Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

This is a wasted opportunity. Many marketers have reported rapid and significant ROI from adopting these tools; but first, they had to convince higher-ups to make the up-front investment. So, in the interest of helping clear that path, I am suggesting a Marketing Technology Starter Kit: the seven programs that every company’s marketing team should have access to, at a minimum, to grow leads, opportunities, and revenue.

These programs are essentially an online form of direct marketing. Traditionally the two most important factors in the success of direct marketing campaigns have been the list — getting the materials in front of the right audience — and the offer – offering them something that they will value and act on.

And direct marketers have been measuring and optimizing to improve results for decades, in a way that even David Ogilvy admired. In my Starter Kit you’ll see repeatedly how marketing technologies help you get in front of the right audience at the right time with the right offer.Here’s my list of seven technologies that are table stakes for today’s marketer....

Of course, with a staggering amount of technology available to marketers (1,876 vendors as of Scott Brinker’s latest count,) and Gartner’s predictions that the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO by 2017, it comes as no surprise that managing this technology took it’s place as a major responsibility in the survey.

What may come as a surprise is the sudden emergence of “understanding buyers” to a top responsibility in 2016, especially compared to the top duties reported today. Respondents said brand and positioning, lead generation, and brand communications were their top three leading responsibilities as of November 2014, the time of the survey.

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