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The right marketing tech stack helps build trust

Sarah Evans talks about the lack of trust marketers have -- and how a marketing tech stack and rebuild that trust and what it should include.

6 min read

Digital Technology

The right marketing tech stack helps build trust

John Schnobrich / Unsplash

Marketers have faced trust challenges for years: a HubSpot research survey ranked marketers at the bottom of the list of trusted professions, with a trust ranking of 5%. However, with so much emerging technology in the market, the trust “gap” has grown even larger after the pandemic.

A recent white paper by ATB shows the magnitude of the problems marketers are up against to gain consumer trust. In the white paper, ATB found that “individual’s data vulnerabilities are translating to a trust gap in the age of Web 3.0.”

According to ATB, “The trail of data created by an individual every second results in digital clones that show up across a constellation of organizations and products, calling into question data privacy and control.”

Businesses need to look inward

Many marketers and businesses acknowledge there is a problem surrounding technology and consumer trust. However, according to PwC, the attitude is, “There’s a problem, but it’s not mine.”

A PwC study found that “76% say that companies on the whole are facing a crisis of consumer trust, yet that mistrust apparently is caused by someone else: 80% give themselves an A or B grade for protecting consumer data.” Even worse, businesses believe they are improving, but only 21% of consumers say their trust is growing. A larger segment of people in the survey, 28%, say “their trust in businesses’ technology has been falling.”

As noted in the recent Deloitte 2021 Global Marketing Trends report, trust can be subjective, depending on the audience. But while the meaning of trust varies by the audience, there is one aspect of trust that is universal: When delivery doesn’t meet expectations, trust breaks down.

The fact is that customers have little trust anymore that brands and businesses will protect their data, and marketers must work harder to combat this problem.

It’s almost impossible for marketers to get results without the proper tools and technologies at their fingertips. That means finding the right tools to help automate and simplify operations is critical to success. As a result, the marketing tech stack has become a critical element in building a successful marketing strategy.

What is a marketing tech stack?

A marketing technology stack is a dashboard of tech tools that marketers use to simplify and improve their marketing performance. These marketing tools are “stacked” together to create a continuous process and provide an efficient customer experience.

Strategy first

The best tools in the world won’t help your business if you don’t have a good strategy. Create your marketing strategy first, then choose tools for your marketing tech stack to enable your prospects and customers to have the best experience. What matters is that the technology works for the business and the audience.

What should be in my marketing tech stack?

Here are the elements I recommend to build a successful marketing tech stack.

Content management system tool: Your website platform drives your business and engages your customers. It would be best if you choose the right CMS for your client’s business.

Customer relationship management tool: Picking the CRM tool that is the right fit for a client is where marketers can make a mistake. Just because a CRM tool is considered the “best” doesn’t mean it’s the right choice. Marketers and businesses that don’t use CRM effectively lose essential data on the sales pipeline. If the internal team at a business doesn’t understand or use the CRM tool, it’s a lost opportunity.

Social media management tool: Managing social media can be a time suck, but it doesn’t have to be. Many tech tools help schedule posts, monitor content and generate reports. Marketers don’t have to spend a fortune to reap the benefits of a good social media management tool.

SEO tool: There are so many SEO tools in the market it can be overwhelming and complicated to choose just one SEO solution. For this area of your marketing tech stack, start simple and add on if you need it. I often recommend SEMrush for my clients because it’s the best SEO/SEM tool for multiple uses at a reasonable price point. The basic SEMrush subscription gives clients SEO and keyword information and provides social media management, reporting and content optimization.

Email marketing tool: This is an area of the tech stack that most clients are familiar with. Marketers need to ensure they are using all of the features that an email marketing tool provides to get the most bang for the buck. Many email marketing platforms can help marketers create landing pages, pop-up offers and much more.

Analytics tool: As with SEO tools, start simple when adding analytics tools to your tech stack. Data is gold, but the right analytics tool should create less work for your team, not more. Choose wisely.

Team communication/project management: Communication tools can be a time suck if the tool is not a fit for the situation. Not to sound like a broken record, but start simply in this area and add on if your team needs it. Our team uses Slack, tying other parts of our tech stack to the app.

Make sure the tools for your tech stack play well with others. The cool, trending app in TechCrunch might not connect with your other tools. I’m an advocate of emerging technology but don’t choose emerging tech as one of the key elements in the foundation of your marketing tech stack.

Transparency and trust

Emerging technology has resulted in data vulnerabilities and distrust across the user experience, resulting in a shift in consumer behavior. But all is not lost.

Publicis Sapient and Google Cloud partnered with Ipsos to create the Data Collection & Consent Survey. One of the highlights of the survey of 5,000 consumers across multiple countries showed that people have a positive outlook on technology but a negative view of data collection.

The survey reported that most of those surveyed felt that technology positively impacted their personal lives. In addition, respondents in the US, Great Britain and Australia were overwhelmingly positive about technology, while France and Germany took a more neutral stance.

The most important thing to keep in mind about building a tech stack? Focus on people, not technology.

 

Sarah Evans, the founder of Sevans Strategy, is a digital strategist and global brand correspondent, who works with companies worldwide to create and improve their social and digital strategies, advising on branding, marketing, advertising and public relations. Additionally, Sarah is a digital correspondent for several companies including Paypal, Cox Communications, MGM International, Walmart, Shorty Awards and more. Sarah got her start by helping small to mid-size businesses build their digital PR efforts. Previously, Sarah worked with a Las Vegas crisis center to raise more than $161,000 in three weeks exclusively via social media, and is honored to be a member of the Guinness-World-Record-holding #beatcancer team.