In the midst of the daily hustle to drive growth, marketers are often left with little time to reflect on what they would’ve done differently if they had the chance. Indeed, most of us have little time to deploy new technologies, much less pontificate about how those experiences could be improved.
Fortunately, a recent survey of retail executives shines an interesting light into how marketers can better maximize the effectiveness of marketing technology.
Of the 200 individuals surveyed:
- 60% wished they had a better strategy for measuring success.
- 49% wished they had a specialized team dedicated to the deployment.
- 46% wished they better communicated their goals with the vendor.
- 43% wished they focused more on outcomes than functionality.
- 36% wished they asked for more support from their vendors.
In other words, the executives wished they focused on meaningful goals and set up their teams for success.
It’s easy to focus solely on a list of functional criteria compiled across departments, seeking vendors who can check off as many boxes as possible. However, are those boxes indicative of the outcomes they can drive?
For instance, it can be tempting to compile a list of targeting capability requirements. However, it’s more beneficial to take a step back and ask if a subtractive targeting audience model is truly the right way to define — much less reach — an ideal audience.
In this sense, it’s too easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of the overall purpose of why you’re looking to refine your targeting in the first place: to optimize media spend to only appeal to the individuals most likely to convert & become customers.
The solution? Invert the editorial pyramid. Don’t begin with who or what. Begin with why, then follow with how.
- Why are you looking for new technology?
- How will it help you achieve your goals?
- How can you communicate these goals internally so that everyone is aligned on success metrics?
- How can you ensure your team is setup for success once it rolls out?
- When do you need to get started to reach your goals without exhausting your teams in the process?
- Where do you need to look for signals of success? What tech platforms can you rely on? Who can you trust to help you through all of this?
When marketers are driven by purpose — not by arbitrary check boxes — then real, measurable, sustainable growth isn’t a lofty goal. It’s an attainable reality.