• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 23, 2023

Martech now accounts for 30% of all marketing budgets, and the total spend on martech and sales tech is estimated at $669.3 billion this year, a 31.5% over the $508.9 billion posted in 2022, according to State of Martech and Marketing, 2023/24, a global study by LXA, sponsored by Tealium.

Moreover, 83% of CMOs expect increases this year. Still, budgets are getting squeezed and CMOs face numerous obstacles to fully achieving marketing efficiency: 

1. Limited time to consider new technology/working methods
2. Technical integration challenges 
3. Lack of skill set/knowledge of martech 
4. Lack of alignment between marketing and IT department 
5. Lacking the necessary marketing technology vendor solution(s) 
6. Lacking the necessary governance 
7. Insufficient budget allocation 
8. Resistance to change within the organization 
9. Stakeholder buy-in and approval 
10. Ineffective data management practices 

In addition to the money spent on martech, companies are allocating 28% for staff/labor, 21% for media and 21% for agency/services. 

Making the pitch for customer data platforms, the study says: “The CDP allows marketers to collect and unify data from a range of sources, segmenting based on behaviour, interests, and preferences, and enabling personalisation of products, content, and promotions.”

It continues, “Data can then be activated across multiple channels, including ad platforms, email marketing tools, and content management systems. This allows marketers to engage customers with targeted messaging across various touchpoints.” 

Of those polled, 72% prefer best-of-breed/multiple platform vendor solutions, while 20% choose all-in-one tools. And 8% have no preference. 

Just for the record, the study listed these AI deals or investments based on research: 

• Open AI -$10bn from Microsoft
• Amazon invested $4bn in AI startup Anthropic
• Salesforce acquired Airkit.ai
• Reely.ai acquired by VideoVerse
• Pixelz.ai acquired by Storyteq
• Splio acquires Tiny Clues (AI)
• Sprout social acquires Repustate
• Momentive acquired by STG for $1.5bn
• OpenWeb acquired Jeeng, an AI-powered message personalization platform for publishers
• Claravine acquired Netra
• Snowflake acquired Neeva
• Elastic Path acquired Unstack
• xfactor.io acquired DecisionLink after previous $10m investment

LXA surveyed 604 chief marketing officers or the equivalent at both B2B (54%) and B2C (46%) companies. All represented companies with 200+ employees. 

The respondents were split between the U.S. (34%), UK (20%), Europe (13%), Middle East (16%) and Asia Pacific (17%).