5 ways a good agency will help you build the best MarTech stack for exceptional ABM.

There are currently in excess of 7000 different tools and platforms available to marketers looking to enhance, optimise, automate and streamline their marketing efforts. It is therefore no surprise that MarTech is causing an integration headache for many companies looking to make processes better. Many companies already employ the core tech - a content management system, a marketing automation platform, a CRM and a business insights platform. However, successful ABM campaigns depend on deep personalisation, orchestration across multiple accounts, and the ability to harvest vital insights from the nuances of interactions and relationships. For this reason, they require more powerful solutions and bigger investments. 

So where do you start, if you need to bring in new ABM specific tech with the ability to run successful campaigns, provide enhanced measurement and optimisation, be cost effective and also integrate with your existing technologies? Well one option is to book some time with your CFO and hope they’re in a giving mood as many of these platforms don’t come cheap and there is currently no one-stop-shop for ABM tech. The second option is to employ a Marketing Agency who specialises in ABM. Rather than making a lengthy investment in a specific platform (which has probably wooed you with their own excellent marketing) and risking integration, performance and ROI issues, place that investment in the hands of a specialist agency. Agencies will have an array of clients with differing needs, so will have already made a variety of platform investments. But how will that benefit you? Well, here are 5 ways that a Marketing Agency can help you turn your MarTech nightmares into a dream come true:

1. Integrate any new technology with your existing tools, platforms, strategy and team!

A good marketing agency can help you to co-ordinate your technology across teams with detailed planning, implementation and links back to stakeholders to make sure everyone is on the same page. Perhaps most importantly, they will make sure any tech you introduce works seamlessly with your existing marketing efforts and in the domains you need it to, by overseeing measured rollouts to ensure everything goes without a hitch. Sometimes when implementing new tech, the one aspect that is overlooked is often the most important…the team who will be running it! Any marketing agency worth their salt will ensure that all parties involved are fully trained and there is open and ongoing communication to ensure complete integration. It is worth remembering that your applied MarTech cannot run a campaign for you – the strategy needs to be there in the first place – it just makes your team, insights and processes more efficient.

2. Stay up to date with the latest best practices

Sustained innovation of a stack is now assumed – major platforms do not pass on upgrade costs to end users, it comes as standard, but they do rely on a closed feedback loop to ensure each upgrade is answering the demands of users.

As an agency, we see hundreds of MarTech platforms for both direct and channel marketing – and we’re encountering new ones every day. This puts us in the ideal position to aggregate intelligence on MarTech stacks, understand what works with what, and continually investigate and update best practice by refining technology combinations on behalf of our clients. A good Marketing agency should have their finger on the pulse of MarTech best practice.

3. Monitor, optimise and report on campaigns in real time

When ROI can’t be judged in the short term, you have to measure success in other ways. These are the short-term returns you should be looking at from your MarTech investments. Efficiency, engagement and insight are key performance indicators. Are your processes more streamlined? Has your ability to target, or reach your target audience, improved? Do you have more insight than before? A good marketing agency should be able to asses this and also have the capability to provide clients with a real time dashboard, which gives you access to actual campaign insights as they happen. They are then able to work with you to optimise and maximise your sales cycle.  

4. Ask the right questions of your technology provider

Part of the difficulty in building a MarTech stack is knowing the right questions to ask vendors. Here are some key questions that we would suggest are important when considering various marketing tools and platforms.  

• How can I track the performance of this solution and measure ROI?
• What information will this solution provide on my prospects and customers?
• Will I be able to easily extract and analyse campaign and customer data?
• Will this solution work in tandem with our existing IT investments?
• Is there any way I can trial the product?

This is a day-to-day task for most marketing agencies, so they should be able to advise on the right questions and also provide you with some answers. We have outlined some key questions and answers in this free ebook.

5. Run pilot projects to help you identify the best platforms and most effective combinations

This is where using an agency like Sherpa for your marketing technology provides a significant advantage.

We’ve already made the technology investments on your behalf, which means we can help you to run vital pilot projects and rigorously assess their outputs in terms of the analytics, business intelligence and data quality they provide. We can help quantify the number of SQLs and MQLs your pilot generates, see how it aligns with your overall sales and marketing strategy, and craft a plan for you based on these results.

To help you navigate the MarTech Minefield, we’ve compiled some of our best advice in our eBook, MarTech Made Easy. Download your copy to see all the questions you should be asking your MarTech vendors, learn the full advantages of using a marketing technology partner and discover the key considerations for any company investing in the latest technology.

If you would like to discuss how Sherpa can transform your MarTech for exceptional ABM, please get in touch… 

• via email on letschat@sherpamarketing.co.uk
• by giving us a call on 01234 964000. 
• or by clicking here.