Why Cogent for Martech Search

Complimentary for Brands

Completely Transparent

Deep Market Expertise

We bring specialized knowledge of the complex and rapidly evolving MarTech landscape, helping you quickly pinpoint solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Vendor Vetting and Shortlisting

We will efficiently narrow down a vast range of available options to a targeted shortlist, reducing the time and internal resources required for you to navigate numerous vendors.

Objective Guidance

We offer unbiased advice and recommendations, free from vendor incentives, ensuring the best possible fit rather than pushing a specific solution.

Negotiation and Better Terms

Leveraging our industry experience and vendor relationships, we will negotiate more favorable pricing, contract terms, and service levels, potentially resulting in significant cost savings and improved outcomes.

Accelerated Decision-Making

We streamline the entire selection and evaluation process, enabling brands to adopt and implement technologies faster, ensuring quicker returns on investment.

Strategic Alignment

We help ensure the selected technology aligns strategically with your broader business objectives, preventing mismatches and costly missteps.

Reduced Risk and Increased Confidence

Working with us reduces the risk of selecting the wrong tool, minimizing financial and operational setbacks, and providing greater confidence in technology decisions.

How it works

Consultation

We meet with your team to understand your goals, challenges, and needs.

Research

We develop a custom RFI and curate an extensive list of potential vendors

Vendor Match

After careful consideration, we shortlist the best vendors for your business.

Collaboration

We work together to dive deep into the curated options but we handle all the communication and negotiations.

Seamless Execution

From demos to negotiations, we handle the heavy lifting, saving you time and effort.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is Cogent’s MarTech search free for brands?

A: We don’t charge brands. Cogent earns referral fees from vendors when there’s a successful match — but vendors only pay if you choose them, and the recommendations are vendor-neutral regardless. You get expert guidance without paying for it, and we get paid only when we deliver real fit.

Q: What kinds of MarTech decisions does Cogent help with?

A: High-consideration platform decisions where the cost of getting it wrong is high. Examples: replacing your CDP, evaluating a new ESP, choosing an attribution platform, building a custom RFP for a category you’re new to. We’re not built for low-stakes tool purchases.

Q: How long does a typical search take?

A: Most engagements run 4–8 weeks from intake to vendor selection, depending on category complexity and stakeholder count. We can move faster if needed.

Q: How is this different from Gartner or Forrester?

A: They sell you a report. We embed in your decision. Cogent’s recommendations come from operators and practitioners we work with daily — not analyst surveys. We also handle the vendor outreach, RFI/RFP, and decision support, not just the shortlist.

Q: Who actually does the work?

A: Sean Simon and Tom Barbaro lead every engagement personally, drawing on the Cogent community of brand-side operators when category-specific input helps.

If you’re on the vendor side, see how we help MarTech companies refine GTM with Vendor GTM Services and embedded deal execution through Cogent Momentum.

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