I don’t know that it was officially declared. But this may have been Marketing Week. After I wrote this post on Wednesday — “Marketing Should Be Simple: Part Deux” — this one popped into my queue: “What’s in Your Marketing Stack?” The question in the title prompts another one: Where to start?
Putting the sweep in sweeping generalization, the post posits this in its second paragraph:
The term ‘“marketing stack” has emerged as one of the most powerful expressions in the modern CMO’s repertoire. The concept transforms the idea of marketing from a collection of standalone tools, tactics and technologies into a truly integrated operation.
Hold on. There are three terms here that warrant examination:
- One of the most powerful expressions. I recently walked into a CMO’s office. He looked me square in the eye and said, “Marketing stack.” Nothing happened. I sensed no power. And the CMO had no idea what it meant.
- Transforms the idea of marketing. The last time I looked, marketing was defined as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Is transforming the idea the same as transforming the definition? If so, the AMA and I missed the memo.
- A truly integrated operation. If anything is preceded by truly, it’s an invitation to be skeptical. Setting aside whatever in the world is meant by integrated operation, we can be fairly certain it’s neither integrated nor an operation. Truly. And if you equate your marketing to a surgical procedure, your best bet might be to take the scalpel to your marketing stack.
And then there’s this. Please read all 32 words of it:
By knowing which tasks you want to automate and simplify, you’ll be well positioned to find the right tools—even if you’re not quite sure if the software that you need exists.
Please read it again. Good. Now tell me: Why in the world would we devote our time and attention to finding ostensible automation tools — at the expense of our marketing efforts and the prospects to whom our time and attention should be devoted — even if there are no such tools? I don’t know, either.
As Pogo famously said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
—
Image by Tikwa, courtesy of pixabay.com.