Marketing Software

Ah, the Hype Cycle. No other curve is both so revered and reviled. When it comes to generative AI’s Hype Cycle, especially its application in marketing, there are three things we need to acknowledge: First, “gen AI” is not a single technology moving along the Hype Cycle. Is it at the peak of inflated expectations? The trough of disillusionment? The slope of enlightenment? The answer is: all of the above. Different gen AI applications and …

The first generation of gen AI use cases in marketing are streaking through the Hype Cycle Continue Reading »

Are you feeling the vibes yet? “Vibe” has become the latest AI buzzword. Even more than “agentic,” which is saying a lot. While both terms are widely open to interpretation — and therefore ripe to be appropriated by anyone selling anything — vibe stands out for sheer weirdness. The term originated with a post by Andrej Karpathy, one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, who described vibe coding as a new way of rapidly building …

1967 was the Summer of Love; we will remember 2025 as the Summer of Vibes Continue Reading »

tl;dr The martech landscape grew again since last year, up 9% to 15,384 solutions. While new AI natives continue to blossom, the previous generation is consolidating more. There’s also an exploding “hypertail” of custom software. We cover all of this and more in our new State of Martech 2025 report (free and ungated). Over 15 years ago, I tossed a bunch of martech logos on a slide to present the Rise of the Marketing Technologist …

2025 Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic: 100X growth since 2011, but now with AI… Continue Reading »

This is a short excerpt of data from The State of Martech 2025 report that will be released on May 6, 2025. You can get the complete 100+ page report and access to an extended keynote presentation of our research by registering for free for #MartechDay. It’s no surprise that stand-alone AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become ubiquitous. In our study of 96 martech and marketing operations leaders, 87.5% reported these …

Beyond AI assistants: how AI is being more deeply embedded in marketing and martech stacks Continue Reading »

For years, martech was divided into systems of record and systems of engagement. Systems of record stored the “master” versions of data. CRMs and CDPs for customer data. PIM for product data. DAM for brand assets. ERP for inventory data. (I know, there’s a ton of acronyms in this piece, almost to the point of parody. Click on the image above for a larger-scale version to read the Acronymn Decoder Ring on the right.) Systems …

Meet the new martech stack: systems of context and systems of truth Continue Reading »

It’s 2025, and martech stacks are going through all kinds of changes. From unified data to agentic workflows, from consolidating vendors to proliferating gen AI, and from commercially-packaged platforms to custom-developed apps, martech stacks — and the marketing ops heroes who manage them — are experiencing a Renaissance of new ideas and new technologies. The 2025 Stackie Awards are your opportunity to contribute to that Renaissance. “What are the Stackie Awards?” you say. They’re a fun …

What’s in your stack? The 2025 Stackie Awards are open for entries, and we’re donating $100 for each one Continue Reading »

If you predicted that tech stacks would shrink in 2024, it was probably a good bet. After all, the trend line had been headed in that direction. The average number of apps in companies’ stacks shrank in both 2022 and 2023, albeit by only a modest amount, less than 10% on average. But economic times were tight last year, and CFOs were on the warpath to cut SaaS waste. And, of course, there’s the ongoing …

Despite financial pressure — or because of it? — tech stacks are actually expanding again Continue Reading »

Welcome to 2025! It’ll be the Year of AI Agents in martech, in word and deed. Here’s what I think that means… From the moment there was more than one software product in a company’s tech stack, there’s been jockeying to determine who was boss. If the tech stack were an orchestra, which product would be the conductor? Whichever one directed the flow of data among apps and determined which function in which app was …

AI agents are the new iPaaS and the next frontier of intense competition in digital ops orchestration Continue Reading »

I have two surveys for you that I think you’ll love. The first is one that I’m asking you to take: a cut-through-the-BS survey on the real ways in which you’re seeing gen AI used in your organization — or not. This data will contribute to the “Martech for 2025” report and virtual event Frans Riemersma and I will be sharing on December 3. More details to follow. Both of us and thousands of your …

Companies are replacing more martech, focused on integrations and APIs, and still expanding their stacks Continue Reading »

If you’re reading this blog, it’s a safe bet that you’ve been involved in buying — or selling — martech software. Probably quite a bit of martech software. So I greatly appreciate that a number of you responded to my survey over LinkedIn asking what you loved and hated about that experience and which resources you found helpful and trustworthy (or not!) in that process. Here’s what you, at least the collective “you,” had to …

Buying martech: what you love, what you hate, and who you trust (or not) Continue Reading »