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The sheer amount of Martech or ‘marketing technology’ solutions has exploded. The most recent count by Chiefmartec in Summer 2018 has revealed that there are over 6,829 marketing solutions on the market from 6,242 different vendors. Traditionally, these solutions have included:
Social media scheduling tools
Digital advertising portals
Website content management system
Website analytics
Online booking tools
A recent trip I took to the Technology For Marketing Expo in London highlighted to me just how confusing the market has become since the arrival of new MarTech solutions.
It isn’t just the confusion that concerns me – it is the sheer amount of both money and effort that attractions and venues in the leisure sector are spending on these tools.
Are they providing ROI at all?
Too mUCH to choose from?
As well as new technologies competing with the likes of WordPress and Google to host and promote your website, brand new sub-sectors have opened up as digital marketing goes mainstream.
Now, attractions and venues can invest monthly in chatbots, search engine optimisation tools, artificial intelligence audience tools and PR portals.
Can you spot any of your technologies in the graph above?!
The ‘worst’ case scenario
While I hope that the marketing technologies you are using are actually working for you, I wanted to address what a ‘worst’ case scenario may be. Below, I’ve highlighted the 23 different types of software tools that you could, and may already, invest in. Some of these are crucial, some aren’t.
Cost
Research conducted by Katapult has revealed how a growing technology set-up, or ‘stack’, can lead to significant costs that may put into doubt the efficiency and ROI of your digital marketing efforts. We identified ten tools at random and chose the mid-range monthly solution to calculate costs.
Here is what we found:
For these ten tools alone, leisure attractions could be spending over £1,520 per month on marketing technology software – that’s £18,240 per year. These costs do not include any set-up fees, additional services or advertising budget.
Whether you rely on agencies or cope with your in-house digital team, time spent managing and getting the most from these tools can be a real challenge.
What’s really important?
It’s easy to accumulate technologies in the hope that they will continue to increase your online ticket sales and generate greater awareness of what people do on your website. That isn’t always the case.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the solutions you’re currently paying for, revert to SOS:
Simple
Strip back your technology services to what is really going to give you impact. Align these technologies to your customer journey by digital and physical means, and ditch the rest. You’ll be surprised how much money you’ll save.
Optimisable
All software tools you own should give you the ability to optimise your performance – after all, what’s the point of having it? Then, spend time optimising. If it doesn’t offer optimisation, ditch it.
Synchronised
You need to aim to have an end-to-end software solution that tracks customers from their first social media interaction to the ticket they purchased, and beyond. To make this happen, synchronise all of your software systems, for greater clarity.
Remember, technology is just one part of your marketing strategy – and no matter how clever a software can become, nothing beats a human-to-human interaction that generates brand awareness, loyalty, and ultimately repeat visits further down the line.
Robbie is Digital Marketing Lead at Katapult – A Creative England Top 50 company, that create physical and digital guest experiences that amaze and engage your visitors.
