Three Things to Remember When Building a Marketing App

Last week was a big week. I finished and shipped my first marketing app as a MarTech!

This particular app was an ROI calculator. The goal was to show the was to show the value of our product in terms of the amount of revenue that could be generated for the customer. It was a fun and challenging assignment that taught me tons of important lessons. I’ll share three of them with you today and hope you’ll keep them in mind when you go to build your first (or many) marketing apps.

1) Know your target audience

This sounds like a no-brainer, but it is worth mentioning. Especially in the case of an ROI calculator, it is important to know what they find value in and how can you communicate that value in an engaging, compelling way. One way to think about this is through buyer personas. Knowing the target audience will enable you to make sure that all variables that matter to them are included.

2) Make a prototype

Prototyping is key before you ever lay down the first line of code. It helps you think through what exactly you want the app to look like and it helps communicate that to the team and any stakeholders in the project. It helps to start with a flow chart and then create a design mockup from there. One of my favorite design mockup tools is LucidChart. It’s a SaaS-based tool and is extremely user-friendly.

Once the mockup is complete, creating a prototype of the app in a Google Doc is helpful. In interactive apps, prototyping can help think through the flow of the user experience. In the case of an ROI calculator, building the prototype can help one think through the formulas and ensure that the mathematical calculations are correct. Creating in Google docs allows for shareability across the organization and allows for real-time feedback.

3) Make friends with the dev team

As a marketing technology manager in a small start-up, I code my own work and then participate in code review sessions with my dev team. In a larger organization, the dev team might be the ones actually coding and it will be up to the MarTech to project manage the app. In either case, having a good relationship with the development team can be a key success factor. One of the lessons I learned while building this app is the difference between coding and coding smartly. It’s a lesson that I might have never learned in the absence of my dev team. 🙂

Building a marketing app can be a highly complex process, but it can made easier if you keep these three things in mind. Happy coding and development!