Off-the-Shelf Solutions or Custom Development: How to Choose Marketing Software
Every day, more than 400 million terabytes of data are generated worldwide. This number has been steadily increasing in recent years and will continue to grow. Amid this data deluge, marketers are receiving more information from various communication channels. However, the volume of data has grown so large that manual processing is nearly impossible. This has led to the rise of marketing automation, where advanced software takes on a significant portion of the workload.
In the past, only custom-developed solutions were available, but today the market offers a wide array of ready-made options. In this article, we will explore what marketing software entails and which option to choose: building software from scratch tailored to specific needs or leveraging existing platforms.
Marketing software: why it matters
Marketers handle vast amounts of data and manage multiple promotional channels. Managing everything manually consumes significant time and resources, impacting productivity and work quality. Employees become bogged down in routine tasks, leaving little time for strategic thinking. That’s why using marketing software in 2024 is a must-have for modern businesses aiming for growth. Marketing software doesn’t replace human effort—it optimizes and accelerates processes.
Why marketing and sales automation is essential:
- Time savings. Routine tasks are handled by IT services, while marketers oversee and guide strategies, including complex ones that would be impossible with manual work.
- Personalization. Modern marketing automation software gathers user activity data from various resources. This data provides a complete understanding of customer preferences, enabling personalized offers.
- Speed of operations. Marketing software is designed for automatic information collection, mailings, and other functions. This accelerates customer communication, allowing instant responses. For instance, email marketing software often includes trigger message settings that react to user actions.
- Data analysis. Even free marketing software includes analytics tools that are essential for tracking campaigns, making adjustments, and planning future projects.
Custom software development for marketing
Custom or bespoke software development involves creating an IT product tailored to the specific needs of a business. This is a new product developed from scratch and kept within the company.
How custom software development works:
- Client request and analysis of marketing needs. The required features and functionalities of the future product are identified.
- Architecture planning. The software’s components, design, and capabilities are outlined and structured.
- Development. This stage involves writing the code and implementing the product plan.
- Testing. The functionality of the software is evaluated, with specialists identifying and fixing errors.
- Implementation. The product is launched, and marketing and sales activities transition to the new system. Additionally, software support ensures issues are resolved and helps marketers adapt to the new workflows.
Advantages of custom software development
- Uniqueness. Competitors don’t have access to the same functionality as your business.
- Flexibility. Custom development is tailored 100% to the brand’s marketing needs, enhancing efficiency and accelerating integration with other tools.
- Scalability. The software can be adapted to new marketing challenges as they arise.
- Control. A product designed specifically for your business remains entirely within the company.
Disadvantages of custom software development
- Cost. Custom solutions are more expensive because they require significant resources and the dedicated effort of a development team.
- Risk of unpredictable outcomes. Even an experienced team may end up delivering software that doesn’t meet the client’s expectations.
- Execution time. Custom products aren’t built quickly; starting from scratch is often a lengthy process that can take months.
- Support challenges. For a new custom product, there won’t be ready-made solutions for addressing technical issues, which requires additional resources and time.
Off-the-shelf marketing software
An off-the-shelf solution is software developed for use by various businesses and offering a wide range of functionalities. These IT products are designed to adapt to different workflows, providing tools to choose from. However, full customization is not possible with such solutions.
Advantages of off-the-shelf solutions
- Cost. Unlike custom development, off-the-shelf software requires fewer resources, which ultimately lowers its cost.
- Implementation speed. Ready-made software comes with clear and well-tested integration processes for new businesses, along with the team’s expertise in problem-solving.
- Software support. The implementation of off-the-shelf solutions is often accompanied by support from the development team.
- Variety. The market offers software solutions tailored to specific business industries and marketing directions, making it easy to find a suitable option for your needs.
Disadvantages of off-the-shelf solutions
- Lack of uniqueness. Competitors can use the same features and capabilities.
- No universal solution. Despite the variety of marketing products available, it’s impossible to cover all business areas or satisfy every client. Some niches may not find a suitable off-the-shelf solution.
- Scalability challenges. Issues may arise when new communication channels appear that require integration.
Custom solutions are ideal when a unique approach or specific functionality tailored to a business is required.
However, off-the-shelf software stands out for its quick implementation, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility to proven, out-of-the-box features. It allows businesses to get started immediately, minimizing the time and resources spent on development and testing.
Examples of ready-made marketing solutions
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) — a tool that consolidates customer data and interactions into a single source, helping track the buyer's journey and sales funnel.
Examples
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
| amoCRM | A product that allows you to build a sales funnel and collect data on contacts with your audience from emails, messengers, website forms and phone calls. |
| Bitrix24 | Business and customer communication management system. Integrates data from social networks, Telegram, phone calls and other sources. |
| S2 | Flexible CRM with end-to-end analytics and customizability. Used to track the customer journey as well as control financial accounting. |
A marketing analytics service is a tool that accumulates data about customers and translates it into visual reports. The marketer then draws conclusions and builds promotion strategies based on them.
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
| Roistat | End-to-end and multichannel analytics service for tracking funnel stages. Data collection on dashboards, cohort analysis and A/B testing capabilities. |
| Yandex. Metrica | A tool for tracking traffic sources, studying user behavior on websites and evaluating the effectiveness of attraction channels. |
| Calltouch | A tool for end-to-end analytics with Big Data, lead scoring, identifying where customers came from, and other features. |
CDP (Customer Data Platform) is a platform that collects customer data from various sources, combines them into a single profile and provides opportunities for analysis, personalization, development and implementation of marketing strategies. CDP marketing also provides detailed audience segmentation, allowing for more precise customization of customer interactions.
Advantages of using Altcraft CDP
The platform aggregates customer data from various sources and records all points of interaction with the brand. This information is consolidated into a single profile, providing marketing teams with a comprehensive view of each customer. This enhances the personalization of offers and enables more precise audience segmentation, which plays a key role in the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Single customer profile in Altcraft Platform
The service also offers omnichannel marketing: campaigns can be sent through a unified interface across email, push notifications, messengers, and SMS. Additionally, tools are available for managing loyalty programs, conducting surveys, using a drag-and-drop email builder, and performing tests.
Communication channels with customers in Altcraft Platform
CDP Altcraft Platform streamlines marketing processes, making them more efficient, reducing time costs, and driving increased sales.
Examples of improvements achieved by clients using the platform:
- At Uzum, the company saved 20 working hours per week and reduced push notification opt-out rates by 23%.
- BNB Bank increased client transactional activity by 36%.
- Sales at Dau Relationship Marketing Agency grew by 62%.
Summary
In modern marketing, with its vast scale of data and promotion channels, tools for processing information and automation are indispensable.
Custom development addresses brand-specific needs but is usually costly and not always accessible for most companies. Ready-made solutions offer standard functionality, which is sufficient for implementing marketing strategies, and their adoption is simpler and faster than custom-built options.
CDPs, CRMs, and platforms for automation and analytics collect customer data, process it, configure personalized campaigns, ensure omnichannel communication with the audience, and provide detailed and transparent analytics. Ready-made software solutions strengthen marketing strategies and help increase profitability.
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