Planning for 2025: What’s Next for Your Martech Stack
On December 3, featured experts Manu Aggarwal from Brandbevy and Rich Herbst from Ascend Marketing discussed the future of martech stack consolidation, how to optimize spending efficiency, and what tools to add or remove to meet your 2025 goals.
Featured experts
Key takeaways
1. Reducing friction in sales cycles
- Martech solutions are increasingly focused on streamlining the buyer journey, especially in environments where sales cycles are becoming longer and more complex.
- Interactive product demos, like those powered by tools such as Navattic, allow potential buyers to experience products before engaging with sales teams.
2. Martech stack rationalization
- “Frankenstacks” result in overlap in tools, which often leads to inefficiencies. Companies should evaluate their tech stacks for redundancy and focus on consolidation to create a "single source of truth."
- Mid-sized and smaller firms should consider nimble tools with faster implementation times rather than investing in expensive, feature-heavy platforms.
3. AI as an enabler
- AI is transforming marketing by scaling content creation, enhancing task automation, and providing actionable insights. However, tools should complement existing strategies and align with business objectives.
- Effective use of AI requires high-quality data. Organizations must prioritize data integration and cleansing to fully leverage AI capabilities.
4. Composable stacks vs. all-in-one platforms
- Manu advocated for a flexible approach, emphasizing best-of-breed components tailored to business needs over relying solely on vendor-provided ecosystems.
- Composable stacks enable businesses to wrap specific, nimble tools around unified data platforms, fostering better insights and adaptability.
5. Budget considerations for 2025
- Many organizations face tight budgets and must justify martech investments. Smaller, faster-to-implement tools often provide better ROI than costly enterprise solutions.
- Emphasis was placed on analyzing switching costs (time, resources, and expertise) before downgrading or replacing platforms.
Trending technologies for 2025
- Interactive demos: Simplify the buyer experience with tools like Navattic.
- AI tools: Platforms like Jasper for content generation, Gamma for presentations, and InVideo for text-to-video creation are becoming increasingly popular.
- Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): Centralize data for better insights and decision-making.
Key advice for Martechify members
- Evaluate your stack: Regularly assess your martech stack to ensure it aligns with your goals and delivers value.
- Optimize resources: Focus on tools that provide maximum ROI and streamline processes.
- Leverage expertise: When facing integration or optimization challenges, consider professional services or third-party consultants for guidance.
Conclusion
Manu and Rich highlighted the importance of being strategic with martech investments as organizations prepare for 2025. By rationalizing tools, embracing composable stacks, and integrating AI thoughtfully, marketers can maximize the potential of their martech stacks while adapting to evolving business landscapes.
Meet the experts
Manu Aggarwal
Co-Founder
Manu has over 15 years of experience driving customer acquisition, retention, and revenue growth in SaaS, fintech, supply chain, real estate, and hospitality industries. He has a proven track record of building the marketing, go-to-market strategy, and technology stack from scratch that has resulted in $250 million in annual pipeline creation, 48% new business contribution, and 400% increase in MRR for both B2B and B2C companies while competing against public companies and well-funded startups.
Rich Herbst
Founder and Managing Partner
Since founding Ascend in 2004, Managing Director Rich Herbst has provided the visionary leadership behind the company’s unique approach to marketing services. With over 30 years of experience in marketing and sales support, the core of Rich’s background is in B2B services marketing and consumer packaged goods with such corporate giants as Verizon Communications, ConAgra Frozen Foods and James River Corp. As a strategic leader at Verizon, he led a team that launched high speed internet and other online services for small and medium businesses. He has shared his deep expertise and customer-centric approach with companies across the software, retail, restaurant and real estate industries, from small startups to large firms. Rich has an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, an MDiv from the Brite School / TCU, and a B.S. in Education from the University of Maryland.
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