4 reasons 2021 is the year for Martech growth

First off, let’s acknowledge that we’ve seen impressive year-on-year growth for martech over the past decade (5233% since 2011, according to Chiefmartec).

With that said, the global events of the last 12 months are set to blow this upward trajectory out of the water.

Here are four reasons why martech growth is about to boom.

2020 was the year of martech discovery

2020 was challenging to say the least. However, challenges force companies to adapt, and adapt they did – businesses across the globe flipped to remote working almost overnight.

Digital strategies were accelerated as B2B selling moved to 100% virtual. Companies relied on martech more than ever before to reach their customers and keep business running. Where previously the market was becoming saturated, the growing demand for martech has balanced this out significantly.

As discovered by Gartner, over a quarter of CMOs’ marketing budget spend went towards martech in 2020. As we have seen over the past few years, this figure is on an upward trajectory and has been given a significant boost by recent global events. To compliment this, 85% of CMOs have reported an increased openness to new digital offerings during the pandemic.

With new martech solutions appearing every day for almost any challenge you can think of, the choice is huge. The overarching question for marketing decision makers has shifted from, “Do I really need martech?” to, “What martech solutions are the best fit for my company?”

Third-party integration is transforming the martech ecosystem 

Often when marketers hear the words “third–party integration”, thoughts like “clunky”, “bolt-on” and “external” come to mind. However, with recent and rapid advancements in technology, these systems have become far more resilient and adaptable.

Chiefmartec’s Scott Brinker says the future will consist of best-of-breed solutions combined with cloud-based marketing suites “augmented by large ecosystems of specialised third-party apps that are more deeply integrated”. This integration will make it easy for companies to cook up the perfect recipe of third-party solutions, wasting less time and money.

Platform–based martech ecosystems will help businesses unlock hidden potential. By leveraging cloud and service platforms, they can create a unique and highly functional layer of digital marketing operations in a short amount of time.

In addition to this, internet technologies such as 5G and its subsequent iterations will create opportunities for larger size apps and content to be deployed immediately. Virtual and augmented reality are just two examples of applications that require high-bandwidth resources.

Martech investment set to increase in 2021 

Despite reduced marketing budgets, martech spend is still top priority for many companies. According to Gartner, technology spend accounted for the largest proportion of marketing budgets in 2020 – with 68% of CMOs expecting their martech investments to increase in the next 12 months.

There is strong indication in this report that companies are still eager to grow and expand, despite the macro conditions. However, as mentioned in durhamlane’s 2021 State of Demand Generation report, “perhaps the eagerness to embrace and trust new technologies to deliver growth is why companies are struggling to understand their target audience and adapt to their changing needs”.

Due to a lack of in-person events over the past year and potentially the coming year, companies should be repurposing budget to marketing, targeting new industries and adjusting their offerings. In the words of Lee Durham, Co-Founder and CRO of durhamlane, “We must not forget that we are always marketing and selling to humans.”

We respond to pain points, not shiny martech solutions.

This is not to say that martech solutions aren’t useful; they absolutely are. Last year, as the pandemic took hold, durhamlane had to pivot and adapt to the new conditions. By adopting new solutions, we are now in a strong position to facilitate new market entry and nurture leads that have come from virtual events and cancelled live events.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, 68% of B2B commercial leaders plan to enter new markets in the next 12 months, suggesting a generally positive outlook in the near future and beyond. According to a recent Gartner survey, 62% of CMOs expect total media spend to bounce back in 2021, further re-enforcing the aforementioned optimistic sentiment.

Digital transformation is no longer optional 

MarTech Tribe have reported that “93%of companies say that they are accelerating their cloud deployments, to support digital transformation, and 84% place an increased value on digital experiences.”

Martech is going to be a huge driving force of demand and lead generation in 2021 and beyond. It is clear that there has been a large and permanent shift towards martech in B2B marketing.

Richard Lane, Co-Founder and CEO of durhamlane said “Now more than ever, we need to understand what’s working and how people are setting up for success in 2021 and beyond”, highlighting the need for innovative solutions to digital challenges.

It is important to note, however, that these solutions are still only tools. They are there for marketers to be able to enhance their own strategies and research, not as a replacement for innovative thinking or strong target market analysis.

According to chiefmartech.com, there are currently over 8,000 martech solutions. This is a list that is ever growing, providing solutions for a huge range of challenges. In the future, we will increasingly see martech solutions that solve bespoke issues for companies. We will see technological advances that allow even more innovative and integrated opportunities to be created.

The future is martech. But don’t forget, behind it all are emotional, irrational, unpredictable humans.

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