If you work in marketing, you likely rely on a variety of tools and software to manage your campaigns so meaning that you have already had your introduction to MarTech. Unfortunately, new technologies are released seemingly every day. It can be hard to keep up with the latest developments, especially for marketers.
Modern MarTech software includes solutions for managing marketing campaigns with greater ease. Marketers can rely on the latest innovations for real-time analytics, deeper market insight, and increased automation.
Here is a MarTech primer to help you better understand the tools available for your marketing campaigns.
An Introduction to MarTech First things First What Is MarTech?
First, it helps to understand the types of tools categorized as “MarTech.” MarTech includes marketing technology, such as CRM software and email marketing platforms.
MarTech includes the software and online platforms used to support marketing efforts. You may depend on MarTech for everything from conducting market research to publishing new content on your website or social media accounts.
You can check out this video for a brief into to MarTech.
Why Do You Need Marketing Technology?
Without marketing technology, you would rely on external sources to manually choose the best marketing approach. For example, without MarTech, you would need to create individual emails for each subscriber and find a way to manually track each customer’s journey.
Advantages of using MarTech in your marketing strategy include:
- Gain access to beneficial analytics
- Automate marketing tasks for increased efficiency
- Boost engagement and conversion rates
- Increase your marketing return on investment
The goal of marketing technology is to simplify the way you develop and track marketing campaigns. However, using MarTech also helps you keep up with the competition. Most businesses use marketing campaigns to reach customers.
According to Fundera, which is owned by NerdWallet, only 1 in 10 small businesses choose not to invest in any kind of marketing. Without marketing, it becomes difficult to compete or attract more customers.
MarTech Provides Access to Analytics
Marketing technology gives you access to detailed metrics that are difficult to find elsewhere. MarTech software often includes analytics tools for analyzing and refining your marketing strategies.
Using analytics software helps remove bias from marketing decisions. You can rely on data to determine whether you need to tweak your strategies or active campaigns.
Analytics software can track website traffic and the performance of your marketing efforts. You gain a better understanding of consumer behavior, which allows you to optimize your campaigns.
MarTech Helps Automate Marketing Tasks
Marketing software has been used to automate simple tasks for over two decades. Salesforce and other customer relationship management (CRM) software can automate reporting, sales lead generation, bookings, and more.
According to Oracle, marketing automation can increase lead generation by 80%. However, only about 25% of marketers extensively use automation tools. This allows you to leverage technologies that many others fail to use.
Marketing automation saves time and eliminates errors, increasing the potential value of your marketing efforts. The leading CRM solutions also integrate easily with other platforms, allowing you to pull data from various marketing technologies to make smarter decisions.
MarTech Boosts Engagement and Conversions
Marketing technologies help boost audience engagement and increase conversion rates. For example, using analytics software allows you to see which marketing performs best and worst.
The insight that you gain helps shape the direction of future marketing efforts. You can finetune your blog posts and social media posts to deliver better results.
Social media management software is also useful for increasing engagement and conversions. You learn more about the needs of your target audience and the best times to release content for maximum engagement.
MarTech Increases Your Return on Investment
Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns helps you generate a better return on investment (ROI). Using MarTech software streamlines your existing marketing processes while helping you develop more effective strategies.
Each improvement you make increases the value of your marketing efforts. Marketing technologies make it easier to set goals and track your progress. You can then monitor each marketing activity and find ways to improve your current practices.
What Are the Most Common MarTech Platforms?
Now that you know why MarTech is important, you may wonder which technologies offer the most benefit. Here are some of the most used marketing tools:
- Content management systems
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software
- Email marketing platforms
- Social media management software
- Search engine optimization tools
These are the most essential products available, but you can find a variety of tools to address any aspect of your marketing efforts. Marketing teams also occasionally use sales engagement tools, retargeting software, and data management solutions.
Content Management Systems Manage Websites
A content management system (CMS) is often at the center of a MarTech stack. A CMS is typically used to create and manage websites. Your website, blog posts, and landing pages can be managed from a CMS without any web development experience.
The most popular CMS solutions include:
- WordPress
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Magento
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Shopify
- Progress Sitefinity
- Blogger
- Weebly
These CMS solutions also include access to additional marketing technologies. For example, WordPress users can install a wide range of plugins for managing lead generation, email marketing, and social media marketing. These activities are typically performed with additional MarTech software.
CRM Software Helps Manage Sales Leads
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is an essential tool for tracking sales leads. You can track every stage of a sales lead’s journey through a sales funnel, from awareness to purchase and customer retention.
The information obtained through CRM software helps you find opportunities in your current marketing strategies. For example, you may find that a particular campaign delivers higher conversions. Increasing the size or scope of the campaign may boost the ROI of your marketing spending.
Email Marketing Platforms Automate Email Campaigns
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies. Although some CRM and CMS solutions include email marketing features, using a dedicated platform offers several advantages.
Dedicated email marketing platforms include functions for automating your email campaigns. You can set up automated emails for nurturing sales leads with minimal manual input.
Social Media Management Software Helps Schedule Posts
Social media management software offers the same advantages provided by email marketing platforms. You can simplify and automate your social media posting.
Social media management tools include calendars and other features for managing your posting schedule and collaborating with a team of content creators and marketers.
SEO Tools Deliver More Traffic to Your Digital Content
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of marketing. It helps increase the amount of organic traffic a website receives.
Using SEO tools increases the visibility of your web pages in search results. The extra traffic you receive increases the reach of your marketing efforts.
According to GE Capital Retail Bank, 81% of retail shoppers complete online research before buying a product. Without SEO, you miss out on a large portion of online searches and potential customers.
Round Up
Marketing executives do not always need technical expertise. However, you should still familiarize yourself with the tools of the trade.
Marketing technology (MarTech) typically includes tools for managing digital marketing campaigns and related content. You may use MarTech to manage websites, landing pages, social media posts, and email campaigns. Common technologies include content management systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.
The next step is to compare marketing products to find out which ones offer the most value for your organization.
