We recently joined forces with ICON APAC to bring together CMOs from all across Australia and the pacific. Three sessions over September and October were hosted by ICON’s Fraser McNaughton and Mona Lolas, along with our very own Graham Porter, to try and answer the question: “how can MarTech impact business growth?”. And, like all the important summits throughout history, we did it over wine and cheese.
Attendees were sent a hamper filled with local treats (in various stages of fermentation) to get stuck into, as we talked about issues facing CMOs today. Stimulating the discussions in this virtual roundtable was our recent whitepaper, based on a survey of ICON members APAC-wide.
A big thanks to everyone involved in the events, especially to those at ICON APAC, who worked very hard to make sure everything went as smoothly as a triple cream brie on a warm day. In case you missed it, here’s some of the topics we sunk our teeth into:
Warning: this blog is interspersed with some very cheesy analogies. If you are lactose intolerant, we suggest you cease reading immediately and just download our whitepaper instead.
Marketing aspirations
MarTech has come a long way in the last decade or so from just automation. Just like a nice vintage Bordeaux, as it ages and grows in complexity, the expectations we place on it grow too. The basic e-marketing world has well and truly reached maturity, and CMOs are now looking for something a little more robust. Sales and operational data were identified as key areas they’d like to integrate to enrich their marketing stack, showing that MarTech is moving away from its automation origins, towards a more holistic approach.
Revenue attribution is another area of MarTech that is increasingly sought after, yet rarely adopted to its full extent. Our survey revealed that the vast majority of marketers (90.3%) had only a basic or moderate understanding of revenue attribution, with the remainder having no knowledge. Not one claimed to be an expert, which is going to have to change if we want to see more accurate reporting of channel performance.
Barriers to MarTech adoption
Where expectations and aspirations seem to be high, skills and infrastructure are lacking in the implementation of MarTech. One of the main findings of the whitepaper was that, unsurprisingly, a lack of resources (of money, time, and skill) were the main hurdles that stand in the way of reaching marketing aspirations. This might be ok if you’re looking to make whatever the marketing equivalent of cottage cheese is, but aren’t we all aiming for Parmigiano Reggiano?
Marketing metrics for success
Along with the above barriers, another potential deficiency the whitepaper uncovered was some holes (Emmental, anyone?) in the metrics being used to measure marketing success. Lead volume is no longer the most important indicator to measure campaign success, though it was chosen by 45.2% as the top marketing measurement. Crucial metrics like cost per lead and cost per conversion, on the other hand, had relatively low responses at 12.9% and 6.5% respectively.
Overcoming these hurdles
Just as some may reach for the sparkling Moscato over a Champagne Brut, a lack of skills and understanding was the main barrier for adopting more complex MarTech models such as revenue attribution. Investing available budget into training and upskilling in-house resources should be seriously considered as an effective way to achieve marketing aspirations.
For more accurate reporting and measuring of success, a more comprehensive integration of marketing into the wider business stack is needed. This means driving IT and Marketing together, so it might be time to make friends with your IT department if you haven’t already…
Now that you’ve had a taste for the content covered, why not get the full bottle on the above topics, and how to better overcome issues facing your MarTech implementation. Download the whitepaper here.
