Why a Self-Service Martech Model Might Be For You

Is martech an integral part of your day-to-day marketing life? Is it easy to manage? At MarTech East in Boston recently, ChiefMartec Editor Scott Brinker shared why companies should consider moving to a self-service martech model, where technology is absorbed into the entire organization, rather than being embedded or siloed in one department like IT, allowing more agility.

Brinker describes the present state of martech as a golden age, noting that more open access paves the way for creativity. Companies are opening up to the idea of open ecosystems, which enables better integration. “Does A integrate with B?” he says. “In today’s world, almost always.”

Overall, brands are shifting to looking at their marketing world in terms of “always on” rather than just closed campaigns. “We’re moving from creating assets to owning the customer experience,” he says.

Having martech managed as a centralized service means longer wait times in a queue for changes and upgrades, often competing for attention with teams from other parts of the organizations in need of IT assistance, notes Brinker. An absorbed, self-service martech approach can give teams greater agility and speed.

“In a fast changing world, more tech adoption happens under uncertainty,” says Brinker, who creates the annual Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic, which this year listed over 7,000 offerings. “There are literally thousands of solutions—I’ve counted them.”

Brinker cited Amazon as an example of a major player that is moving to a self-services approach. He note that Amazon’s VP of IoT Dirk Didascalou has said that a self-service approach helps the company give developers the freedom to create new ideas, often in tandem.

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“They may have same people build the same thing, but the philosophy is that two are better than zero, if people are building parallel,” he says.

At MarTech, Brinker outlined the “8 Ps” of self-service martech marketers should keep in mind when considering a solution:

Platforms: Does the solution allow other open apps or data sources to connect? This is a must.

Partioning: A modular design will help insure mechanisms of different solutions don’t collide, and work together smoothly.

Permissioning: This oversees the governance of not only following best practices, but who should have access to systems.

Perception: Does a solution allow for easy monitoring? When you have parallel builders working with a solution, a mechanism is needed to keep an eye on the entire martech landscape of your organization.

The next four “Ps” are more about people than technology, he notes.

Permission: Solutions should empower people to build and experiment.

Preparation: Enable your team members. Make sure they get training on an ongoing basis, and can let you know what is—and isn’t—working with feedback loops.

Principles: Have rules in place, not only for compliance with regulatory issues but to make sure the principles of the brand are held up. This will help insure that experiments truly benefit the mission of your business.

Passion: Makes sure your centralized ops team is on board and fired up to empower marketing’s technology initiatives.