Treat your marketing technology like an investment in your company’s growth. Erase preconceived notions about how much a new website should cost if you haven’t done a major upgrade for the last 7 to 10 years. Owning homes and cars require ongoing maintenance for the life of ownership–inevitably there comes a time when you have to invest a large sum of money into your marketing technology maintenance. Do you enjoy updating the electric panel in your home? You might not enjoy updating your tech stack either–there’s no beautiful deliverable you get to admire in the end but your marketing strategy becomes more powerful. Eventually, these types of upgrades are inevitable but with a clear idea of the time and investment these projects might take you can at least consider them in your company’s overall timelines, budgets and goals. As digital marketers–we all love painting the walls, but this is a necessary evil we all must grow through to incorporate technology our jobs more.
If you are ready to add content marketing, a new website platforms/migration, a digital strategy or marketing automation to your marketing plan start with becoming mindful about where and how to begin building your technology dreams before ruining your existing online relationships. The best digital marketing campaigns are built on solid technology stacks, full of boring, technology projects scoped out for completion years in advance. Hundreds of companies large and small are currently in the process of rebuilding their technology stack, front-end website infrastructure adding marketing automation and CRMs for content teams to join today’s cutting-edge, online marketing trends. There’s plenty of information about how to execute variations of content marketing or marketing automation; however, more CEOs and marketing directors may benefit from understanding the cost, talent, platform differences in technology platforms or planning IT budgets to execute marketing trends that scale and align with the company’s long-term goals.
While not terribly exciting, investing in your marketing technology stack reflects on your bottom line. Large brands invest thousands of marketing and IT dollars into their infrastructure, website, CRM, analytics tools and also employ teams of skilled developers and content producers to BUILD and MAINTAIN the end product. Many clever campaigns are executed to go-live quickly because progressive CEOs made risky and expensive decisions with online budget investments at the forefront of the emerging trend while also factoring in a cost of maintenance for the remaining life of the technology.
Every company enters this digital dilemma at some point–unexpected digital costs frustrate everyone. This situation might feel intimidating and it is easy to let your last upgrade run on autopilot avoiding what isn’t going away. Eventually, the stagnation leads to the death of an old platform, website or unattended social presence that reflects poorly on the reputation of the company. Ignore the oil change light in your vehicle only to ignite a larger cost later when the engine fails. Ignore your marketing technology or website upgrades and you’ll eventually have to face the fire. There’s a sweet spot for identifying if your existing technology can be saved or if buying an entirely new set of platforms is the most affordable decision–that sweet spot is exactly where theCuriosity+Lab helps you find focus.
Discovery and Assessment
The most important step to assess your current digital marketing goals appropriately is to gather business requirements, conduct user + audience research and formalize an RFP (or set of business requirements) to share with vendors who will begin working on your new digital transformation. theCuriosity+Lab offers marketing technology assessment packages that lessen the hours CEOs and marketing directors spend on gathering business requirements. We provide visual roadmaps you can share and discuss with your vendors so everyone is on the same page. If you are considering upgrading your website and online presence, contact us for an assessment of your current situation and let us partner with you on your next digital frontier.
>> View a case study on the discovery process.
The Curiosity Lab 