2023 is almost here. An upcoming new year means many of us are taking a look at the past year and making plans for the year ahead. What can we expect of data and martech in 2023?
Our 2022 State of Data and Technology Report study revealed how marketers are using data and technology—and how they expect to use it in the coming year. Here are some trends of what to expect:
Increasing investment in martech
Most of the marketers we surveyed said they plan to increase their investment in martech. This increased investment will allow marketers to update and replace tools that are overcomplicating their tech stack.
19% of marketers said their martech stack is more complex than a black hole. So, it’s no shock that marketers are eager to address overcomplexity and invest in tools that make their stack easier to use. In the survey, marketers cited challenges with data normalization and integration. Investing in the right tools will help with these pain points.
The way we market is ever-changing. There are constantly new tactics and tools that build on our current practices. Accounts-based marketing (ABM) is by no means a new tactic, but its use is definitely growing. 38% of marketers are planning to execute ABM—that’s on top of the 38% that said they already do. With the adoption of new strategies, marketers will need to invest in tools to support them.
Greater focus on strategy
Marketers are thinking ahead. They’re already thinking of what challenges may come up in the next year and planning their solutions. Many are budgeting to address challenges in campaign delivery, design, orchestration, analytics or data collection. They are strategizing to overcome these challenges and be more successful in the next year.
Nearly all the marketers we asked either have a formal data strategy or plan to implement one in the coming year. Having a data strategy is key to successfully using your data. By having one in place, they are better prepared for what’s ahead. Marketers who had a comprehensive data strategy experienced higher revenue growth. 2x as many saw their revenue increase by more than 20% last year when compared to the full data set. Keep this in mind and jump right into “planning season” if you haven’t already.
Mixed priorities for improving data utilization
There are many areas where the surveyed said they would prioritize improvements next year. Many of these priorities go hand in hand and will likely be addressed together. Some of the top priorities reported were centralizing and unifying data and developing a data strategy. Both improvements make data easier to use and more effective.
Centralizing and unifying your data makes the whole data process run more efficiently. An important step of that process is normalizing your data. Only about a third reported they have extensively normalized data—but those that did ran more successful campaigns and are 2.4x as likely to be able to get actionable insights out of their data.
Adopting a data-first culture is also a high priority for the coming year. This is easier said than done but working to get your organization on board with policies that support the culture will be beneficial in the long run. Data is more available and necessary for your marketing efforts than ever. Shaping your culture to embrace this should be high on your priority list.
More confidence in reaching goals
Marketers are optimistic about reaching their goals in the next year. Reaching your business goals is always top of mind—but going into next year, marketers feel confident about the challenge. They know the tools and tactics they’re using are going to help them reach their KPIs.
Looking deeper into these numbers, we found that the companies that plan to increase their use of intent data are 2.6x as likely to say their ability to reach their KPIs will significantly increase. Intent data is driving results. They’re devoting more of their efforts to support intent use and expect to see it pay off.
Additionally, those with a comprehensive data strategy are nearly 2x as likely to reach their goals in the next year. Knowing how you’ll manage, analyze and deploy your data before launching the next campaign makes a big difference in how confident you can be in its success.
Looking ahead
The trends from our State of Data report shed some light on how marketers are looking to the year ahead. Dive deeper into the findings from the report in our recent blog series—Breaking Down the Data: Marketing Revenue and Budgets, Breaking Down the Dat
