What is Marketing Technology (MarTech)?
A few years back, I started noticing ads popping up on my social media and browser. They looked suspiciously familiar 👀
Then I remembered the recent google searches I had made and wondered, is this just a coincidence or are brands stalking me? I’m sure you must’ve experienced this as well and wondered the same! As a novice marketer, I had no idea how brands were engaging with me 🤯
And as my curiosity grew I went deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole until I discovered one of my favourite concepts - MarTech.
MarTech has not only had a significant impact on businesses and professionals but us consumers. But what exactly is MarTech and why is it important?
Why is MarTech important?
When technology and business operations collide
In today’s digital age 🌐, using technology to streamline and automate business operations should already be the norm. But it isn’t, and it’s just sooo infuriating 😠 (but I’ll leave that conversation for another day) - it’s inefficient and wastes precious time.
Why manually dial long lists of phone numbers when cold calling when you can automate the dialling process with an outbound auto dialer ☎️
Why rely on endless back-and-forth email threads to schedule appointments when you can use call scheduling software?
And why manage suppliers the old fashion way when you have procurement software to do the work for you?
When it comes to the integration of technology with business, the possibilities are endless.
How MarTech helps businesses succeed
Simply put, MarTech is the application of technology to make businesses more efficient and consumers more satisfied.
The value of MarTech for MNCs and agencies was glaringly obvious to me while I was interning at GroupM. It helped the media giant to not only refine its operations but also stand out from competitors in terms of effectiveness in achieving client goals.
Nowadays, more and more MarTech products are being developed to cater to a wide variety of marketing needs. Wherever you are in performance marketing or content marketing, you can rest assured that there is a MarTech solution you can use to improve your work. Let’s look at a few, shall we:
SEO tools allow you to conduct keyword research in order to come up with content designed to rank
Call tracking software attributes inbound calls to the source marketing campaigns in order to give you greater performance visibility
Content AI solutions use machine learning to generate text content to help writers save time
CRM solutions help you track your customer journey from start to end and record your interactions with them
As you can see, MarTech is a necessity for marketing professionals to gain a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Moreover, with MarTech as an industry growing immensely in the past decade (150 vendors in 2011 vs 7000+ today), tons of job opportunities are being created which you could benefit from as long as you set the right foundation for yourself!
What roles do MarTech firms typically offer?
There are many exciting roles which MarTech firms offer. You can easily find them on company websites or job portals. However, here are two roles which personally interest me -
Sales and Business Development
It’s the backbone of any SaaS company.
MarTech companies rely on their salesmen to not only get the word out about their exquisite products but also grow revenues and market share.
A typical sales job would involve generating leads, pitching to prospective customers and maintaining relations with them to renew contracts.
Product Management
Product Management involves ideating and implementing improvements to the company’s product.
This is a highly customer-oriented role which normally does require some technical skills. The key to performing well is to be creative, collaborative and, most importantly, disciplined as a lot of deadlines and people need to be managed in the process.
Where can I learn more about MarTech?
The first step to learning more about MarTech is understanding its application.
As we’ve established, there are several ways MarTech adds significant value to businesses. These include gaining analytical insights, improving conversion rate optimisation, enabling marketing automation.
By understanding the outcomes businesses strive to achieve by using MarTech, you can more easily understand what MarTech vendors are doing to aid businesses in their efforts. Furthermore, by going through the websites of MarTech vendors you can learn about their products in detail and a breakdown of how they are adding value. Some vendors like Tableau even offer free tutorials on their websites to learn about the platform and how to use it!
If you want to learn more about the MarTech vendors in the market, a comprehensive list of the Marketing Technology landscape has been compiled by Scott Brinker in his infographic ‘Martech 5000’.
IAB SEA+India is also a great resource to not only learn more about the growth of the digital industry but also become aware of the various companies in Asia that are driving that growth.
I don’t have a tech background; can I still pursue a career in a MarTech role/company?
You most definitely can!
Last summer I interned at GroupM in a role that required me to extensively use Datorama – a marketing intelligence platform that helps optimise and report campaign performance.
As a person with no coding skills or tech background, I was sceptical of my ability to perform well at the start of my internship. However, with support from my superiors and co-intern, I was not only able to decipher the complicated digital marketing ecosystem but also understand how to use Datorama properly.
Marketing Technology is indeed difficult to comprehend but just like programming languages, once you get the hang of one tool, learning other ones becomes easier. You just need to push yourself and create a conducive environment for you to learn!
Some skills that I recommend you to develop while still in school are:
Data visualisation (Tableau, Power BI etc)
Designing (Canva, Adobe etc)
Digital marketing (Google Analytics, Facebook Ads etc)
Storytelling through content marketing
Public speaking
Project management (through CCAs or internships).
I hope this has helped you gain an insight into the exciting realm of MarTech! If you have any questions or want to have a chat, please feel free to reach out to me :)
Markon is a great online marketing magazine that provides useful tips for marketing students at different stages of their marketing journey. Check out their blog to see what other great tips they’ve put out!
