资源描述
1 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 State of Marketing Technology 2018 Maximizing the Value of Martech InnovationsWalker Sands State of Martech 2018 Table of Contents 01 Executive Summary 02 Key Findings 03 Martechs Biggest Adoption Challenge Isnt Interest 06 First Comes Agility, then Adoption 10 Optimism for Martech Grows, Despite Roadblocks 13 Technology and Humans Come Together as Partners 18 Building the Martech Stack 19 Maximize Return and Increase Agility 25 Methodology 26 About the Authors1 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 As consumer demands for seamless, personalized experiences skyrocket, marketers turn to sophisticated technologies to meet those needs. Automation relieves the pressure, data-driven insights ease the pain and according to the State of Marketing Technology 2018 report, marketers want even more help from technology in the months and years to come. We know from our State of Marketing Technology 2017 report 1that marketing organizations have made strides in embracing martech innovations and building best- of-breed stacks. However, slow and steady has yet to win the race. In 2018, most organizations still lack the agility necessary to derive full value from their technology investments.To add more fuel to the fire, vendors arent making organizations lives any easier. Faced with quickly growing competition, vendors tend to highlight their solutions features and benefits rather than how organizations can best use them alongside their current strategies. Organizations must understand how their teams will absorb solutions before they will feel confident in a purchase. Our third annual report, created by Walker Sands Communications in partnership with chiefmartec, works to fill in the missing pieces. Based on a survey of 300 professional marketers, the survey finds that marketing organizations need more help maximizing the benefits of their martech solutions to keep up with the rate of innovation. 1 /walkersands/2017-State-of-Martech2 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Marketers have rejected the “set it and forget it” philosophy. Fifty-two percent of marketers assess their martech stacks at least every six months. 52% 28% 65% 56% Marketing organizations will increase their martech budgets. Sixty-five percent of marketing organizations say they plan to increase their spend on martech in the next year. Marketing organizations cant keep up with the rate of martech innovation. Sixty-three percent of marketers feel the martech landscape has evolved rapidly or at light speed in the last year, while only 28 percent feel the same about their companys use of martech. The future of marketing requires both technology and creativity. Fifty-six percent of marketers believe an equal mix of creativity and technology will drive marketing strategies five years from now. Key Findings3 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Marketers understand the importance of keeping pace with martech innovation, and theyre proving it. Organizations have made room for internal martech discussions and they plan to increase their martech spend in the year ahead. Martechs Biggest Adoption Challenge Isnt Interest4 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 “ Marketing technology is evolving faster than most marketing organizations can absorb it. Scott Brinker Founder and editor of chiefmartec Most marketing organizations add tools to their stack every six months to a year, which is a rational adoption strategy. Companies strive to keep up with new technologies, but also understand its unrealistic (and unhealthy) to add new tools every month. However, as vendors ramp up the speed at which they bring new offerings to market, it becomes more difficult for decision makers to not only keep pace with the rate of innovation within the martech space, but also generate ROI from their investments. This has been the case since our first report from 2016 2 . How often does your company add new tools to its mark eting t echnology st ack? Every week Once a year Every month Every two years Every six months We never implement new martech solutions 27% 26% 13% 9% 10% 15% 2 /walkersands/New-Martech-Buyer-Journey Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 20185 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Most marketing organizations still cannot implement solutions at the same rate that the technology evolves, or in pace with their own hopes for the future. Three years of unmet expectations later, and organizations experience the same troubles. However, marketers are aware of their own struggles to keep up. The majority of respondents assess their martech stacks at least every six months. Even in the face of adoption challenges, marketers have rejected a “set it and forget it” approach to martech investments. Organizations respect marketing technologies and operations as true disciplines, not just an ad hoc set of tools. Weekly Once a year Monthly Every two years Every six months More than every two years We never assess our stack How often does your company assess its marketing technology stack holistically to ensure you have the right tools to meet your goals? 24% 17% 11% 6% 10% 9% 24% Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018. Percentages dont add up to 100% due to rounding.6 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Most marketers cant keep up with the rate of innovation within the martech ecosystem, leaving them unable to assess new technology based on features and benefits. Instead, marketers focus only on solutions that are easy to implement, allowing them to keep their heads above water. First Comes Agility, then Adoption7 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 How do you feel the marketing technology landscape has evolved in the past three years? How do you feel your companys use of marketing technology has evolved in the past three years? “ Marketers are not universally earning results they hope for or need. Scott Brinker Has evolved at light speed 15% Has evolved rapidly 48% Has grown steadily 31% Has evolved slightly 4% Has not evolved at all 2% Has evolved at light speed 8% Has evolved rapidly 20% Has grown steadily 37% Has evolved slightly 28% Has not evolved at all 8% While 63 percent of marketers feel the martech landscape has evolved rapidly or at light speed in the last year, only 28 percent feel their companys use of martech has advanced at the same pace. To date, only 15 percent of marketers say their company is very agile when it comes to embracing new solutions for their martech stacks. This lack of agility may read like a soft metric, but its causing real investment pains. Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018. Percentages dont add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 20188 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Compared to last year, the number of marketers saying their company invests the right amount in martech has decreased. The percentage of organizations reporting that martech enables employees to do their jobs has also declined. This indicates that the martech ecosystem is evolving at a rate companies find impossible to match. And even when they do make investments, marketers are not universally earning results they hope for or need. Because marketing organizations struggle to remain agile as the martech landscape quickly evolves, most arent at a point where they can evaluate martech based on its features. What matters most to marketers are the basics: ease of use and ease of implementation. They simply cant dedicate time and resources to think critically about how tech innovations can give them a competitive edge. Its important to understand whats standing in the way of a more agile evaluation standard and boosted ROI. Budget is the top factor preventing organizations from making greater martech investments, as will likely always be the case. How agile is your company in its ability to add new solutions to your marketing technology stack? Not at all agile Not very agile Somewhat agile Very agile 15% 46% 31% 8% Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 20189 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 The same goes for an internal resistance to change, which 27 percent suffer from. There are certainly steps organizations can take to instill cultures that welcome and thrive on change, but internal acceptance will likely grow as external acceptance of martech grows as well. Whats interesting though is that (outside of cost) difficulties with implementation round out marketers top three martech hurdles over a quarter of marketers (27 percent) list this problem. Clearly it takes organizations longer to onboard new martech than many vendors assume, and this cumbersome implementation period leaves marketers falling behind the rate of innovation, and impacts their agility. My company invests the right amount in marketing technology. The marketing technology in place at my company is up to date and sufficient for helping me do my job more effectively. THIS YEAR LAST YEAR AGREE OR DISAGREE: 13% 24% Strongly Agree Strongly Agree 22% Agree Agree 47% 47% 50% 25% 4% 6% Disagree Disagree 31% Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree 7% 5% Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018. Percentages dont add up to 100% due to rounding. 30% 25% 47% 16%10 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 The good news for martech vendors is that a lack of agility has not stopped marketers from believing that technology will play a bigger role in their strategies down the line. Most marketing organizations plan to increase their technology budgets and have best practices in place for assessing new tools. Optimism for Martech Grows, Despite Roadblocks11 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Increased budgets. Sixty-five percent of marketing organizations plan to increase their spend on martech in the next year only 5 percent plan to decrease this spend. Gartner 3found that a quarter (23 percent) of CMOs even have fixed annual budgets dedicated to innovation. Established best practices. A third of marketing organizations have a formal methodology in place to make those company assessments, and another third are in the planning stages. Marketers are discussing their investments with real intention and factoring in a broad collection of criteria to do so. A tech-savvy approach encourages marketing organizations to counterattack the challenges covered in the last section, like lack of agility and out-of-date technology. This has resulted in exciting changes such as: How do you expect your companys marketing technology budget and investment to change in 2018 compared to 2017? Does your team have a formal methodology for assessing the effectiveness of your marketing technology stack? Yes, we have a formal methodology No, we dont dont need one No, but we plan to create a formal methodology Decrease greatly 1% 4% Decrease slightly Stay the same 30% 17% Increase slightly Increase greatly 48% 27% 37% 36% 3 /gartner/smarterwithgartner/2017-2018-gartner-cmo-spend-survey/ Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018 Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 201812 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Which of these statements best describes how your skills line up with the technology needs in your marketing department? 6% Eagerness to adopt. Marketers are ready and prepared to adopt new martech. Forty-one percent of marketing organizations believe they have exceptional tech skills that benefit the entire department. Whats more, over half (53 percent) feel their tech skills are adequate and only 6 percent believe theyre missing the skills their current roles demand. I have exceptional tech skills that can be leveraged across the department I have adequate tech skills for my current role I am missing the tech skills required for my current role 53% 41% Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 201813 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Marketers know that technology will play a larger role in marketing than it has before. However, most marketers actually identify an equal mix of creativity and technology as the best option for leading their organization into the future. Technology and Humans Come Together as Partners14 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Has your companys marketing strategy been driven more by creativity or technology in the past? What about today and into the future? 47% 29% 14% 24% 30% 30% 29% 41% 56% Five years ago Today Five years from now CREATIVITY TECHNOLOGY EQUAL MIX OF BOTH Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 201815 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Marketers are optimistic that it still takes two to tango. More than half (56 percent) of marketers believe an equal mix of creativity and technology will drive marketing strategies five years from now. Forty-one percent believe an equal mix dominates today. Humans will provide the creativity, martech solutions will offer cognitive boosts, and together, the two will support a roadmap for operational success. While its obvious that investments in technology are necessary for marketers to be successful, it would be a disservice to underestimate the role human creativity and imagination play in using those technologies to deliver a remarkable customer experience. An equal mix of creativity and technology is the essence of modern marketing. And 61 percent of marketers feel that the advancement of martech will not threaten their jobs, indicating that organizations truly do not see technology as a pariah, but rather as a way to supplement and empower them as they execute creative strategies. AGREE OR DISAGREE: I worry that marketing technology will threaten my job at some point during my career. Strongly Disagree 17% Disagree 44% Agree 28% Strongly Agree 11% Source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 201816 Walker Sands State of Martech 2018 Overall, technology does not intimidate todays marketers they believe theres a limit on how far technology can take their organizations, namely a creative cap. Marketers hardly trust the value of nascent technologies like chatbots, artificial intelligence and blockchain. IoT ranks most popular among marketers, with 13 percent of organizations already fully implementing and another 39 percent planning to implement it.The bottom line is that 69 percent of respondents dont think the perfect marketing stack exists just yet. Perhaps it never will. As a result, a human touch will be always be necessary to execute effective marketing campaigns. “ To always remain relevant and valuable as martech advances, marketers must find way
展开阅读全文