Our Favorite MarTech Innovation of 2023

2023 has already delivered plenty of MarTech innovations to get excited about – and we’re only in September. Across the marketing landscape, businesses are looking to consolidate their MarTech stack as budgets decrease in the face of economic uncertainty. Attention is turning inward to eliminate technological redundancies and ensure tools are utilized to their full potential. An exercise that is always worth doing, whatever the economic outlook.

That said, keeping up with emerging innovations is essential to maintain or increase revenue and competitive advantage. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is bringing about big shifts in almost all areas of the MarTech landscape, underpinning huge advances in what’s possible for marketers.

We spoke to Jeremy Foszcz of Allant’s MarTech Integration and Enablement team, to get his take on the key innovations to keep an eye on.

4 major innovations in MarTech to watch out for:

Conversational AI

Where else could we start but with AI? This major disruptor is driving innovation across almost every aspect of the MarTech landscape. In recent years, AI has taken vast steps in improving data-driven processes such as predictive analytics. The unveiling of ChatGPT highlighted the commercial potential of AI to engage with customers in a more natural and personalized manner.

Building on the already-popular conversational marketing trend, AI technologies such as virtual assistants and chatbots are already being used to good effect. Brands can personalize customer experiences with trained conversational AI models that are handling increasingly complex tasks.

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, a human touch is needed to genuinely connect with customers. As Jeremy says: “I don’t see AI replacing marketers, but instead supporting them to do things on a scale that the human brain just cannot cover.” However, conversational AI has the potential to effectively engage customers directly, seeking to understand their needs and offering tailored product or service solutions. The opportunity to use AI strategies to boost customer retention and increase sales is increasingly apparent.

Augmented reality and virtual reality

These two related technologies have been around for a while, but we’re only just starting to see the exciting potential of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). While both are designed to give customers a more immersive experience, these tools are fundamentally different. AR seeks to enhance and expand the view of our surroundings, and VR replaces our surroundings entirely.

Being able to deliver realistic, immersive digital environments will exponentially expand what is possible for marketers. Current use cases largely revolve around product trials, whether that’s in the beauty space (see Sephora Virtual Artist) or the architecture industry (see apps like Augment or Autodesk 3ds Max). However, inroads are being made in tourism, sports training, and other industries for an impressive range of objectives.

From a marketing perspective, these innovations are a response to shoppers’ increasing interest in interactive, personalized experiences. AR and VR technology have the potential to build on current personalization efforts and craft tailored environments that bridge the gap between online and offline touchpoints.

Complex no-code/low-code solutions

Applications with no-code or low-code technology include pre-built, drag-and-drop elements that let marketers complete a range of tasks that previously needed technical coding knowledge. No longer for basic use cases, no-code MarTech solutions are taking on more complex marketing tasks. Low-code platforms provide greater flexibility and customization options in exchange for a little manual work.

In MarTech, these solutions allow marketers to speed up application development, data analytics, and automation strategy. For Jeremy, the biggest advantage is the time savings. “It boils down to the tool’s speed and ease of use. These tools can now work with such large datasets and handle them quickly.” As the speed of business increases, marketers can get more hands-on with MarTech solutions without learning complex coding languages. An advantage that increases the agility and flexibility of marketing teams to respond to changing business needs.

No-code solutions are becoming a widespread element of data platforms as marketers are keen to dig into and explore the details of their customer data. Gartner estimates that 70% of new applications developed by organizations will use low-code or no-code technologies by 2025. As marketers are increasingly able to apply their knowledge directly, more effective and targeted solutions are likely to follow.

Modular marketing operations systems

There’s no doubt that marketing technology stacks are becoming more complex and fragmented with each passing year. In response, the MarTech category of digital experience platforms (DXPs) has risen to help marketing operations puzzle together the various tools and vendors into one centralized location. An end-to-end system that integrates diverse point solutions to plan, implement, and evaluate the marketing plan.

Rather than opting for all-in-one platforms, businesses are increasingly choosing composable components that can communicate with one another through APIs. Building in this modular way means companies can select the tools that best resolve their needs, bringing in solutions from various best-of-breed vendors.

The resulting suite of integrated tools allows brands to deliver the seamless omnichannel experiences that customers expect. Brands can foster meaningful, two-way customer relationships by unblocking data siloes and creating feedback loops that the whole marketing team can evaluate.

The Round-Up: the future is bright for MarTech

While evaluation and consolidation are the focus for many businesses in 2023, these four innovations show that MarTech is currently undergoing big changes. To keep ahead of the competition, companies must continue to embrace new tools and technology. Unlock the potential in these new innovations, and you’ll unlock greater customer retention and revenue.