Technology can be a great helper for a marketing team, but it can also cause people to make related oversights and mistakes. 

Here are some you may have already made and effective ways to address them. 

Most Common Tech Mistakes Marketers Make And The Ways To Fix Them

1. Not using the marketing tech stack effectively

Your marketing tech stack can be a tremendous asset to running a marketing team, revealing the best ways to engage with the target audience. Businesses don’t always utilize tech stacks as well as they should. For example, many companies make the mistake of not keeping data organized well enough to use it. 

In 2012, Oracle was challenged to shift from selling physical products to cloud-based services. Additionally, its internal marketing capabilities did not align with its legacy tech products, and marketing-related data went into three separate organizational silos. These problems and related issues meant Oracle could only convert 2% of its leads into sales. 

Solution:

Oracle representatives created a new organizational structure that eliminated the marketing silos. They also reevaluated the marketing technology stack to link each product to specific marketing tactics tied to customer journey phases. 

Another approach was to target the people who had started using the marketing tech stack early and were highly influential in the organization. They helped get people on board with the products who lagged in adopting the technology. 

Investing in tech products is only the first step. After that, people within the organization must take other decisive actions to ensure the technology works with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Getting feedback from users along the way is also essential because it shows when things are going well, or processes may need tweaking. 

2. Not realizing how much the cloud supports collaboration

Today’s companies often have distributed marketing teams, meaning the people on them may get stuff done from anywhere in the world. Technology makes that possible, and cloud computing has been a game-changer. However, you might overlook how a cloud computing platform is more than just a storage mechanism.

Cloud computing platforms let people share and download files in seconds, removing the barriers geographic distance would otherwise cause. Using a cloud-based tool like Google Docs, multiple parties can collaborate on a single document and make notes to explain the changes or suggestions made. 

Cloud computing can also eliminate the need to send important documents through the mail. Consider a situation where a new marketing agency took over an existing campaign. People from the company who started the work can put all the relevant information into a digital, cloud-shared folder and provide access to the team handling the responsibility now. 

Relatedly, cloud computing can remove the friction when clients cannot have as many in-person meetings with a marketing team as they’d like. Dealing with physical documents takes extra time, and there’s always the risk of them getting lost or damaged. The cloud eliminates those issues, helping communications happen smoothly. 

Solution:

Devote plenty of time to figuring out your cloud platform’s collaboration features. Then, you’ll encounter fewer obstacles and better productivity as everyone uses them. 

3. Not understanding how website loading time connects to marketing aims

You may think of website loading time as an IT department issue, but it also matters to marketing professionals. When it takes too long for a website’s content to show up, people are more likely to get frustrated and leave. Then, you’ll have a high bounce rate, and the website will be ineffective for encouraging engagement, sales, and other metrics marketing teams typically track. 

Solution:

Getting rid of scripts and compressing images can both help websites load faster for visitors. You can also use special tools to examine the site for things that might make the loading time slower than necessary. 

Even if website development and maintenance aren’t within your marketing duties, take the time to talk to people who handle those processes at your company. Tell them about things you’ve noticed while spending time at the website or pass on negative website feedback from customers. 

After the website gets tweaked, make sure to track the relevant website statistics to see if things improve. They probably will, but sometimes, specific website changes can cause unintended consequences that need further adjustments to fix

4. Not using tech to send people relevant content

The right marketing tech can save massive amounts of time. Consider how many email automation platforms can send people targeted messages after they take specific actions. 

Then, a particular brand or product stays in a top-of-mind position for customers. That’s great when it’s time for them to buy a product, subscribe to a mailing list, or do something else that helps your company. 

You can also use tech to send individuals content they genuinely want to see. One study analyzed more than 35.5 billion email and site campaigns to determine the most effective messaging. It found that welcome messages and those telling people that items are back in stock were the most effective for getting them to buy things or convert. 

Solution:

It’s great if you have marketing tech that can send marketing messages out to thousands of people simultaneously. However, the outcomes will likely fall short if you don’t also do some digging to figure out what kind of messaging will resonate with your audience. Other types of marketing tech you use, such as data analysis platforms, can help you learn those specifics.

Conclusion

Technology can be a productivity booster but could also negatively impact results and relationships. Steering clear of the four blunders here will help you harness the power of tech and use it to strengthen your marketing efforts and outcomes!