Editorial
The Gist
- Emerging concept. Using "customer technology" as an alternative term to "marketing technology."
- Budgeting benefit. Reframing marketing value with "customer technology."
- Strategic shift. "Customer technology" for a more customer-centric approach.
My colleague, Frans Riemersma, recently published a book titled "A Small Book on Customer Technology." The book is a guide and quick reference intended to facilitate communications between non-marketing stakeholders (e.g., CFO, CEO, IT, procurement) and marketing technologists. Those communications are now happening with greater frequency with technology consuming a significant part of the marketing budget, marketing technology being used beyond the boundaries of marketing, generative AI and capturing everyone’s attention and imagination. I think the book is a great idea — it makes the marketing technology landscape very accessible.
Exploring the Use of 'Customer Technology' Instead of 'Marketing Technology'
Frans and I speak every two weeks and have done so almost since the beginning of COVID. He’s in Amsterdam, and I’m in Boston. It’s fun to share perspectives on what’s happening in the industry and in our specific regions and to compare notes on various technology categories.
When he first mentioned the book, I was surprised that he chose the terminology "customer technology" instead of "marketing technology," particularly since he collaborates with Scott Brinker to produce the MartechMap. Frans uses customer technology synonymously with marketing technology and as an umbrella term that encapsulates: Ads & Promotions, Content & Experience, Social & Relationships, Commerce & Sales, Data and Management and all 49 sub-categories underneath those headers. He further goes on to divide customer technology into two sub-categories: Native (used exclusively by marketing) and Borrowed (used by marketing and other departments across the organization, e.g., CRM).
Redefining Martech: 'Customer Technology' as a Customer-Driven Unifying Term
Why the change in terminology? Frans makes the case that customer technology is different from the technology we use internally to advance our own business operations and efficiency — in that it is used to engage and connect externally with customers and has to be considered in the context of customer behavior and needs. With customer technology it is the customer driving the technology needs and requirements — external influence vs. internal influence. All of this makes a lot of sense to me. There is a case to be made for embracing the terminology of "customer technology."
- It solves the problem of what is martech vs. salestech vs. servicetech vs. adtech and any disputes about whether martech encompasses all of those categories. They all fit nicely under the umbrella of customer technology (and were included in the MartechMap for years).
- It is a more intuitive term when speaking to stakeholders outside the marketing perimeter.
Related Article: A Definitive Checklist to Reduce Marketing Technology Sprawl
Using 'Customer Technology' Terminology to Mitigate Impact of Marketing Budget Cuts
It is the second reason above that has me thinking hard about embracing customer technology terminology. Whenever companies face financial challenges and are forced to freeze or pull back on spending, it seems that marketing is one of the first organizations to come under scrutiny and directed to reduce expenses. I’ve lost count of the number of marketing teams over the last year that have told me they have no ability to buy technology or hire staff, or that they’ve lost key members of their team due to budget cuts. When I hear these stories, I always think, “Doesn’t the executive team know they are impacting the organization’s ability to acquire and retain customers?”
While in many cases cuts in marketing may be impossible to avoid, I wonder if the depth of those cuts could be mitigated by reframing how we communicate the value of what we have in place in the context of customer technology and the role that marketing plays in acquiring, engaging, retaining customers and in creating the customer experience. It seems to me that framing the conversation in the context of the impact to the customer and explaining how technology is connected to the customer journey and experience would lead to a far better conversation about how, when and where to make cuts and the associated implications of doing that, and hopefully lead to a better outcome for marketing and its ultimate performance.
Related Article: Defining Your Marketing Technology Philosophy
From Marketing to Customer Technology: A Potential Game-Changer in Business Strategy
When I searched on the term “customer technology” it appears that when used it is most often in the context of tools that are used to create the customer experience. Depending on how broadly you want to define customer experience this could cover a very wide range of tools.
I asked my writing assistant, Charlie G.P. Tee (our AI friend, ChatGPT), how he defines customer technology, and he built on the theme of customer experience. “Customer technology generally refers to the range of tools, platforms, software and technologies that businesses use to manage, analyze and improve their relationships and interactions with their customers. The goal of these technologies is to improve customer service, enhance customer satisfaction and drive growth. These tools collectively enable businesses to create a more customer-centric strategy, where technology is used to enhance the customer experience at every level. They help provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, which can inform and shape business strategy and decisions.”
Charlie thoughtfully provided some examples of customer technology tools — CRM, CX, marketing automation, customer success platforms, support software, social media management and CDPs.
Charlie’s definition is closely aligned with the one created by Frans.
It remains to be seen if there will be a bigger movement to make a wholesale shift in terminology from marketing to customer technology. Regardless of what happens at the highest level of the technology landscape, reframing how we communicate about the technology we use in marketing in the context of its impact on our customers has the potential to create greater understanding across the organization about the importance and role that technology plays in creating a successful customer experience and journey.
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And, maybe just maybe, those cuts won’t be quite so deep or at the very least they will be more rational and come from a place of better understanding.
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