The marketing technology space is evolving, thanks to various software marketers now have at their fingertips to help make their job simpler and better. The “marketing technology landscape” is evolving all the time. Scott Brinker, chief blogger at Chiefmartec.com, has created three versions of this landscape, starting in 2011. His latest versions have improved the structure for better order, included more icons for simplicity, and have focused more on including third-party marketing automation and customer data platforms. Now, there are over 1000 marketing technologies in over 45 different categories.
Brinker identifies six marketing technology classes that make up this landscape including Internet services, infrastructures, marketing backbone platforms, marketing middleware, marketing experience, and marketing operations. More marketing technology startups are popping up weekly in these classes and categories. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting some of the top marketing technologies and startups that are making waves in the startup scene.
As for marketing backbone platforms and marketing middleware, these two pillars are bringing structure to the landscape. Marketing apps and software are providing more vibrant audience experiences. Marketing automation is getting consolidated (it’s about time); experience-driven marketing is experiencing a spike, and agile marketing tools are becoming more readily available.
Some recent highlights in the Marketing Technology Space:
- Demandbase launches its B2B Marketing Cloud
- Optimizely gets $57 million in funding for website testing platform
- Ensighten gets $40 million to take on Oracle, SalesForce and Adobe Marketing Cloud
This whole process of building your own marketing technology cloud can be quite confusing.
Enterprise business marketing is shifting from traditional marketing to data-driven marketing, and startups have popped up all over the place. Many of these startups have already been consumed by the big players, like Adobe, who acquired Omniture, DMP Demdex and TMS Satellite, along with Salesforce who acquired, Radian 6, Buddy Media and ExactTarget. The heat is on in the marketing technology space.
Enterprise companies have the option to buy these closed, acquired “marketing clouds,” or they can build their own custom marketing cloud by using best in class marketing technologies from this landscape. You’ll future-proof your business marketing, IMO, by building your own.
The marketing technology startup space is a getting interesting, so keep coming back for my continued reporting on this exciting frontier!