As a leading Marketing Technology consultancy, we regularly get approached by our clients asking if we know of anyone in the market actively looking for a Marketing Automation role, preferably with a strong background in at least one of the leading Marketing Automation platforms.
The simple answer to this question is no.
It’s a hard fact to hear, but in all truth, there is a massive shortage of talent in this space, and due to the growing variety of martech out there, this shortage is being felt now more than ever. The challenge for senior marketers today is finding a way of retaining continuous martech support, but also ensuring those martech processes are documented appropriately in order to protect against losing that talent. Future proofing comes into play here, and outsourcing is the most reliable option in enabling this.
When businesses keep their martech in-house, it can begin to go wrong. Too many technologists merely dabble in the platforms, cementing insignificant technical gains that can’t really be transferred back into the business due to a lack of widespread martech knowledge. This is amplified once these high demand individuals leave the business, taking their skills and IP with them, leaving nothing documented and the business back at square one. This supports the fact that one person just cannot solve all of your martech needs, it takes a team to truly make the most of martech.
With this in mind, perhaps the best approach to martech might be to outsource the work to a business which regularly engages in martech as a multi-skilled discipline with a variety of skill sets, knowledge bases, and the advantages of project management, technical help, and documentation. A Marketing Technology Consultancy can do all of this for you with a guaranteed continuity of service for the cost of one full time in-house employee. When choosing a consultancy, you are investing in a full martech spine for your business, rather than a single person in-house who only has Marketing Automation skills. This is why multi-national organisations like Rackspace and VMware; advanced, and sophisticated users, adopt such an approach. In fact, they believe that they cannot afford to not outsource if they want to provide that guaranteed level of service and continuity to the business.
Organisations that provide these services have a larger range of capabilities, stronger understanding of the platforms, and a greater awareness of the way they integrate and work together in order to make the most out of their clients’ martech strategies. It all comes back to continuity and documentation. Can you achieve both without a martech partner? Or will you struggle to retain talent, and at the same time, keep the business up to date with their processes?
Outsourcing combines those key components of martech success; continuity and documentation, creating a legacy for your business that will prove martech's ROI for years to come, and that just isn’t possible when keeping it all in-house. The skills required for martech success simply do not exist in one person.
We’re not suggesting you outsource your marketing strategy, but outsourcing your martech capabilities or martech analytics might be the answer.
If you think this might be the case, please do get in touch.