What Is a Marketing Tech Stack and Do You Need One?

Being an effective marketer in the 21st century is all about using the right technology solutions. The internet, social media, and other emerging technologies are central to the way brands connect with consumers. 

With the right tools and technologies at your disposal, you can automate, simplify, and enhance your marketing efforts. However, the influx of new technology has made the marketing world unfathomably complex. 26% of marketers struggle to find the right technologies to fit their needs. How will you select which tools to use? 

That’s where a marketing tech stack comes in. Marketers assemble the various technologies they use into a comprehensive tech stack. When put together effectively, this collection helps support powerful, long-term, and technology-driven results. 

So what is a marketing tech stack, and why does your business need one? Let’s break it down. 

What Is a Marketing Tech Stack?

A marketing tech stack comprises a collection of different technologies and software tools used to analyze, assess, and improve a business’s marketing strategy. 

The tech stack encompasses all the digital tools and software solutions a business uses for its marketing efforts, including outreach software, data gathering tools, and analytics platforms. Instead of working with each tool individually, a stack helps simplify difficult processes, find places where marketing activities can be conducted more efficiently, and create an integrated set of tools that makes a business’s marketing strategy more seamless across different channels.

What Goes Into a Marketing Tech Stack?

Every business has a unique marketing strategy and uses different technologies to achieve company goals. Depending on the type of firm you run, the size of your budget, and your target audience, you’ll use different tools to reach and engage with your clients.

Let’s take a look at some of the foundational technologies for a marketing tech stack.

1. Customer Relationship Management

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system helps track customer relationships and marketing attribution for your sales force. The CRM system will provide insight into how you can improve your marketing strategy and build more robust relationships with your clients.

2. Content Management System

For many, a content management system (CMS) is a key component of their marketing tech stack. A CMS powers your website, blog, or other digital content, allowing you to more broadly engage with your online customer base.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to reach potential clients, grow your brand awareness, and build trust with your clients. To make your workflow more efficient, you can automate this portion of your marketing process—schedule emails, newsletters, announcements, and more.

4. Social Media

These days, it’s incredibly difficult to run a successful digital marketing campaign without using social media. Social media tools help you schedule your content, automate your posts, and monitor the web for trends. 

5. Collaboration

Collaboration software allows team members to communicate and work together effectively, whether they work from home or are abroad on a business trip. Project management tools and office software in the cloud help teams delegate responsibilities, assign tasks, edit documents in real-time, and stay up to date with one another. 

6. Advertising

This is a broad area, but advertising software is key to acquiring new clients and leads. Advertising tools help you conduct keyword research, implement search engine optimization, publish ads, run ad tracking, and more. 

7. Analysis

One of the most powerful categories of technologies to include in your marketing tech stack is analysis and reporting. These software tools help you collect and work with your data to assess your marketing strategies and track your progress.

Why You Should Invest in a Marketing Tech Stack

A tech stack has the power to elevate your marketing strategy. Assembling your own marketing tech stack is key to creating a more efficient process, finding the best leads, driving traffic to your site, and transforming your target audience into loyal customers.

When putting together a tech stack, it’s crucial to understand how the different tools you use work together. Each marketing tool plays a particular role, and if there are missing pieces or incompatible software solutions, you won’t see results. When used correctly, a marketing tech stack will streamline the way you do outreach, follow up on leads, organize client information, and engage with your clients.