Why do so many companies fall short in generating value from their marketing technology? As the digital aspects of marketing grow more prominent, investments keep rising. Some 57% of marketers responding to the 2024 MarTech Replacement Survey reported that the number of applications in their stack rose by one to five solutions that year. Yet, in another MarTech survey, many said they can’t measure the effect of these systems, citing challenges in data infrastructure and stack integration (66% of respondents).

Marketing executives feel the challenges in several ways. They may wonder why they can’t personalize offerings effectively across channels, since they have the tools to do so. Or they lack a convincing answer to the chief information officer’s question, “Do we really need another platform to manage data?” Similarly with the chief financial officer’s demand, “Where is the ROI on all this marketing technology spending?”

For companies that orchestrate their technology effectively, the competitive advantage is significant. Marketing leaders are twice as likely to have a fully mature marketing technology stack, Bain & Company’s most recent marketing survey finds. (We define leaders as companies with market share growth of at least 7% in the previous year, or share growth of at least 4% and revenue growth of at least 11%; laggards are those with declining market share or share growth below 3% and no revenue growth.)

What marketing leaders do differently

The leaders use technology to push the boundaries of personalization and channel orchestration even as data privacy regulations expand. In developing and deploying technology to gain a competitive advantage, they do several key things that any company can learn from. 

Choose a primary platform with bespoke enhancements for the most valuable use cases. Leaders do not rely on out-of-the-box solutions, nor do they cobble together a pile of different point solutions. Leaders are 1.2 times more likely than laggards to use a primary platform with select best-of-breed tools layered in, with some customization of the tools (see Figure 1). Customization focuses only on the most valuable areas.

There is no single best primary platform. Instead, leaders play to their strengths, determining the most important marketing vehicle for their business. If first-party data underpins results, choosing a top-notch customer data platform can be the right answer. If compelling content and storytelling form the heart of a strategy, a platform with an excellent content management infrastructure may be the best anchor.

Actively integrate tools. Our survey finds that leaders are 2 times more likely than laggards to actively integrate and leverage tools for measurable impact (see Figure 2).

A well-integrated stack requires an operating model that connects the technology team to the business team, with each team understanding the needs and capabilities of the other. Airbnb, for example, developed a low-code solution that makes it easy for nontechnical users to build and deliver personalized notifications to guests and hosts based on their engagement with the online homestay marketplace.   

Use cutting-edge tools. Leaders are 8 times more likely than laggards to use AI-powered and highly customizable tools (see Figure 3).

Leaders’ use of bespoke, cutting-edge solutions for the highest-value priorities carries over to AI.  As companies embark on using AI to transform how work gets done, they risk overlooking the existing tools available in their technology stack. Laggards either don’t know where to start or waste time and investment in elaborate building plans. By contrast, leaders tailor tools for the critical high-value cases and take advantage of existing AI tools for the rest.

Chewy’s data-centered personalized approach

Chewy, a digital shop for pet owners, excels at using technology to understand and address its customers’ priorities. To start, it has created rich customer profiles based on customer-provided data, call center interactions, and online browsing history. For these customer insights, Chewy also relies on partner technologies such as segmentation services from MessageGears and customer relationship management through Braze.

Chewy turns this data into personalized recommendations for pet owners. It then orchestrates a delightful experience by understanding when and how to interact with customers at each stage. This includes handwritten postcards to customers on their pet’s birthday and automated reminders for food, medicine, and gear based on purchase history and pet profiles. The net effect is a service that syncs tightly with customers’ pet care priorities. For Chewy, it has led to high customer loyalty scores and strong, profitable revenue growth.

Three questions to steer technology choices

Marketers can uncover gaps in their technology and then map a path to generating value by asking three high-gain questions:

• What are our key factors of growth, and how does our technology help measure and optimize those factors? Technology cannot deliver value unless it focuses acutely on serving the company’s strategy.
• How much shelfware do we have? Before adding new complexity to the stack, it pays to revisit vendor contracts to maximize value from existing tools. Often, further data and input integration can yield more value from those tools. Similarly, companies should deploy best-of-breed tools on the highest-value use cases.
• Which AI solutions are on our development roadmap? Building all AI tools from scratch can add years to achieving a desired step-change improvement in marketing ROI. Many marketing technology suites come with dozens of out-of-the box AI tools, and the leaders pilot them first, reserving custom-made tools only for high-value areas.

The companies pulling ahead aren’t simply spending more on marketing technology. They’re making more deliberate, better-integrated bets. They demand that every tool earn its place. And they update work processes to use the tools more efficiently. These leaders put technology to work strategically, treating it as a lever for growth.