Establishing Buy-in for No-Code Martech

If there’s one thing most marketers don’t look forward to, it’s gaining buy-in from their stakeholders on the strategies and new tools they want to implement. It can seem daunting standing up in front of management and pitching why the tool you want so badly is worth the budget. What if they say no? Then it’s back to the drawing board again!

For those of you reading this thinking “Hmm, I really want to implement an impressive no-code tool, but how will I convince others it’s worth the investment?” – don’t worry! Our ability to mindread (cool, right?) means we knew you’d be looking for the answer to this question and have pulled together the best ways to gain buy-in for your no-code tech.

You may have a game-changing proposal for your business, but unless you can gain buy-in for it, you won’t see it get very far. Continue reading if you want to engage your stakeholders and ensure they understand the benefits no-code tools will provide, so they can fully invest. With 70% of all organizational change efforts failing due to executives not getting enough buy-in (Kotter, 2010), you won’t want to skip this.

What is a stakeholder buy-in and why do I need it?

Many of you reading this will know, but for those who aren’t completely sure – we like to define stakeholders as those who impact, or are impacted by, a specific project. These individuals and groups may consist of executives, partners, employees and even customers.

Buy-in can come in many forms, some of which include securing sign-off for big projects, gaining feedback on the direction you’re heading in, or having extra budget released. Without winning support for your ideas, you may find your project can slow down, or come to a complete halt. This can prevent you from delivering key objectives for your department, or cause employee upset and even customer dissatisfaction.

Without a clear pitch, investors may not understand how your project will benefit the business. Take note – by ‘clear pitch’, we don’t mean a 10 minute, rushed conversation of babbling excitement (on your behalf), which doesn’t clearly highlight the benefits you know the stakeholders care about. Not to worry though, that’s what we’re here to help with.

Afterall, true buy-in is about co-creation. How can your stakeholders add value to your project and in return, gain value from it?

How to gain buy-in for your no-code martech

No-code martech provides the opportunity for your marketing team to become citizen creators, while ensuring your development team need only focus on projects that facilitate business goals.

But how do you make your stakeholders see this? How can you deliver your proposal in a way that will grab their attention and make them understand how your project will benefit both them and your organization, so that they’ll want to fully invest in your idea?

Let’s take a look at the different steps you can follow…

Step 1: Formulate your idea and get it off the ground

Now, many of you have likely found yourself here because you already have a no-code platform in mind, meaning you’ve probably already completed this step. But, for those of you who are still researching, here’s some tips.

If you’re looking for a new platform that will help smooth out your marketing processes, reviewing your current tech stack (including your systems, tools, and processes) is a great way to get started. Identifying what’s not working and what could work better for your business uncovers pain points, which can help keep you focused when researching no-code tools – try to look for platforms that could help to improve or fix issues you are currently facing.

Don’t forget, employees can be stakeholders too. Why not interview them to find out which systems and processes are holding them back. This will allow you to gain buy-in from employees, while their insights can further aid your search for the perfect no-code platform.

When thinking about how you’ll pitch your no-code platform to your organization leaders, consider revisiting the greater business goals and mapping out how your tool can make a positive impact. Finding the link between your idea, the business goals and the values of your stakeholders will help your pitch be more convincing. Try not to worry if your project doesn’t meet everyone’s rationales – you can’t please them all!

Step 2: Outline benefits and remain truthful during your pitch

As we mentioned earlier, you may feel overwhelmed when faced with presenting new ideas to management about investing in new tools. Just remember to outline your idea as clearly as possible, presenting the issue while using strong examples (you can pull in your findings from talks with other employees here!) and hard data (like how Webeo’s no-code software has increased client conversion rates by 275% on average 😉) to explain your arrival at your solution.

By presenting the benefits introducing no-code tools into your current tech stack will provide, you’ll be able to paint a picture for your investors as to how this new tool will complement and enhance your current way of working. If you’re looking for some tips on how investing in no-code tools will benefit your business (wow, we’re practically coming up with your pitch!), then take a look at these:

• Improved speed and agility
• Reduced learning time
• Integration with current tech stack
• Lower costs
• Personalized content built in minutes
• No technical know-how needed

No-code tools are designed to empower non-technical marketers to build and deliver marketing outputs – with no technical know-how needed. In today’s changing times, marketers are demanding tools that enable them to do more for less and that’s exactly what no-code platforms bring to the table.

Stating the incredible opportunities no-code tools will achieve for your business in a realistic manner works well, but you must remember to link these benefits back to your business goals. Gaining buy-in is made easier when your stakeholders understand how their efforts affect your project and how the outcome benefits them in return. Just remember to always be truthful while communicating this. Try not to ‘big up’ your tool, and instead provide quick facts they can sink their teeth into, not flouncy descriptions that leave them trying to work out the statistical benefits.

Don’t forget to bring up any issues you’re concerned about too. These shouldn’t be seen as negatives, but instead an opportunity to gain feedback. Listen to their suggestions and outline how you will bring this onboard to improve your project. This helps them feel more involved and strengthens their potential to buy-in to your idea.

Step 3: Update on project progress and goals

Just because you wowed with your initial pitch, this doesn’t mean you’ve won buy-in for your no-code tool indefinitely. Oh yes – decreased buy-in is most certainly a thing and is especially prevalent for longer projects that take up much of your organization’s time and budget.

To avoid this, make sure you track and analyze the progress of your no-code tool, as well as its impact on business goals. Outlining a clear timeline for each stage of the onboarding process (from the beginning) will build an understanding of how you will progress, but to go one step further, you should aim to send out updates on each completed stage. Include what went well and what you’re aiming to achieve in the next stage.

These can include reports on how the tool has impacted:

• Marketing numbers – have you received additional enquiries?
• Customers – are you seeing increased satisfaction?
• Team members – has team morale improved? Are they able to work together better?
• Processes – is your no-code tool creating less workload and freeing the team up to focus on other tasks?

As much as you should be keeping yourself motivated and focused, you should also be doing the same for your stakeholders.

Step 4: Secure buy-in for your next project

Communication is key in building trust, which is something you’ll rely on if you want to regain buy-in for future projects. Once you’ve successfully implemented the no-code tool you’ve been pushing for, don’t simply forget about those who invested in your idea. Provide them with positive feedback on what your no-code tool is currently achieving for the business, while also including how their actions helped to facilitate your project’s success. Creating a trusting relationship will aid you in gaining buy-in for future projects – and hopefully make the process a little easier next time around.

So, for those of you who stuck it out to the end (thanks by the way!), remember to take away these 3 key points when gaining stakeholder buy-in for your no-code tools: obtain their engagement by outlining their role in your project; state the benefits your no-code tool will bring to the table and its ability to facilitate business goals; remember to build trust along the way, through clear and consistent communication.

No-code tools are proven to amplify marketing efforts, your job is to convince your stakeholders that this will benefit your business, and therefore them. Keep these steps in mind and you’ll be well on your way to success.

Written by Lauren Lee