Is A Strategy-First MarTech Engagement Right for You?

You’ve undoubtedly heard the age-old expression a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I suggest an addendum, tacking on three simple words: and a map.

What would your business do with an outside, high-level perspective, a holistic overview — a map?     

Media Junction® helps companies traverse difficult terrain, wayfaring from point A to point B. 

We help companies discover, explore, and execute MarTech and website development strategies. As one of HubSpot’s most technical and tenured partners, we’ve serviced 2,000+ HubSpot customers since 2011.

Strategy first engagements maximize operational efficiency by creating a comprehensive technical blueprint that aligns business processes, plans for future growth, and provides a clear understanding of your business needs through a strategic analysis of the buyer's journey, organizational data, and key success metrics.

Let's walk through the basic outline of a strategy-first MarTech engagement with Media Junction. 

How We Approach Strategy-First Projects

Step 1: Discovery & Exploration 

It all starts with a kickoff meeting from our Client Success Team, who will be your primary point of contact throughout the engagement. There will be up to 5 discovery sessions led by a Solutions Architect to get a high-level overview of your business and learn about relevant technology.  

These sessions will be tailored to your specific needs and specifications. After the discovery phase, the Solutions Architect will create a strategic technical build-out plan for your organization. This plan will be presented in a strategy presentation call, along with a proposal and timeline for the second phase.

By taking a strategy-first approach, we’re able to get to know your processes and exactly what’s needed to make your organization successful in HubSpot.

Think: Marco Polo. Magellan. Media Junction. Yes, despite the cute, kitschy alliteration, MJ fully understands the importance of a thorough and exhaustive exploration phase.

Key stakeholders are invited to in-depth discovery sessions to determine:

• Migration Needs 

• What from your current system needs to be brought over to HubSpot? 

• Implementation Needs

• What are we building from scratch?

• Operations 

• Current operations/processes 
• Existing pain points & challenges 
• Any changes that need to be made during this transition 
• Tech Stack, Integration Needs, Data Flow   

• Data Cleanup 
• Implementation Plan  

In short, the first step is understanding the ins-and-outs of your business: products, services, buyer personas, CRM, CMS, and internal pain points. 

Following MJ’s deep dive into your company’s DNA, our team conducts an internal review & brainstorm to develop a hard-hitting strategy. Where do we focus? How should we execute? What’s the timeframe? 

A strategy-first approach for your MarTech: 

1. Aligns technology with business objectives and goals 
   
   
2. Ensures technology investments are well-informed and relevant 
   
   
3. Improves the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing efforts 
   
   
4. Fosters better collaboration and integration across teams and departments 
   
   
5. Enhances customer engagement and satisfaction 
   
   
6. Bolsters data-driven decision making 
   
   
7. Increases Return on Investment (ROI) and conversions 
   
   
8. Ensures the technology is utilized in a way that is consistent with your brand and messaging 
   
   
9. Nurtures long-term development and growth
    
10. Drives a competitive advantage over the market 

The strategy is delivered via a deck presentation that covers our discoveries and strategic blueprint. After our presentation, and we are in full alignment with your company’s needs and priorities, we enter into the execution phase. 

Step 2: Execution (TBD)   

A treasure map without action is useless — x might mark the spot, but you still have to dig it up.  

After the primary pain points have been identified and a solutions-oriented plan pitched via a stakeholder’s meeting, there are three implementation options: your company implements solo, Media Junction takes responsibility for the implementation, and/or we implement together (divide and conquer).

If you choose MJ for full implementation, once we understand the needs and priorities, we enter into the execution phase and begin building your system according to our utilization plan.

Common MJ implementation examples: 

• Configure HubSpot instance: 

• Property creation/data mapping 
• Recreate assets (lists, emails, forms, automations, landing pages) 

• Custom Development 

• Custom Objects, Coded actions, Webhooks, etc. 

• Data Flow Process Implementation 

• Internal Workflows
• External Workflows

• Integrations

• Native + Custom (API)  

• Migrate data/content 

Once everything has been built and approved, we go through a phase of in-depth quality assurance to ensure everything is working properly.

QA + Testing 

The quality assurance and testing phase involves a thorough review of the work completed over the preceding months to ensure proper functionality. 

MJ performs the following tasks: 

1. Verification of data accuracy, including examination of any missing properties and contacts
2. Assessment of lead flow and routing to confirm that it operates as intended
3. Testing of forms to verify their functionality
4. Evaluation of internal automation and notifications
5. Examination of the system to eliminate any conflicting logic

Training + Handoff 

After everything has been built out (workflows to data mapping), tested, approved, and launched — we enter into the training and handoff section of the execution phase. 

A certified HubSpot trainer from the MJ team will conduct the training and handoff. The trainer will facilitate structured training sessions and gradually transfer access to team members per the established training plan. 

The hand-off plan considers the following factors:

1. Customization of training by department or role
2. Identification of end-users for training
3. Determination of training requirements for management
4. Selection of key team members for training

Media Junction is dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition from build-out to hand-off. We do it right the first time. 

Is Strategy First Right for You?    

In this article, you learned about Media Junction’s strategy first engagement: 

• Discovery and Exploration 
• Execution 
• QA + Testing
• Training + Handoff 

It doesn’t have to end here. 

Building the system is just the start. You may not need anything beyond this engagement, but we’re in the business of maintaining long-lasting relationships with our clients and strive to be long-term partners.

We offer a wide range of inbound marketing services. 

Click the link below to book a consultation and discover how Media Junction can help you develop a strategy-first game plan