The Evolution Of Martech Tools - Past, Present and Future

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According to a MarTech Alliance/Moore Kingston Smith report, the global marketing technology industry is estimated to be worth around $344 billion in 2021.

Today, Martech or marketing technology is an integral part of every organization. It essentially refers to technical tools and SaaS products that help marketers and content creators execute their marketing campaigns more effectively.

While some Martech tools help with content planning, customer data collection, and SEO, others help with lead generation, socialmedia management, and more. At the end of the day, their primary goal is to make your marketing communications more personalized, targeted, and efficient.

It's evident that the Martech landscape right now is quite diverse. But where did it all begin?

Marketing automation tools first appeared in the late 1980s with the development of CRM (customer relationship management) platforms. At the time, these tools were quite expensive, which is why they were only used by large corporations. Even though Martech was not widely adopted at the time, it showed companies how these tools could be leveraged to improve customer interaction.

After the development of CRM tools came predictive campaign management solutions and web analytics software, which were more readily adopted. However, marketing technology was still in its nascent stages, and the industry had only around 150 tools or so.

The true democratization of the Martech industry started when the SaaS model (pioneered by Salesforce) was introduced in 1999. This was the disruption the Martech industry was waiting for all along. Expensive solutions that could only be afforded by multinational corporations became a thing of the past. And now, we are living in an era where marketing technology is growing exponentially, with a new Martech solution coming out every other day.

The Martech landscape has grown significantly in the last few years, and today there is no dearth of options for Martech tools. The Martech solutions being developed today can do everything, like -

There are some great AI-powered tools that help marketers in -

The Martech tools that exist today are far more sophisticated; providing targeted messaging that businesses and consumers welcome. Here are some statistics that will provide you with a better understanding of the current state of Martech -

Here are the popular trends that are dominating the Martech industry currently -

No-code Martech tools are gaining popularity. Many marketing tech solutions in the market these days allow content marketers to build content vehicles even if they don't have advanced programming skills. From websites, blogging platforms, and landing pages to data analysis and video marketing, all of this has become automated and simpler, thanks to some useful Martech solutions.

Chatbots continue to remain one of the most popular Martech tools. New companies continue to come out with AI-powered chatbots that provide a personalized experience to customers. There is also a demand for basic chatbot solutions.

It was found in recent research that almost 33% of adults in the United States listen to podcasts regularly. With the growing popularity of podcasts, the demand for podcast tools is also increasing. Do a quick google search, and you'll find a slew of Martech tools made specifically for podcasting.

Email marketing is one of the oldest methods of digital marketing, but that does not mean it has lost its charm in the current marketing landscape.

It is again becoming quite popular, and many companies are using tools to simplify this process. While all-in-one solutions like Mailchimp are quite popular, there is also a growing market for niche solutions focusing on one aspect of email marketing (like SubStack).

With the growing number of martech tools on offer today, choosing one that will facilitate greater growth in your organization has become difficult. To help you build your marketing tech stack, we've divided the martech tools according to their overarching marketing functions - Appeal, Engage (audiences), and Analyze.

Narrato is a content workflow platform that simplifies all your content needs, from content planning, creation, collaboration, and optimization to project and team management. This single Martech solution eliminates the need to use multiple disjointed tools for managing your content process and teams. Some of the key features of this platform are -

Pricing: Narrato offers both free and paid plans. The paid plans start from $8 per user per month.

AdRoll is a Martech solution that can help you convert your target audiences into paying customers by streamlining your web and social media ad campaigns. This ad tech retargeting solution allows marketers to collect, analyze and use important customer data so that they can implement effective ad campaigns.

Pricing: AdRoll provides two plans - Ads and Marketing and Ads Plus. The first is a pay-as-you-go plan, and the pricing for Marketing and Ads Plus depends on the user's current web traffic.

If you're looking for a headless CMS (Content Management System), then Kentico is the tool for you. This CMS tool is designed to support fast-growing businesses that need to expand into new markets. Marketers can use Kentico to build state-of-the-art websites, online stores, community stores, and more, It comes with two options for content management systems - Xperience and Kontent. Kentico Kontent is a headless and cloud-based CMS tool, while

Kentico Xperience is a package containing a CMS solution and some great marketing tools.

Here are the key features of this tool

Pricing: Kentico offers a 14-day free trial. The license-only subscription costs $11,000. The rest of the pricing details can be obtained from their Pricing page.

This powerful social media management tool can be used to schedule social posts on multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Later comes with a drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easy to schedule your social posts at a glance.

Key features of this tool are -

Pricing: Later offers three plans - Starter, Growth, and Advanced. The paid plans start from $18 per month, and there is also a free plan for users just starting out.

Besides these 4 tools, there are also several other types of Martech tools for increasing the appeal of your content. These include SEO tools, Lead generation solutions, and Webinar tools.

GetResponse is a Martech tool that allows you to engage your customers with effective email marketing campaigns. With its easy drag-and-drop interface, you can design emails (with layout and sections) and add GIFs and stock photos. You can also create a mailing list, send newsletters, and automate your entire email marketing campaign. Besides this, GetResponse also makes it easy to track the performance of email marketing campaigns by providing users with statistics on click-through rates, forwards, and open rates. Other features include -

Pricing: The GetResponse email marketing tool is priced at $19 per month.

Part of the Oracle suite of Martech tools, Eloqua is a marketing automation tool that can help you make your marketing processes streamlined and personalized. It is useful for all types of industries. However, B2B companies would find it to be more useful.

Key features of this tool are -

Pricing: Eloqua offers 3 pricing plans - Basic, Standard, and Enterprise. These start from $2,000 per month.

Monday is an all-in-one CRM tool that makes it easier for your marketing and sales teams to track contact lists, the entire sales pipeline, and more. With this tool, you can keep all the important customer data in one place, making it accessible for all teams.

Key features of this tool are -

Pricing: The pricing for this tool is dependent on your team size. For more details, visit their pricing page.

Woopra is a customer journey analytics tool that comes with a range of powerful features to extract and analyze useful information for streamlining marketing campaigns. With this tool, you get the opportunity to know your customers better. It allows you to analyze user behavior so that you can personalize your product/services to engage them better. You can learn useful insights about your customers like their website interactions, transaction history, buying patterns, etc.

Key features of this tool are -

Pricing: Woopra provides 4 plans - Free, Startup, Pro, and Enterprise. The paid plans start from $349 per month.

Keap is a cloud-based Martech tool that is very useful for lead management. However, it comes with several great features for customer relationship management, email marketing, text marketing, and sales automation. It comes with several features that make it easier to capture leads -

Pricing: The pricing for Keap depends on the size of the business. However, there are two plans - Pro and Max.

Unbounce is an excellent conversion intelligence platform that is a great fit for all kinds of businesses. It can provide you with some useful insights for improving your conversion rates with its Smart Builder, Smart Traffic, and Smart Copy tools. Here are the unique features of each of these tools -

Pricing: Unbounce offers 4 plans - Launch, Optimize, Accelerate, and Concierge. These plans start from $90 per month.

The Martech tools we've listed in this article can address every aspect of a modern content marketing campaign. Hopefully, these tool suggestions can help you build your Martech stack to streamline your entire marketing operations.

As the Martech industry continues to grow and evolve, brands will get opportunities to leverage new tools for accelerating their growth. While we don't know what the future of martech industry holds, this much is certain. In the times to come, marketing technology will become even more crucial for running successful marketing campaigns.