The five classes of programming that every company should include in their tech-stack: marketing automation, collaboration, CRM, conversational marketing, and project management
Choosing the right advanced digital marketing tools is one of the priorities of every company that wants to be competitive in the markets of tomorrow.
The definition of MarTech is not just one of the 2020 trends that we have identified in the field of Digital Marketing. It is also a real differential lever, which companies must use to face changes in competition and market, formulating increasingly sophisticated lead-generation and customer-retention strategies. In this article, we take a look at five of the classifications of programming that each organization should include in their tech-stack: marketing automation, collaboration, CRM, conversational marketing, and project management.
Based on the data contained in recent research, we understand how the most successful companies are today building their innovative resources to provide some recommendations to C-Level and Directors in search of new technologies. Of course, the list of products mentioned is not intended to be exhaustive, but only illustrative.
Table of Contents
1 Marketing Automation Software
The automation of marketing processes is an incredibly important aspect for all modern businesses. Not only does it reduce the time spent managing contacts and workflows, but it also allows you to modify the whole user experience making it automated and more relevant. Consequently expanding the adequacy of advertising campaigns.
In general, when it comes to marketing automation, two names tend to emerge: HubSpot and Marketo. The first is the master in the segment of small-medium companies, while the second is the undisputed leader in large companies. Often there is a natural transition between the two systems, as the complexity of the automation project grows.
2 Collaboration
The work of marketers is taking place more and more online, and it is not uncommon (indeed) to work in companies that have offices in multiple locations, often scattered in various parts of the world. Being able to communicate with your colleagues (from the same team, but also different teams) is essential for a fruitful collaboration.
The choice of companies today falls more and more often on Slack. Easy to use, and above all to integrate with other marketing software, Slack is the ideal solution to create channels or groups, configure automatic notifications or even manage your agenda.
Slack’s main competitor is Microsoft Teams today. Interestingly, the latter is usually used in bigger organizations, while Slack is one of the preferred choices for smaller and “agile” teams. There are many articles online that analyze the differences between the two solutions, and there are those who argue that the recent (very poor) performance of Slack on the stock market is due to its Microsoft rival.
3 CRM
Together with the website, CRM (or customer relationship management) is the beating heart of every MarTech, as a central node through which all the most important information related to the business passes. Among its main features, the ability to integrate with a multitude of third-party systems, process the data received, and make them easily accessible to marketing and sales. Also to support strategic decisions.
In the field of CRM, there is an infinite number of options, some more valid than others. Among all, one tends to show up more frequently than the others, and this response to the name of Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Hardly contrasted globally by other solutions, this suite makes its strength the ability to integrate (natively or via API) with virtually any other marketing or sales tool. Moreover, being extremely widespread, it is likely that many of the people in the company have already used it in the past, making the enablement process of internal teams significantly easier.
Also Read: Digital Marketing, What It Is Today And Why It Is The Key To Business Growth
4 Conversational Marketing
Another pillar of digital marketing is so-called conversational marketing. Easy to understand its potential, less easy to handle effectively. At the base of these new strategies, we find special tools that, integrating with databases and CRMs, allow you to customize online conversations, automate them and make them more effective by providing the marketing & sales team with all the information on the prospect with whom the conversation is in progress. To date, one of the most widely used software for this purpose is undoubtedly Drift, which stands out for its infinite customization possibilities and its effectiveness in the conversion phase. So much so that it is properly considered a lead-generation software.
5 Project Management
Especially in larger organizations, managing the work of multiple teams clearly and efficiently is essential. In the marketing field, it is often not necessary to resort to extremely complex project management tools, as the projects related to the launch of a promotional campaign are usually less intricate than, for example, the development of an entire software product. The two most common solutions in this area are Asana and Trello. Again, it’s a matter of preference, and the type of projects managed. Both, however, have interesting features to create logical correlations between the various phases of a project, assign ownership and deadlines, as well as integrate a notification system with other tools, such as Slack, to align the team, wherever it is. is found, about the progress of the work.
Marketing strategy first of all
It is worth remembering: every best practice has a significant foundation of utility, but it must always be interpreted in a specific context. Best practices related to choosing, implementing, and using a particular marketing software are no exception. Every company must first have a clearly defined strategy. From this build the marketing plan. And finally, proceed with the adoption of the most suitable tools to achieve the objectives. Very important, in this perspective, is the “internship” of growth of the company itself: how many employees; total turnover; reference target markets. And so on. Depending on these elements, the software can be more or less suitable (not only concerning the cost but also to the number of people needed to use it effectively, for example). There is therefore no ideal configuration, although there are very clear patterns relating to the adoption of specific solutions by the most successful companies. Without a doubt, an excellent starting point for planning the next steps in an area as delicate as the technology stack used by your company’s marketing team.