The problem is rarely the martech platform.
Most marketing teams already own the technology they need. What they're missing is a way to run it: find out where the problem is, keep improving what they own, and buy something new only when the evidence says to.
I help marketing leaders put that in place, starting with the first step. I take no commissions or referral fees from martech vendors, so I earn the same whether you keep a tool or replace it.
- You're paying for 3 tools that do the same job, and not one of them is fully set up.
- Your tools don't share data, so you can't see what's driving results.
- You bought it 2 years ago, and you still use only what was set up at launch.
Buying martech is one decision. Owning it is ongoing work, and the work comes in 3 steps, in this order. Most companies skip the first 2 and go straight to the third, which is how they replace a tool and end up with the same problem.
Understand what you have
Before you change anything, find out where the problem is. Check whether your business goals, marketing strategy, customer experience, and technology agree. Compare how your team works with how the org chart says it works. Then look at the tools: what you own, what's switched on, what it costs, and what connects to what.
The answer is usually the team or the plan, and only sometimes the software.
Skip it and every decision after it is a guess.
Keep improving what you own
Fix what can be fixed in the tools you already pay for. Train the team, give every tool one clear owner, and switch on the features you bought and never set up.
This step never finishes. Your business, your tools, and your team all change, so a team that runs its stack well checks it and adjusts it on a regular schedule.
Skip it and the fixes from step 1 fade as people and priorities change.
Build only when the evidence says so
Replace a tool or add a new one after step 2 shows the tool you have can't do the job. By then you know what you need, so you pick a vendor against your own requirements instead of the best demo.
Agree on the test before the fixes start: what result would prove a tool has to go. Then nobody can change what counts as success after seeing how it went.
Skip steps 1 and 2, and the problems that held back the old tool will hold back the new one.
You can do all of this without outside help, if you have people with the time and skills to do it. Every step is published, in order, in my book. Most marketing leaders have never seen the work laid out this way, though, and step 1 is hard to do from the inside, because the people running the stack are part of what's being assessed. That's why running the martech value assessment with me is the best place to start.
The marketing technology your team is fighting with can usually do what you bought it for. What's missing is what the team needs to run it: training, one clear owner for each tool, and agreement between the business, marketing, customer experience, and technology sides about what it's there to do and how.
If you replace the platform, the ownership gaps and disagreements stay, and your team has new tools to learn on top of them. That mistake can cost six figures and a year.
Find out whether the problem is the platform or the team before you sign for a replacement.
The martech value assessment
You're already paying for martech that isn't paying off, and you may be about to spend more. Find out where the problem is first.
Your team and I assess the business, how the team works, and the platforms. You get the answer with the evidence behind it, and your team learns to run the next assessment. Flat fee, fixed before I start.
Pick this when someone wants to replace a martech tool and nobody has shown where the problem is yet.
How the assessment worksMartech advisory
Whether you inherited the stack or chose it, you make martech decisions every month. The retainer gives you someone outside your company and your vendors to talk them through with, using what you already know.
A monthly retainer: 2 working sessions, a call or message whenever something comes up, and help shaping what you put in front of your CEO or your board once a quarter.
Pick this when you want a martech advisor every month who works only for you.
How the retainer worksThe assessment takes you and your team through step 1 and ends with the plan for step 2. The retainer gives you an advisor every month, whichever step you're on. You can buy either one without the other.
The problems are the same in every industry and at every company size. Bigger companies have bigger stacks and bigger versions of the same problems.
I work with marketing organizations spending $1 million or more a year on martech, counting license fees, the people who run it, and what integration and data cost you.
I take a small number of clients on purpose, and I'm choosy about which.
Gene De Libero
Independent Martech Advisor
30 years in marketing technology from 5 sides of it: buyer, vendor, consultancy, brand, and agency. 21 years teaching digital strategy at NYU. I wrote the book that my work is based on, Marketing Technology Transformation®, so you can read the whole thing before you decide whether to call.
An honest, confidential conversation about what's happening in your stack. If I don't think I can help, I'll tell you.