Martech Stack: Marketing Tech Stack- A Complete Guide

Can you predict how your marketing team will shape up in six months’ time? Or maybe in a year from now? How many members will you add to your team? What new strategies, gears, structure, and data will you call for?

There are several possible questions that arise whenever you talk about the fortune and prospects of an organization. Amidst all these uncertainties, there is one conviction that you’ll contract with more subsidies, more community, more processes, more statistics, and more composite problems as you develop.

But how do you cope with all these in your marketing team? This is the exact scenario where marketing technology or martech, gets into. Marketing technology reinforces your team by computerizing tasks and eliminating obstructions from the workflow. Hence, it enables your team to squander less time on unskilled tasks, allowing your business to develop more efficiently.

When you place them together, you initiate a marketing technology stack. Martech implements the thought of the stack to a new sort of technology and brings together everything that you need to accomplish something in the marketing field. The stack-like process allows applications and software to run on top of other elements in the stack.

Martech Stack: Marketing Tech Stack A Comprehensive Guide

In this article, we’ll go through everything that you must know about martech stack.

What do you mean by Marketing technology?

Marketing technology is a label that is used to explain the software, application, and technology utilized by marketing teams to catch the attention of and retain consumers. These tools are very much effective and time-saving, as they characteristically modernize and mechanize processes. They also assist marketers to scrutinize the accomplishment of their efforts.

Marketers across all areas and even non-digital marketers make use of this technology. Each marketing tool has a distinct attribute and is utilized for diverse marketing regulations. Here are some of examples of regulations and a corresponding martech tool that can be useful for them:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): It is a keyword-exploring tool that is used to optimize the technological layout of a website.

Martech Tool: Moz.

2. Content Marketing: It is a content administering platform that can be utilized for creating new content.

Martech Tool: CMS Hub

3. Social Media Marketing: It is a platform that is used for directing social media marketing strategies.

Martech Tool: HootSuite.

4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): It is an amalgamation of different techniques and strategies that can be used to attract more visitors to a website.

Martech Tool: Google Ads.

5. Advertising: It is a programmatic advertising platform that is solely used for advertising.

Martech Tool: Mediasmart.

Instead of implementing plenty of different tools, some marketers favor opting for an all-in-one solution.

Tool: Marketing Hub

What is Martech stack?

Martech stack for any business is defined as a collection of tools that are used by marketers to execute their marketing maneuvers and processes more effectively and efficiently. There are a plethora of different tools to select from when it comes to building a martech stack for your business. Tools can include lead generation, SaaS platforms, social media marketing, content management systems, analytics tools, social media management, email marketing, search engine optimization, and many others, depending on the business requirements.

Any adjustment in the martech stack depends on the size and requirements of a specific business. Many tools may be considered necessary and if required, may pass into different units to guarantee smooth, well-organized, and efficient operation at every level of any given movement or contract.

Marketers can primarily focus on martech tools that will help them in social media marketing and SEO. Otherwise, they can opt for an all-in-one solution like Marketing Hub that will manage the SEO for the business as well as the social media marketing strategies.

Marketing Hub, with its SEO and keyword research tools, will not only help you to optimize your website but will also provide valuable advice to create engaging content. The social media managing tools of Marketing Hub will oversee everything related to social media, including content creation, interaction with people, and audience engagement analytics. To sum up, the martech stack technology will assist you to implement your movements from start to finish.

Why invest in Martech stack?

Technology is the root of nearly everything that we do and experience every day. The martech space, as well, has been thriving well in recent years. Actually, martech vendors have successfully emerged everywhere with newer processes and more inventive solutions.

You might not trust us but you can’t ignore statistics. Notice the differences between ChiefMartech’s original edition of the Marketing Tech Landscape that was published in 2011 and the 2020 edition. The foremost edition roughly had 150 vendors while the newer one has about 8000 vendors already. This was a great revolution and also going to reflect in the latest edition of 2022.

Ascend2, a B2B research-based marketing agency, recently conducted research among all the B2B and B2C marketers to comprehend the prime challenges, concerns, and priorities of the martech stack for the ongoing year.

Nearly, 38% of people have prioritized a martech stack that effortlessly incorporates the existing technologies, 37% believe it’s imperative to become accustomed to a tool for personal preferences, and 36% want to develop the customer experience with newer martech tools. Amusingly, only 19% of people have pointed out that they have their martech stack strategy, while 60% were still trying to work on a strategy. All these reports suggest that you should invest your capital in the martech stack now to go ahead of everyone in the game.

How to build a marketing tech stack?

While building a martech stack keep in mind that your company is unique, your ideas are exclusive, and your martech stack won’t look similar to anyone else’s.

This is the moment where you should select the correct tools for your team and place them up in a way so that your prospective team can understand and make use of it. To do so, follow the steps given below.

1. Set your marketing strategies and objectives

Before you select a martech tool, you’ll require sketching your advertising strategies. Your planning doesn’t have to be complex; you just need to have a basic idea about the strategies that you want to apply.

In case you already have a recognized advertising team, go through the strategic plans that are implemented currently. This will help you to determine what sort of tools you need.

Keep the strategies simple and jot them down in a document.

2. Assess your team to discover their challenges

When you’re finished with the strategies, sit down with your team, assess them, and discover the challenges that they have faced while performing their routine tasks.

The conversation with the team should be unrestricted, try to attach their challenges to your marketing strategies.

Note down the challenges in the same document. Keep them as simple as possible – just a sentence or a couple of bullet points should be enough.

After writing down the strategies, your document shall look like this.

Example 1

• Objective: Boost Organic Traffic on the Website
• Strategy: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Challenges: Takes too much time to research keywords
• Tools: A keyword research tool that fastens the overall procedure

Example 2

• Objective: Gather more visitors to your site
• Strategy: Overhauled website
• Challenges: Unable to attach CTAs due to outmoded backend system
• Tools: An advanced content management system that enables you to attach CTAs to any page

3. Estimate your budget

You need capital to form your dream martech stack and all your planning would go in vain if you can’t meet the expenses. While determining the tools, estimate how much money it will cost to implement a tool or a strategy.

Instead, you can also set a budget for your marketing team on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly basis.

4. Examine the tools

Now that you’ve your strategies, challenges, and budgets ready, it is time to examine the tools that you’ll implement on your martech stack. Ask every individual team member to move forward with this task, since they’ll be the ones using it.

Take a look at the product curation posts as they might provide you with a general idea about the offerings of the tools.

5. Consider non-marketing tools

When we generally talk about building a martech stack, we often end up using marketing-specific tools. But there is a wide range of non-marketing tools that you can add to your stack to make it more useful.

Collaboration platforms, Google Drive, Project Management Software, and Data Syncing Tools are some of the non-marketing tools that you can contemplate for your tech stack.

6. Data compilation

Now is the time to transfer the data. Assemble all the available data and information and compile them in folders. Assign a specific data type to each of your team members and then start compiling.

Example: One team member can compile the contact details from a meeting. Another member can compile the existing templates for a social media post. Another member can compile all the copies from a website for completely remodeling that website. And so on.

7. Allocate team members to create the workflow

When you’re done with compiling the data, it’s time to implement the martech tools. Allocate a team member to discover one particular tool. He/She will write down a step-by-step tutorial of the workflow along with screenshots. These workflow steps will help you to determine whether the tool is working effectively or not.

8. Evaluate the tools

Finally, it’s time to evaluate the success rate of the tools and if required, switch preferable solutions. You’ll never wish to end up with an idle stack. So, always review your tools and see how efficiently streamline workflows, mechanize tasks, and also assist your team to perform their task in a better way.

If not, you can promptly cancel your subscription and look for an alternative solution.

Marketing Stack Tips

When you’ve formed a martech stack, you’ll be dragged in all kinds of different instructions. When your company is developing, you’ll be lured to add more intricacy to tackle vital gaps. Here are a few martech stack tips that can help you to deal with various challenges.

1. Draw your strategy initially, and then move on to technology

As your company continues to develop, it can be very luring to depend on technology to sustain the processes that are still growing. Generally, this situation arrives when a team implements influential tools that come with a lot of budding and they try to cast their systems around it.

So, if you’re still budding your strategy, try drawing out a conclusion, and visualize your tech stack before implementing any sort of technologies.

2. Keep your system as simple as possible

You must have listened to the “keep it simple, silly” (KISS) principle. It was initially invented by an aeronautical engineer in the United States Navy. The principle asserts that simplicity and minimalism assure the highest levels of user acceptance and relations. The phrase is also quite popular in software design.

Here in the case of the martech stack also, you need to obey this principle.

3. Go for medium-term solutions

In a perfect world, if you take any decisions about your marketing stack today, it should work flawlessly for you and your team for many years to come.

But in reality, if you continue to progress, you will tend to modify your system repeatedly over the next few years. When selecting a tool, do not opt for a tool that will become outdated in a few months. Better to always aim for medium-term solutions.

4. Document all your belongings

It is very significant to document your team’s processes and database and the documentation must be well conducted. This issue is quite frequent among developing companies since their database develops and systems evolve. You might end up with a series of clutter, untidiness, data integrity concerns, and perplexity if you don’t have your database properly documented.

5. Select point solutions

A point solution can be described as a product or a service that deals with one very particular need in a marketing association. Sometimes, you can just call for a bit of software to do a particular thing. So consider point solutions to deal with a particular purpose.

6. Aim for convenience

In today’s automation system, there are a plethora of options to choose from – so you’re suggested not to settle for less than what you actually call for. At the end of the day, you have to opt for a system that is convenient for the marketing team, easy to use, but still has the control and elasticity you need to get your job done.

What are the best marketing tech stacks?

The best martech stack for any business is completely reliant on the requirements of that business. Here are some of the stable and conventional tools that can help you build your marketing team.

1. Google Drive

Google Drive is by far the best tool available for collaboration. It enables your marketing team to act as a team on documents, spreadsheets, slides, and folders — everything on the same cloud. Nobody needs to download any software on their devices.

• Best For: Collaboration
• Pricing: Free
• Alternative Tools: OneDrive, Dropbox

2. Slack

Especially designed for business, Slack is an instant messaging application that connects different people to the data that they require. This tool helps your team to quickly share updates and files, and communicate via video calls if required.

• Best For: Communication
• Pricing: Free; $6.67 per month for Pro Service; $12.50 per month for Business+ Service
• Alternative Tools: Google Chat, Microsoft Teams

3. Asana

Project management is considered the heart and soul of any business marketing. Irrespective of your work field, you would never fancy collapsing through the cracks. Asana is that sort of tool that makes things easier for your team by offering a shared space to verify tasks and check shared project updates.

• Best For: Project Management
• Pricing: Free; $10.99 per month for Premium Service; $24.99 per month for Business Service
• Alternative Tools: Trello, Freedcamp, Project.co

4. Grammarly

Publishing accurate, faultless copies is the principal requirement for any business professional. Grammarly with its real-time suggestions helps you to write error-free content. It works well on both mobile and desktop. Grammarly can also be added to your browser as an extension file. However, it is also suggested to read through the article thoroughly before uploading it on Grammarly.

• Best For: Grammar Checker
• Pricing: Free; $12 per month for Premium Service; $12.50 per month for Business Service
• Alternative Tools: Hemingway App, Sapling, Ginger, ProWritingAid

5. Unsplash

Stock images are used everywhere in every sort of marketing matter, such as posts, banners, flags, flyers, leaflets, and brochures. It is illegitimate to use images that you find on the internet as they fall under the Creative Commons Licensing. Some of these images may not be of the highest quality. Yet, the owner of the image can also take legal action against you. Unsplash is a great choice that allows you to download those premium stock images for free.

• Best For: Stock Images
• Pricing: Free
• Alternative Tools: Pexels, Shutterstock (Paid), Getty Images (Paid), iStock Photos (Paid)

6. CMS Hub

CMS Hub is one of the best tools that are available in the market. If you don’t have a platform to publish your content and want to create one, then you should opt for a scalable CMS system that will boost your website. It will help you to create landing pages, and new forms, attach pop-up CTAs, create new blog posts, and evaluate the performance metric of your website. Since it’s an all-in-one solution, you don’t need to pay any money for plugins and add-ons. Moreover, they will slow down your site.

• Best For: Content Management and Blogging
• Pricing: $270 per month for Pro Service; $900 per month for Enterprise Service
• Alternative Tools: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal

7. Canva

It comes with a wide range of useful templates that will assist your marketing team to create numerous assets, including social media posts, banners, posters, slides, brochures, etc. You can just sign up and start using it straight away.

• Best For: Asset Creation
• Pricing: Free; $199.99 per year for Pro Service; $30 per month for Enterprise Service
• Alternative Tools: Visme, Snappa, Adobe Creative Cloud (Ideal for Advanced users)

8. Toolur

Once you’re finished downloading images, it is essential to compress them as well so that they don’t consume much space. Among all the available compressing tools, Toolur is arguably the best compressing tool. It allows you to upload up to 25 images in one go, it also allows you to decide the compressing methods, set the image quality, and resize them to a preset width.

• Best For: Image Optimization
• Pricing: Free
• Alternative Tools: Squoosh.app, TinyJPG

9. Google Analytics

Google Analytics gives insights about the visitor, what time they’re visiting your site, what devices they’re visiting from, their location, and how much time they’re spending. It also helps you to calculate your organic traffic.

• Best For: Website Visitor Analytics
• Pricing: Free
• Alternative Tools: StatCounter (Paid), Simple Analytics (Paid)

10. Google Search Console

Whilst Google Analytics is an exceptional system to assess the overall performance of the website, Google Search Console takes you a little further by offering page-by-page analytics. With its help, you can jot down your top queries either for a website or a particular page, evaluate time periods, and also evaluate two or more URLs on the website.

• Best For: Web Page Analytics
• Pricing: Free
• Alternative Tools: Ahrefs (Paid), Semrush, SE Ranking, Moz Pro (Paid)

Final thoughts

It is significant to build a martech stack for your business that streamlines your day-to-day activities. It brings the perception of the stacking process to a new variety of technology. But creating the correct martech stack for any business is no simple task. It requires incorporating the right processes and tools together so they can work cooperatively instead of separately.

With all of the effective tools accessible these days, there is no need to acquire complex, unhandy, time-consuming as well as power-consuming software. These tools are a combination of both power and accessibility. It will help you to gain a detailed inclusive view of your customer journey as well as your marketing efforts. When you focus on amusing your customers and offering a great user experience instead of running legacy software, you will develop better.

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