What is marketing technology?
Let’s begin by asking a fundamental question, what is marketing technology?
Marketing technology, often called MarTech, describes the software that marketers use to optimize their marketing efforts and achieve their objectives. This is a pretty broad umbrella that covers a variety of technologies.
For example, content management is a huge aspect of modern marketing, but actually managing the volumes of content you need and making the most of them is a huge challenge. Content management tools, like SEO tools designed to help you keep track of how to get your content ranked, have made optimization far more accessible to companies of all sizes.
Another major improvement was in technology designed to improve programmatic advertising. Brands have access to automated ad placement, which eliminated the need for negotiation. This in turn made advertising more accessible for brands and helped customers discover products that they actually wanted.
AdTech and MarTech—are they the same?
Advertising Technology (AdTech) and Marketing Technology (MarTech) are two distinct but closely related forms of digital marketing. In essence, both aim to enhance marketing efforts through technology, although their areas of focus and functions differ.
MarTech centers on marketing strategy and customer engagement, while AdTech specializes in executing and optimizing ad campaigns, primarily focusing on ad placement and targeting. It’s often suggested that AdTech primarily deals with paid advertising channels, while MarTech focuses on unpaid or organic marketing efforts. However, these distinctions can be quite fluid, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
While both are vital in today’s marketing landscape, for the purpose of this article, our main focus will be on MarTech and its role in shaping various aspects of modern marketing strategies.
What are the different types of marketing technology?
MarTech consists of a diverse range of technologies, each catering to specific aspects of marketing. Some common types of MarTech include:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: CRM tools help organizations manage and nurture customer relationships. They store valuable customer data, track interactions, and enable personalized marketing campaigns.
Content Management Systems (CMS): CMS platforms assist in content creation, publishing, and management. They are key to maintaining a dynamic online presence.
Analytics and Reporting Tools: Data-driven decision-making is fundamental in marketing. Analytics tools provide insights into campaign performance, customer behavior, and market trends.
Marketing Automation Software: Marketing automation streamlines repetitive tasks, such as lead nurturing and campaign scheduling. It improves efficiency and enables personalized marketing at scale.
Performance Campaigns: Retargeting campaigns remind past website visitors of the brand with personalized ads. At RTB House, we use Deep Learning-powered algorithms to re-engage users and increase conversion rates.
The importance of MarTech lies in its ability to supply marketers with the tools and data needed to make informed decisions, optimize campaigns, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. By harnessing MarTech, businesses can stay competitive in the digital landscape, reach their target audience effectively, and achieve a higher return on investment (ROI).
How can I properly apply marketing technology?
Given this broad scope, it’s often easier for most marketers to look at MarTech through the lens of their own needs. Rather than trying to apply every kind of technology available, you should instead look at what you actually need, and plan accordingly.
For example, if you run a website, then you might want to focus on things that make it easier for users to actually find your site. These include simple SEO optimizers, but companies can also take this to the next level with tools like Hotjar, designed to make your site more enjoyable to use, or even a chatbot to answer user questions during their visit.
If, on the other hand, you want to focus on sales performance, then you would be looking at a different suite of tools. An SEO optimizer might help initially, but you’re going to want to find ways to reach new users in the long term, for example, through adverts, which means you’ll need to use some kind of ad-buying technology like Google Ads.
MarTech will be useful to most organizations in one form or another, but it needs to be applied with a certain level of care. This is where appointing (or becoming!) a marketing technologist can come in handy.
What is a marketing technologist?
A marketing technologist is a person who works with an organization, understands the contexts of their marketing needs, and knows how best to apply the latest MarTech solutions to serve them. They are there to act as the conduit between the non-technical marketing teams and the IT teams who implement the solutions that their marketing teams rely on.
A good marketing technologist doesn’t just look at how to apply technology, but how to help the organization itself adjust to make the most of it. They also need to navigate emerging technologies, for example, cloud computing, and figure out if that technology brings value to the organization’s marketing muscles, and if so, how best to implement them.
The role sounds like it has an enormous amount of responsibilities, because it does, and the exact way it is shaped will depend on your organization. However, there are some specifics that every marketing technologist will need to know to do their job:
Bridging user experience with marketing operations – A good marketing technologist understands that the end-user experience can be even more important than operations on the company side. They will need to use their broad experience to connect the dots and ensure that everyone walks away happy.
Building the MarTech stack – To do this, they need to identify the MarTech tools that best suit their users’ and organization’s needs, and integrate them into the company’s internal processes.
Building a MarTech company culture – The technology itself is only one part of the picture. It’s also important to champion these changes and help to ensure that innovation becomes a core part of the company’s culture.
What is a MarTech stack?
A MarTech stack is a collection of tools and technologies that an organization uses to carry out its marketing activities. Building a MarTech stack requires careful consideration of the organization’s specific needs and objectives. It should include tools for lead generation, customer engagement, analytics, and other key metrics.
A well-constructed MarTech stack enables marketers to:
Seamlessly integrate data from various sources.
Automate marketing tasks and workflows.
Personalize customer experiences.
Analyze and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Adapt to evolving customer preferences and market trends.
An effective MarTech strategy makes sure that the chosen technology works smoothly and efficiently, driving marketing success and fostering innovation within the organization.
What are the potential challenges in marketing technology, and how can I avoid them?
While MarTech offers many benefits, it can also present some challenges that organizations must navigate:
Integration Complexity: Managing a diverse set of MarTech tools can be complex. To address this challenge, organizations should prioritize interoperability and invest in integration solutions that support seamless data flow between platforms.
Data Privacy and Compliance: With increasing regulations like GDPR and CCPA, data privacy and compliance are critical. Organizations should implement data protection measures, obtain proper consents, and stay informed about evolving privacy laws.
Talent and skill gap: MarTech tools require skilled personnel for optimal utilization. Companies should invest in training and development to bridge the talent gap and ensure their teams are proficient in using MarTech effectively.
Choosing the right tools: The MarTech landscape is vast, making it challenging to select the right tools. Organizations should conduct thorough research, assess their needs, and consider scalability when choosing MarTech solutions.
Measuring ROI: Demonstrating the ROI of MarTech investments can be challenging. Establish clear metrics and KPIs from the outset to measure the impact of MarTech on marketing efforts and overall business outcomes.
MarTech plays a significant role in modern marketing, offering a wide range of tools to streamline processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive business growth. With our innovative approach and top products, such as personalized retargeting, RTB House can help you maximize the potential of your MarTech stack and remain competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
How does RTB House contribute to the marketing technology space?
Innovation has always been at the core of RTB House. For our organization, understanding and interpreting data was a key mission. This is why we adopted Deep Learning technology across all of our products in 2017. We use this technology to provide users with adverts personalized to their needs and to enable companies to better find the people they actually want to connect with.
For example, Deep Learning enables us to reconnect with users who have already displayed interest in your products using retargeting. Our personalized retargeting services have helped companies like Gumtree double their conversion rate.
Deep Learning campaigns optimize budgets by putting ads in front of the right users. An important part of this process is to use high-quality personalized creatives to attract users to a brand and get them curious about its products or services. This approach helped Renault boost visibility by 87%.
Aside from our advances in Deep Learning, we’ve also been involved in helping to build the MarTech solutions of the future. RTB House has been closely involved in the development of Google’s Privacy Sandbox since its inception. We were the first Demand Side Platform to conduct active tests of Google’s FLEDGE proposal. We will continue to be active in the MarTech community and share our knowledge to help the space grow.
Want to learn how MarTech can benefit your organization?
Then we’re standing by to talk! Our team can help you understand how our MarTech solutions and services can help benefit your organization, and assist you in explaining to your company why it is so important to embrace MarTech solutions today.
Just head over to our contact page to get started.
