By Adam Fraser

It’s that time of the year again – when Scott Brinker aka chiefmartec.com releases “that infographic”.

The one summarising the martech landscape packed with tiny logos that you see at every marketing conference on the planet.

And it keeps getting larger and more complex. From 2,000 tools in 2015 to 3,500 in 2016 up to an amazing 5000+ in 2017.

To be precise – the landscape shows 5,381 tools from 4,891 vendors. Wow. From social media to newsletter marketing, ecommerce to CRM, all the subsections continue to grow.

I was lucky enough to have Scott as my very first podcast guest back in April 2015. Even back then – in a world of “only” 2,000 tools – we discussed the complexity of the market and whether consolidation was imminent.

There are a number of drivers of this breadth and complexity in the marketing technology landscape – including (at a high level) low barriers to entry, media fragmentation in a post internet world, the rapidly changing consumer buyer journey and constant technology innovation (as just one example think AI and chat bots which weren’t a “thing” 2 years ago and now are very much in play).

If you are feeling utterly overwhelmed by this landscape and what it means for marketing and IT professionals please know you are not alone!

The basic premise remains – strategy first, technology second. Focus on your business objectives and your marketing strategy and execution. Then, and only then, start to think about how technology can enable and potentially turbo charge your business processes.

People, process and technology. A three legged stool. In almost all cases the technology decision should come last not first.