By
April Rios
Marketing technology is a huge niche. In fact, huge is an understatement. The number of software and applications targeted and utilized in marketing, from social media and event planning to analytics and marketing platforms, numbers in the several hundred. As options continue to expand, develop and grow, several categories of marketing technologies have emerged. Some, like infrastructure programs, have been around for years, but others, like marketing middleware, have just come to the fore.
The number of choices might seem paralyzing, but the truth is that these technologies are building towards each other instead of in opposite directions. Foundational services include Internet marketing via Facebook, Google, Twitter or similar apps, while infrastructure programs like databases and cloud computing form the necessary data “brain” of many marketing efforts. Marketing backbone platforms like CRM, marketing automation and e-commerce are vital structures in marketing efforts. Middleware, like cloud connectors, API services and DMPs, help bridge the gap between foundational technologies and marketing experiences and operations. Marketing experiences include specialized technologies affecting customers, in a manner of “front office” marketing. Marketing operations, on the other hand, manage the “back office” in marketing, including analytics and agile marketing.