The True Cost of Unused Martech

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Wasted marketing technology is one of the top three self-reported weaknesses among CMOs. They know they could be getting more out of it but are challenged by silos and poor adoption. How do you avoid this fate? answers, Brandt Bogdanovich is the Sr. Director of Marketing at MST Solutions.

Businesses tend to waste money. Not a novel concept. But it’s often not until leaders are forced to look at their expense sheets to make necessary cuts –– like many of us recently had to do–– that they realize how much they’ve been hemorrhaging on unused or underutilized technology.

While this happens across all divisions within business, it’s an all too common pain point for many marketing leaders. In fact, according to GartnerOpens a new window , adoption and use of marketing tech across marketing and sales teams is one of the top three self-reported weaknesses among CMOs. Though the martech stack commands more than a quarter of their budgets, nearly 40 percent of that tech goes unused. Turns out, the utility of the tools is one the biggest challenges for CMOs.

This trend is often attributed to the lure of new, exciting tech that promises great results, but over time turns out to be more of the same. However, CMOs actually pointed to ineffective management of the tech stack as the primary reason it’s underutilized by the team. No matter the reason, when technology goes unused, it can actually cost the team and overall organization far more than the subscription fee.

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Implications of Martech Debt

Let’s be real. How many times has your team invested in a customer relationship management (CRM), automation software or analytics tool with the goal of increasing collaboration, tearing down silos and becoming more efficient and effective, only to find that a few months later that software has become a wasteland for half-complete projects and mounds of technical debt? If you’re like most, it’s likely more times than you care to admit.

And this costs more than just wasted budget –– it can also put brands at a disadvantage by missing out on opportunities to act on leads quickly, create more rich and relevant experiences, and stimulate collaboration between marketing, sales and customer success. Naturally, it’s also impossible to properly determine the return on the technology investment, and makes overall reporting more of a challenge by limiting the amount of important data, analytics and insights the team could be gaining.

Today’s most successful organizations have cracked the code on creating alignment between marketing, sales and customer success to create a truly seamless experience throughout their customer’s lifecycle. While achieving this requires these teams work together on a shared vision and set of goals, utilization of the right tech stack is also imperative to facilitating collaboration and smooth handoffs. When the martech stack is not successfully implemented, it leads to poor adoption and eventually individuals finding their own tools and workarounds to get the job done –– and this creates silos.

Whether it’s due to a lack of proper infrastructure to support the martech stack or a failure to plan for implementation, here’s how to avoid waste:

1. Identify your organization’s purpose and vision.
 

Before you invest in expensive martech, or if you are in the process of renewing, think about what you want to accomplish by implementing the tool. Will you be able to utilize all the features? On the flip side, does this platform have the ability to grow with your organization? Involve your marketing, sales and customer success teams in this process. Those using the platform will be essential to helping identify the major functions it will need to perform, and when they are a part of the selection and implementation process, it increases the rate of adoption down the road.

2. Develop a plan for change management and appoint someone to shepherd it. 
 

Selecting the right technology is only part of the equation. You have to have a plan in place for rolling it out. Document your current processes and see where this tool can best be implemented or used to streamline a process. If your team understands how this fits into their day-to-day and makes their job easier, it will make adoption easier. Additionally, consider appointing a member of your team to champion the implementation. This person will help answer questions and serve as an important advocate for the use of the tool.

3. Develop training materials and a plan for regular training.
 

Ultimately, the end goal for a martech stack is increased efficiency and collaboration, an improved customer and employee experience, and automation of core processes, but don’t expect your employees to figure things out by themselves. Help the team understand how to implement the new tool into their workflow. And plan for ongoing training beyond the initial onboarding. Engage the team to share their best practices or “hacks” they’ve developed after using the tool over time. Additionally, some software has certification programs. Consider tapping into these to not only elevate your team’s knowledge of the tool, but also create a little friendly competition to see who can get the most certifications.

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4. Identify internal martech ambassadors to get everyone on board. 
 

Change is often a challenge for even the most forward-thinking and agile marketing teams. Implementing new tech can cause a major disruption to workflow, and you should expect a period of adjustment. As mentioned, identifying internal martech ambassador can help get employees on board for the change and improve adoption. The ambassador should also have a plan in place to regularly assess and address skill gaps and retire legacy skills, when necessary.

5. Measure to continually improve.
 

Finally, going back to your goals and vision for this technology, define a set of measurement criteria to determine if you are in fact getting what you want out of it. Analyzing these metrics can also help you see if you’re getting all you could out of the tool.

Brandt Bogdanovich
Brandt Bogdanovich

Sr. Director of Marketing, MST Solutions

Brandt Bogdanovich is the Sr. Director of Marketing at MST Solutions, the largest Salesforce implementation partner in Arizona. In this role, Brandt leads the charge on orchestrating the marketing, sales and product teams to develop and execute on the company’s go-to-market strategies within specific verticals and geographic regions. He has nearly a decade of experience in leading demand-generation, brand-building and automation initiatives as well as implementing high-performance digital marketing campaigns.
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