MarTech: What It Is, Why It's Important, and Relevant Careers

There is a wealth of marketing technology (MarTech) available to help marketers monitor, execute, manage, and optimize their work across channels. This software not only streamlines efforts, but can also provide useful insights into the success of those efforts.

Understanding more about the major technology that marketers rely on can be helpful when you work in the field—or when you're trying to break into it. What's more, new MarTech-related jobs are emerging throughout the United States because the industry is growing rapidly. MarTech is estimated to be worth half a billion dollars by 2027 [1].

In this article, we'll go over what MarTech is, the types of software it includes, how to build a MarTech stack, and relevant MarTech jobs worth exploring.

What is MarTech?

Marketing technology, or MarTech, is a term that encompasses specific software applications used to build, automate, track, and improve marketing efforts. Many different kinds of industries rely on MarTech to increase the efficiency of their marketing efforts—and to better understand what resonates (or doesn't) with a different audiences.

MarTech continues to expand. The State of MarTech 2022 report, from chiefmartec.com, found that there are nearly 10,000 applications across 49 categories [2]. Let's go over six of the more common MarTech types.

Email

Email marketing software allows you to automate your email marketing campaigns, including building email templates and segment lists, scheduling distribution, and monitoring clickthrough rate (CTR) and other important metrics.

• Examples: Mailchimp; Constant Contact

Content creation and content management

Content management systems (CMS) help you create, publish, and monitor website content. Often, using a CMS tool means users don't have to know how to code to develop attractive, engaging content.

• Examples: Wordpress; Drupal; Webflow

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools can help you improve your visibility on search engines like Google and Bing with keyword research, top SERP, and more. By optimizing your website for search engines, your business can attract more site visitors.

• Examples: Semrush; Hubspot; Google Trends

Social media

Social media management software makes posting content to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter much easier because you can build and schedule posts in advance. These tools can also track engagement, to see how posts perform, as well as brand mentions.

• Examples: Hootsuite; Sprout Social; Buffer

Customer relationship management (CRM)

As the name suggests, customer relationship management (CRM) software helps you manage your customer relationships. CRM software can store customer contact information, track customer interactions, and automate tasks like sending follow-up emails or scheduling appointments.

• Examples: Salesforce or Zoho CRM

Marketing analytics

Marketing analytics refers to software that monitors and collects data about different marketing efforts that can then be turned into valuable insights. This software can refer to a stand-alone platform, like Google Analytics, which gathers data on website performance and engagement, or to MarTech software (like Sprout Social or Semrush) which offers an analytics function.

• Examples: Google Analytics, Sprout Social, Semrush

Read more: Digital Marketing: What It Is and How to Get Started 

What’s in a MarTech stack?

A MarTech stack is a collection of software tools that marketing professionals use to manage their work. Think of a marketing stack as a grouping of the software types we reviewed above: content management, customer relationship management (CRM), email marketing, and more.

The type of stack you create will reflect your team's unique needs. For example, your business may benefit from a larger stack that encompasses email, CMS, CRM, and social media software—or you may find that you only need social media and CRM software.

MarTech jobs

When you're interested in working with MarTech, there are two possible tracks. The first is finding a job on a marketing team that relies heavily on this software. The second is finding a job at a MarTech company and working in some way on its products.

Below, we've sourced five relevant jobs that either work in or with MarTech.

*All annual salary data is sourced from Glassdoor as of April 2023.

1. Marketing automation specialist

Marketing automation specialists use marketing automation software to synthesize (and automate) repetitive tasks related to marketing campaigns. They often build these campaigns into the relevant software, launch them, and track them to ensure success.

• Annual salary (US): $73,044

2. Digital marketing specialist

A digital marketing specialist who works to support a digital marketing team or by ideating and executing marketing campaigns across various digital channels, such as content, SEO, and email. They may be responsible for writing, editing, and publishing the content they share across these different channels.

• Annual salary (US): $52,948

3. Marketing analyst

A marketing analyst reviews a company's marketing campaigns and efforts in order to ensure success. Often, they work heavily with data to develop more informed insights that they share with different marketing teams to streamline efforts and adjust campaigns.

• Annual salary (US): $67,559

4. MarTech product manager

As a product manager for a MarTech platform or product, you're responsible for your product's strategy, roadmap, and execution. You'll focus on the larger vision for your software, and oversee a team responsible for delivering on major milestones.

• Annual salary (US): $102,228

Read more: Program Manager vs. Project Manager: What’s the Difference?

5. Director of product marketing

The director of product marketing oversees how products are marketed. They often manage a larger team of marketers who are tasked with executing on the strategy that a director develops.

• Annual salary (US): $169,369

What skills are needed to succeed in MarTech roles?

When you're interested in working in (or with) MarTech, it's worthwhile to have a broader understanding of marketing, which can include marketing strategy, marketing channels, and the four Ps, because MarTech is often used to present a solution to common marketing efforts.

Beyond that larger overview, staying up-to-date in all aspects of digital marketing, and having the ability to work with data and think critically about what that data suggests can help you find work in and around this industry.

Here are some technical skills and workplace skills that can help you when working in marketing technology roles:

• Adaptabitily

• Creativity

• Emotional intelligence

• Data analysis

• Marketing analytics

• Organization

• Sales

• Leadership

How to get started in MarTech

If you're interested in working at a MarTech company, take time to figure out which software or platforms seem the most interesting to you, and look to see if that company has any open roles on its career page. You'll need to see how your experience and skills align with that of the job posting, and develop your resume and cover letter accordingly.

When you're interested in working with MarTech as part of a digital marketing role, it can help to begin identifying the software you need to know. Practice oftentimes goes far, but you can also enroll in an online tutorial or Professional Certificate, like those offered by Google and Meta on Coursera, to strengthen your knowledge of key marketing and data concepts, and gain important skills to feature on your resume.

Learn more: 13 Key Marketing Skills to Boost Your Resume

Ready to learn more about MarTech?

Get started by taking a course on Coursera—or enrolling in a marketing Professional Certificate from industry leaders like Google and Meta.

Google's Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate covers the foundations of digital marketing, including email marketing and customer engagement, while Meta's Marketing Analytics Professional Certificate looks at the intersection of data analysis and marketing.