In the wonderful world of marketing technology (MarTech), the only constant is change--and 2020 will be no exception. Some trends will be the result of transformative technology becoming more accessible. On the other hand, data won't be as accessible as it once was between increased data regulation and privacy concerns. The key to navigating these trends successfully is keeping yourself informed on why they matter and what their impact will be. So, let's dive into three of the top MarTech trends to keep in mind over the next year.

Since 2018, marketing technology (MarTech) has seen year-on-year growth of 22 percent with estimated market size of $121.5 billion globally. Combined, the North American and UK MarTech market are worth $65.9 billion. As marketers vie for the attention of an increasingly fickle consumer, they've turned to more sophisticated MarTech tools. Marketers are using tech to focus on customer experiences regardless of the media platform. This paves the way for customer experience optimization and tracking, as echoed by WARC's study in which over half of respondents noted that customer experience optimization is a high priority for their organization.

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.