenario I see is not having the right in-house or agency expertise to fully take advantage of their marketing technologies. This one is trickier in the sense that some technologies are arguably more difficult to master, but this can often be attributed to also being more powerful once truly mastered. This is where all marketing leaders and C-suite executives would be wise to remember that it’s equally important to invest in the initial and ongoing training, complemented as needed by knowledgeable agency partners. To expect success otherwise would simply be wishful thinking. All marketing technologies have learning curves, and it’s simply not realistic to expect any team to master a new one in months when years of practical experience and insights might be needed.
Regardless of which of the two scenarios above may apply, it’s not wise to keep hitting the reset button over and over without looking at the bigger picture and determining which factors are driving the constant need to start over.
This is not to say there are no genuine reasons to switch your marketing technologies. Technologies can become outdated, or sometimes a technology—or the company supporting it—does provide a truly miserable customer experience. However, I would say that more often than not, these issues stem from a lack of technical expertise and overall long-term strategy—not from the technology itself.
To Migrate Or Not To Migrate? 5 Questions To Ask
If your team is on the verge of tossing out your tech, take a moment to pause and ask yourself these five questions:
1. Is it really the technology that is the issue, or is it something else?
2. Is there internal resistance to the technology?
3. Has your team been fully trained on the technology, or do they have access to the needed expertise?
4. Are there resources you can consult to support you with your current technology?
5. Are your goals and timelines realistic?
At the end of the day, it’s more often the lack of technical training and strategic planning that is the problem rather than the technology itself. Of course, some solutions fall behind, and emerging technologies can do some amazing things. However, many brands still struggle to do the basics well, and thus it often does not make sense to move to a more advanced solution without first understanding where you want to go and what’s holding you back from getting there.
Fundamentally, it’s not just a lack of expertise; it’s the lack of discipline to stick with a solution when it gets hard. As noted before, some expect magic when it really just takes hard work, patience and time. But instead, they blame their technology, push to start fresh and expect it to be different. The smarter bet is to use the same funds you would spend to migrate to a new solution and instead invest them in your team and partners. The results will likely speak for themselves in due course as competence and confidence both grow.
Invest In The Long Term Vs. Short Term
I’ve seen probably hundreds of migrations over the years, and they almost never go as hoped, rarely deliver the expected benefits right away and are often embarked on needlessly, resulting in significant strain and stress on the company, marketing team and respective partners. What often works better is diving into what the issues are and figuring out how to overcome them. It just might make sense to move to a new solution, but it might also make sense to stay put and double down on your current solutions.
The bottom line is that constantly restarting and rebuilding may give the illusion of momentum in the short term, but investing in your team and marketing technology for the long term will likely get you where you need to be and get you there faster.
Now that would be magical.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
