A new trend occurring in almost every market around the world is information technology (IT) and age-old industries joining forces. Technology is shaping everything these days, from manufacturing to healthcare, and now marketing and advertising. This simple introduction to MarTech, or marketing technology, seeks to break down how technology has infiltrated the marketing landscape, digitizing it to create far-reaching benefits for both marketers and consumers. For a more thorough look, we dive into the most important MarTech statistics you need to know in 2018.
WARC released a study stating that the U.K. and U.S. MarTech market was worth over $34 billion, with 50% of brands say current tools don’t cover every aspect of what they need. This creates vast opportunities for new technologies and bigger profits. The study also shows that brands are spending 16% of their marketing budget on MarTech, with budgets expecting to rise by 10% over the next year.
In 2011 there were about 150 companies geared toward marketing technology. In 2016, there were almost 4,000 and in 2017 the number nears to almost 5,000 companies. This industry is also expecting a massive CAGR of 12.4%. The proof is in the numbers: they tell that MarTech is here to stay.
What Exactly Is MarTech?
The best introduction to MarTech would be to simply describe it as every piece of technology a marketer uses to attract potential customers. It can be as small as email marketing platforms and as complex as analytical software systems to track performance. The term MarTech especially describes a company’s crucial initiatives and efforts to utilize technological tools that help achieve marketing goals and objectives.
This might seem simple right? But in order to stay ahead of competitors, companies need to be quick, creative and inventive. Certain brands also have an advantage, like Uber, Airbnb, and subscription-based companies, as the customer journey begins with a one-to-one relationship. And in an introduction to MarTech, it’s important to note that creating a one-to-one relationship is a major goal of marketing technology.
Legacy brands, brands that have been around before the major use of marketing technology, have a harder time achieving this. As compared to younger brands that depend on this technology, utilizing MarTech becomes a bit more complicated. More layers, or MarTech stacks, are needed to create successful digital marketing campaigns. Not to say marketing stacks are only for legacy brands, as all brands need to employ marketing stacks in order to deliver effective marketing campaigns. If you are ready to implement your strategy already, here are 6 steps you should be considering in 2018 when building a MarTech stack.
An Introduction to MarTech Stacks
This introduction to MarTech stacks explains it as a group of marketing technology tools, like SaaS platforms (software-as-a-service model), traditional software, social media tools, etc, that any marketer can use to skillfully implement marketing activities across many platforms while analyzing their success. This is critical as a lot of business competition is generated through customer service, and even a Harvard Business Review Study states that teams with a better understanding of marketing technologies will gain better insights into how to create connections with customers and prospects.
MarTech stacks allow marketers to make sense of the chaos created by the amount of MarTech solutions available (almost 5,000) and the data they create. MarTech stacks offer actionable insights, resources to make informed decisions and the tools to create effective marketing campaigns. By building the right MarTech stack, companies can outperform competitors and capture their market share.
Example of technologies in a MarTech stack might include:
- Analytics tool
- Social media scheduling tool
- Email marketing platform tool
- CRM software
- CMS system
- Blog platform
- Marketing automation tool
- Graphics tool
- Website building and hosting tool
- Sales enabling tool
- Data management tool
- Collaboration tool
As you can see, the possibilities when creating a personalized MarTech stack are endless, resulting in possible confusion. It may take some trial and error to discover what technologies are effective for your company. In order to simply solve this dilemma, prebuilt stacks for specific industries if making one from scratch seems too challenging. Take for instance Terminus, a MarTech stack built for B2B marketers. It curates all the technology a B2B marketer will need and makes it available on one platform.
Why Is MarTech Important?
No introduction to MarTech would be complete without analyzing the benefits of implementing these tools into one’s own marketing strategy. Ultimately, MarTech’s end result produces better marketers and more efficient, profit-generating campaigns. In order to achieve this, other beneficial elements come into play.
Referring back to MarTech stacks, this concept puts a priority on system integration. This technology would be useless if the platforms could not interact or automate processes. A MarTech stack allows for complete integration of all marketing technology tools and applications onto one platform. Everything runs smoothly when the technologies can communicate.
MarTech also allows for better customer interactions by personalizing the ad campaign for them. Integrating platforms and systems make the “customer journey” possible. Marketing teams can access comprehensive customer data from the first interaction to the last. This allows companies to better understand their customers and adjust marketing strategies accordingly.
Data collection is actually a big part of delivering the benefits of marketing technology. Knowing who your customers are and pinpointing their spending habits play a large role in generating continuous profit. This data helps marketing teams keep current customers and attract new ones, while also contributing to other aspects of a business like product development, product price, budgeting, etc.
Brief, yet Impactful Introduction to MarTech
Chances are you are already using some form of MarTech for your business, but knowing the potential behind employing an arsenal of these tools will unlock even more opportunities. There are many specialized MarTech solutions, over 5,000 to be exact, that you can easily learn to interchange to construct the perfect package. This introduction to MarTech briefly touches the surface of an intricate industry for marketers so look out for more on MarTech by BizVibe.
You May Also Enjoy:
- MarTech vs AdTech: What’s the Difference?
- Top 20 Medtech Startups to Watch in 2018
- Top 5 Female-Founded Tech Startup Companies
