Marketing and IT often have different objectives. Typically the Marketing group cares about getting more leads, more customers and growing revenue. The IT group is measured on whether they’ve implemented the right technologies, kept costs down and served the business. To be successful, there must be a high level commitment to the vision of what project will accomplish. This includes transcending the metrics the teams are measured on. In order to do this properly, roles and areas of responsibility for all members of the project team must be clearly defined.

Defining Relationship Roles and Responsibilities

The RACI model helps organizations define roles & responsibilities during a change process. The ‘A” stands for who is ultimately accountable for the success of the task, at a high level. The Marketing department should be responsible for defining the problem. They should also determine the vision for the business process. The IT department should be responsible for providing guidance on technologies. Implementation and ongoing support is IT’s responsibility. It is not enough to just define high level ownership, as the devil is always in the details – accountability for each step must be clearly defined.

What are the steps to implementing a new technology and who does what?

1. Defining the problem – This is typically the first step. Marketing needs to clearly define and communicate what the current challenge or opportunity is that they are trying to solve.
2. Defining desired outcomes – Next, Marketing must create a proposal to explain the problem or opportunity and get internal teams to buy in to try and solve it. For large enough projects it is important to have sponsors, preferably the CMO and the CIO to ensure alignment from the top down.
3. Defining the requirements – This stage of the project is an interesting one as either Marketing or IT could be accountable for this step. Keep in mind, whoever is writing the detailed requirements should have an understanding of the Marketing goals and a good idea of what can be achieved with technology.
4. Offering up technologies – The first decision that needs to be made is whether to build or buy. If the decision is to buy, or at least start by looking at what technologies are out there, this is usually a joint effort between the Marketing and IT teams. Though IT is ultimately accountable, it is critical to get buy in from the Marketing business folks as they will the the users of this technology.
5. Choosing a vendor – The next step is to choose a vendor and this is one where truly IT and Marketing have equal footing. Sometimes the owner of the budget has a little more say in the end decision, but at the end of the day the chosen solution must solve the business need and also meet IT standards.
6. Building and integrating the solution – This is where the handoff to IT begins. Depending on the decision that has been made, they build the solution or buy one and integrate it into the existing technology stack.
7. Project management – For any large project to be successful, you need a strong project manager. Since IT leads the implementation process, it makes sense for the IT team to be ultimately responsible for ensuring timeliness and quality.
8. Testing – Initial testing is usually owned by the IT team. Once they have determined the system is stable, they will hand over testing to the Marketing team. The Marketing team then validates that the requested functionality meets their need as defined in the requirements.
9. Launch – Once the new technology is ready, it should be treated like a product launch. The Marketing team needs to position the benefits of this new technology, train users and ensure adoption. Celebrating successes together is also important once the project has launched.
10. Ongoing maintenance – At the end of the day, the IT team is the team that supports all technical issues for the Marketing team. It is important for IT to have a good handle on what has been built, have resources to support it and also a relationship with the vendor to escalate issues if necessary.

Eliminating Breakups

Relationships are never easy, they take an immense amount of effort to maintain. To that end, if the relationship with your ‘work spouse’ is on rocky terrain, here is some wise counsel to encourage you to get back on the right track.

• The first, of course, is to follow a similar process to the one above. Lack of clarity around roles, areas of ownership and goals can cause a rift between Marketing and IT.
• Don’t go it alone. When the Marketing and IT leadership is not aligned, it sometimes results in either group managing to secure the budget and purchasing a rogue tool that may or may not meet Marketing’s needs or IT’s requirements. This serves no one well, ultimately making it a business management nightmare.
• Make critical decisions with the end in mind. When technology decisions are made for the sake of implementing shiny new technologies v.s. to enable a business need. If the technology does not solve a business problem, chances are adoption will be low and cause turmoil between the two teams.

Like a marriage, the relationship between IT and Marketing must be one of accountability, compromise and teamwork. Aligning these teams will ensure successful implementation of the technologies that solve business problems. And as you all work toward the success of your company, don’t forget to enjoy the ride!

This problem isn’t new. For over a decade, marketers have been trying to determine how to make our content stand apart. We’ve written from different perspectives, we’ve wrapped it in creative call-to-actions and tried to engage our audience explaining why our content is more unique and valuable than the other guys. So how do we stand apart? How does our content rise above the rest?

We need to think differently. We need to start being human. Let’s imagine that all the web’s content is represented by a city. What brings that city to life? It’s people. When we think of our hometown, we think in context of our personal relationships and experiences. We don’t think of the data (i.e. population or square miles). We think of the high school we went to and the crushes we had. We think of our first job and how tough the manager was. These stories provide the context for the city.

Principles to Humanize Marketing Automation

If we recognize that storytelling humanizes us and is a vital ingredient to our marketing efforts, how do we incorporate it into our marketing automation processes?

• Become a farmer: Many of the expectations placed on sales and marketing teams is about quantity vs. quality. Skills are often based on the ability to convert or win. These terms immediately describe an “us vs. them” mentality. This is not how we build relationships. In a post written by Sean Jackson, he describes the value of thinking like a farmer vs. a salesperson.
  

  “But the farmer has a major advantage over the hunter. While the hunters must go into new territories each day to stalk their prey, farmers stay in one place, planting new seeds and reaping the fruits of their efforts on the same ground they have toiled over already. In return, the land they till becomes infinitely more valuable because it can consistently reap a harvest without the hits and misses of hunting.”

  You’ve likely heard the phrase lead nurturing? It’s marketing speak for building relationships. It’s staying in one place, listening to your customers and adding value by meeting their needs at each stage of the buying journey. But we can’t accomplish this by trying to “hunt for sales”, this must be done by building trust over time, adding value at each step.

• The power of empathy: Many articles have been written about the power of empathy in business. To think like a customer means that we have walked in their shoes. This goes beyond understanding the buying journey or the customer need. When we have walked in our customers shoes, we connect with them on a personal level. We are far more understanding of their needs when we understand their story. Michael Hinshaw states this about the customer experience:
  

  “Several studies back up the fact that no matter who your customers are (B2B or B2C), there’s a high price to pay for delivering a poor customer experience. The thing is, customer experience is really based on how your customers feel. And one of the best ways to make them feel better about the experience is to listen them, understand their concerns, and deliver empathetic service across multiple touchpoints.”

  So delivering a positive customer experience is more than simply knowing what kind of product they use. It’s having knowledge about how and why they use it. If you sell shampoo, you need to know what kind of hair they have, why they chose the shampoo, then deliver value around the entire experience. What do they need before, during and after they shampoo their hair? This information helps create customer empathy. When we deliver this kind of content via our automation processes, it will show that we have listened and seek to provide real value along the way.

• Getting personal: In his latest book X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, Brian Solis outlines the importance of the customer experience. It’s going beyond the data. It’s about getting personal.
  

  “Big data provides great information about customers’ interests, personal and professional networks, location, and many other characteristics. But creating meaningful experiences requires us to get more personal than just mining data. One of my least favorite expressions is, “It’s not personal; it’s only business.”

  This is where the rubber meets the road. Data gives us a limited view of our customers. It shows us open rates, but doesn’t reveal intent. It shows us downloads, but doesn’t indicate purpose. We must take the additional step to “micro-mine” the data. How do we do that? We must be curious. We must gather valuable insights. What are your customers interests, values and opinions? “Data storytellers” (or analysts) have the unique ability to reveal information that do reveal incredibly accurate stories about our audience. Gathering and listening to these stories will help us further humanize our content and create experiences that are meaningful and personal.

The Tactics of Humanization

In order to humanize our marketing automation efforts we must critically look at each interaction during the customer experience as it relates to our communications and determine how we humanize it. Here are a few thoughts to get you started.

• Be Relational: This goes without saying. Create an experience where your customer sees you as a real live person, not a large organization or automated system. Use the proper tags (first name, etc.) from your automation system to relate to your audience. If your customers all have a specific kind of goldfish, then tell them that you are running a special for that kind of goldfish. Speak in an authentic personal tone. Business speak will get you a one way ticket to Irrelevant-ville.
• Segmentation: Another way to humanize our marketing automation is to use one of the most powerful tools in our automation toolbox, segmentation. When we cast a broad net with our marketing and communication, it robs us of our ability to be relevant. Take the time to segment your audience into very specific groups. This will allow you to create communications that are personal and relevant. When we can provide very targeted messages that relate to our customers on a personal level, it will feel human.
• Logical Campaign Flow: This can be tricky. Now that we have this shiny new automation system, it’s tempting to automate our every interaction. But proceed with caution. Remember what it feels like to be the customer. If they don’t answer your email, then sending them another one the next day, is not good relationship building practice. Step back and consider the buying journey. At what steps are decisions being made? When does it make sense to re-engage your audience? Take time to ask some of your existing customers about their journey.
• Consider the Entire Customer Experience: The best way to add value and relate to your customer is to acknowledge them not only before and during the sale, but after it as well. Too often our marketing efforts stop at the cash register. Don’t allow the dollar signs to get in the way of delivering exceptionally personal experience by following up. Are there other areas of the customer experience you can add value to? How did their experience with your product or service go? Were they satisfied?

This is not an easy task. It takes an immense amount of time to walk in the shoes of your customer. From the moment they discover the need, all the way through the moment their need is met, and beyond. But just as any relationship takes time to develop, so does automating your marketing. Marketing Automation is still relatively new. While the systems are vast, there is a simple philosophy that your team should adhere to before generating the campaigns, emails and landing pages that will capture your audience’s attention. It’s the philosophy of making every interaction human.

The business is an interesting collection of talented individuals. They’re comprised of educators, strategists, programmers, artists, designers and more. The variety of talent gives them an advantage over their competition. But more importantly, their collaboration creates innovative solutions for their clients.

The solutions they produce are highly visual in nature. These large images help communicate strategy so that employees can understand the “big picture”. Associates can then have a dialogue with their peers about important, strategic issues. The visuals unlock understanding, that words so often, can not.

The Team

The outcome of these engagements were often riddled with “a-ha” moments. They are moments when an employee would stop and say “I get it!”. The visuals provided a much clearer picture than a presentation filled with bullet points. But the visual isn’t born out of thin air. It takes a close partnership between the business strategist and the creative artist.

The development of these visuals always begins with the problem. It starts with the team sitting down with the client and listening to the challenges they face. Each team member hears the problem from their own point of view. These unique perspectives add immense value to the solution. In today’s marketplace, the collaboration between marketing and software development teams will become invaluable. This partnership can spark innovation and will be more powerful when they work together. And as marketing continues to move online, development must have a seat at the table. They will play a vital role in growing the customer relationship.

The Collaboration

This partnership between the artist and the strategist is important. Even though their views are different, the goal of engaging associates is the same. Likewise, the collaboration between technology and marketing is critical. These two functions have operated in silos. They are focused on their own goals, without consideration for the other.

The collaboration between marketing and software development will become invaluable and more powerful when they work together.

The collective reset button needs pressed. Teams should tear down their silos and realign on the purpose and goals set out by the organization. What is that purpose and goal? Creating seamless user experiences that add value at every stage of the customer relationship. Media buyers used to operate in lock step with marketing, and many still do today. They work together to understand how customers buy products. But communication channels are changing. Digital is now how we reach and connect with our audiences. Many organizations must work to help teams come out of the dark ages. They must forge bridges of awareness and understanding.

The Approach

So what approach do we take when aligning marketing and development? Marketing automation is a perfect place to start. These two teams must converge to meet today’s customer demands. Just like the artist and the strategist, aligning around the common goal is where we start. People would always wonder how an artist and strategist could work together. With a common goal, these two different views always produced incredible results.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the roles of marketing and software development. Although unique, they are two sides of the same coin. How does this collaboration work effectively?

• Listening: Strong developers and designers always begin by listening. Both these roles need a thorough understanding of the problem. This understanding is important before thinking through the problem and crafting the solution.
• Design: Any approach to solving a problem requires a big picture view. This view reveals all the elements that may impact the desired solution. Trusted marketers understand the entire customer experience and likewise, trusted developers are focused on creating structure and order in their code.
• Focus: Good marketing and design requires simplicity. There should be one single theme or idea. Great developers create beautiful code that works well with as little “extra” fluff as possible. This focus removes clutter and aligns our efforts.
• Vision: One of the most important elements that developers and marketers exhibit is vision. Marketing should take into account customer buying trends and consider feedback from their audience. Developers should also look ahead. Potential problems should be identified and resolved before they become an issue.

This approach, combined with a common goal, will create more meaningful value. And at the end of the day, that is what we want for our customers.

Marketing automation is becoming a more integrated way to do business in the digital age. It’s clear that these two roles not only have common ground, but approach their work in a similar way.

We are excited about the community of Mauticians that represent both marketing and development. It has, and will continue to, provide us with the ability to meet the needs of organizations around the world. It is in this special collaboration that we can provide tools to help you reach, engage and develop relationships with your audience.

This year, one of the conference tracks in the “Marketing Reinvented” category is titled, “If It Looks and Sounds Like TV…Is It TV?”. Having worked in the video/TV industry before, it got me thinking about all the change that has occurred.

I used to sell all kinds of video equipment; cameras, routers, tape decks, character generators and more. It was during the mid-80’s when there was a lot of industry disruption. Jurassic Park had become a box office hit. It was a thrilling blend of digital video and 3D animation. More post production facilities and television stations were taking notice, wanting their shows to standout in the same way. Digital video was becoming the new normal, leading to disruption…and change.

The traditional video and digital video industries were on a collision course. Many industry experts claimed that traditional Hi8 tape was better quality, and that viewers would be able to tell the difference and reject digital video altogether. Well, we all know how that story ends. Can you say #netflixeverywhere?

Today, almost all video is digital. Although there are a few holdouts (Star Wars Episode VII was shot on Kodak film), it isn’t for the reasons you might think. So what does this disruption have to do with marketing automation?

I’m glad you asked.

Some marketing experts would have you believe that marketing can’t be automated. We agree. Marketing is about playing the long game. It is not a finite activity. It has been, and always will be, about communication. It’s about the sharing needs and challenges, then ultimately listening and understanding them. We are all seeking solutions to our problems. If you’re like me, you probably solve your problem this way;

• Your toilet breaks.
• You search Google and enter the problem statement; “toilet keeps running after flushed“
• You scan search results to find an answer/solution/video that seems to resolve the problem.
• You then view the content to confirm the problem and proposed solution.
• You might purchase a product/service to assist in fixing the toilet.

Have you ever solved a problem this way? I’m guessing 9 out of 10 of you have. This disruption is the modern day “digital video”. We aren’t calling the local handyman to assist us in solving our problem. We are going online.

For many supporters of marketing automation, this represents a huge opportunity. It provides us with the ability to make a connection and learn more about our customers around the world. Automation seeks to understand and connect customers to solutions in a manner that is efficient and user friendly. Some wonder if placing more technology between the customer and the product/service is harmful to the buying process, ultimately disrupting customer relationship development. These individuals think marketing is about the short game. You know, the same folks that thought Hi8 was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Many have gathered at CES this week to see the latest products in consumer electronics. They are seeking new solutions to problems and needs that exist in the marketplace today. Just as Mautic has created disruption in our industry, we look forward to seeing all the other disruptive products that provide simplicity, accessibility and convenience to consumers.

But before discussing how to contribute, let us briefly talk about Mauticians. You’ll often hear this term as you get involved in our community. Mauticians are the backbone of our community. They’re amazing volunteers who contribute their time and skills to improve Mautic. They come from diverse backgrounds and skill levels, united by a common goal: to improve Mautic.

However, this article will focus on how you, as a developer, can engage and contribute to Mautic through code contributions and pull request testers.

Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting out, we offer opportunities for everyone. By contributing to Mautic, you’ll help shape our platform’s future and connect with a global community of passionate individuals.

Now, how can you get started contributing to Mautic?

Familiarize Yourself with GitHub

Our project lives on GitHub, and we assume you already have an account there. If not, go to their official website and create one.

Then, try to understand the GitHub basics. Learn essential concepts like repositories, branches, commits, and pull requests. Afterward, explore advanced features such as forking, merging, and resolving merge conflicts. At this point, it’s also important to learn the basic Git command to help you later with code contribution.

We won’t discuss these concepts in this article. However, you can read the official GitHub documentation to familiarize yourself with GitHub and the Git Guide to learn about basic Git commands.

Explore Mautic Issues and Pull Requests

Once you understand the basics of Git and GitHub, the next step is to explore issues and pull requests in our repository.

If you’re familiar with the tech stack we use at Mautic and want to contribute right away, you can explore the open issues available in our repository. You must search for those that are not assigned to anyone. Look at the “Assignee” tab to see which are still available. When it’s still empty, it’s still available to work on.

Tip: Leave a comment to ask to be assigned to an issue. Only claim another issue after you finish the one assigned to you so you don’t get overwhelmed.

As we said, there’s always opportunity for everyone, regardless of skill level. So, if you’re unsure and want to learn Mautic’s codebase and how things work, one of the best ways is to help us review and test the open pull requests. Head to the “Pull requests” tab and look for a pull request you want to test.

Depending on your skill level and familiarity with our project, we provide labels to help you choose which issue you can work on or pull requests you can review and test.

Understand Issues and Pull Requests Labeling System

Whether you are a new developer or new to Mautic, our labeling system will help you find and decide which issue or pull request to test or work on. So, what labels are they?

T1

If you’re a beginner or someone new to Mautic, we recommend you search for an issue or a pull request with this label. It requires minimal coding experience and takes a relatively short time to test. This label usually concerns small changes such as typo fixing, small bug fixes, translation changes, minor UI improvements, or minor enhancements.

T2

The T2 label indicates issues and pull requests that are more complex than the T1. It requires more time, intermediate coding skills, and problem-solving abilities. Issues and pull requests with this label may require you to create an external services (e.g., Salesforce/HubSpot) account for testing.

T3

Issues and pull requests with this label are the most complex, demanding advanced coding knowledge and experience. They might touch multiple parts of Mautic, change large amounts of code, or completely change how some aspects of the code work.

Other Labels

There are other labels besides what is mentioned above to give you information on what type of issue or pull requests they are. To understand their meaning, hover over each label to see the information.

Search Issues and Pull Requests with Specific Labels on GitHub

You can use the filter options to locate specific labels. This will give you a list of issues or pull requests with the labels. You can filter and search one or multiple labels. Here is the way to do that:

1. Search One Label

To search one particular label, once you’re in the “Issues” or “Pull requests” tab, click the “Label” dropdown at the top. Scroll down or type the label you want to search in the input, then click the label name.

2. Search Multiple Labels

If you want to search more than one label, you can type them in the search input right on top of the issues or pull requests list. For example, `is:open is:issue label:bug label:T1`. This means you want to find open issues with “bug” and “T1” labels.

Start Contributing and Be a Mautician!

Now, you have the knowledge to start contributing to Mautic and join our community.

If you’re ready to contribute, you can find more detailed information in our Contributing to Mautic Guide for Developer and Code governance pages. Take your time to read them before contributing.

Lastly, we are excited to welcome you as a fellow Mautician!

You Need to Friend & Follow!

The other thing we notice is that when the technology is the hottest trend everyone wants to be a part. This leads to some of the craziest use-cases you will see. Let me give you an example: I noticed recently that the chain gas station down the road from my house has a giant sign asking me to like their Facebook page and to follow them on twitter. I think this perfectly typifies this technology-colored glasses. Why would I need to friend a gas station franchise on Facebook or follow their tweets? Now perhaps they have a very good reason for creating this social media presence and there is a real target audience they have created a marketing strategy around capturing. But my first thought is they have simply latched on to something they see as “trendy” tech and wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Ironically so I think since Facebook is over a decade old now and Twitter also is no longer the latest and greatest. But the pervasive nature of attempting to be fashionable in tech is clearly evident.

The Need For Marketing Automation

What does any of this have to do with marketing automation? While the previous two paragraphs may feel a bit like two separate issues or topics what you will soon come to realize is how each plays a critical role in the current state of marketing automation and what I consider to be the technology trap.

Marketing automation at one point around 10 years ago was the hot new software technology. It had features and abilities that went far beyond anything else available at the time. Everything from email campaigns (sending emails over a specific time period), to lead nurturing and lead profiling were features found in this new and exciting area of technology. And customers jumped at the opportunity to try and implement this software in their business. Many were admittedly enamored by new and shiny technology and willing to suffer through the occasional bug or struggle with a hard-to-use lackluster UI. Fast-forward 10 years and you now see the overwhelming interest in marketing automation by all companies and organizations. Everyone sees marketing automation as technology they need. This is how marketing automation touches on both of the introductory two paragraphs. But what does this mean? Where does the problem lie and how does this lead to a marketing automation trap?

The Marketing Automation Trap

In the first paragraph we discussed the trendiness of the software and how forgiving we were of new techology. But there’s a key word in that sentence. New. When software is new and when the company providing the software is active, listening and fixing issues then we are content to continue to use the software. The minute that progress fails to continue or the bugs in the software become persistent rather than fixable we begin to lose interest and become disgruntled users. Marketing automation has begun to reach that point. The existing software is now old, overwhelmed with bolt-on features and generally slow. Bugs exist for months without being fixed and users are becoming less and less tolerant of issues. This is the first marketing automation tech trap.

The Marketing Automation Magic Tool?

The second side of the trap relates to market saturation and a belief which tends to surround technology in marketing automation. Marketing automation technology can appear to be a glamorous and quick solution to increasing leads and sales. The idea that this software can be a magic bullet for increased revenue is overwhelmingly compelling. Every company at every size wants this technology to instantly turnaround their sales. But here is the trap. Many believe marketing automation is a fantastic technology that solves all their problems. The truth is much different. Marketing automation is a powerful tool to be used by skilled marketing experts. Please let me repeat that sentiment: Marketing automation is technology and a tool to be used by a business to accomplish a goal.

The Mechanics of A Hammer

Here’s a simple analogy: think of marketing automation as a hammer. You wouldn’t buy a hammer and then expect a house to magically be built. You would expect to pick up the hammer and use the tool to accomplish your goal of building a house. But you would have to understand the mechanics of the hammer (duh, that’s easy!) as well as how to use the hammer most effectively to build a house.

Marketing automation is a tool to be used. If the technology struggles or falters than an alternate solution will be created and the market will shift to the new and the shiny new thing, in this case, that new thing is Mautic, a revolutionary marketing automation platform built on open source technology, powered by a global community, and available for everyone to use at no cost. Bugs are fixed quickly, improvements are constantly being made and the open source community means a democratized approach to new features and quick, successful, iterations.

Secondly this Mautic community is actively working to build an ecosystem of learning and education around the best practices for using marketing automation. You can use this community to quickly become knowledgable about how to use the marketing automation “hammer” and build your business. Never forget, software and great technology is only a tool to be used to accomplish your goals. Don’t fall into the marketing automation tech trap.