5 levels of marketing technology maturity

Written by Stijn Toonen | Oct 9, 2024 10:16:57 AM

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, understanding your technological standing is essential.

This awareness allows you to establish a baseline, identify key focus areas, and, perhaps most importantly, tackle your challenges in the correct order.

I've observed numerous companies chasing trends and concentrating on highly specialized use cases, all while their foundational systems remain weak. This creates confusion and wastes resources on initiatives that cannot be executed effectively.

These five stages of marketing technology maturity will help you assess your company's current state:

Level 1: Suffering
At this initial stage, you’re grappling with outdated tools. You may be working with an agency that selected your tools long ago, or your stack may have been assembled by individuals who are no longer with you. Consequently, you lack clarity on how your stack is configured and how the various components interact. You might not fully understand the functionality available due to extensive custom development.

Users often find that the existing capabilities do not match the offerings of new SaaS systems, and critical knowledge is concentrated among a few individuals, posing a risk when they leave.

Level 2: Lagging
In the second stage, you have the necessary tools, but you’re unable to leverage them effectively due to poor integration, insufficient data quality, or both. This stage can be frustrating, as you’ve invested in tools that fail to deliver the desired results.

Despite having functionality that allows for personalized marketing actions, these features fall short because your customer information is inadequate. You lack a centralized view that provides a complete overview of your customer insights.

Level 3: Playing
Your foundation is now established. You have the tools, they integrate well, and you possess valuable customer information. You can begin to utilize your stack effectively. However, the next challenge arises: how do you determine what works?

This may be the first time your team has access to such a range of possibilities. How do you prevent customers from receiving multiple campaigns simultaneously? How do you ensure automation enhances, rather than detracts from, the experience you aim to improve?

As you scale your efforts, you may find that your content production is no longer sufficient, necessitating different content formats that facilitate A/B testing.

Level 4: Growing
At this stage, you are reaping the benefits of a mature marketing technology stack. You’ve identified successful strategies through numerous experiments, eliminating initial pitfalls. Your sales team appreciates your efforts, as you consistently provide them with highly qualified leads.

You realize you no longer need to explain why sales reps should keep customer and lead information updated; the value generated by your stack speaks for itself. Now, the question arises: how can you enhance your efforts even further?

Level 5: Leading
Here, you transition from a marketing technology stack to a comprehensive marketing technology ecosystem. You expand your foundation to include CRM, marketing automation, CMS, and analytics systems, complemented by specialized tools that facilitate further improvement. You leverage additional analytics tools and other specialized technologies.

At this stage, your marketing technology stack becomes a strategic advantage over competitors and a primary driver of value.

Do you recognize the stage you are in? Stay tuned. In the coming weeks, I’ll be discussing the steps you should take and the areas you should focus on to advance one or more levels.

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