What Is MarTech? And Why is it Important to Your Business?
Discover what MarTech is, why it's important to be using modern marketing technology, and examples of tools you should be using today.
Blog Post
10 minutes
May 22, 2023
What is MarTech?
Marketing technology, or MarTech, is a term that refers to the various tools and technologies that businesses use to automate, streamline, and optimize their marketing efforts. The use of marketing technology has become increasingly important in recent years as businesses seek to engage with their target audience more effectively, improve their marketing performance, and drive growth and revenue.
In short, marketing technology is a critical component of a modern marketing strategy and is essential for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s digital landscape.
Marketing technology is critical to modern business because it’s often the thing that gives you an advantage over your competitors. The tools that they have access to are oftentimes a massive differentiator between competing companies.
Without the latest tech, you could be missing out on key information or abilities that can make a massive difference in converting more leads into customers and growing your business.
Why Are Businesses Investing So Much in MarTech Platforms?
Get Ahead of Your Competition with Technology
The reason a lot of businesses are investing in marketing technology is simply down to trying to get ahead of their competition. MarTech platforms offer businesses of all sizes a lot of use and just small differences in productivity or strategy from one of these tools can make a big difference, especially in smaller businesses.
And it’s quickly catching on as the MarTech industry grows. Now, more than half of marketers think the MarTech industry is evolving faster than their companies' use of marketing technology. This has led to a ramping up of adoption and implementation of MarTech platforms, specifically solutions that offer automation, data analysis, project management, and contact management which can all have huge impacts quickly on how a marketing team works.
There is also an increasing desire among businesses to update their legacy systems and employ MarTech platforms that can be used company-wide, as opposed to the marketing team (or any other team, for that matter) being siloed and missing out on important information they could be using in their campaigns.
Make Greater Use of Your Marketing Data
The prevalence of big data in all businesses has brought with it a number of challenges, like cybersecurity and learning how to structure and report all that data. But with that also comes huge opportunity, especially if you have the technology to help.
More data means more information about customers and prospects that can be used to inform strategies and make stronger decisions overall. But to make use of data, businesses need technology solutions that are capable of storing, organizing, structuring, and reporting all that data without a human having to handle it all. AI and machine learning tools like a CRM give businesses the chance to aggregate, analyze, and then put into use the vast quantities of data at their disposal.
Additionally, modern MarTech solutions are typically compatible with systems in other departments, helping marketers unify and access information across the whole business that was previously inaccessible, improving productivity.
MarTech Helps Businesses Offer a More Personalized Approach
Central to the utilization of this data is the ability of businesses to offer a more personalized approach than they were able to before. The more data you have, the more information you have to be able to target your campaigns at specific, segmented groups across all your platforms.
75% of consumers said that they are more keen to buy from brands that offer personalized marketing experiences. This means that the better you’re able to understand your prospects (and customers) and target your campaigns, the more effective they’ll be and the more leads you’ll convert.
Small businesses sometimes may be hesitant to implement new marketing technologies whether it’s due to lack of expertise and knowledge or just not having enough time to learn something new.
There’s a misconception that new tech means more hours learning, training, and using it when the opposite is true.
MarTech tools can increase your productivity because they tend to simplify and streamline time-consuming processes. It will take time to learn how to use tools like this, and it may require the help of some marketing experts. However, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks of the time and money investment because MarTech can help in many ways, such as:
Automation: Automate tedious and time-consuming tasks like social media posting, email marketing, and data entry, freeing up time for you and your employees to focus on other important tasks that require more creativity or brainpower.
Efficiency: Use MarTech to streamline your operations and workflows, which speeds up processes and the tasks humans have to personally take care of much easier.
Customer Insights: MarTech can provide valuable insights into the actions and desires of your customers, such as their demographics, behavior, and preferences. This can help you create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.
Cost Savings: Many MarTech solutions are more affordable than you’d think and offer a good return on investment, making them a cost-effective solution for small businesses looking to improve their marketing efforts.
Competitive Advantage: By leveraging MarTech, small businesses have the opportunity to leapfrog competitors who are in similar positions. In tough, hard-fought industries with tight competition, a piece of technology can make a big difference in giving you a competitive edge.
Major Innovations and Trends in MarTech for 2023
MarTech has seen significant evolution in recent years, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and omnichannel marketing, which have made it easier to reach more people across platforms and channels.
The rise of AI in marketing—with tools like ChatGPT or HubSpot’s ChatSpot—has transformed the way businesses can collect and analyze data to inform marketing decisions, write content, and do research.
AI can help marketers analyze vast amounts of data to identify trends and patterns that might otherwise be missed. This can help businesses make more informed decisions about their marketing strategies, from identifying the best channels to reach their target audience to optimizing ad spend for maximum ROI.
Machine learning algorithms can also be used to automate certain tasks, such as A/B testing or content optimization, freeing up marketers to focus on higher-level strategy and creative work.
Another significant development in MarTech has been the rise of omnichannel marketing. Omnichannel marketing enables businesses to reach consumers across multiple channels, including email, social media, SMS, and more.
By using data to track consumer behavior across these channels, businesses can create more personalized and targeted marketing messages that resonate with their audience.
For example, a customer who abandons a shopping cart on a website might receive a follow-up email with a discount code for the items in their cart, or a customer who searches for a particular product might receive a targeted ad on social media promoting that product.
The key to successful omnichannel marketing is data integration. By using a customer relationship management (CRM) system to track interactions across all channels, businesses can gain a holistic view of their customers and create more personalized and effective marketing campaigns.
What’s In a MarTech Stack?
Content Marketing System (CMS)
A CMS is what businesses use to manage their website pages, whether it’s a simple blog, pillar page, glossary, product page, or anything else that goes on your site.
CMSs are designed with ease of use in mind, meaning they require virtually no knowledge of HTML and can be used effectively by marketers who can’t code. The goal of the most popular CMSs (HubSpot, WordPress, Drupal, etc.) is to give marketing teams the ability to make website changes without having to call upon a developer or have a huge knowledge of coding and website design.
As content marketing in particular becomes a core part of the strategies of many businesses, investing in a CMS is essential to operating and managing those strategies as far as your content output goes.
Email Marketing Platforms
In spite of the popularity of other digital marketing areas, email still remains a crucial and central aspect of strategies and stacks.
Data analysis combined with email automation makes for a killer combo in today’s marketing environment, allowing businesses to automatically send out highly-targeted campaigns that improve conversion and retention rates. It’s common for email marketing platforms to come included with general inbound marketing solutions offered today.
Advertising Tech
AdTech is a form of MarTech that handles the management of digital campaigns. These solutions allow advertisers to serve targeted ads to the most preferable audiences, measure the success of those campaigns through tracking engagement and clicks, and then use that information to dictate the direction of future campaigns.
Using a platform that can track data allows you to focus on which ads worked and which didn’t, meaning you can further optimize your budget for ad spend and get your advertising in front of prospects most likely to convert.
Social Media Management Programs
Social media is a central part of engagement for a modern business, making technology that helps manage these platforms a must-have. Not only are social media platforms a useful tool for your content strategy, but they are additionally an important resource for prospects and clients for customer service and other queries.
Measuring your engagement on social media with a MarTech solution gives you an opportunity to see which content trends perform best across your platforms and gives you an insight into how effective your interactions are with users.
Of course, social media is a vital source of advertising, so it additionally helps to be able to see how successful particular campaigns are that you’re running through LinkedIn, Google, or Facebook paid ads.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools
Search engine optimization is another important consideration for businesses to make, and MarTech solutions that help them with their SEO are vital.
SEO tools help businesses determine the best strategy for ranking their content on search engines, and as people are increasingly reliant on the internet to find vendors, SEO becomes even more important.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
MarTech software like CRMs are useful for aligning marketing and sales and are most commonly used by B2B businesses. A CRM allows your marketers and sales reps to have access to all the customer data they need to manage relationships and help prospects down the funnel.
This is typically presented to stakeholders through a single dashboard, where they have access to everything they need like a customer’s previous history with you, outstanding orders, customer service issues, and even things like their social media activity regarding yourself and competitors.
This makes cultivating and retaining better relationships easier, with the added benefit of a more streamlined system for employees that improves productivity and satisfaction.
Outlook of Marketing Technology Going Forward
As businesses shift their marketing to digital, the emphasis on implementing technologies that aid these means will become more pronounced.
With these implementations becoming a more important aspect of marketing initiatives, businesses are frequently asking themselves what MarTech equipment they need and why MarTech will benefit their specific objectives.
This is even more the case when the importance of data is considered in informing campaigns and strategies. In this way, the ability of MarTech tools to aggregate and analyze information is key.
Moving forward, expect more businesses to bolster their MarTech stacks as investment in digital marketing continues to rise.
Key Takeaways
MarTech refers to a variety of tools used to automate, streamline, and optimize marketing efforts. It’s becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes to stay competitive and achieve their marketing goals.
MarTech encompasses a wide range of platforms. This includes email marketing software, social media management tools, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, analytics tools, and more.
Benefits that businesses from modern MarTech include automation, efficiency, customer insights, and cost savings. Not to mention the potential competitive advantages of having better technology.
Small businesses can greatly benefit from incorporating MarTech into their operations to get a competitive advantage from innovative technologies.
Marketing technology is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to developing winning campaigns online. Explore all the marketing resources you need to stand out today. Get instant access to our eBook, The Ultimate List of Marketing Resources for Any Campaign, now!
