The document discusses the importance of involving both marketing and technology in the CMS selection process. It outlines a structured approach to vendor selection, emphasizing objective evaluations of functionality over price, and the necessity for collaboration between marketing and technology teams. Key takeaways include focusing on core features, differentiating from competitors, and ensuring effective communication throughout the process.

1. WhenWorldsCollide:
Why Marketing & Technology Should be
Involved
in the CMS Selection Process
PresentedBy: HostedBy:

2. Introductions:
2
Steven Snider
Director of Technology, Hileman Group
@HilemanGroup
Kyle Chandler
Director of Marketing Services, Hileman Group
@ProjectChandler

3. Agenda:
3
• Introductions
• Defining Your CMS Selection Process
• A World Ruled by:
• Marketing
• Technology
• World Domination: Collaboration of Both
• Use Case: VeloSano
• Key Takeaways

4. Defining Your
CMS Selection Process
4

5. Defining Your CMS Selection Process
5
Making the right decision on a software vendor is tough.
Choosing the right vendor can ultimately determine your career success.
Choose the right partner and possibly a promotion; the wrong partner and
possibly a demotion or worse… This is why a defined approach to vendor
selection is the key to success – especially one that takes a holistic view.

6. Defining Your CMS Selection Process
6
• For your short list, do not focus on price right out of the blocks, start with the core
functionality requirements your organization needs to succeed.
• Consult non-biased third parties like Gartner, G2 Crowd or SiriusDecisions to gather key
data points on the top software vendors in the space.
• Check to see if the software can integrate with your current environment, systems and
other software vendors (i.e. other business systems like ERP, CRM, etc.).
• Focus on the software’s core features first, evaluate add-ons later.
First things first. Start your selection process by building a short list.1

7. Defining Your CMS Selection Process
7
• Reach out to each vendor to request very targeted demos. Be sure to define your industry and how you
go to market to ensure that the demos will be tailored to your specific business needs.
• In the demos, be objective and stern, seeing every aspect of the functionality that you need to see. In
fact, providing this list up front will help the vendor make sure the right people are in the room for the
demo.
• Talk about scale, if it is key to your company.
• As you work through the demos, the leading vendors will quickly rise to the top. Prioritize your list and,
for your top vendors, request references. When checking references, ask them about:
• Their experience in the software, is it as nice as it sounds
• Any unexpected issues when implementing
• Any hidden fees
• The final step in the demo process is a trial run. A lot of software vendors offer free trials or demo
accounts.
2 Alright, you have your short list. Next step, demos.

8. Defining Your CMS Selection Process
8
• Now that you have ultimately selected your top vendor(s), it’s time to start talking price.
Most SaaS platforms will position their pricing based on some tiered model, with a key
lever that moves price up or down (e.g. number of domains licenses, feature set,
bandwidth, etc.). However, these costs are normally negotiable, especially when they are
licensed on an annual basis.
• Leverage the other vendors on your short list to drive the price point down, if necessary.
• Add-ons are key here. Include only the ones you plan to use right off the bat. You can
always add more down the road when the team is ready to enable them.
3
So, you have your short list, you have completed your demos.
It’s time for pricing.

9. 9
Defining Your CMS Selection Process
Now that we have covered the general selection process of 1) short lists 2) demos 3) pricing
and negotiation, let’s dive into who will actually run this process. Traditionally, this could be
run by Marketing OR Technology with the “or” being a defining part of the statement.
Meet Mark:
His primary goal in a
website software is to
generate leads and facilitate
his team’s efficiency.
Meet Tina:
Her primary goal in a website
software is security, redundancy
and to ensure her team can
implement the solution.

10. AWorld Ruled By:
Marketing
10

11. AWorld Ruled By: Marketing
11
Marketing Mark’s Goals
1. Ease of use for editing website content.
2. Must be mobile-friendly.
3. Built-in approval process to ensure
quality control when publishing updates.
4. WYSIWYG editor.
5. Ability to edit META data for SEO.
6. Easily redirect pages and schedule pages
to go live for marketing campaigns.

12. AWorld Ruled By: Marketing
12
Based on Mark’s goals, if he was running the selection process, his short list may look very
different than Tina’s. With his focus on ease-of-use on the back-end and generating leads, his
short list may look like this:
Although these platforms would achieve his core goals, they would not address the full
landscape of the issues at hand. He would still need to find vendors to support his:
• Email marketing needs
• Ecommerce/payment processing
• Landing page and marketing suite (conversion rate optimization, A/B testing, etc.)
• Lead management
• Custom-built design, to avoid looking like all other sites on platform

13. AWorld Ruled By:
Technology
13

14. 14
TechnologyTina’s Goals
1. Hosting environment (will it work in
our current technology stack).
2. Ability to build custom controls.
3. Security and support.
4. What kind of roles and permissions
are required?
5. Does it provide scalability/multi-site
support, if required?
6. What are the bandwidth capabilities?
AWorld Ruled By: Technology

15. AWorld Ruled By: Technology
15
Based on Tina’s goals, if she was running the selection process, her short list may look very
different than Mark’s. With her focus on scalability, security and the ability to customize the
solution, her short list may look like this:
Although these platforms would achieve her core goals, they would not address the full
landscape of the issues at hand. She would still need the following:
• Ease of use, due to security and structure requirements
• Customized “out of the box” functionality to work
• New functionality, added after the fact, to fit the current platform and software
• Ability to upgrade paths of new versions
Custom Application
Home Grown

16. World Domination:
Collaboration of Both
16

17. 17
World Domination: Collaboration of Both
Common Marketing Terms
Redirect strategy
Alt text
Domain authority
H tags
Meta tags
XML sitemap
Landing page
In order to have a successful selection process, make sure both parties are on the same page
and speak a similar language. Bring complicated terms or processes down to a more general
conversation to help both sides understand the importance of each team’s goals.
Common Technology Terms
Web part
Database (SQL, MySQL, etc.)
DNS (Domain Name Server)
IP address
API
Plugins
Dynamic integrations
Alignment between Marketing and Technology
How to Ask The
Right Question

18. 18
World Domination: Collaboration of Both
Alignment between Marketing and Technology
• Establish a single point of view, understanding each party’s
concerns and goals and cooperating on a common solution.
• Communicate in clear manner, all terms should be defined
and understood.
• Initiate collaboration early in the process to make sure both
parties understand details of project.
• Have an open mind!
• Believe in the other party’s needs, challenges and priorities;
take them seriously!
• Leverage each party’s expertise:
• Development’s technical implementation expertise
• Marketing’s knowledge on content and customer
experience

19. 19
World Domination: Collaboration of Both
Scenario:
You are pushing a new
website live in place of a
current website.
What is the goal of each
team using their own
language?

20. 20
World Domination: Collaboration of Both
Image source and copyright: Scott Brinker

21. 21
World Domination: Collaboration of Both
• Secure and supported platform
• Easy to update and maintain by
marketing and sales teams
• Will allow custom development
without risking ability to update
• WYSIWYG editor
• Allows for both marketing and
technology teams to achieve their
specific goals
Win-Win Scenario

22. Use Case: VeloSano

23. Use Case: VeloSano
23

24. Use Case: VeloSano
24
Convio/Blackbaud integration
• Non-profit software VeloSano uses to
track riders, teams, and funds raised
• By using their API, our developers were
able to integrate unique features into
the site to a create a more engaging
experience for users:
• Funds raised tracker on the
header
• Top fundraising individuals
• Top fundraising teams
• Featured riders
• Featured “Big Wheeler” riders

25. Use Case: VeloSano
25
Google Maps integration
• What Marketing was envisioning:
• An area of the site where users
could interact with the routes
and help them decide what route
to ride:
• Where does it go?
• What’s the grade?
• Where are the rest stops?
• A place to direct family and
friends so they could
find/pick areas to cheer their
loved ones on.
• A place to download and print
cue sheets.

26. Use Case: VeloSano
26
Google Maps integration
• How Technology helped:
• Technology team was able to
export the route data from Ride
with GPS; this data contained the
latitudes and longitudes of the
routes.
• Using the latitudes and longitudes,
the technology team was able to
plot points (draw the route line) on
a map that was created using the
Google Maps API.
• Once the route line was created on
the map, the team then marked
rest stops, mile markers, and
animated a character to move
along the route as users highlighted
sections from the cue sheet.

27. Use Case: VeloSano
27
Social integrations

28. Use Case: VeloSano
28
Importance of editing at any time:
• VeloSano is a cycling event and, over the event weekend, most of our team is on-site. It’s important that
we’re able to make updates to the site anywhere, anytime.
• Our team used smartphones during the event kickoff to push a video live and update the homepage.
• While the ride was taking place, we were able to put homepage updates on a timer and were secure knowing
the changes would be made when the team was not able to get to a phone or laptop.
Fluctuating traffic:
• Since VeloSano is an event, we see different amounts of traffic during different parts of the year. We have to
make sure the site can handle a steady stream of visits, as well as large influxes.

29. Key Takeaways

30. Key Takeaways:
30
1. The most important item for success is collaboration and communication.
2. When working through your selection process, keep in mind how you want to
differentiate yourself from your competitors – what platform can help you
achieve that “stand out” feature.
3. Keep an open mind. Put yourself in each other’s shoes to understand where
the other is coming from.
4. Make sure to evaluate the core functionality first, then consider add-ons to
support additional requirements.
5. Collaborate and communicate (yes, we know we repeated this one ).

31. Making the right decision on
a software vendor is hard.
Completing this checklist is
easy.
CMS Selection Checklist:
http://bit.ly/CSM-Selection-
Checklist