A recent report by the research firm indicates that marketing budgets will soon become partial to technology acquisition.
A recent Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2018-2019, across UK- and U.S that took inputs from senior marketing executives in 2018, threw out some interesting facts. It said, 29% of the marketing budgets were aimed at technology adoption, as against 24% that was earmarked for staff salaries. This is the first year the roles have been reversed, since 2017 saw tech spends at 22% and staff spends at 27%. The tables have apparently turned.
Spending in martech was highest for digital analytics, content management and email marketing tools. This points to the focus on marketing/customer analytics, marketing technology acquisition and use, and customer experience. So, Gartner says, martech has now officially become the “single largest area of investment when it comes to marketing resources and programs.” The whole purpose of this turntable trend is for enterprises to move toward higher customer acquisition and retention.
Another study by Acquia has reported that almost 62% of global marketers are planning to increase their spend for marketing technologies over the next 12 months. The focus will be on connected systems and data, ultimately leading to good customer experiences.
Many leadership level opinions appear to justify this change in trends, since better martech can definitely serve to reduce resources spend, making brands leaner. Everyone agrees that data is the new most significant factor in marketing technologies and the most critical in providing superior customer experience. Conversations around harnessing and structuring data that started almost 5 to 6 years ago, are now paying off. The data leveraging ability of organisations is evolving into a full-fledged marketing strategy. The need today is for smarter analytical tools that can help better understand this accumulated data. The cloud and the resultant SaaS model is another focus point for marketers globally.
With technology being easier to change and use than resources, this turning point may well be the trend that’s here to stay.
