🎛️ Marketing ops shouldn't perform procurement

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Oct 01, 2021

Good morning, Marketer, and how important to you is your CRM?

As we note in the Terminus news below, it seems to be open season on CRMs. Now, there’s nothing exactly new in that; people have been complaining for years that sales reps have neither the time nor the inclination to constantly refresh CRM data, and indeed that has bred a whole career category of CRM administrators.

But there does seem to be a growing chorus singing the tune that the CRM should be a minor part of the B2B marketing stack, not the hub where everything happens. Yes, maybe it needs to record deal closings, but the process that leads up to that should take place largely elsewhere — in sales enablement tools which sit on top of the CRM, in something like Oracle’s new Fusion Marketing offering, or -— according to Terminus -— in a CDP. Look at what Terminus executive Matt Belkin has to say in the quote at the foot of the newsletter.

Is CRM still important to you? Or is it just something sales should worry about? Let me know: [email protected]

Kim Davis
Editorial Director

Operations

Marketing ops shouldn’t perform procurement

It would run counter to almost everything we’ve said on the subject at MarTech to propose that marketing ops professionals — the people who execute within the marketing tech stack — should not have a seat at the table when it comes to marketing tech procurement.

That’s not what Steve Petersen is arguing in his latest contribution. What he is saying is that, outside of an emergency, marketing ops shouldn’t be running procurement processes (not, at least, in organizations large enough to employ professional buyers).

The reasons? Marketing ops professionals don’t have the negotiating skills of procurement professionals; they have less ability to assess the overall health of the vendor they’re buying from; and they don’t necessarily have the view across procurements by all departments within an organization.

Do what you’re paid to do, is the message, and not someone else’s job.

What do marketing attribution and predictive analytics tools do?

Marketing attribution and predictive analytics platforms employ sophisticated statistical modeling and machine learning to evaluate the impact of each marketing touch a buyer encounters along a purchase journey across all channels, with the goal of helping marketers allocate future spending.

Platforms with predictive analytics capabilities also use data, statistical algorithms and machine learning to predict future outcomes based on historical data and scenario building. In this concise summary, learn what these platforms do, how vendors differentiate themselves and the specific benefits of using these types of platforms.

Gauging the relative success of each of your marketing tactics is important no matter which way the economic winds are currently blowing. But when budgets are tight, as they are now with the economic uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the prospect of eliminating waste is especially resonant.

What are the key elements of successful ABM strategies?

The B2B sales process is notorious for its length and the “hiccups” that can occur when it’s time for prospective customers to get internal buy-in. ABM solves this problem by putting the right messages in front of key decision-makers at target accounts. MarTech’s “Account-Based Marketing Tools: A Marketer’s Guide” examines the market for these tools and the considerations involved in implementation. This 46-page report looks at why B2B companies use ABM software and describes the key elements of successful ABM strategies and the capabilities ABM tools provide. It also compares 13 top vendors.

Learn more »

ABM

Terminus acquires B2B CDP Zylotech

ABM platform Terminus today announced the acquisition of independent CDP Zylotech, founded by Abhi Yadav and Iqbal Kaur in 2014. Zylotech is a purpose-built B2B CDP with a customer base including Google, Cisco and Dell. Zylotech will now operate as the Terminus Customer Data Platform.

In a release, David Raab, founder of the CDP Institute, said “CDP is becoming more widely adopted in B2B, as companies recognize their marketing automation and CRM systems are not enough to provide true data unification and sharing. By acquiring Zylotech, Terminus positions itself – and its clients – to take full advantage of the capabilities that a CDP provides.”

Yadav, who served as CTO at Zylotech, will join Terminus as Head of Platform Innovation.

Why we care. There are two things to pay attention to here. First, Terminus says the acquisition makes it the only ABM platform with a standalone CDP purpose-built for B2B. Competitor Demandbase might claim that its Sales Intelligence Cloud, built on the acquisition of InsideView, serves a similar function. But we don’t have to adjudicate that right now.

The second notable point is that Terminus frames the value of the acquisition very much in terms of the perpetual inaccuracy and incompleteness of CRM data. Following the recent Oracle news, it seems to be open season on CRMs.

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Quote of the day

“Congrats to the entire Zylotech team and welcome to Terminus!! Honored and humbled to work together as we stomp out bad CRM data.” Matt Belkin, EVP, Data, Strategy, and Partnerships, Terminus