How to build a marketing tech stack

Many marketers juggle dozens of tools—email platforms, analytics dashboards, social schedulers, ad management solutions, etc. That can feel chaotic, especially when you need accurate, up-to-date reporting to justify budgets or plan campaigns.

A solid marketing tech stack creates unity out of the chaos. In this guide, you’ll learn what a marketing tech stack is, the core components to include, and a step-by-step plan for building one that evolves with your business.

Whether you run a B2B marketing tech stack or an eCommerce-focused operation, these principles will help you manage data from multiple channels while remaining agile and efficient.

What is a marketing tech stack?

A marketing tech stack (or "martech stack") is the ecosystem of tools, platforms, and services you use to plan, execute, and measure marketing activities.

It can include everything from your content management system (CMS) for content publishing to customer relationship management (CRM) databases, analytics suites, email marketing automation, paid ad management, and more.

The most important part isn’t just having the tools—it’s ensuring they work together to give you a unified view of your performance.

Why a tech stack matters

• Data-driven decisions: Centralizing data from your channels helps you see the bigger picture without flipping between 15 dashboards. Check out our post on marketing analytics to learn how better data leads to better decisions.
• Marketing effectiveness: If your tools share insights, you can launch multi-channel campaigns with consistent messaging. For example, you can retarget site visitors who first encountered your brand on social media.
• Scalability: As you expand—maybe adding new channels or exploring AI marketing tech stack strategies—an organized tech stack scales with you instead of hindering progress.

What are the essential components of a marketing tech stack?

Your tech stack will vary based on whether you're B2B, B2C, or ecommerce, and your workflows or overall business goals. You can also explore AI-driven technologies, like generative text and machine learning, to boost personalization or reduce busy work. But remember, AI can't replicate deep brand understanding or strategic oversight, so it should complement your core marketing processes rather than replace them.

Below, we'll discuss each essential component in more detail. We’ll also share examples of popular tools, drawing inspiration from the Supermetrics connectors library and other platforms.

Content management system

• Key tasks include creating, scheduling, and updating content, managing templates for consistent design, and supporting collaboration among content writers and other creatives.
• Why it's essential: A good CMS ensures consistent branding, easier updates for marketing content, and straightforward integrations with analytics or email tools.
• Examples: WordPress, Drupal, HubSpot CMS. If you're looking at more specialized solutions, check out connectors for CMS tools to see how data flows between your CMS and the rest of your stack. For example, with the Supermetrics HubSpot connector, you can move your HubSpot data to your reporting tools and create multi-portal reports easily in a single view.
• AI consideration: AI text generation can help with drafting content. Still, a human eye is crucial for brand voice, fact-checking, and strategic alignment.

Customer data platforms

• Why it’s essential: CDPs unify data from your customer relationship management system, website, ad campaigns, or email platform into a single user profile. This centralized approach allows for advanced segmentation and more personalized marketing efforts.
• Key tasks: Gathering user information from multiple sources, building unified customer profiles, and segmenting audiences.
• Examples: Segment, mParticle, and Bloomreach. Once data is centralized, it can be fed into marketing reporting tools for deeper analytics.

AI consideration: Machine learning can predict user behaviors (e.g., likelihood to purchase), but it relies on high-quality data from your CDP. Make sure your data is accurate and up to date.

Advertising technology

• Why it’s essential: Ad tech simplifies and optimizes your paid advertising across Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, or programmatic networks. Centralizing your ad spend and performance data saves time when shifting budgets or adjusting bids.
• Key tasks: Launching and managing ads, optimizing bids, targeting specific audiences, and analyzing performance.
• Examples: Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, third-party solutions, and specialized dashboards. Of course, understanding essential PPC metrics to gauge effectiveness and improve reporting makes all the difference.
• AI consideration: AI can automate bidding or audience targeting, but you must monitor results to ensure budgets don’t balloon unexpectedly.

Email marketing tools

• Why it’s essential: Email marketing software automates campaigns for newsletter blasts, drip sequences, or triggered messages, helping you personalize outreach to different segments.
• Key tasks: Creating email templates, segmenting subscribers, analyzing open or click rates, and tracking conversions.
• Examples: Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign. Explore connectors to move all your data to the destination of your choice:
  • MailChimp connector
  • Klaviyo connector
  • ActiveCampaign connector
• AI consideration: AI can help tailor subject lines or send times for each user, but watch for spam triggers or brand inconsistencies. For online sellers, see our guide on ecommerce email marketing.

Analytics and insights

• Why it’s essential: Data is only helpful if you can interpret it. Analytics platforms give you visibility into your campaigns’ performance—whether a user’s on-site journey or revenue attribution for an ad channel. They can also offer advanced features (e.g., user cohorts, funnel analysis) for in-depth evaluations.
• Key tasks: Tracking visitor behavior, measuring conversions, and building custom reports.
• Examples: Google Analytics 4, Mixpanel, or more specialized solutions. If you run a digital store, ecommerce analytics can reveal top products or friction points.
• AI consideration: AI-based anomaly detection can flag unusual traffic spikes or conversion drops. Yet, a human touch is crucial to interpreting the context behind these anomalies and performing an action.

Social media management

• Why it’s essential: Social channels can drive brand awareness, consideration, or direct sales. Look for tools that automate social network scheduling, listening, and user engagement. Many also provide analytics on post-performance or brand mentions.
• Key tasks: Scheduling posts, monitoring comments and messages, gathering insights on engagement or reach.
• Examples: Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social. For advanced metrics, see social media analytics. Channel-specific insights might include:
  • LinkedIn analytics: Track engagement, content performance, and audience demographics.
  • Snapchat analytics: Monitor views, completion rates, and insights on ephemeral stories.
  • Instagram stories analytics: Measure story engagement, swipe-ups, and story exits.
  • Instagram hashtag analytics: Evaluate which hashtags help content discovery.
  • Pinterest analytics: See which pins drive site traffic and how your audience interacts with boards.

AI consideration: Some platforms use AI to recommend posting times or content ideas, though strategy remains your responsibility.

SEO tools

• Why it’s essential: SEO platforms help you uncover keyword opportunities, track rankings, and analyze backlinks so your content appears more often in search results.
• Key tasks: Auditing site health, monitoring keyword placements, and analyzing competitor strategies.
• Examples: Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz. You can also apply SEO report templates to streamline monthly or quarterly performance. Explore connectors to help you pull data from these examples:
  • Semrush connector
  • Moz connector
  • Ahrefs connector
• AI consideration: AI can assist with keyword clustering or automating content briefs, but copy still needs a human voice and perspective.

Marketing automation

• Why it’s essential: Automation software allows you to scale campaigns across channels—email, social, and paid ads—without adding more manual tasks to your plate.
• Key tasks: Drip campaigns, lead scoring, triggered workflows, and personalization at scale.
• Examples: HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot. Explore connectors:
  • Marketo connector
  • Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) connector
• AI consideration: AI algorithms can personalize subject lines or trigger sequences, but you’ll need to ensure your brand voice remains consistent and user data is accurate.

For a deeper dive into streamlining tasks, read our guide on how to automate reports. And tying in advanced marketing attribution can help identify which messages drive the most conversions.

Marketing intelligence platform

Marketing teams are using 230% more data than they were in 2020, yet 56% struggle to make sense of it. This is where a marketing intelligence platform like Supermetrics comes in. It makes data accessible to marketers and allows them to use data to improve performance and ROI. With it, you can:

1. Connect: Integrate online and offline data from all sources into your go-to reporting tools, including spreadsheets, business intelligence tools, and data warehouses.
2. Manage: Transform your data into a format that supports your analyses. For example, blend data from paid and organic sources for a holistic view of your performance. Or manage campaign naming performance so it’s easier to report on your campaign.
3. Analyze: Turn numbers into actionable insights through data visualization and meaningful interpretation. You can make your dashboards shareable so relevant stakeholders can also follow how the campaigns or marketing performance evolves.

Activate: Here’s where you close the loop and turn data into action. Bring the data that you’ve already analyzed and transformed back to your marketing platforms through conversion API, for example, LinkedIn Ads, to build a new audience segment to improve your targeting accuracy.

How to build an effective marketing tech stack

Here's a step-by-step guide for selecting and integrating the tools that best support your goals. Every business is different, but these principles help you stay organized and strategic.

Identifying business goals

• Focus on outcomes: Are you aiming to boost brand awareness, generate B2B leads, or drive eCommerce transactions? Your objective will determine which platforms you prioritize.
• Tie goals to specific metrics: For brand awareness, you might track impressions and engagement. For conversions, you might monitor sign-ups or purchases. Keep these goals front and center when evaluating tools. For more guidance, check out our campaign monitoring guide, which includes metrics, tools, and best practices.
• Example: A B2B SaaS company might decide to improve lead scoring and multi-step email nurturing. Thus, it prioritizes a robust marketing automation platform and a CRM integration that tracks lead status.

Evaluating existing tools

• List your current platforms: This might include email software, ad accounts, a web analytics solution, and an SEO tool.
• Assess usage and ROI: Are all these tools still relevant and cost-effective? If you rarely open that premium analytics suite, perhaps it's time to downgrade or switch.
• Check alignment: Some tools might duplicate each other's functionality. Consolidating can reduce costs and training overhead.
• Example: You discover you pay for two social media schedulers. You merge them into one that syncs with your leading CRM. The freed-up budget might go toward advanced attribution or a data warehouse solution.

Integrating new technologies

Look at how each potential tool handles data. Does it have an API or direct integrations with your chosen platforms?

• Start small: Try a pilot run. For instance, if you're adding a new customer data platform, pick one region or product line to test it with first.
• Get a consistent data format: Make sure your naming conventions match across platforms, from UTMs (Urchin Tracking Module) in your ads to lists in your email software.

For more profound cross-platform synergy, read about marketing data integration. The simpler it's to unify your metrics, the easier it will be to generate insights.

Stakeholder collaboration

Introducing new tools or processes without stakeholder buy-in can lead to partial adoption or confusion. So, involve sales, product teams, or finance to gather feedback and ensure alignment.

• Ask for input: Does the sales department want specific data fields in your CRM that marketing hasn't considered?
• Centralize data: If you manage to centralize marketing data across teams, you’ll break down silos and ensure everyone sees the same "single source of truth."

Example: If product teams want usage metrics integrated for retargeting, you must figure out how that data flows into your primary marketing automation system—something you might not spot if you keep the process marketing-only.

How to overcome challenges in implementing a marketing tech stack

Even the best plan can run into roadblocks. Below are common pitfalls and practical fixes to keep your marketing campaign stable and effective.

Integration issues

• Possible challenges: Different tools might have mismatched APIs or data schemas, causing partial syncs or frequent errors.
• Solution: Choose tools with open APIs or support for standardized data formats. You might use a bridging service or specialized connector if a key vendor lacks direct integrations. Also, watch for the "GA4 Replacing UA" updates and new Google Analytics 4 API quotas if you rely heavily on analytics data.

Data silos

• Possible challenges: When each department or brand extension picks tools independently, you end up with data that never merges. This complicates marketing strategies that rely on a unified customer profile.
• Solution: Decide on a master system, like a data warehouse or robust CRM, to unify data. Encourage cross-team collaboration to ensure everyone shares the same definitions and metrics. If you want to break silos for advanced performance tracking, consider referencing marketing goals that apply across multiple departments.

Continuous optimization

• Possible challenges: Marketing technology is constantly changing—tools come and go, channels evolve, and user behaviors shift. That means your stack can’t stay static.
• Solution: Set up periodic check-ins (say, quarterly or semi-annually) to evaluate each tool’s ROI. Keep an eye on new releases or updates, and watch for upcoming changes in the market.

The Supermetrics 2025 Marketing Data Report has interesting findings, such as marketing mix modeling, campaign experimentation, and predictive analytics, which are top measurement investments for 2025. Marketing mix modeling (MMM) gets touted as "the next big thing" every decade. Today, with the help of automation and new technology, signal loss is making a more significant comeback. That's why:

• 49% of marketers are using MMM
• 47% say it'll be their investment for next year

For reference:

• 42% will invest in campaign experimentation
• 40% have predictive analytics on their list
• Only 27% are interested in incrementality testing

Want to find out more? Get our complete 2025 Marketing Data Report!

Final thoughts on optimizing your marketing tech stack

Your marketing tech stack ties all your campaigns together, from brainstorming creative ideas to measuring final ROI.

A cohesive setup also ensures you can share accurate, up-to-date reports with stakeholders, whether they care about brand awareness, lead generation, or direct sales.

As you evolve, be sure to monitor new technologies, maintain open communication with other teams, and regularly assess each tool's value.

A well-structured stack doesn't just cut overhead or reduce confusion — it empowers you with the clarity and speed needed to meet your business goals in a highly competitive environment.

Focusing on relevant tools, strategic integrations, and ongoing optimizations will cultivate a data-driven culture that grows and adapts to each marketing challenge.