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B2B marketing technology stacks can simplify your projects. But how do you choose suitable tools that reduce your effort not just in theory? In this article we present the most common mistakes in choosing martech tools and help you with practical tips.
Not every B2B martech tool actually helps you
Too much choice is a burden. That is the case with martech solutions, whose huge promises seem to lead many B2B companies to skip planning. But how is a tool supposed to bring improvements if you are not clear about what it should support you with?
There are over 8,000 different martech tools (as of 2020), and the number is rising. Most of them are simply bought by B2B companies without first thinking about exactly what they will be used for. If several tools matter to you, that is perfectly legitimate.
A marketing tech stack is rarely based on just one piece of software, which is why good coordination is central.
Several programs with hardly different functions, on the other hand, drive up running costs and make well-coordinated teamwork harder. For marketing automation, too, clean integration and consistent use of the tools matter.
Below we look at the three biggest mistakes made when choosing martech tools:
- Missing preparation and planning
- Not using the right channels
- Poorly structured data
Problem 1: no plan for using the martech solutions
We have already touched on it: one of the biggest problems is not thinking about why and for what exactly a tool should be used. The many advantages of the individual tools are tempting. So people buy wildly and plan to deal with integration later.
That is exactly where the danger lies: if you think too much in individual areas, you lose the overview. What very few consider: a B2B marketing tech stack only works if the tools work together.
Real marketing specialists analyse how well tools can be integrated.
Problem 2: touchpoints are still a foreign concept
While marketing in many companies was strictly divided into channels until a few years ago, that has long been outdated.
The target group is usually the same across different social media, which makes categorising the channels pointless.
New campaigns address the customer directly, which is why your advertising activities should never be viewed separately. To introduce a successful martech stack, clear touchpoints are a must. So choose tools that let you connect, for example, SEO with your social media marketing.
Every tool in your marketing tech stack aims to analyse your customer potential and approach leads at the decisive moment. So do not simply choose the newest and best tools. Every function should contribute to your marketing goals and increase your target group's trust in your brand.
Problem 3: complicated data storage in data silos
Storing and categorising data is also becoming a problem in many companies. In marketing especially, data silos mean that each department works practically on its own and hardly looks beyond its own patch. We go into this problem in more detail in our article on data silos. These problems should be avoided:
- Restricted usability of your data
- Too strong a division into channels
- Time lost sequencing data
- Unclear permissions and responsibilities in the company
- Duplicate entry of categorised data
As soon as different data silos exist for several processes, collaboration in your B2B marketing teams becomes much more complex. Even if your martech stack delivers the right data, not everyone can use it.
That leads to dangerous data gaps that make it harder to place your leads in the current stage of the customer journey.
The job of a marketing tech stack is not to simplify the marketing process for individual departments. Every part of the team needs access to the data so it is strategically and technologically informed and up to date.
End-to-end thinking? Only on paper
Artificial obstacles such as data silos make the marketing process more cumbersome, less precise and more monotonous. Many companies claim to think end to end at this point but are miles away from it. That applies especially to martech stacks that are mostly tailored to areas such as email marketing.
Search in particular is lost from view. Since a large share of customers enter the customer journey through a search engine, the wrong focus wastes enormous potential. That is why the search experience belongs in the martech stack too.
Always look at your marketing tech stack as a whole and choose tools that support this goal.
That closes a gap in your marketing you may not even have noticed. Working email marketing does not protect you from the consequences of weak digital advertising processes either, which is why the search experience deserves high priority. Only those who know where their customers come from and how they travel can prioritise the use of their tools correctly.
Quality over quantity in martech stacks
Even 100 successful tools do not replace software tailored exactly to your company. Especially with regard to your marketing automation, focusing on a few, well-connected tools is important. The more tools you integrate into your B2B martech stack, the longer onboarding, maintenance and updating the desired performance data take.
Blindly buying new tools therefore becomes more of an obstacle than an opportunity for you.
Successful marketers have a fixed set of tools that work well together.
That way you create workflows that not only work in theory but are also convenient and simple in practice. A clear focus on your marketing goals leads to good martech stacks.
Conclusion: define your goals before you look for a solution
Each of the more than 8,000 martech tools has its advantages. But not every piece of software fits your strategy and its requirements exactly. When choosing new tools, less is usually more, to avoid costs, effort and system changes.
For successful marketing tech stacks, scope of features is not all that counts. Focus on which components are still missing for your concepts instead of changing processes that work. That way you stop collecting the wrong data and maximise your project success without a long list of tools. Further pitfalls once the tools are in place are described in our article on marketing automation mistakes.
