Less is more: The upside to downsizing your tech stack under threat of recession
Stricter regulations on data and consumer privacy, skyrocketing costs of traditional advertising platforms, and Apple’s roll-out of iOS 14 have made it much harder for marketers to acquire and engage with customers.
Whether or not we enter a recession, companies must have a plan to weather the storm. As the cost to deliver the same results goes up, the key to success lies in doing more with what you have. Jamie Hoey, Wunderkind's Australian general manager, explains how you can do so.
Under the continued threat of recession, marketers are being forced back to the drawing board to evaluate what’s really working, what’s not, and what can drive the most value. Looking ahead, there are both challenges and opportunities that will determine a brand’s success. This involves taking a hard look at their tech stack, not just at what’s getting used, but deciding what’s having the biggest impact.
While it may seem counterintuitive, this means potentially downsizing your tech stack and doing more with less – so you can focus on more impactful activities to drive the best results.
Trimming the fat from your tech stack
While having a tool for every situation may sound perfect, the reality often costs marketers their money and sanity. Either through managing old, outdated, and obsolete tools, or through the underutilisation of tech that doesn’t fulfil the proper need.
On average, marketers are utilising less than 42 per cent of their martech stack. The result is some unnecessary spend and mountains of untapped value marketers could be leveraging. With budgets continually strained, marketers simply can’t afford to spend precious dollars that aren’t bringing a return on investment.
What’s often the cause of this underutilisation is a lack of understanding about if, or how, these tools connect to one another. A poorly considered, disjointed marketing stack will create more barriers than it’s able to solve and leave key insights lost in the haze.
While the economic uncertainty has many re-evaluating their budgets, in it lies an increased opportunity to look internally and review where processes can be automated or scaled and provides a chance to re-familiarise yourself on the tools in your arsenal. This will maximise as much customer understanding from your existing tools and ensure you’re focusing on the end consumer rather than the latest and brightest tech.
At a time when connecting with the right customer in the right way at the right time is crucial, you’ll have a clearer picture of your software and can use this to understand and appropriately allocate your performance spend.
Doing more with less
Considering today’s economic environment – when money is tight and people are watching their pennies – it’s likely they’ll spend more time shopping around and making considered purchases than usual.
In this instance, it becomes even more crucial to understand your customers. What gets you closer and what provides this insight into your database is the crucial piece.
Instead of thinking solely about acquisition, it’s now about retention. Customer retention relies on knowing who your customers are, their needs and how best to reach them. Identifying and understanding your customers translates to improved customer relationships, increased loyalty and helps brands keep up with ever-evolving purchasing habits.
First-party data is the holy grail. It includes everything from demographics to specific interactions customers have had on your website and allows you the ability to understand your customer at a more granular level than is possible from third-party data you get from Google or Facebook. This is what makes it so powerful and the key to navigating your way towards connecting with your customers.
The market has changed, and our strategies must evolve in tandem with our customers’ needs and expectations. It’s about getting smart about the tech we use and maximising the value we get from owned channels to get a holistic personalised view of the customer and win them over at the right moment.
Your technology stack can be the key to your competing and thriving during a recession. The current threat of recession provides an opportunity to look across your business to re-evaluate your tech stack and learn more about your customers. Ensuring you’re fuelling your business with the right technologies is going to allow you to do more with less and ultimately, recession-proof your tech stack.
Jamie Hoey is general manager for Australia, Wunderkind
