More marketers are getting involved in purchasing marketing software, but the technology vendors aren’t speaking their language.
A joint survey of 229 marketers conducted by Ruder Finn and Brand Republic, revealed how technology purchase decisions were increasingly being made by marketers, instead of IT. Compared to last year, 45% said that marketing was involved to a great extent and 46% said it was involved in some extent in marketing technology purchase decisions.
Yet, despite increased interactions with marketing teams, the survey showed that marketing software makers weren’t the exactly the best communicators:
– 52% of the marketers said the messaging from the technology vendors was too focused on a tech audience.
– 30% said they didn’t understand the goals of the marketers.
– 46% said the language was too technical.
This highlights the big disconnect between marketers and the companies creating software for them. The best vendors will ideally employ several former marketers to craft a product that accurately fulfills marketing goals for the customer. More importantly, tech vendors must realize they’re not just selling to the CIO anymore. As the survey shows, we’re increasingly seeing creatives, and non-technical people become part of the software purchasing process. The language being used by vendors needs to become simpler, less jargon laden, and more reflective of the people using the software, rather than those building it.
Another useful bit of information for marketing platform makers is how marketers want to be engaged. Here’s a chart illustrating the preferred channel of communication for the respondents in the survey:
Turns out a good old-fashioned email is still the way to go when it comes to capturing sales prospects. Just make sure not to ever call them.
Check out insights from the rest of the study in the infographic below:
