Most martech advice is written by vendors, not practitioners. It’s full of buzzwords, idealised diagrams, and promises of seamless orchestration. But real businesses don’t operate in vendor fantasy. They operate in messy environments with legacy systems, siloed teams, and competing priorities. That’s where strategy matters — and where the Product Owner perspective becomes essential.
This guide breaks down what a real martech strategy looks like: how to evaluate tools, build a scalable data foundation, resolve identities, align teams, govern change, and measure ROI. If you’re leading martech in a mid-sized or enterprise organisation, this is the blueprint.
1. How to Evaluate Martech Tools (Without Falling for the Demo)
Tool selection is one of the most strategic — and risky — decisions in martech. The wrong choice can lock you into expensive contracts, brittle integrations, and years of workaround hell.
Start with Use Cases, Not Features
Every vendor will show you a slick demo. Ignore it. Instead, map your business use cases and ask:
- What journeys do we need to run?
- What data do we need to activate?
- What integrations must be supported?
- What governance and compliance constraints exist?
Then evaluate tools based on their ability to deliver those use cases reliably and scalably.
Assess Integration Depth
Most tools claim to “integrate with Salesforce” or “connect to your data warehouse.” That’s not enough. Ask:
- Is the integration native or custom?
- What objects and fields are supported?
- How is identity matched?
- What’s the sync frequency and error handling?
Integration depth is often the difference between success and failure.
Evaluate Scalability and Flexibility
Can the tool handle:
- Large volumes of data?
- Complex segmentation logic?
- Multi-brand or multi-region setups?
- Custom schemas and business rules?
If not, it’s not enterprise-ready — no matter how pretty the UI is.
Check for Operational Fit
Does the tool fit your team’s skills and workflows? A powerful platform is useless if no one can operate it. Look for:
- Familiar interfaces
- Clear documentation
- Strong support and community
- Training resources
2. Building a Scalable Data Foundation
Martech runs on data. But most organisations treat data as an afterthought — until things break. A scalable data foundation is the difference between reactive campaigns and proactive orchestration.
Start with a Unified Schema
Define a canonical data model that spans:
- Customers (Leads, Contacts, Accounts)
- Events (Registrations, Attendance)
- Engagement (Email, Web, Mobile)
- Transactions (Purchases, Subscriptions)
- Preferences (Opt-ins, Interests)
This schema becomes the backbone of your martech stack.
Use a Centralised Data Layer
Whether it’s a CDP, data warehouse, or custom integration layer, centralise your data before activation. This allows:
- Consistent segmentation
- Reliable identity resolution
- Easier compliance
- Faster troubleshooting
Design for Change
Your data model will evolve. Build with:
- Versioning
- Metadata tagging
- Flexible joins
- Modular pipelines
This makes your foundation resilient to business growth and tool changes.
Govern Access and Quality
Set up:
- Role-based access controls
- Data quality dashboards
- Automated validation rules
- Ownership models for each domain
Good data governance is invisible when it works — and painful when it doesn’t.
3. Identity Resolution Basics
Identity resolution is the art of knowing who your customer is — across channels, devices, and systems. It’s the hardest part of martech, and the most important.
Why It Matters
Without identity resolution:
- You send duplicate messages
- You misattribute engagement
- You can’t personalise effectively
- You risk compliance violations
Core Techniques
- Deterministic matching: Email address, customer ID, phone number
- Probabilistic matching: Device ID, IP address, behavioural patterns
- Hybrid models: Combine both for scale and accuracy
Common Pitfalls
- Relying on email alone
- Ignoring anonymous engagement
- Over-merging profiles
- Failing to track identity confidence
Best Practices
- Store identity confidence scores
- Use persistent identifiers
- Track identity resolution events
- Design journeys to adapt to identity state
Identity resolution isn’t a one-time setup — it’s an ongoing capability.
4. How to Align Marketing and Technology Teams
Martech lives at the intersection of marketing and IT. That’s a dangerous place — full of miscommunication, misaligned incentives, and missed opportunities. Your job is to bridge the gap.
Understand the Cultural Divide
- Marketing wants speed, creativity, and flexibility
- IT wants stability, security, and control
Both are valid. Your strategy must respect both.
Create Shared Language
Avoid jargon. Instead, define:
- What a “campaign” means
- What “activation” means
- What “real-time” means
- What “customer” means
This reduces friction and improves collaboration.
Build Joint Governance Models
Set up:
- Cross-functional steering committees
- Shared documentation repositories
- Joint backlog grooming sessions
- Co-owned KPIs
This turns alignment from aspiration into reality.
Celebrate Wins Together
When a journey launches, celebrate both the creative and the technical success. This builds trust and momentum.
5. Governance, Documentation, and Process
Martech without governance is chaos. Martech with too much governance is paralysis. The sweet spot is structured flexibility — and that’s where documentation and process come in.
Define Roles and Responsibilities
Who owns:
- Data models?
- Segment definitions?
- Journey logic?
- Tool configuration?
- Compliance reviews?
Write it down. Share it. Review it quarterly.
Create a Martech Playbook
Your playbook should include:
- Tool inventory
- Data schema
- Identity resolution logic
- Journey templates
- QA checklists
- Change request workflows
This becomes your operational bible.
Implement Change Control
Not every change needs a CAB. But every change needs:
- Documentation
- Impact assessment
- Rollback plan
- Stakeholder review
This protects your stack from accidental damage.
Track and Audit Everything
Use logs, version control, and audit trails to:
- Troubleshoot issues
- Prove compliance
- Learn from mistakes
Good governance is proactive, not reactive.
6. How to Measure Martech ROI
Martech is expensive. Leadership wants to know: is it worth it? Your job is to answer that question — with clarity and credibility.
Move Beyond Campaign Metrics
ROI isn’t just open rates or click-throughs. It’s:
- Time saved
- Errors avoided
- Leads generated
- Opportunities influenced
- Revenue attributed
- Cost per activation
Use Operational Metrics
Track:
- Time to launch a journey
- Number of manual steps eliminated
- Data quality improvements
- System uptime and reliability
These show the value of martech as infrastructure.
Tie to Business Outcomes
Map martech capabilities to:
- Pipeline growth
- Customer retention
- NPS improvement
- Compliance adherence
- Brand consistency
This makes martech strategic, not tactical.
Report with Context
Don’t just show numbers — tell stories:
- “This automation saved 40 hours per month”
- “This journey increased attendance by 25%”
- “This integration reduced duplicate leads by 80%”
Stories make metrics meaningful.
Happy Marketing, Ian