In a previous article, we looked at the essential elements necessary for managing a marketing strategy with a growth hacking mindset. But, having the right plan in place is just one piece of the puzzle. Many legacy martech tools are not designed for the hyper-flexibility and on-demand reporting a growth hacking strategy requires.
There are three critical questions to consider when assessing and enhancing your brand’s martech stack to best support growth hacking strategies.
What are the business goals?
Whether you are considering adding an entirely new tool, replacing something already in place, or even removing a tool from your martech stack, it is imperative to have a clear, defined reason for the change. There are four essential categories of a well-developed martech stack: acquisition, awareness, customer management, and retention. These elements look different for each brand and strategy and have many sub-categories as well. If you cannot directly connect a marketing platform to a business goal, the tool may be unnecessary and can become a distraction.
When reviewing your current stack, it is also critical to identify what goals your existing tools already support. This can help highlight any gaps in strategy. This same critical review can be applied to any current tools—why were they selected initially and do they support the organization’s long-term goals, and are they currently doing their job and doing it as efficiently as possible?
Many platforms (like Prizeout) are specifically designed to be flexible and allow you to adapt your strategy to potentially-shifting business goals. Platform flexibility is important because it can save time for business users to make the most of current tools rather than finding additional technologies to add to a brand’s marketing stack.
How does it affect the customer experience?
To understand how a new platform may affect the customer experience, you must first have a well-developed understanding of the current customer experience— from the very first stage of brand awareness to purchase and brand advocacy. Most martech tools will have some consumer-facing element which makes testing both the business-user and consumer-user experience necessary. When implementing a new consumer-facing or business-user tool within the marketing stack, include various stakeholders to test the entire experience with diverse use cases to be sure that there are no unforeseen negative experiences.
Is the return on investment (ROI) worth it
Quantifying the potential ROI on a new martech platform can be difficult, but it is an essential consideration. Many new platforms are developed to answer this question by highlighting metrics such as the ability to quickly view ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS). But it is not simply about monetary spend vs. gain. Aside from fees associated with the platform, additional investment considerations include time for training staff and the new time requirement for ongoing platform management. In contrast, a positive return may mean increased brand awareness or customer engagement rather than direct sales. At Prizeout, we understand success can look different for different brands. That’s why we’ve developed a robust analytics dashboard that offers information beyond the standard metrics so you can see your brand’s full performance story—including 1st party data highlighting revenue directly linked to campaign ad spend.
As technology and trends constantly change, the three questions highlighted above are key in ensuring your marketing stack is developed to support growth. If you’d like to learn more about how Prizeout would be a good addition to your brand’s marketing stack, reach out today.
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