Leah WynalekInternal marketing teams tend to be small: For 66% of companies, they include just one to five people, according to a 2020 survey conducted by BRAND United and Strata. This means that marketing departments must be very choosey about the martech tools that they invest in, as each new technology takes time to manage and master.
In our recent report, MarTech 2020: 5 Rules for Managing Your Technology and Strategy, we determine that there are a limited number of tools that appear in the majority of in-house tech stacks. As you can see in the chart below, they’re the ones that allow teams to carry out the most essential marketing functions.
Predictably, email marketing tools topped the list, and are used by 78% of respondents. Next up are technologies for social media marketing (63%) and customer relationship management (58%). More than half of marketing teams also invest in a content management system, which enables them to produce content marketing designed to move buyers from awareness to conversion.
While web analytics should certainly be deemed “essential” in this e-commerce era, the technology likely appears lower on the list because the widely used Google Analytics tool is free – and may not be factored into the overarching martech stack. In a close sixth place we find direct mail tools used by 45% of those surveyed.
If this list comes as a surprise, consider that compact marketing teams often work with external partners for specialized activities or channels (i.e., video, webinars, and mobile apps). This allows them to avoid the cost and time of adding more channel-specific technologies to their own martech stacks. As Rule #3 of the MarTech 2020 report advises, “take advantage of technologies that support more than one channel.”
For more insights and tech tips, download the complimentary report here.
