89% of Marketers to Spend More on Martech in 2021 Than They Did Last Year

As marketers look ahead to the remainder of the year, new research suggests that they will be investing more in marketing technology (martech), and artificial intelligence (AI) will become central to their plans for 2021.

Tealium recently published its “State of the Customer Data Platform” report for 2021, and statistics showed that the majority of marketers (89%) will spend more on martech than they did in 2020. In addition, 32% of these respondents said that they will be spending “significantly” more than they did before.

In addition to investing in martech in general, AI appears to be a big part of marketers’ plans. Approximately 59% of respondents said that AI capabilities are “extremely important” for achieving their marketing priorities this year.

The AI Capabilities of Everyday Marketers

Despite the eagerness marketers are showing in terms of utilizing AI, previous research indicates that many are still beginners in this area.

The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute and Drift recently conducted the “2021 State of Marketing AI” report, and data showed that most marketers (50%) still call themselves “beginners” in terms of their understanding of AI terminology and capabilities. About 37% claim that they are “intermediate,” and only 13% said they were “advanced.”

In terms of confidence level when it comes to evaluating AI-powered marketing technology, the majority of respondents (40%) ranked themselves as “medium.” Only 23% gave themselves a “high” ranking, indicating that there is still more work that needs to be done in this area.