Marketing Technology (MarTech): Trends and Best Practices

October 11, 2024

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How are marketers currently approaching marketing technology (martech)?

The marketing technology world is always changing and evolving as vendors, services, and solutions expand to meet needs for advertisers, creators, and consumers alike. Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the minds of marketers, many teams are trying to figure out what technology investments to make and how to remain ethical, privacy-compliant, and transparent when adopting AI into their processes.

Martech industry luminary Scott Brinker discussed the risks AI poses at a recent ANA event, stating, "One risk comes up in composability. When you ask AI to do things in that realm, how do you know you have the right to do those things — that you're staying compliant? We need to create some kind of guardrails, for instance, controlling who has access to what data. That's a risk, but it's a risk that I believe software is going to solve."

Brinker stressed, however, that the "bigger risk, in my opinion, is that companies can get left behind — like people who waited ten years to get on board with Google and only then tried to get a piece of the search engine juju. A third risk posed by AI is the impact it could have on labor markets. That's a real concern, but the real scary stuff there is quite some time away still. A lot of AI is focused on very particular tasks, while humans can remain focused on the larger strategy and the orchestration of the entire organization."

So, how can marketers stay focused and harness martech effectively and strategically? Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction, shared three recommendations:

Culture lensing, which Klein describes as "being attuned to what's happening in an audience's culture is a powerful lens to express your story. This is what can elevate campaigns to high engagement through a powerful narrative that best distinguishes your positioning."
Design thinking, which Klein states "is an ideation methodology, using empathy, common sense and testing. It should be used in journey mapping, communications planning and even data structure and technology implementation."
Future-proofing, which Klein states is when brands use "applied foresight — becoming true thought leaders through experimentation and knowledge sharing around emerging technologies."

Marketers need to traverse the complicated landscape of tech stacks to better understand consumers, and particularly, understand what martech investments companies will need to make in order to survive and thrive.

Below are helpful best practices and trends. Don't forget to check out ANA's Marketing Technology hub as well as this guide on B2B and Martech.

Best Practices and Trends

Marketing Technology Procurement and Implementation Resources. ANA.
Martech has been identified as an essential component of helping marketers manage business transformation, so the ANA has made martech a critical priority and has established it as a strategic capability to help marketers master the stack. martech spending has doubled in the past two years to approximately $121.5 billion globally in 2019, with the number of martech vendors growing to 8,000.

As growth continues, so too does the complexity of the related issues that arise from the implementation and integration of what are often disparate solutions. ANA has built a solution by retaining the Venable LLP, our data and technology law firm, to create a suite of legal documents to streamline procurement decisioning and the marketing technology procurement process and drive toward a more efficient evaluation and negotiation. These documents will help marketers secure substantially better value out of their martech investment, drive growth, and eliminate waste.
Learn the A to Z of Martech. ANA.
Consult the Training Takeaways at this link to get up to speed on all things martech. They cover it all, from making your business case to selecting vendors to establishing governance — all drawn from the ANA's Martech Foundations Certificate Program.
The Future of Martech Leadership. ANA, September 2024.
The future of marketing will depend on a brand's ability to drive growth through their investments in technology, data, and generative artificial intelligence. However, MarTech is currently facing a significant talent shortage, including a vast gap in entry-level positions, making it challenging for companies to identify and develop a robust diverse talent pipeline, which is critical for sustainable growth. In this session, learn about the groundbreaking martech talent industry initiative launched between the ANA Educational Foundation and the ANA MarTech Leadership Council. Discover the key challenges and opportunities around inspiring future MarTech leaders and how you can join the movement. See the full presentation available by clicking here.
To Add or Optimize...That Is the Question! ANA, June 2024.
In this forward-thinking session, Mar Dat founder and CEO Love Hudson-Maggio explored the critical question: "Have we fully leveraged our current martech stack's potential, or should we invest in new tools?" Learn how to assess the full potential of your existing tools like your ESP, CMS, DAM and Analytics, and make informed decisions on whether to keep, retire, or upgrade them to maximize stack performance and ROI. Discover how to navigate these complexities by using payback models, use case alignment, KPIs, and benchmarks to inform your decision-making. View the full presentation by clicking here.
Unpacking Personalization: Martech and Data Insights for SMBs. ANA, June 2024.
In a marketing landscape where two thirds of consumers expect personalized interactions with companies, the value of data is unparalleled. As the impending demise of third-party cookies looms, marketers, particularly those in small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), are pivoting towards new data strategies. SMBs stand poised to leverage emerging technologies to meet consumers' expectations, foster meaningful connections, and thrive in an ever-evolving market. Even amid economic uncertainty, SMBs are surprisingly expected to increase their investment in martech — the lifeblood empowering brands to gain a holistic understanding of their customers.

The ANA spoke to Courtney Trudeau, SVP of technology strategy lead at Merkle, to discuss how SMBs can align strategic data collection with the consumer journey, and best practices for establishing a value exchange that enables brands under budget constraints to create personalized experiences that meet consumers evolving expectations.
The State of Martech 2024: Marketing in the Age of AI. ANA, May 2024.
Marketing and marketing technology are changing significantly, as AI reshapes the landscape of what is possible and what is expected. HubSpot's Scott Brinker explained these changes — avoiding jargon and hyperbole — and provided guidance on how to navigate them successfully. Topics included the shift to a universal data layer, the rise of "composable" martech stacks, and the emergence of AI agents to serve both marketers and consumers. It's an exciting inflection point for the marketing industry and an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in your marketing operations and customer-facing digital experiences.
Designing Your Martech Stack to Enable the Modern Content Supply Chain. ANA, May 2024.
Hear from a Digital Asset Management Industry legend and thought-leader David Lipsey on the critical foundational role that DAMs are playing in the modern martech stack and how generative AI is a game-changer in modernizing the digital content supply chain.

Three Developments in Martech and Their Impact on Marketers. ANA, May 2024.
During a session at the ANA's 2024 Marketing Technology for Marketers Conference, Eddie Drake, industry principal at Snowflake, described the impact and benefit of three developments that are reshaping marketing, as well as the action steps that those developments demand from marketers, with those three developments being:

The enactment of voluminous regulations governing consumer data privacy
The proliferation of marketing technology and data
The elevation of consumer expectations

How Does an Identity Graph Impact Your Martech Stack? ANA, May 2024.
The Identity Graph strategy you use is the often-unsung hero in your martech stack, impacting effectiveness and insight at every step of the campaign. This session provided examples and perspective on key decisions and considerations that are sometimes unconscious: identity resolution vs. the graph; identity vs device graphs; best of breed vs. integrated suite selection; having comparable/optimizable outcomes when using walled gardens and/or vendor solutions.

Explore Today's Challenges That Marketing Technology and Operations Leaders Are Facing and What They Are Doing About It. ANA, May 2024.
During a session held at the ANA's 2024 Marketing Technology for Marketers Conference, a panel of experts from across an array of industries shared their recommendations for approaching some key priorities of marketing technology (martech) professionals.
Demystifying Composability: The Secret to Successful Marketing-Led Adoption. ANA, May 2024.
Riham El-Lakany — who has served as CMO and CCO for enterprise-scale organizations like BJC HealthCare, Freddie Mac, and Prudential — joined Eric Feige, managing director of strategy for VShift, to discuss how composable martech and decoupled web architecture empowers brands to quickly undergo digital transformations and seamlessly sunset and leverage their legacy systems as they adopt more adaptable models.
Best Practices for Onboarding Marketing Technology. ANA, November 2023.
Danielle Balestra, director of marketing technology and operations at Goodwin, has more than a decade of experience across various organizations implementing marketing technology (martech) solutions. Pulling from that experience, she shared key questions to ask, and other conditions marketers should consider when implementing or building out a martech stack.
Auditing Your Martech Stack. ANA, November 2023.
The world of marketing technology is rapidly evolving, and keeping pace is vital to stay competitive. By assessing your current martech stack based on your specific needs, you'll gain insights into its strengths, weaknesses, and areas where it falls short of supporting your organization's goals. In this session, learn how to take the first step in harnessing the full potential of your stack by conducting a comprehensive audit that will help you design and build a stack that is "best-fit-for-purpose" to support your most complex use cases and to develop a roadmap that leads towards martech success. View the full presentation by clicking here.
Marketing Technology for Marketers: Partnering to Win — Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Martech Success. ANA, November 2023.
Marketing technology powers the systems that enable great marketing, and with 11,000+ technology solutions, the revolutionary introduction of Gen AI, and a complex and evolving privacy landscape, securing the right partnerships can be difficult. ANA has created a suite of the best practices and legal documents to assist you in the martech procurement process. Learn how these tools can help you secure substantially better value out of your martech investment, drive growth, eliminate waste, and establish healthy and valuable partnerships. View the full presentation by clicking here.
The Martech Fundamentals That Are the Building Blocks to Martech Greatness. ANA, November 2023.
Strong enterprise martech is a key enabler of driving business outcomes. Hear Kellanova discuss what it takes to unlock brand growth with a "true north" vision for data, measurement standards, growth focused KPI's that are enabled by enterprise martech, and organizational design and alignment to building capability. View the full presentation by clicking here.
Best Practices to Extract ROI from Your MarTech Investment. ANA, November 2023.
Summit/VillageMD delivers daily on a significant mission — bringing comprehensive medical care to patients, in partnership with personal primary care providers and vast healthcare systems. Hear how they partnered with the Mar Dat team to leverage best practices for sourcing and implementing data and MarTech solutions across paid and owned channels. Mar Dat outlined steps on how they partnered with the Summit/Village team to yield significant improvements in performance and delivery, transforming the way it interacts with patients and delivering a healthy return on their investments amidst the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic and several mergers and acquisitions. View the full presentation by clicking here.

Examples

Martech Helped This Food Company Promote a New Product. ANA, September 2024.
Leveraging the technology of partner InMarket, Bob Evans Farms was able to promote a new product at the point of purchase and while shoppers were entering and in stores, critical touch points during the shopping journey.
Transforming Customer Engagement: How Verizon Business Leverages Technology for Marketing Innovation. ANA, September 2024.
As digital marketing and customer engagement evolve, the companies that lead the pack are those who have embraced technological innovation as wholeheartedly as Verizon Business Group. At the forefront of this transformation is Kris Narayanan, SVP of digital experience platforms, whose extensive experience in digital transformation across various industries has positioned him as a key driver of change within Verizon Business.

Under Narayanan's leadership, Verizon Business has embarked on a journey to revolutionize its approach to customer interaction, leveraging cutting-edge technology to create more personalized, efficient, and effective marketing strategies. By integrating design, data, digital capabilities, and advanced technology, Narayanan and his team are not just improving customer experiences — they're reshaping the very foundation of how Verizon Business connects with its audience. This technology-focused approach has enabled the company to scale its omnichannel personalization efforts, move beyond broad segmentation to behavior-based marketing, and respond to customer needs in real time with unprecedented precision.

This Restaurant Chain Enhanced Loyalty with an Aggressive Test-and-Learn Approach. ANA, September 2024.
Blaze Pizza, with the help of Response Labs, undertook a data-fueled experiment to supercharge its loyalty program.

Kellanova's Data and Martech Transformation. ANA, May 2024.
Kellanova, a spinoff of the Kellogg Company, is on a mission to build iconic brands and be the world's best performing snack-led powerhouse. Marketing has a bold vision powered by data and martech.

Nicole Vinson, global VP, joined Aaron Fetters, CEO of Transparent Partners, to share details of their marketing transformation journey referencing major evolutions within their consumer data strategy, martech stack, measurement approach and operating models. In addition, the speakers discussed the role of martech and data in bringing to life innovative consumer experiences from Pop Tarts, Pringles and Cheez It. If you enjoyed the Pop Tarts Bowl, you won't want to miss this session.

How DraftKings' Algorithmic Transformation Beat the Odds and Unlocked Paying Users. ANA, April 2024.
DraftKings developed a custom algorithm to find and convert paid users while reducing its customer acquisition cost.

Webinars and Podcasts

The "Stackie Awards:" Who Has the Best MarTech Stack and Why? ANA, July 2024.
Scott Brinker, Editor of Chiefmartec.org, shared the 2024 submissions to the vaunted Stackie Awards and provided his insights on why the five winners were selected. The Stackies winners are those who best communicate a clear concept about how their stack is organized and how it fits into their marketing operations, thus contributing the most to the martech community.

This year's Stackies are expected to feature how GenAI is being used in the stack for content creation, data analysis, customer service, streamlined workflows, and idea generation. Brinker also revealed how enterprises are applying "aggregation theory" in their stacks by unifying data, workflows, user experiences, and governance across the tech stack. Those who feature these real-world use cases in their Stackies are sure to be at the top of the rankings. Gain valuable insights that you can apply to your own martech stack designs!

Where Should AI Reside in Your Martech Stack? ANA, February 2024.
2024 finds AI both over-hyped and very real. A martech vendor demo these days is seldom complete without reference to new AI capabilities that seem self-evidently useful on the surface. But is accepting the embedded AI capabilities of your incumbent martech vendor always a good idea? And if the answer is "no," then where should AI services live in your broader martech stack?

In this fast-paced webinar with Tony Byrne, founder of independent martech analyst firm, Real Story Group, get a no-BS view of the AI landscape for enterprise marketers. See different models for applying AI services across your stack and learn from the pilot projects of other large enterprises.

Training

Martech Foundations Certificate Program. ANA.
The Martech Foundations Certificate Program is a self-paced online learning path featuring nine comprehensive courses. Tailored for marketing professionals aiming to elevate their expertise, this curriculum combines theoretical insights with practical applications, which are essential for mastering martech in today's data-driven ecosystem. Developed in partnership with marketing technology and data experts at Transparent Partners, courses range from Assessing Your martech Landscape to Crafting a martech Business Case to Understanding the Role of Governance in martech. Elevate your marketing technology capabilities with this comprehensive training designed to instill confidence and precision.

Committees

MarTech Committee. ANA.
The MarTech Committee is focused on collectively improving and celebrating the products, people, processes, and partnerships that enable members to operationalize their marketing efforts at scale. This committee works with leading cross-functional experts to share, learn, and discuss the challenges and opportunities related to partner selection and integration, talent management, organizational excellence in working across departments, measuring ROI, and much more for members to secure better value out of their investment, drive growth, reduce waste, and eliminate redundancies.

The Marketing Knowledge Center actively connects ANA members to the resources they need to be successful. You can visit the ANA website to engage with the MKC in three ways.

Explore content to access best practices, case studies, and marketing tools. Our proprietary content includes Event Recaps, which share actionable insights from conference and committee presentations.
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