Key questions for evaluating your marketing technology stack

Tools, tools, and more tools! In the past decade, the marketing landscape has been flooded with a slew of different technologies and tools all aiming to drive better outcomes, help marketing teams achieve their goals, and easily track everything and anything. Shockingly, since 2011, the martech industry has exploded, boasting 5,2330% growth! So, if the martech landscape feels crowded, it’s no wonder. The good news is that you can build a super effective and beneficial marketing tech stack for your healthcare marketing team without needing ten different tools. Whether you’re interested in building a new martech stack, need to evaluate your current stack to cut costs, or are ready to scale, we have put together a comprehensive list of questions to help healthcare companies evaluate their martech stacks. The goal of these questions is to build a martech stack that delivers on value while complying with HIPAA regulations. 

 

Question #1 – What does your current tech stack look like?

Start by creating an overview of the current tools and technologies the marketing and sales teams are using. Include tools that are used on a company level as well if there will be integrations with marketing or if they are necessary to accomplish business objectives. When building a tech stack outline or visual chart, it’s important to include information such as key features, teams that use the tool, links to process documentation, a key contact from the vendor, and whether or not the technology is HIPAA compliant.

As you review your current martech stack, take the time to uncover some of the pain points or challenges teams have with the tools they are using. This will help you evaluate future tools to see if they can fix some of the issues your team is facing. It is also helpful as you keep an eye out for feature updates that may fix some of the issues. Additionally, make a note of what works well and what features are non-negotiable for teams as this will be very important when adding or subtracting tools from your martech stack. 

 

Question #2 – What tools or capabilities do you need in the future?

Interview marketing and sales teams and ask them which capabilities they hope to have in the future to meet their objectives and more accurately track metrics. We suggest asking both marketing and sales teams because they share similar objectives and will most likely have overlapping metrics and integrations. Once you have a clear idea of what your teams are looking for, align those needs to the company’s broader business objectives. It doesn’t make sense to adopt tools just to start tracking more metrics if those metrics are not directly aligned to the organization’s goals. For healthcare martech in particular, all tools must be HIPAA compliant and privacy-forward, so it’s important to take that into account when discussing future capabilities. 

 

Question #3 – Which trends or innovations make the most sense for your team?

Not a day goes by without the announcement of a new tool or martech trend! However, that does not mean you need to adopt all of them; far from it. Rather, we recommend staying abreast of the latest trends and innovations while maintaining a clear understanding of your organization’s goals and objectives. When you find a trend or innovative new tool that aligns with what your team is looking for, test it. The great thing about martech companies these days is that most have a trial period giving you access to basic features so you can get a feel for the tool before committing. 

Along with identifying trends, this is a great time to build out a competitor landscape and keep an eye on what others in your industry are doing. Are they pivoting on different platforms? Are they quick to adopt the newest thing? It will make a difference in how you approach your audience and shape your organization’s vision for the future when you have a clear perspective of trends, the competitive landscape, and how you want your organization to fit in. 

 

Question #4 – What is your budget?

Free versions do exist, but they can be rather limited or may require more time from your team to manage. It is vital to the success of your organization that you have a clear idea of what your budget for a marketing tech stack is and how it may evolve in the future. If you are tight on funds for marketing tools, start by prioritizing based on the most important objectives and tools that enable better team productivity. Beyond that, it may be possible to only have one user for some tools, which can help to reduce costs. Enterprise-level tools will also get you a better deal, so consider collaborating with other teams to get technologies at scale. 

 

Question #5 – How will you ensure the proper adoption of new tools and implement new features for current tools?

Any new tool or technology needs to be carefully incorporated into the organization. This is to make sure it meets all regulations and compliance requirements but also to ensure full adoption from all team members. We suggest having an organization-wide tool onboarding process that can be applied to any new technologies for your martech stack. Usually, an onboarding process would include at least one key contact responsible for overseeing the adoption of the tool, including training teams, managing users and roles, and ensuring all integrations are complete, among many other activities. 

One of the hardest parts will be ensuring team adoption and helping people work through the initial pain of using a new tool. At this stage, keep a close eye on how your tool impacts other teams or the broader organization as there may be unforeseen consequences or changes that need to be made. However, the beauty of an onboarding process is that it helps to catch challenges early before they become bottlenecks or more serious issues. 

 

Using these five questions, you can begin to build an enduring and effective martech stack that will deliver on value. For healthcare marketers in particular, there are many useful tools that can help you attract and retain patients while protecting their privacy, giving your team more time to build robust marketing strategies that convert and engage!