Marketing technology, or martech, is one of the most effective ways to gain a competitive advantage. It helps businesses and marketing departments work faster, smarter, and with less friction in their daily routines.
The biggest companies in your space aren’t better than you, they’re just using different technology. But with the right marketing tech stack and a well-thought strategy behind it, you’d be surprised at what your team can accomplish.
If you’re looking to grow your marketing tech stack in 2023, you need to keep the latest marketing technology trends in mind.
Well, the results are in – the proverbial New Year’s ball dropped. Here are the top marketing technology trends that will make an impact in 2023:
Despite lingering recession conversations, for marketers, nothing about our core mission of generating revenue and customers changes – simply the way to get there. Utilizing marketing technology helps your company remain both competitive and relevant to customers.
Now, however, we just need to be cognizant of how to collate customer data to make informed business decisions and, additionally, how to be more resourceful about what tech we use. That’s where consolidating technology comes into play.
Auditing your existing tools and building a tech stack that encourages marketing and sales alignment is a need, not a want, in 2023. As budgets tighten, marketing departments will be under more scrutiny than usual and will feel more pressure to prove ROI. Tools like a central crm or marketing and sales automation can help bring marketing activities closer to the money and show how they make an impact.
How to leverage this trend:
Data-driven marketing increases ROI, with campaigns that leverage data-driven personalization reporting 5-8x ROI for their campaign spend.
-Invespcro
It’s irrefutable that emails are the bread and butter of any good marketing strategy. From the dawn of the internet, it remains an unmovable monolith of Space Odyssey proportions in communications. Why? Because it works.
These days, however, customers want personalized content. They don’t want the same emails that everybody else is getting - and marketing automation can help you deliver that.
Going far beyond including a first name in an email, personalization and marketing automation technology nowadays use machine learning and AI to evaluate user behavior across channels to make outreach decisions. Depending on your budget and needs, there are many technology platforms that have marketing automation features available. This will continue to be a hot trend in 2023 and beyond.
How to leverage this trend:
The chatbot industry will grow and reach a value of nearly $1 billion by 2024.
Chatbot adoption has been on the list of marketing technology trends for awhile now, and for good reason. They not only help 55% of businesses generate high-quality leads, but the quick, efficient answers are becoming preferred by customers.
Whether it’s applying a coupon or answering common order questions, a chatbot is a phenomenal tool to understand user queries and gain lead information in a natural and helpful way. In the world of marketing technology trends, this one’s quickly become a staple investment tool.
Many tools exist – from simple question branches to complex queries that get redirected to a salesperson, you can certainly pick your poison and test the waters depending on your business (B2B vs B2C, for example).
How to leverage this trend:
Using videos has been a conversation since I’ve been in marketing (without aging myself, let’s just say that’s been a while). With TikTok and YouTube continuing to ramp, visually/audibly presenting information not only helps others absorb information, but it’s also a fantastic tool for encouraging connection.
Since the pandemic, many companies have digitally transformed – bridging the gap from minimal in-person interactions. Implementing video is a mainstay trend to add personality into your marketing and sales campaigns.
More importantly, having accessible video matters, as most small to medium-sized business owners aren’t equipped to fund professional shooting and editing on an ongoing basis. Fortunately, there are many marketing technology platforms such as Canva and YouTube Studio that offer video editing capabilities for those who don’t have more advanced programs or licenses. Heck, most iPhones have some degree of video editing and cutting capability now!
Professional video isn’t required anymore, as we’re all well aware many are working from home – so don’t be afraid to lack a bit of polish in videos. Simply having someone sincere behind the camera goes a long way to make meaningful connections.
How to leverage this trend:
90% of people open a text within three minutes.
For many industries, it’s incredibly advantageous to implement SMS services into your martech stack. With high open rates that are nigh instant (what person doesn’t have their phone within arm’s reach these days?), your chances of engagement skyrocket compared to other channels.
It’s well worth your effort to prioritize an outreach strategy – but keep in mind people must opt in to receive communications through this channel. If you’re too spammy, they’ll unsubscribe, and you’ll lose out on a valuable method of awareness.
As mobile optimization has grown, SMS marketing will continue to as well, only propelling its growth in 2023. Marketing technology trends all point to SMS as a preferred communication channel, so consider, if you haven't already, ways you can capitalize on meaningful, helpful outreach for your leads.
How to leverage this trend:
I hope this was a helpful, forward-looking perspective for marketing technology trends in 2023. What are some things you’re planning to implement and prioritize next year on this list? I’d love to know!
If you’re looking to build out your martech stack this year, WEBITMD has helped businesses of all sizes and industries grow their marketing and sales departments with technology. Download your free Growth Stack guide or get in touch to learn about our expertise.