Survey: More Marketers Experimenting with New Forms of MarTech

As new forms of marketing technology (martech) emerge, research shows that marketers are investing in everything from virtual reality to augmented reality to enhance their digital strategies.

According to “The Next Digital Wave: Emerging Interfaces and Experiences Beyond the Flat Screen” report from Verve, one-third of marketers “strongly agree” with the statement that they are always experimenting with new technologies for marketing. The same percentage said they “agree” with that statement.

A significant percentage of respondents (43 percent) claimed that they are actively deploying augmented reality, and 10 percent said they are in the trial phase. Thirty-eight percent are actively deploying virtual reality, while 19 percent are doing so with artificial intelligence/bots.

The data suggests that marketers are turning to martech to continue innovating. About 38 percent said that innovation in marketing remains difficult.

Marketers Shift in Favor of AI

As marketers shift toward new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the new research suggests that they are moving away from their previous stance. A previous study conducted earlier in 2017 indicated that marketers were still skeptical of AI.

In the “Artificial Intelligence Survey” conducted by ICUC Social, marketers were asked to rate the importance of AI on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being “extremely important.” Marketers gave AI a 6/10, suggesting that it was not necessarily a “game changer.”

Approximately 5.5/10 said that it was only “somewhat important” for their company to find AI solutions “right now.” At the time, 68 percent said they were not using AI in any capacity.