Episode transcription 

Voiceover:                                            In this Cooleyhighharmony version of RubyApps Insights, we're talking with frequent guest, future panel moderator, Scott Rubenstein, about stacking up, a discussion that he'll be leading at LMA Northeast. Fans of marketing technology and early '90s R&B, you are in for a treat. Don't let this show pass you by. It's another edition, a capella style, of RubyApps Insights.

Alexander Kotler:                                  Our guest today is Scott Rubenstein, Partner and Director of Client Services at RubyApps and RubensteinTech. Scott oversees the end-to-end client experience but he's also a marketing technology expert, and he's gonna be moderating a panel at the upcoming Legal Marketing Association’s Northeast Regional conference. Scott, do you believe in a god above? And welcome back.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Good to be back.

Alexander Kotler:                                  Do you know that American Pie is still the longest running song to top the Billboard Hot 100 at eight minutes and 36 seconds?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  My, my.

Alexander Kotler:                                  That was why I asked because-

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs).

Alexander Kotler:                                  ... it's a long song and I was thinking about it as we're getting prepared for our conversation. Do you like that song?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  I do.

Alexander Kotler:                                  Okay. It wears on me…..

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs).

Alexander Kotler:                                  (laughs). Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk about. And we're gonna leave all that in there for our audience. What we are here to talk about is this upcoming panel. Your thoughts on the marketing technology stack and what kind of conversation we can look forward to come November. So starting with an easy question as opposed to do you believe in a god above, which is much more existential and deep than I know you had participated or planned for, is what is the marketing technology stack?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Put simply, when we say the marketing technology stack, we're talking about different technology systems that are working with each other, ideally in harmony, to help marketers perform critical tasks.

Alexander Kotler:                                  I probably should've chosen a different song to lead in with, something that involved harmony, I could've chosen like Boyz II Men, and then we could've really talked about musical harmony.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Could've gotten to the end of the road.

Alexander Kotler:                                  That's why I like to have you on this fantastic show. So we think about harmony in the context of technology and we think about these systems that work together, why is the idea of the marketing technology stack important?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  It's a visualization of these technologies and having a visualization is very important for several reasons,  especially if you're a visual thinker, like myself, to have a blueprint that can help you organize and understand which systems provide which outputs or outcomes, which technologies serve which purposes, and I think above all, it allows marketers and critical decision-makers to identify what gaps and/or opportunities there may be in your current stack.

Alexander Kotler:                                  When we think of the tech stack, what kinds of systems specifically are we referring to?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  There's lots of ways to classify or- or, organize your stack. Some refer to the systems in terms of where they fit along the marketing funnel, so you can identify technologies that are either, awareness building or are work consideration and others for immediate decision. In my experience, I've seen that it's organized differently depending on your purpose or your organization. You know, it's good to think of it in terms of categories. So one could be advertising, and another would be content, you can talk about it in ways of social and/or, sales, data, and then management. So thinking of it in terms of those different categories can give you a sense of your stack and how to compartmentalize the different technologies and that's how Scott Brinker, from chiefmartec, organizes his landscape doc

Scott Rubenstein:                                  And that's what we've used as our frame of reference to classify ours. And so when it's gonna come down to systems, you can think of technologies like, CRM or customer relationship management, CMS or content management systems, proposal systems, document generated systems, and then, of course, social platforms and things like that.

Alexander Kotler:                                  I really like Motown, really. I thought that was a (laughs) terrific, a terrific song. Bring me back to my childhood. I propel of absolutely nothing. (laughs). Let's refocus since, I took myself to the end of the road there. So the focus of your panel is gonna be about how legal marketers can optimize their marketing tech stack. So Scott Brinker has this framework, we've co-opted that into this visualization that organizes all of the relevant systems and our way of thinking about that is that there are relationships between them and ways to make them function as ideally as possible. Do you think that when it comes to the legal sector, it's distinct from that of, let's just say, the CPG or, yeah, B2C business or other B2B type businesses?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Well, legal is certainly unique. You know, there are certain technologies that are specialized for legal marketers or there are technologies that can be referred to perhaps as incumbents because they built up brand loyalty or- or brand equity, but it's less about those specific systems, as much as it's about how to use them best. So how to pair them with other systems and how to work within constraints, like your budget or your team size, and at the end of the day, you wanna get the most out of the technology, you wanna have the technology working for you.

Alexander Kotler:                                  So this is terrific to know, we have an in-going perspective on how legal marketers can optimize their stacks, but what we're gonna be doing through the course of the conversation you're gonna be moderating in November is asking other experts, both from within and without legal, what their opinions are and how they optimize their stack. So let's do some name dropping. It's-

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs).

Alexander Kotler:                                  ... it's always fun. Who's gonna be participating in your panel?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Well, we have some heavy hitters. We have Julie Gurney, Director of Marketing and Communications at Benesch, Stefanie Knapp, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Allen Matkins, and Amy Holtzman, Senior VP of Marketing at AlphaSense.

Alexander Kotler:                                  So this is exciting because you have two legal marketers and you have one from outside of the legal space, and what AlphaSense does is it takes AI-powered business insights and it applies them to relevant situations for financial services and other corporate firms. What's the idea behind cross-pollinating legal experts with those from the outside?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Well, we wanted a mix, for sure. Having two legal marketers on the panel gives insights, of course, and credibility to how legal marketers leverage the technology and how they look at their technology and how they deliver those business outcomes. Having someone from an outside industry to compare and contrast those will certainly make for a lively discussion and add a greater dimension to the talk.

Alexander Kotler:                                  So just as a teaser perhaps, what kinds of discussion topics or questions can we expect you to ask them? And this is probably as much for them to be able to get some idea of how to prepare but for our audience, what should they expect?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Well, I- I love technology, I love software, I love the different products that are out there and I really wanna hear how... what products people are using, how they're using them, how they are orienting themselves around them, how they're working with either solo or with teams around their technology, whether they rely on some products more than others, whether there is a product or system or technology that they're using as the single, authoritative source of content that drives content to other systems and why they're using it that way and for what purpose.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  And then, of course, when it comes down to it, how financial constraints can limit the tech selection process, you know, well- well, you may want X product but, it's more aspirational based on your budgeting spend and what you're doing with what you can do. When we talk about different technologies, that there are people that are specialists or experts in a certain technology or system and... or if everybody uses all the systems and they're all sort of team generalists in them.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  The panelists are gonna have a good time during the discussions and I do- I do think, again, it will be a lively discussion, something that they're all interested in but the audience, I think, is gonna benefit the most and I hope it provides a lot of insight to them about the marketing technology stack, what technology's out there, how others are using them. And at the end of the day, take away something that's useful that they could bring back and use immediately.

Alexander Kotler:                                  Sounds fantastic 45-minute discussion. The only thing that I have to say is, it's so hard, Scott-

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs).

Alexander Kotler:                                  ... to say goodbye 'cause we reached the end of the road here of the RubyApps Insights podcast. I'm really looking forward to November. I know it's gonna be a lively discussion as you say. Any parting words or do you wanna sing any Boyz II Men with me a capella?

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs). I've always been partial to One Sweet Day with Mariah, personally. But (laughs)...

Alexander Kotler:                                  Start us off? I'll do the Mariah part.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  (laughs). We've gotta save that content for our next podcast.

Alexander Kotler:                                  Amazing. Scott Rubenstein, Partner, Director, amazing a capella-ist, musician, moderator and guest on today's RubyApps Insights podcast. Thank you so much for, again, taking the time and indulging me in this conversation.

Scott Rubenstein:                                  Pleasure as always.

Voiceover:                                            RubyApps Insights is recorded at Studio 55 and is hosted by Alexander Kotler. For more insights and detail on RubyApps an enterprise software developed by RubensteinTech, visit rubyapps.com. Until next time, have an awesome every day.