Don't Ask Someone To Recommend a MarTech Tool

You meet someone, chat with an industry contact and end up asking them to recommend a MarTech Tool. Well, them giving you an answer as good as you asking where shall I go for a holiday without them knowing whether you hate mountains or love being indoors and they tell you to plan a visit to the Everest Base Camp. Everything needs a context.

I often get asked about MarTech Tools - How's 'X' vs 'Y'?
Usually it's a casual question by someone working in a company that's making a decision.

I answer by asking at least 6 questions:

1. What is the business objective?
2. What is the use case in the Customer Journey where gaps have been identified? (sending emails is not a use case, it needs to be customer specific.)
3. Where is the customer data currently housed and what is the expectation after tool implementation?
4. What is the long term improvement in Customer Experience desired after the tool is implemented?
5. Which other tools and platforms are expected to integrate with this one?
6. Which team will use the tool and what time will they be given for training? (You can buy a Ferrari but have no one who can drive it.)

If they are still with me, I ask a few more!

There are many tools, with many similar stated features. Neither features nor fees are the only determining factors. It's hard to answer a general question like that without having background information.

If you want to understand more about building your MarTech stack, you can read my other blog post or listen to my podcast. Links in comments.