More than half of marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the rapid rate of martech innovation, according to a new study from public relations and digital marketing agency Walker Sands Communications.
The Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018 report, “Maximizing the Value of Martech Innovations,” found that 63 percent of marketers feel the martech landscape has evolved rapidly or at light speed in the last year. Further, only 15 percent of marketers say their company is very agile when it comes to embracing new solutions for their martech stacks.
The study finds that only 28 percent of marketers feel their company’s use of martech has advanced at the same pace as its rapid rate of innovation. Despite that disparity, marketers remain confident in marketing technology and their abilities to utilize it. In fact, over half (53 percent) of marketers feel their tech skills are adequate, while only 6 percent believe they’re missing the skills their current roles demand.
“We’ve seen over the last three years that marketers struggle to keep up with the new marketing technology, and it’s resulted in a lot of frustration in the past,” said Jennifer Mulligan, marketing technology account director at Walker Sands. “Although the rate of innovation hasn’t slowed down, marketers are feeling more confident in their ability to best use new tools. In fact, many marketers believe their companies should invest in more martech to keep up and remain optimistic about the tools’ overall usefulness.”
Additional findings from the report include:
Compared to last year, the number of marketers saying their company invests the right amount in martech has decreased by 7 percent.
- Two-thirds (65 percent) of marketers plan to increase their spend on martech in the next year – only 6 percent plan to decrease this spend.
- Two in five (41 percent) of marketers believe they have exceptional tech skills that benefit the entire department.
- The Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2018 study is based on a survey of over 300 marketers conducted in Q1 2018.
To download the full report, visit the State of Martech page on the Walker Sands website.