The Secret To Martech: It’s Not About The Tech

In Bill Simmons’ Book of Basketball, he writes of the secret of basketball. He talks of meeting former NBA Champion, Isiah Thomas, who explains the the secret of basketball is that it’s not about basketball. Simmons relays the story from Thomas and explains that the key to assembling a winning basketball team has more to do with team chemistry and complementary skill sets than it does about pure basketball talent. 

In many ways, managing a Martech stack is not dissimilar to managing the roster of a modern NBA team. In basketball today, players are taller, faster, stronger and more talented than ever. But the best players are also more expensive and the league’s salary constraints means balancing team budgets while building a championship roster requires astute decision making and forward-thinking. 

Much of the same is true in the world of Martech. There has never been more to choose from. According to Scott Brinker’s latest Martech landscape, there are over 14,000 tools in the market to choose from. The AI revolution has only accelerated this trend.

Meanwhile, marketing budgets are dropping while demands of marketing performance are on the rise. 

I believe there are valuable lessons to be learned from the top NBA executives that we can take and apply to the world of Martech.

Build Your Culture

First and foremost, build around your culture. It is critical to know your organization’s values and core business systems and to build everything around these fundamentals. When selecting the right Martech vendor, it is critical to make sure their values align with your company’s values on compliance, privacy, and security. Integrations are vital here too – if the tools do not easily integrate with your existing core technology stack, then you are not setting yourself up for success.

Build Your Foundation

Second, focus on developing a solid foundation and then fill in the pieces around them. The defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, started with a talented young duo of stars, Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown, but didn’t manage to get over the hump until they found the right complimentary talent to round out the team. This approach works well in Martech. Once you have the right foundational tools such as your CMS, CRM and marketing automation platform, then it is time to find the right supporting tools that fill in the gaps and solve the niche use cases that will separate you from the competition. 

Work on Timing

Third, timing is key. In the NBA, finding a young, emerging talent can be transformative for a franchise. At the same time, overpaying an aging star can cause years of pain and setbacks. The same can be said in Martech. The industry changes quickly. The leaders in their category five to ten years ago may have strong brand recognition but their technology could be lagging behind the competition. If you do decide to take the plunge and upgrade to a new, flashier tool then make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Transitions are messy and rarely do new additions to your tech stack integrate seamlessly. It often takes months of tinkering and iterating to get everything working as it should.

As we head into next year’s planning mode, in-house marketing teams will be faced with a slew of tempting pitches on the next big thing. It is critical to remind ourselves that the key to successfully managing a Martech stack is not about getting the best tech. Instead, it requires building around our culture, focusing on a solid foundation and nailing the timing of transitioning to new tools. If you get all that right, then you should have a winning team.

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Originally Published on Martech Zone: The Secret To Martech: It’s Not About The Tech