Let me pose a question to my fellow marketers: have you lately felt more like your company's IT department than its marketing strategist?
In the past few years, chances are that your role has taken a significant turn towards "IT Specialist". In the digital marketing age, marketers are expected know, implement, maintain, explain and execute various software programs and digital marketing tools that both promote the company brand and generate sales. According to the Harvard Business Review, 67% of marketing departments plan to increase their budgets for technology related expenses over the next two years.
As this trend progresses, marketers have started wearing the "IT" hat as well and get the "how do I do this" and "how do I fix this" questions from colleagues.
Here are some tips on how marketers can manage their IT investments to ensure return on investment and maintain a bit of sanity!
Organization is Key
Keep a file of your marketing programs that includes their purpose, what type of marketing activity it serves (content, digital, social media, lead generation, etc), costs and expiration dates, version numbers and who has access. This will not only allow you to stay organized, you can then liaise with your IT department for any technical issues that may arise and keep administration on its toes when it's time to renew or upgrade.
Do not become your company's IT person
Time is money, and the more time you spend fixing IT problems, the less time you have to do your actual job. First, make sure only the people that need to access marketing problems have access. If you are the only person who edits the website, keep it that way. Your colleagues should know that you are not the company HelpDesk. Refer any of their technical requests immediately to the IT department.
Analytics and Reports: The Marketer's Best Friend
Just about every marketing program we use comes with some type of analytics and reporting feature, yet sadly many marketers are still relying on instinct for key marketing strategy. Many in the B2B sector overlook analytical marketing data because they feel they know the sector well enough. However, reports don't just give insight to market trends, they also allow us marketers to understand our target market's movements and thought processes as they navigate the web. Have you ever used Google Analytics to see how people navigate your website? Have you ever used Google AdWords analytics to see how people actually got to your ad? Have you ever checked LinkedIn connections to see how followers may have gotten to your company page? Once we understand what we need to sell in the marketplace, we need to understand how. Remember when marketers would analyze how people navigated a store when they entered? We need to do the same process online!
More Complex Technology means more Simplified Marketing
Marketers have so many tools at their disposal for CRM and lead generation and automation that we forget that the overall marketing message needs to be transparent, clear and simple to understand. It's becoming easier for marketers to build and design websites themselves, organize all social media content in one platform and create ad-hoc reports, but are sticking to the marketing message? This is important in the B2B marketing sector where our knowledgeable and tech savvy market is researching everything online before making a purchase. Whether they find you through inbound marketing or you reach out to them, they will research your website and social media pages extensively to know what your company is about. If your target audience reads your website, will they come away with a clear idea of what you do and why your company is different? Even better, will they get the idea just by visiting your homepage or LinkedIn page? Stick to basics in this digital age and get your messaging clear.
Remember that Internal Communications is just as important as External Communications
Marketers are quick to get their message across digital platforms through social media and PR tactics, but do your colleagues know the message as well? Do your colleagues know what's on the company website? Part of a marketer's job is keeping the rest of the company updated on the company branding and messaging. Your fellow employees also communicate via social media and email with clients: are they sending the same message that you as the marketer are creating and sending in the digital public sphere?