The technology available to marketers is changing rapidly. The technological needs of marketers is also changing, becoming critically important to business success. But what trends will have the most impact on marketing technology (martech) effectiveness, asks the "Marketing Trends Survey." To help answer this question, Ascend2 and Research Partners fielded the Marketing Technology Trends Survey. 145 marketing influencers responded to this survey during the week of October 22, 2018.
This Survey Summary Report, titled Marketing Technology Trends, represents the opinions of all the market segments responding to the survey. Specific market segments from the survey are reported on separately and exclusively by participating Research Partners.
Survey Market Segments
Number of Employees |
|
More than 500 | 29% |
50 to 500 | 34% |
Fewer than 50 | 37% |
Role in the Company |
|
Owner / Partner / CXO | 33% |
VP/Director/Manager | 51% |
Non-Mgmt Professional | 16% |
Primary Marketing Channel |
|
Business-to-Business | 63% |
Business-to-Consumer | 20% |
B2B and B2C Equally | 17% |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
CURRENT MARTECH SITUATION
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of marketing influencers say they are now working on implementing the marketing technology needed. Less than one-in-five (19%) say they have completed implementing martech while another 15% are just talking about it.
Which best describes the Current Situation as it applies to implementing the marketing technology needed
Completed it | 19% |
Working on it | 63% |
Talking about it | 15% |
Doing nothing | 3% |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
TOP STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR A MARKETING TECH STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE
Increasing ROI and improving marketing efficiency are the top priorities for a marketing technology strategy to achieve, according to 65% and 57% of marketing influencers respectively. Marketing efficiency is a primary driver of marketing ROI.
Increasing marketing ROI | 65% |
Improving marketing efficiency | 57 |
Attributing revenue to marketing | 39 |
Improving decision making | 39 |
Gaining competitive advantage | 35 |
Integrating disparate systems | 30 |
Improving data security | 14 |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
MARTECH STRATEGY SUCCESS
58% of marketing influencers consider a martech strategy to be somewhat successful at achieving top priorities. However, more than one-third (36%) consider their strategy very successful, or best-in-class when compared to the competition.
How Successful is marketing tech at achieving top priorities
Very | 36% |
Somewhat | 58% |
Not Successful | 6% |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
BARRIERS TO SUCCESS
Integrating disparate systems | 52% |
Attributing revenue to marketing | 47 |
Increasing marketing ROI | 36 |
Improving decision making | 34 |
Improving marketing efficiency | 28 |
Gaining competitive advantage | 24 |
Improving data security | 17 |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
MOST EFFECTIVE
IMPLEMENTATIONS
Technology implemented for content marketing purposes is considered most effective by about half (51%) of marketing influencers. Marketing analytics and email marketing are also considered most effective martech implementations by 47% and 45% respectively.
Most effective marketing technologies to implement
Content marketing | 51% |
Marketing analytics | 47 |
Email marketing | 45 |
Social media marketing | 35 |
Data management | 35 |
Organic search/SEO | 28 |
Paid search/ad tech | 25 |
Source: Ascend2 & Research Partners, November 2018
You can download the summary PDF here.