Business tactics change. Great marketing doesn't.

Wow, you’ve got a lot to work to do!

Awareness and promotion. Lead generation. Content creation. Prospect and customer relationship tracking. Team and partner communications. Sales management. Testing and optimization. And, the list goes on and on.

So much to do, so little time in your day. It doesn’t matter how big or small your company is -- trying to manage your marketing and sales effectively is enough to drive you bonkers. And if you’re not careful, get you sidetracked from your mission.

Most businesses, maybe yours too, have gone into deep thought on all of this, probably while sequestered the company’s secret bunker. Searching every corner of the Internet to seek out new tactics. Every time a viable app or online service is found another one pops up taking you in an entirely different direction.

It’s finally happened -- marketing is now powered by technology. Well, that’s not really new news.

But here’s what’s new; technology is taking over more and more of marketing. Many companies have gone from feeling out of control because they are juggling too much to letting technology do their thinking. And they still feel out of control.

There has to be a better way!

Take a deep breath now. The good news is you’re still in control. You just have to take the strategic view and find the right tools to effortlessly execute your vision. Remember, tactics may change -- great marketing doesn’t.

Here’s the key. Have strategic initiatives that’s right for you and your market. Plus, whatever you do, all the pieces have to fit together. That’s because every tactical element (application or service) that you regard as essential to your marketing efforts impacts all of the other components around it.

Silos are for storing grain and keeping it safe. In marketing, everything is connected and isn’t very useful if it’s isolated within a silo. Connect the marketing technology dots and everything will be fine.

Create a purposeful marketing tool stack. Let’s get this straight up front -- when it comes to making your marketing easier, there’s isn’t a single online platform or piece of technology that can do everything. Your company has unique goals and needs. It’s up to you to decide what’s most important to accomplish and then search for the pieces of the puzzle. With over 1,000 marketing technology vendors claiming to be in an ever-increasing number of marketing categories, you can get overwhelmed fast. A marketing tool stack, also known as a marketing technology stack, is a grouping of digital applications that businesses use to manage and improve their marketing activities, making time-consuming processes easier and much more effective.

Know which technology tools are foundational and essential. There’s so much to consider and it’s easy to quickly become paralyzed by the choices. To keep that from happening, start with breaking down your key strategic marketing initiatives. The “must do, must happen” of your business. This will keep you focused and prevent your search from becoming a never-ending scavenger hunt, taking you off course. Sure, there’s a lot to consider, but only define up to five areas that are critical and fundamental to your strategy and needs. Also, outline your workflow -- how every chunk of the eventual stack impacts components above it and below it. In other words, every piece is essential to a strong marketing action plan and must work together to get you to where you want to go.

A brief guide to zeroing in on marketing technology stack elements. Strategic marketing initiatives are action oriented. For instance, turn, “We need to increase awareness and customer acquisition” into, “Let’s focus on increasing inbound/outbound content optimization and market interaction.” How? Videos, webinars, case studies, educational article, blogger outreach? Plus, how do you track and analyze to know what’s working and what’s not? Decide what make’s the most sense for your target audience in terms of how they find and consume information. Go find contenders -- the apps that will facilitate the functionality you’re seeking. Quickly ascertain the cost per user and if the application will actually will do something useful without getting your bogged down. If it isn’t easy to learn and intuitive to use, toss it fast. Now, make sure whatever you consider as viable at this point will play nice and integrate with the other pieces of your marketing technology stack. Such as, make sure the pop-up call-to-action on your website asking visitors to sign up for your next educational webinar will automatically populate contact information in your chosen email marketing service.

Low-cost marketing stack tools. About now you’re thinking, “Time to get practical, point us in a direction with some examples.” This is risky since your business isn’t like the next. Yet, I do have some favorites I use or my clients have had great success with. The following tools will work as part of a core marketing stack focused on raising awareness, boosting interaction, and driving initial revenue -- and not spend a lot of time and money. Customer relationship management: KarmaCRM or Capsule. Video marketing platform: Wistia. Email service provider: MailChimp. Social media dashboard: Buffer or HootSuite. Analytics: Google Anaylytics  or for a more robust tool that will collect customer data wherever it's generated such as from your website or mobile app and then integrate with a ton third-party tools, Segment. Lastly, for a more complete, inexpensive marketing automation platform that allows you to use still use other core tools of your stack that may be in place, check out ActiveCampaign. There are many, many more I like but you’ve got to cut it off somewhere.

Creating a core marketing technology stack, and using the tools it contains, will improve productivity and the speed of reaching your revenue goals.

Don’t dwell on each element and agonize over your “perfect” marketing technology stack. A stack is not a standalone application, but a set of tools to manage the marketing and selling side of your business. That makes it easy to be an agile marketing organization, replacing the individual tools with new ones that make more sense.

Have you cracked the marketing technology code? Let me know if you try some of the applications recommend above, or share what you’re using now that helps your company to work faster, turn data into actionable insights, and makes it easier for your customers to get what they want and need.

Ron Stein is President of FastPath Marketing (www.marketing-strategies-guide.com) and the author of the Rapid Impact Marketing & Selling Playbook. As a speaker, coach, and consultant he works with small business owners helping them to accelerate the path between their vision and the actions needed to reach, win, and keep customers. Ron is the creator of the FastPath to More Customers Now! 7-step marketing system based on more than twenty years as a successful business owner, corporate CEO, business development executive, and salesman. He is also a mentor at two nationally recognized business accelerators. Ron offers one-on-one and small group mentoring, conducts seminars, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or Ron@FastPathMarketing.com.