Sirius Decisions recently coined this term—it’s when marketing teams buy tech to fill perceived holes in their “stack”, and ending up with a bloated corral of tech that doesn’t integrate well, has too much overlap, nonexistent documentation, and a shoddy implementation.
But it’s no surprise why we end up in this predicament.
The peer pressure, either from coworkers, colleagues, or even research groups like Sirius Decisions tell us we need X, Y, and Z to run a successful marketing organization.
We don’t want to look like a stodgy team unwilling to adopt new tech. No, we want to be seen as the innovators of the organization.
We’ve got a surplus burning a hole in our budget, and that shiny new personalization tool is looking mighty appealing right about now.
I’ve certainly suffered from categoritis—it’s hard not to when you work in a space where everyone is excited about the idea and potential of the tech, but doesn’t always have a great vision for how all the dots connect to make it a reality.
The ideal path, no surprise, works like this:
- Identify the key challenges and pain points of the business.
- Develop a strategy to tackle them.
- Select technology (if appropriate) to make it happen.
Categoritis, is of course this same process, but in reverse. So the next time you’re looking at exciting new piece of tech, ask yourself what’s truly driving this decision. Are you you looking for solutions to solve a problem, or are you finding problems for your solution?