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Winning the martech procurement process

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Winning the martech procurement process

Procuring and renewing tech and services is a big part of martech management. Parts of that are enjoyable – finding out what capabilities you can add to your stack, for one. And parts are not – getting everyone to sign off on each step of the process, for example. While it may not be fun, getting those OKs is essential to getting your job done. So here are some tips on how to handle it.

At most companies, martech procurement goes through a formal request process involving reviews by legal, finance, procurement, other IT professionals and maybe information security. This is when buyers in procurement are your friends.

That’s why it is essential to foster positive relationships with people in the decision-making process. You’re not alone and need to partner with others. As Taylor Swift will tell you, it’s all about #squadgoals. 

To be sure, we weren’t placed on earth to shepherd requests through all of these bureaucratic hoops. However, it’s important to understand the organizational hurdles so they don’t stymy marketing. 

Many people need to chime in

While everyone on the team should have at least a passing knowledge of this process, it’s best to pick a couple of people to handle them. They can be the SMEs who understand the needs and quirks of everyone involved. In particular, they should get to know the various approvers in the process early on. That way, when there’s a rush request from a VIP stakeholder, they’re more likely to get a positive response. 

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It’s also a good idea to get to know executive assistants and chiefs of staff. These folks can make a lot of things easier or a lot more difficult. They can also help track down the CEO mid-flight to approve or sign something. Something I’ve had to do!

Read next: How to leverage intent and engagement in the buying cycle

Gather the essential information

Keep in mind, anyone working closely with a C-suite approver is bombarded with requests from people who want that top exec to do something. So, when you get in touch, make their lives easier by having all the information they’re going to want. That way they will prioritize your request ahead of the ones requiring them to do more work. 

The essential information:

  • What’s needed? For instance, does the executive need to approve and/or sign something?
  • The why. What’s the justification for the purchase?
  • Who has OK’d it. If your organization doesn’t have a procurement system, you’ll need to get creative with documenting previous approvals.
  • What’s at stake? Is this saving us money? If this purchase isn’t made, who can’t do their job?
  • Deadlines. Does the exec need to sign a contract within the next two hours to get the special vendor discount? 

This will let the assistant understand exactly what needs to happen by when and why.

While all this may seem ancillary to your “real” job, it’s anything but. Getting martech procurement approval at the right time can literally be the difference between success and failure. To paraphrase the old proverb: For want of a signature, the campaign was lost.


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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


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About The Author

Steve Petersen is a marketing technology manager at Zuora. He spent nearly 8.5 years at Western Governors University, holding many martech related roles with the last being marketing technology manager. Prior to WGU, he worked as a strategist at the Washington, DC digital shop The Brick Factory, where he worked closely with trade associations, non-profits, major brands, and advocacy campaigns. Petersen holds a Master of Information Management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brigham Young University. He’s also a Certified ScrumMaster. Petersen lives in the Salt Lake City, UT area.

Petersen represents his own views, not those of his current or former employers.

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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More promotions and more layoffs

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More promotions and more layoffs

For martech professionals salaries are good and promotions are coming faster, unfortunately, layoffs are coming faster, too. That’s according to the just-released 2024 Martech Salary and Career Survey. Another very unfortunate finding: The median salary of women below the C-suite level is 35% less than what men earn.

The last year saw many different economic trends, some at odds with each other. Although unemployment remained very low overall and the economy grew, some businesses — especially those in technology and media — cut both jobs and spending. Reasons cited for the cuts include during the early years of the pandemic, higher interest rates and corporate greed.

Dig deeper: How to overcome marketing budget cuts and hiring freezes

Be that as it may, for the employed it remains a good time to be a martech professional. Salaries remain lucrative compared to many other professions, with an overall median salary of $128,643. 

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Here are the median salaries by role:

  • Senior management $199,653
  • Director $157,776
  • Manager $99,510
  • Staff $89,126

Senior managers make more than twice what staff make. Directors and up had a $163,395 median salary compared to manager/staff roles, where the median was $94,818.

One-third of those surveyed said they were promoted in the last 12 months, a finding that was nearly equal among director+ (32%) and managers and staff (30%). 

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Extend the time frame to two years, and nearly three-quarters of director+ respondents say they received a promotion, while the same can be said for two-thirds of manager and staff respondents.

Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams

Employee turnover 

In 2023, we asked survey respondents if they noticed an increase in employee churn and whether they would classify that churn as a “moderate” or “significant” increase. For 2024, given the attention on cost reductions and layoffs, we asked if the churn they witnessed was “voluntary” (e.g., people leaving for another role) or “involuntary” (e.g., a layoff or dismissal). More than half of the marketing technology professionals said churn increased in the last year. Nearly one-third classified most of the churn as “involuntary.”

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Men and Women

Screenshot 2024 03 21 124540Screenshot 2024 03 21 124540

This year, instead of using average salary figures, we used the median figures to lessen the impact of outliers in the salary data. As a result, the gap between salaries for men and women is even more glaring than it was previously.

In last year’s report, men earned an average of 24% more than women. This year the median salary of men is 35% more than the median salary of women. That is until you get to the upper echelons. Women at director and up earned 5% more than men.

Methodology

The 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey is a joint project of MarTech.org and chiefmartec.com. We surveyed 305 marketers between December 2023 and February 2024; 297 of those provided salary information. Nearly 63% (191) of respondents live in North America; 16% (50) live in Western Europe. The conclusions in this report are limited to responses from those individuals only. Other regions were excluded due to the limited number of respondents. 

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Download your copy of the 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey here. No registration is required.

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