Martech Heroes: Andrew Nester on blending offline and online tactics
To shed some light on the often-unsung heroes within the martech industries, The Drum has joined forces with Stein IAS to spotlight the individuals excelling in their sector. Those selected will reveal what it is that they do and be questioned for their capacity to drive change within business. The most nominated people will then receive a special accolade at the B2B Awards in New York.
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To kick-start the heroes series, we released a Q&A with Matt Preschern of CA Technologies last week, whereas today we’re presenting Andrew Nester, Head of Marketing at Nuix, to find out how he’s using martech to deliver maximum impact for business. He also speaks out about the importance of not using technology for tech’s sake, suggesting to read your target audience and deliver bespoke content to them instead.
Given the very high level of investment in martech (the tech stack), what strategies and tactics are your focusing on to deliver measurable business impact?
Blending offline and online tactics in a way that has a clear line of sight to ROI. Because our sales cycle is so high touch, we need to draw prospects into the funnel with engaging content accessed digitally as well as in-person engagements at a variety of events. We rely on multiple integrated technologies to ensure we can maintain a line of sight and are tracking only the most relevant data points (as opposed to tracking anything and everything).
What are the most innovative ways you are utilizing martech – and what are the outcomes? What are the use cases where breakthrough performance is possible? (i.e., more intelligent media activations via martech and adtech integration)
IP identification helps shape our messaging. At Nuix, we have a powerful data intelligence platform that is used to solve problems in many different markets. As such, the same message doesn't work for all audiences and we have to carefully segment based on solution type, vertical and geo to ensure we are connecting in a meaningful and useful way.
How are you using martech in combination with more powerful and emotional creative and content experiences?
As a software company, it is easy to get wrapped up in talking about our amazing technology. While it may sound simple, we strive every day to ensure we are not only creating messaging and content that speaks to solving actual customer problems, but also building a relationship with our community with content that is ultimately useful to them.
There are plenty of barriers to effective use of martech (complexity, integration, skill sets, organizational support/alignment). How are you overcoming these?
Mixing external (agency) expertise with hungry, smart staff willing to learn. We can't do it all ourselves and truthfully, we wouldn't want to - it wouldn't be efficient. At Nuix, we are constantly trying new technologies to discover new and more engaging ways to connect with our customers and partners. To keep the cycle of innovation flowing, our external marketing partners play a huge role in helping push the envelope and make it easy to get new methods into production.
What are the most important ‘around-the-corner’ technologies?
Predictive methods within ABM to harness demand signals, sentiment and intent. Figuring out what buyers want and when they are ready to act is more important than ever in B2B marketing.
Words of advice and encouragement for other marketers on their martech journeys?
New tech is tailor-made to be a friend that will help you make the business case with your C-Suite. Nearly all of these new technologies are laser focused on proving ROI, giving a clear line of sight from a prospect to a sale and making it easy to integrate into your existing CRM and marketing automation suite.
If you think you know a Martech Hero and want to get them recognition for driving business results, nominate them here before October 1st.