How to buy martech in 2024? The keys to navigating an evolving market

The marketing technology landscape has never been so vast and diverse. According to the latest edition of Scott Brinker's "Marketing Technology Landscape", the number of martech solutions crossed the 11,000 mark in 2023, an 11% growth compared to the previous year (and 7258% since 2011!). And this trend shows no signs of slowing down.

This fragmentation can be explained by the combination of several factors:

• The continuous emergence of new players positioned on emerging trends like generative AI, conversational marketing, real-time personalization or data governance. These startups are challenging established players with innovative approaches.

• The "long tail" of specialized solutions that address very specific business needs. There are tools verticalized by industry (retail, banking, media…), by region (Europe, Asia…) or by functionality (SEO, retargeting, AB testing…). These niche players complement the major generalist platforms on the market.

• A consolidation movement that sees market leaders multiplying acquisitions to enrich their offerings. Salesforce, Adobe, Oracle and SAP have spent billions in recent years to build vast integrated ecosystems covering all marketing needs.

• The rise of web giants like Amazon, Google or Meta who are massively investing in advertising and digital marketing. Their mastery of data and large audience bases make them essential players.

This market fragmentation is also accentuated by the growing overlap of functionalities between different tool categories. Many solutions, even if they are positioned on distinct segments, actually offer capabilities that partially overlap. This creates confusion for companies who must understand what combination of tools is best suited to their needs, while avoiding costly redundancies. Moreover, these functional overlaps can also generate integration and data consistency issues when several tools are used in parallel, with customer information dispersed across multiple systems. This is an additional complexity factor for companies seeking to streamline and optimize their martech stack.

This situation makes the market particularly dynamic but also complex for companies to grasp. It becomes difficult to compare offerings, assess the real benefits of different solutions and assemble them in a coherent way. The risk is ending up with a multitude of disparate tools that don't communicate with each other and generate hidden costs.

To navigate this, companies must define a martech strategy aligned with their business issues and implement governance involving the various stakeholders (marketing, IT, data…). The challenge is to build a stack adapted to your needs, finding the right balance between generalist and best-of-breed solutions, while controlling costs and complexity. A sizeable challenge in a constantly evolving market.

Tip: To choose your marketing solution well, write a detailed specifications (RFP) detailing your functional and technical requirements. This will allow you to compare the different market offerings according to objective criteria. Discover our tips for writing an effective RFP.

Faced with the growing complexity of the martech landscape, companies are rethinking the architecture of their marketing stack. The traditional model, based on a single, centralized platform, is showing its limits. It is often too rigid to adapt to rapid market changes and the specific needs of different business units.

To gain agility and flexibility, new architectural models are emerging:

• Modular architecture which consists of assembling independent software bricks, communicating with each other via APIs. Each module can be freely chosen according to its performance and easily replaced without impacting the rest of the system. This is the "best-of-breed" model that allows you to get the best out of each solution.

• Headless architecture which separates the frontend part (the user interface) from the backend part (data and process management). This allows connecting any interface (website, mobile app, connected object…) to a unique base of marketing services. An approach particularly suited to omnichannel.

• Cloud architecture which consists of outsourcing all or part of its marketing system to the cloud to gain scalability and speed of deployment. SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions allow simplified access to innovations while reducing infrastructure costs.

• Data-centric architecture that places data at the heart of the system. All applications are interconnected via a data management platform that allows creating a unique customer repository. The Data Warehouse is becoming the cornerstone of this approach by allowing the collection, unification and activation of customer data.

The common point of these new architectures is to focus on interoperability and smooth data flow. The challenge is to break down silos between the different tools in the stack to create a coherent and agile ecosystem. This requires defining exchange standards, implementing API governance and ensuring data quality throughout the chain.

The choice of architecture model will depend on the company's maturity, its business challenges and its IT constraints. But one thing is certain: the ability to evolve your stack quickly and integrate new solutions will be a key differentiating factor. Companies that know how to take advantage of these new architectures to activate their customer data will be best equipped to meet growing expectations for personalization and engagement.

Agility has become an imperative for companies that want to remain competitive in a constantly changing environment. This translates into the need to quickly adapt marketing campaigns, test new approaches and integrate new tools into your stack. But this quest for agility must not come at the expense of data governance.

Indeed, data is at the heart of modern marketing strategies. It allows understanding customer behaviors and expectations, personalizing messages and optimizing journeys. But to be usable, data must be reliable, consistent and secure. This is the whole issue of data governance which aims to define the rules and processes for managing data throughout its lifecycle.

However, the multiplication of data sources (CRM, website, mobile apps, social networks…) and marketing solutions makes this governance increasingly complex. Each tool has its own data formats and models, creating silos and inconsistencies. Not to mention the regulatory issues related to the protection of personal data (GDPR, CCPA…) which require enhanced traceability and control.

To reconcile agility and data governance, companies must adopt a global and unified approach to their marketing stack. This involves:

• Implementing a customer data management platform that collects, cleans and reconciles data from different sources. The RCU becomes the single repository of customer truth and feeds all the tools in the stack. The CDP, on the other hand, allows identifying unified customer profiles, segmenting audiences and orchestrating cross-channel campaigns.

• Defining a common data model that applies to all solutions in the stack. This model must be designed to meet the needs of different business units (marketing, sales, customer service…) while respecting market standards. It must be scalable to easily integrate new data sources and use cases.

• Implementing API governance to facilitate the integration and interoperability of different tools. APIs allow systems to communicate with each other and automate data flows. But they must be documented, secured and monitored to ensure quality of service and data protection.

• Adopting a privacy by design approach that integrates the protection of personal data from the design of solutions and treatments. This involves mapping data flows, defining retention periods, collecting consents and allowing individuals to exercise their rights (access, rectification, portability, erasure…).

• Raising awareness and training teams on data governance issues. Because beyond tools and processes, it is a whole data culture that must be established in the company. Each employee must understand the importance of data quality and protection and adopt the right reflexes on a daily basis.

As data becomes an increasingly strategic asset for companies, data governance is becoming an essential element to maintain consumer confidence. Faced with customers who are increasingly attentive to the use of their personal information, rigorous governance, focused on quality, security and regulatory compliance, is essential. It reassures consumers about the seriousness with which the company handles their data. Conversely, poor governance can quickly erode trust and reputation.

But beyond this issue of trust, well-designed data governance can also become a real performance lever for the company. By adopting an agile and unified approach, companies can fully exploit the potential of their customer data while respecting regulatory and ethical constraints. They thus gain in operational efficiency, in personalization capacity of the journeys and in customer engagement. Far from being a brake, data governance proves to be a powerful lever for marketing activation and business performance when implemented intelligently.

In this context, interoperability and openness have become key issues for companies. It is no longer enough to stack best-of-breed solutions, they must also be able to communicate with each other smoothly and securely.

Interoperability refers to the ability of systems and applications to exchange data and work together without particular effort on the part of users. It is based on the use of standardized formats, protocols and APIs that allow the different components of the stack to understand and collaborate with each other.

Openness, on the other hand, refers to the possibility of easily integrating new tools and data sources into your information system. It assumes a modular and extensible architecture, based on APIs and pre-integrated connectors.

By focusing on interoperability and openness, companies can:

• Avoid data silos and inconsistencies: by making their different marketing tools communicate (CRM, marketing automation, CDP, BI…), they ensure that customer data is synchronized and up-to-date throughout the system. They can thus build a 360° view of their customers and deliver consistent messages across all channels.

• Gain agility and time-to-market: thanks to standardized APIs and connectors, they can quickly integrate new solutions and functionalities into their stack. They can thus adapt to market developments and customer expectations, without being hampered by compatibility or data migration issues.

• Reduce costs and complexity: by opting for interoperable and open solutions, they limit specific developments and the resources needed to make their different tools communicate. They can thus focus on their core business and on optimizing their campaigns, without worrying about the underlying technical infrastructure.

• Foster innovation and differentiation: by having access to a wide ecosystem of partners and third-party solutions, they can enrich their marketing stack with innovative and differentiating functionalities. They can thus test new acquisition, conversion and loyalty levers, and stand out from the competition.

To fully benefit from interoperability and openness, companies must however meet several challenges:

• Define a platform strategy that articulates all the building blocks of the stack around a common base of data and processes. This platform must be designed to evolve over time and integrate new channels and contact points.

• Implement API governance to secure data exchanges and guarantee quality of service. This involves documenting APIs, managing versions, controlling access and monitoring performance.

• Develop an open innovation culture internally and externally. Internally, this involves training teams on new tools and interoperability best practices. Externally, this means forging strategic partnerships with publishers, integrators and innovative startups.

• Ensure the protection of personal data in a multi-stakeholder environment. With the GDPR and other privacy regulations, companies must be able to trace data flows, collect consents and guarantee the security and confidentiality of exchanged information.

By meeting these challenges, companies give themselves the means to build an agile, scalable and customer-centric marketing stack. They can thus gain in operational efficiency, responsiveness and personalization of journeys. Interoperability and openness are not an end in themselves, but a means to deliver more value to customers and strengthen their long-term engagement.

This is the whole challenge of a platform like Actito, which allows operating all customer channels and data in a single intuitive and user-friendly interface. Thanks to its APIs and pre-integrated connectors, Actito easily interfaces with other market solutions (CRM, e-commerce, ad servers…) to orchestrate personalized cross-channel journeys. It thus allows companies to gain in agility and performance, while keeping control of their data.

To succeed in its transformation towards a composable architecture, the company must involve all its teams, both business and technical. It is not just an IT project, but a cross-functional approach that impacts the entire organization.

Aligning marketing and IT around a common vision

Historically, marketing and IT have often had difficulty understanding and collaborating effectively with each other. Marketers criticize technical teams for their lack of responsiveness and flexibility, while IT criticizes marketers' lack of rigor and long-term vision.

To overcome these cultural differences, it is essential to align marketing and IT around a common vision and shared objectives. This involves:

• Defining a specifications or RFP that specifies the priorities, deliverables and performance indicators. This specifications must be validated by both parties and serve as a compass to steer the project.

• Setting up a joint governance that regularly brings together marketing and IT managers to make important decisions and arbitrate any conflicts. This governance must be based on formalized monitoring processes and tools.

• Appointing referents in each team who serve as an interface and point of contact. On the marketing side, it can be a technical profile or a "chief marketing technologist". On the IT side, we will rather speak of a "business analyst" or a "product owner".

• Organizing co-design workshops that allow the two teams to work together on concrete use cases. These workshops are an opportunity to confront ideas, remove misunderstandings and find creative solutions.

• Celebrating common successes and regularly communicating on the progress of the project. It is important to value the achievements and benefits obtained, to maintain the commitment and motivation of the teams.

By aligning marketing and IT, the company gives itself the means to move faster and more efficiently towards a composable architecture. It can thus make the most of the skills and expertise of each, in the service of the customer experience.

Training and supporting employees through change

Beyond strategic alignment, it is important to train and support employees in the change brought about by the project. A composable architecture implies new ways of working, more agile and more collaborative.

For marketing teams, this means increasing skills on technical and data aspects. Marketers must be able to understand the challenges of interoperability, manipulate complex data and use advanced marketing automation and analytics tools. They must also learn to work in project mode, in close collaboration with their IT counterparts.

For IT teams, this means opening up to business issues and developing a more customer-oriented approach. IT professionals must be able to understand the needs of marketers, propose adapted solutions and quickly deliver value-added functionalities. They must also adopt agile methods and DevOps principles to gain responsiveness and quality of service.

To support this skills development, the company must set up an ambitious training plan, which mixes formats (face-to-face, distance, micro-learning…) and pedagogical methods (theory, practical cases, role-playing…). This training plan must be adapted to the profiles and levels of each person, and be part of a logic of continuous skills development.

Beyond internal training, it is also wise to rely on the expertise of partners in your martech solution ecosystem. These players, whether agencies, consultants or complementary publishers, often have a deep knowledge of best practices and use cases specific to their field. Organizing training and knowledge sharing sessions with these expert partners allows you to accelerate the skills development of your teams. It is also an opportunity to benefit from an outside perspective to challenge your processes and identify optimization levers.

It is also important to appoint change ambassadors in each team, who will carry the vision and get their colleagues on board. These ambassadors must be opinion leaders, recognized for their expertise and their ability to unite. They will play a key role in driving change, reassuring employees, removing obstacles and celebrating early successes.

Finally, it is essential to set up collaborative rituals and tools that will facilitate exchanges and cooperation between teams. For example, you can organize daily stand-up meetings, sprint retrospectives or feature demonstrations. You can also use agile project management tools (like Jira or Trello), unified communication platforms (like Slack or Teams) or shared documentation spaces (like Confluence or Notion).

By training and supporting employees through change, the company creates the conditions for a successful adoption of the composable architecture. It allows its teams to quickly develop skills, work more efficiently and collaboratively, and ultimately deliver more value to customers.

This is the whole challenge of change management, which is a key success factor for transformation projects. As we often emphasize at Actito, "the success of a marketing automation project depends as much on human and organizational aspects as on technological aspects". It is therefore essential to involve and support teams throughout the project, to ensure their buy-in and skills development.

Buying martech in 2024 requires new approaches, more agile and data-centric. We must find the right balance between innovation and rationalization, by focusing on open and interoperable solutions. Success will also require enhanced collaboration between marketing, IT and data. By keeping these principles in mind, you will be equipped to build a sustainable and efficient martech stack.

Do you want to discuss your martech project and discover how the Actito Marketing Activation platform can help you optimize your customer journeys? Request a demo!

Solution: Set of products, services and functionalities that meet a specific business need. In marketing, a solution helps achieve objectives such as customer acquisition, engagement or loyalty.

Functionalities: Capabilitiesand characteristics of a product or service that allow users to perform specific actions. The functionalities of a marketing solution can include segmentation, personalization, campaign automation, etc.

Platform: Technological infrastructure on which different applications, tools and services can be built and integrated. A platform provides a unified and consistent base for managing different aspects such as data, workflows or channels.

RCU (Unique Customer Repository): Centralized database that groups all the information about a company's customers, coming from different sources. The RCU allows having a unique and complete view of each customer to optimize interactions.

CDP (Customer Data Platform): Solution that collects, unifies, segments and activates customer data from multiple sources. A CDP provides a real-time 360° view of each customer to enable ultra-personalized experiences.

Suite: Set of products or modules from the same vendor that cover a wide spectrum of needs. A marketing suite can include tools for different channels (email, mobile, web…) and use cases (loyalty, marketing automation…).

Best of Breed: Approach consisting of choosing the best specialized solutions on the market for each need, rather than a single suite. The challenge is to integrate and make these different tools communicate with each other.

Composable: Refers to a modular technological architecture where the different components can be easily assembled and reassembled to adapt to evolving needs. The composable approach brings agility and flexibility.