Today, marketing teams are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way that they approach, implement, and measure their work. Given this, it’s no surprise that the martech industry is also flourishing.
In fact, 65% of marketers expect to use martech to improve ROI, making it clear that they rely on these technologies to meet their business goals. Even martech experts like Clint Oram, Co-founder and CSO of SugarCRM, have commented on this evolution: “Today, marketing is much more of a measured science than yesterday’s guessing.”
But just how quickly is the martech industry growing? And what role does Content Intelligence play in this broader landscape? These are the questions we’ll set out to address in this post.
A 30,000-Foot View of the Martech Landscape
Martech encompasses a wide range of systems, software, and solutions that use technology to achieve and measure marketing goals. As the integration of technology becomes increasingly prevalent across many global industries, the marketing world has been no exception.
To give you a sense of how fast the growth has been: between 2011 and 2020, the martech landscape experienced 5,233% growth. Even just from 2019 to 2020, the industry grew by 13.6% for a total of 8,000 martech solutions in existence today. In terms of value, the global martech industry value surpassed $121 billion in 2019 and is only forecasted to continue growing.
But there’s a reason why the martech landscape is proliferating. Demand for this type of technology is higher than ever before. Tealium recently published its “State of the Customer Data Platform” report for 2021, and statistics showed that 89% of marketers will spend more on martech than they did in 2020. Not only that, but 32% of these respondents said that they’ll be spending significantly more than they did in previous years.
The Role of Content Intelligence in Your Martech Stack
If we zoom in on these martech statistics, we see that Content Intelligence comprises a huge chunk of the industry. In 2020, 1,936 out of 8,000 martech solutions were under the category of content and experience, reflecting an increase of 5.6% since 2019. A few factors are contributing to this growth:
Content Marketing is Exploding
More and more companies are getting serious about their content marketing efforts. According to a report by the ANA and The Content Council, there was a 73% budget increase for content marketing over a two-year period. The report also projected a 42% spending hike by 2022. With this increased investment in content marketing, it’s no wonder that the number of Content Intelligence solutions is growing.
Generic Martech Solutions Aren’t Enough
Another reason we see a rise in content-specific technology is because marketers are frustrated by the lack of data they can collect with generic tools. Web analytics platforms, for example, are used by many content marketers, but they don’t tell them anything about business-driven outcomes like brand impact, ROI, or audience engagement. It’s no wonder that nearly 60% of businesses aren’t getting the insights they need from their content.
Marketers Want Next-Generation Technology
While content marketers from a few years ago may not have been ready for artificial intelligence-powered analytics, today’s content marketers certainly are. In fact, Gartner’s 2019 Marketing Technology Survey found that 19% of the people they interviewed believed advanced analytics would be the most impactful technology for marketing in the next five years. Almost half of their respondents expect analytics to be one of the top three most important technologies available.
What Does This Mean for Your Organization?
If you’re like most modern organizations, you have plans to increase your investment in content marketing over the next few years. As your content marketing efforts become more sophisticated, your martech stack needs to evolve as well.
It’s no longer enough to rely on generic tools that can only produce metrics around website traffic and bounce rate. To truly make an impact with your content marketing efforts, you have to understand what your competitors are doing, how your target audience is responding to your content, and how your efforts are contributing to ROI—among other things.
Thankfully, content-specific tools continue to comprise a bigger slice of the martech pie, giving marketers more options than ever before. Content Intelligence platforms, in particular, are a must-have for today’s marketing teams. By partnering with a cutting-edge tool like Knotch, you’ll be able to measure the impact of your content, make data-driven decisions about your content strategy, and become more effective at getting the right message to the right people.
It’s exciting to see the continued growth of the martech landscape, especially in the realm of Content Intelligence. Now is the time to invest in a martech stack that helps your marketing efforts stand out in today’s competitive environment. If you’re curious to learn how Knotch’s platform can support your organization’s content marketing needs, request a demo here.
