Four Things Successful Marketers Know About Cloud And Open Source Tools

There’s a great scene in the movie Jaws where Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss compare the various scars they’ve collected over the years. It’s a classic scene as they continue to one-up one another until Quint, played by Robert Shaw, “wins” the contest by pointing out that he was on the USS Indianapolis. I won’t spoil it. You can see it here.

Sometimes it feels as if we digital marketers can do the same thing with our Web exploits. We all have our scars. From failed technology projects, Websites that went nowhere and campaigns that just exploded in our face. And, it feels like today, we face sharper “teeth” than ever. With decreased budgets, and the pace of marketing change coming faster and faster – sometimes it feels like it’s more “dangerous” than it’s ever been. But, on the other hand, just like Richard Dreyfus’ new-fangled tools gave the trio in Jaws a better chance - we also now have the opportunity to be more creative and flexible than ever before. And the tools to power that creativity and flexibility are more plentiful than we’ve ever previously enjoyed.

Open Source & Cloud Based Tools Are Paving The Way

Ten years ago – the number of online marketing tools available as Open Source and/or through Software-as-a-Service were few and far between. Analytics tools were there, of course – and some email campaign management systems were often delivered this way. But things like Web content management for site management, blogging and landing page creation – or campaign management tools – were just non-existent. Five years ago – it felt very “bleeding edge” to have these kinds of “cloud” or “Open Source” based software services running in the marketing organization. Well, today – things have changed.

Almost exactly a year ago – I conducted a research study of marketers and how they were utilizing cloud based software for marketing purposes. Maybe it’s a sign of the times – but 100% of those surveyed were using at least one software-as-a-service based software tool as part of their day to day operations. Now, I don’t know this for sure but I would bet that with the explosive growth of blogging, and social media, the same holds true for Open Source.

It’s no secret that digital marketing has become much more of a “social conversation” that we’re having and online content management tools are really becoming “online conversation” tools. Content coming into the organization is sometimes as (or more) important than content going out. Couple that with the struggling economics of most of our marketing budgets (doesn’t it seem like we’re always struggling) and the fact that we have to measure so much more – and you’ve got the recipe for a daunting challenge.

As marketers, when we’re trying so hard to put as much money into “marketing” – we’re constantly trying to determine what the right balance of software, services and internal team effort should be given our limited budgets. We’re constantly asking the questions of:

• What solutions do I need to manage my online content marketing efforts?
• How will those solutions work together?
• Do I need to bring in technology consultants to make it work together?
• How much software, hardware and technology do I really need to reach my marketing goals?

So, if you’re like most – you’re typically turning to your IT organization, or technology agency for the answers to those questions. That inevitably ends up in RFP’s and internal quotes and delays – and many times we find our marketing department transformed into a software development shop – hacking together packaged software and writing custom integrations to make our tools meet our demands.

An Opportunity For Increased Success

From a content management perspective – both Open Source and cloud based solutions have the opportunity to help with this. Notice – I didn’t say “guarantee”. Deploying any tool – whether it’s open source, proprietary, installed or cloud based doesn’t inherently provide a better model. But, what Open Source and cloud based web content management do is provide for the opportunity for marketers to save money and get out of the software development business – and more easily tie their other solutions together. In this way marketers can get back into the business of successful marketing – and maybe avoid some of those nasty scars.

So, if you’re considering Web content management, or really any online marketing tool delivered in an Open Source and/or SaaS based method, consider these five key principles that can help deliver success:

1. Partners should know the word “service”. The most important part of working with either an Open Source or a SaaS vendor is the service. This includes promises like guarantees on uptime and response time for ongoing services (as opposed to software), support contracts and the ability to work with people who will come to know your business. Your goal as a marketer should be to market your company’s product or service -- not manage technology.
2. Match the solution with the tool. Once you’ve developed a content and marketing process THEN it’s time to look at tools. The software systems should align with the tactics you expect to use on an ongoing basis. A web content management tool, for example, can manage assets across websites, online ad landing pages, banner campaigns, rich media email, affiliate marketing, digital asset distribution, online street teams and electronic press kit distribution. If these tactics figure into your online plans, a content management system that publishes and manages these assets for you and your partners can make tremendous financial sense.
3. Align costs with the effort. Marketers will also need to figure internal personnel costs to manage these vendors and assets. Look for Open Source and Software Services that have the ability to integrate with other systems and guide your personnel to be vendor managers, rather than technology managers.
4. Leverage the tools – adoption is imperative. Making your internal team comfortable with online marketing tools and how they work is key. Whether you pick a best-of-breed strategy, or a marketing suite, consider customized (and regular) end-user training for all of the tools you’re using; and not just general training – but training on your specific implementation and technology suite.

It goes without saying that any online marketing strategy should always correspond with existing communications, branding and business strategy. When contemplating the integration of a new set of tools, do not allow sophisticated features or complex technology to distract from overall marketing goals. A marketing department’s technology needs are unique and often misunderstood, so a vendor with experience in providing marketing-related technology tools will empower the organization to implement solutions that are faster, easier to customize and better equipped to meet the organization’s evolving needs.

Best-of-Breed vs. Suites

Now that we’ve reached that “tipping point” of Open Source and Software as a Service – convergence of feature sets is upon the many vendors who play in this space. But as digital marketers look for open source or hosted solutions, the choice will quickly come down to this: Should I choose one “suite” that offers all (or most) of the solutions I need, or should I choose a “best-of-breed” approach and integrate individual solutions together?

For some, the “suite” model will surely be compelling as providers tout the “singular interface” and the “one-stop-shop” approach. But also consider the scars we’ve got from our IT history and how difficult it was to “unbundle” an under-performing solution. By taking a “best-of-breed” approach marketers can plug and unplug solutions as needed to continually evaluate ROI. 

For example, if the email campaign management vendor’s customer service fails to deliver on its SLA (Service Level Agreement), or if a more robust feature set is found in a competing product, the digital marketer can simply unplug the existing vendor and plug in another. And, as time goes by, the integration between those products will become further standardized – making the re-integration process fairly painless, or at least less painful than trying to unbundle an integrated suite from a singular company. Again, this is where an Open Source and/or SaaS solution can be extraordinarily helpful.

With the right set of tools in place, and some solid design for online marketing efforts, any organization can take advantage of the metrics, consistency and ROI that digital marketing affords. These benefits, in turn, will provide a significant boost to the brand as well as the bottom line. And keep the online marketer free of scars. And one thing’s for sure looking at Open Source and SaaS – you definitely WON’T need a bigger boat.