3 Martech Trends to Act On in 2018

Over the last few years, marketing technology or martech, a collection of tools and platforms used to achieve marketing goals and objectives, has increasingly gobbled up a more significant percentage of a company's marketing budget. Today, according to Gartner, martech claims more than a quarter of the annual marketing spend at corporate enterprises, a proportion which will trend even higher in 2018, according to another recent survey. While the crowded marketing technology landscape can be quite daunting, a good starting point for most businesses is to execute upon the martech basics most appropriate for them and assess new trends and innovative solutions for fit and benefits. It has been gratifying for me to help many companies do so and see their sales pipeline and revenues grow, whether in the Chief Marketing Officer role at VFA and PlatformQ Health or as a consultant to technology companies. For example, after executing on martech basics like marketing automation, CRM, and search, the mobile and digital focus was crucial at VFA and community engagement was vital at PlatformQ Health.