Top 9 Marketing Tech Trends in 2023 | StartUs Insights (2023)

Marketing technology (MarTech) enables companies to manage and measure marketing activities at every customer touchpoint. The technologies marketing companies are leveraging in 2023 and beyond are artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR), Web3, metaverse, big data, and analytics. Furthermore, social commerce and omnichannel marketing maintain their position as the main means of marketing and advertising. Voice assisted selling also offers targeted ads at scale. Additionally, companies are using low-code/no-code platforms to automate ad scheduling and performance analysis. Ultimately, consumer data privacy is a major concern that marketers are addressing with compelling, transparent, intent-based marketing solutions.

The Innovation Map outlines the top 9 marketing technology trends and 18 promising startups

For this in-depth investigation into the top marketing technology trends and start-ups, we analyzed a sample of 2,038 global start-ups and growth companies. The result of this research is data-driven innovation intelligence that improves strategic decision-making by providing an overview of emerging technologies and startups in the marketing industry. These insights are derived from working with our Big Data and artificial intelligence technology.StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering more than 2,500,000 start-ups and scale-ups worldwide. As the world's largest resource for startup data, the SaaS platform allows you to quickly and comprehensively identify relevant startups, emerging technologies and future industry trends.

In the innovation map below, you get an overview of the top 9 marketing technology trends and innovations impacting 2,038 companies worldwide. Additionally, the Marketing Technology Innovation Roadmap reveals 18 hand-picked startups, all working on emerging technologies that advance their field.

Top 9 marketing technology trends

1. Artificial intelligence
2. Extended Reality
3. social commerce
4. consumer privacy
5. Marketing Web3
7. Low-code/no-code platforms
8. voice marketing
9. marketing omnicanal

The tree map reveals the impact of the top 9 marketing technology trends

Based on the marketing technology innovation roadmap, the following treemap illustrates the impact of the top 9 marketing technology trends in 2023. AI-powered software solutions simplify marketing planning, execution and analysis and the mapping of the consumer journey. Chatbots use machine learning (ML) to automate repetitive tasks and create hyper-personalized consumer experiences. XR and Web3 technologies such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse also provide compelling consumer experiences for a global audience. Live streaming, voice commerce and omnichannel marketing are the preferred means of reaching and converting audiences. However, email, connected television (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) advertising continue to grow in popularity. While customer data platforms (CDPs) provide a centralized data management tool, low code/no code automation provides the self-service capability for marketing automation. Contextual targeting and better use of source data are important strategies for navigating cookie-free marketing and privacy concerns in 2023.

The startup global warming map covers 2,038 marketing technology startups and scaleups

The global startup heatmap below highlights the global distribution of the 2,038 exemplary startups and scaleups we analyzed for this research. Created using StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, the heatmap reveals that the US and India have the highest marketing technology start-up activity, followed by the UK.

Below, you can learn about 18 of these 2,038 promising startups and start-ups, as well as the solutions they develop. These marketing tech startups are handpicked based on criteria such as year founded, location, funds raised, and more. Depending on your specific needs, your best options might look completely different.

Top 9 marketing technology trends for 2023

1. Artificial Intelligence

AI provides insight into consumer behavior and maps the customer journey across all marketing mediums. Automate key marketing activities like lead generation, behavior analysis, personalization, customer relationship management (CRM) and other repetitive tasks. This improves workforce productivity and allows marketing managers to create and analyze complex marketing models and increase return on investment (ROI). Additionally, conversational marketing using live chats and chatbots allows for 24/7 customer interaction and data collection. AI also assists in intelligible audience segmentation and manages targeted paid marketing such as social media management (SMM) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Finally, natural language processing (NLP) enables real-time analysis of customer sentiment, delivering relevant and engaging experiences at scale.

Adelaide allows measurement of ad effectiveness

chilean startupAdelaidebuildAI emotion, its software for measuring the effectiveness of ads based on behavioral analysis. Leverages computer vision with ML and emotion recognition to measure ad performance for viewer attention, emotion arousal and content effectiveness. The software also provides insight into emotional responses to digital content, predictive analytics and competitive intelligence for effective media planning. This allows advertisers to determine the most effective ad concepts and increase attentive reach for higher returns on ad spend.

Qopywriter.ai provides AI-powered content creation

estonian startupQopywriter.aicreates an AI-powered content creation platform. The startup's writing tool takes the title description and article type as input and uses ML and NLP models to generate unique articles. Output content is of human-like quality and meets search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines. In this way, Qopywriter.ai automates marketing and content creation tasks for marketers, SEO managers and copywriters.

2. Extended Reality

Startups are increasingly using augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) to deliver an immersive customer experience and increase engagement. These solutions equip marketers with measurable engagement options, such as geofencing elements for location-specific targeting, virtual events, and storefronts. XR, along with technologies such as drones, interactive billboards and holograms, promotes experiential and guerrilla marketing activities. Startups are creating out-of-home (DOOH) digital advertising solutions to show dynamic ads and measure return on ad spend (ROAS) in real time. Companies are also using hybrid events to reach their global audiences and measure marketing attribution. In addition, advertising campaigns with 360-degree videos, holographic projections and drone light shows are other XR applications to capture the user's attention.

Aryel facilitates augmented reality advertising campaigns

arielis an Italian startup developing a software platform to create AR-enhanced advertising campaigns accessible through smartphones. The startup's drag-and-drop builder allows users to create immersive product displays in real-life contexts and enrich marketing campaigns with interactive AR triggers. It also provides real-time interaction and geodata analysis of campaigns and suggestions to improve marketing strategy. Businesses and marketers use the platform to optimize conversion rates, increase customer loyalty and attract new leads.

EEXAR powers augmented reality sales presentations

chinese startupEEXARdevelopsEEXAR presentation, a sales technology software for AR-powered virtual presentations. Organize and enable creative visualization of commercial product data by generating AR catalogs, interactive 3D models and color versions of products. The software also guides the audience through the presentation and monitors the activities of the participants. Sales and marketing teams leverage this to deliver engaging virtual presentations and drive offline sales.

3. Social Commerce

Live and non-live streaming on social media for product sales, reviews and consumer interaction continues to increase revenue opportunities for businesses. These platforms offer a cost-effective alternative to paid advertisements and allow data collection based on user consent. Selling merchandise while streaming remains the top subtrend in social commerce, followed by vlogs and short video content. Furthermore, companies and marketing agencies use these media to convey brand messages, create new trends and improve customer engagement. Also, expensive celebrity influencers are being replaced by virtual social media influencers to promote brands and products. Therefore, startups are providing tools to streamline their workflows for better communication between influencers and fans. In addition, companies strive to organically increase their visibility in search rankings, as well as build credibility and leverage User Generated Content (UGC) for this purpose.

inStreamly helps in managing streamers

Polish startupinStreamlyprovides a streamer management platform that connects brands and streaming platforms with microstreamers. It allows brands to run sponsored content and run campaigns embedded in live streams from various micro-influencers with highly engaged communities. The platform provides live statistics per campaign per streamer for campaign views, click-through rates (CTR) and cost per click and acquisition (CPC/CPA). This allows brands to non-invasively reach their target audience and build trust among Gen Z users.

Reeler improves UGC management

swedish startupwindermakes it easy to collect, organize and publish UGC. The startup's eponymous platform accumulates all kinds of content shared by users of various social media platforms through hashtags or emails and landing page forms. It allows marketing teams to tag and organize content and create their own media library to use in their cross-channel marketing campaigns. This, in turn, allows brands to drive customer engagement.

4. Consumer privacy

Providing a personalized experience while keeping user data private is a crucial element of MarTech Stacks. The introduction of advertising transparency measures by companies like Apple and Google is based on privacy rights and concerns about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Startups and scaleups are offering solutions to target audiences without relying on third-party data obtained by installing cookies or advertising identifiers. This includes conventional contextual advertising and intent-based solutions for marketing micro-moments, but with better automation. These MarTech tools enhance calls to action (CTAs) using signals like clicks, app installs, page views, registrations, etc., where users voluntarily share their personal data. Technologies like AI, ML and blockchain further help to create responsible marketing tools based on trust and transparency.

GreenCube advances in lead generation

canadian startupgreen cubedevelops an AI-powered sales outreach platform that does not use third-party data for lead generation. Generate smart sales leads by reaching prospects through personalized follow-up messages across multiple platforms. The platform sets the sales cadence with leads that match the brand's Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and provides in-depth analysis of convertible leads and the sales funnel through its scoring system. This provides brands with unique conversion-ready lead generation without compromising consumer privacy.

Qwarry offers contextual advertising

French startupqwarryprovides an advertising technology platform for contextual advertising. It comprises the editorial content of a given webpage and provides a brand and semantic appropriateness score to measure relevance to ad placement. The platform uses proprietary ML and natural language understanding (NLU) algorithms to provide scoring and enable real-time bidding (RTB) to display ads on a wide range of premium websites. This allows advertisers, marketing agencies and brands to serve interest-based ads without using personal user data while complying with GDPR regulations.

5. Web3 Marketing

Web3 marketing aims to decentralize marketing and provide a playful and interactive user experience. Startups and scale-ups use blockchain-based tools to enable targeted marketing, decentralized web hosting, ad fraud prevention, and peer-to-peer (P2P) interactions. Brands generate excitement by issuing NFT collectibles, limited edition tokens, digital tickets and authentication of ownership of digital assets. Web3 marketing further equips marketers to navigate brand relationships from physical to virtual environments, enhancing the customer experience. In addition, Web3 technologies ensure consumer data privacy through their private-by-design infrastructure.

Unchained Carrot offers rewards marketing

loose carrotis a Dutch startup that developstraffic routes, your software to create reward-based marketing campaigns and increase traffic.traffic routescollects user data from proprietary and third-party mobile and web applications to automate marketing tasks. Leverage blockchain, real-time MarTech, and event-driven sequences to validate reward delivery across all channels and deliver ROI, conversion, and lead insights. This allows businesses and content creators to securely validate, track and customize loyalty and rewards programs at any point in the customer journey.

Flyy gamifies customer interaction

indian startupflyingdevelops gamification as a platform to improve customer engagement in marketing campaigns. Marketing teams use the startup's plug-and-play modules to create pre-built and custom event-based challenges that add gamification to routine user referrals and actions. Prompt and incentivize users to take preferred actions and offer rewards through your integrated platform. Flyy enables companies to design end-to-end customer journeys that increase user engagement, acquisition and retention.

6. Big Data and analytics

Big data and analytics streamline data management and real-time analysis of marketing activities across all channels. Businesses are using Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to leverage zero-party data and deliver personalized content. These platforms unify customer data and provide marketing performance and ROI assessment through key performance indicators (KPIs). Integrated solutions also provide full cycle reporting, increase productivity, and manage online reputation and workflows. Additionally, advanced analytics improves content planning, documentation, and customer retention, greatly benefiting companies transitioning to digital processes.

Antsomi offers a customer data platform

startup singapurenseAntsomibuildCDP365, an AI-based CDP. Create a customer-centric view by ingesting data from all customer touchpoints into a single dashboard with multi-dimensional views. The platform uses data to enable real-time automation and personalization of marketing activities across online and offline channels. Its application programming interface (API) connects with third-party marketing stacks and enables customer engagement teams to drive customer lifetime value (CLV).

Audianc makes audience management easy

Startup based in the United Arab EmiratesPublicdevelops an infrastructure-independent ad technology platform for managing internal user data. The startup's audience management platform uses proprietary ML algorithms, big data and analytics to combine anonymous user data and create online personas. Use these online personas for smart audience targeting in digital marketing campaigns and increase campaign efficiency. Advertisers use this platform to improve campaign ROI and targeting accuracy.

7. Plataformas Low-Code/No-Code

Low-code/no-code platforms provide small and traditional businesses with easy-to-use tools for marketing automation. They offer a decentralized self-service capability with their built-in intelligence to simplify repetitive tasks. While these platforms provide limited customization, startups are developing low-code or no-code CRM and business intelligence (BI) software packages that ensure versatility in data usage. Furthermore, predictive analytics, social media ad scheduling, generative AI, and email marketing automation are some of the features these tools provide. Other no-code platforms enable application development that allows companies to quickly test and deploy new applications and introduce new revenue opportunities. This improves efficiency, reduces dependence on IT teams, and provides information for effective decision-making.

BettrAds simplifies ad performance measurement

brazilian startupBettrAnnunciosoffers a datastore automation tool that measures ad performance. The startup's eponymous codeless platform automatically measures and reports marketing attribution across multiple channels and provides real-time insights for campaign optimization. Simplify customer data management by integrating with all digital media and tracking KPIs. BettrAds automation reduces the time marketing teams spend reporting campaign performance and increases team productivity.

Moonwalk accelerates code-free Web3 development

startup based in the United Statesmoonwalkbuilds a Web3 platform that promotes the development of NFT utilities and Web3 economies. startmoonwalk launch padThe toolkit leverages blockchain to facilitate the development of NFTs, tokens, branded wallets and other Web3-enabled digital assets without any coding knowledge. Brands and creators use it to launch and distribute their branded NFT collections, tickets and metaverse-ready digital assets through proprietary or third-party marketplaces. Furthermore, it allows brands to build communities and engage with their audience by offering closed-loop or play-to-win (P2E) social rewards.

8. Voice Marketing

The increased market penetration of smart speakers and virtual assistants via smartphones and mobile devices is directly impacting voice searches. Marketers are capitalizing on this growth by moving into voice commerce, programmatic audio advertising, and remarketing. Voice assisted selling or voice commerce solutions range from improving user experience (UX) design for voice content to cross selling suggestions and AI powered upsells. Streaming music and podcast services are also privacy-safe avenues for delivering ads at scale to highly engaged and targeted audiences. Startups are developing solutions like publishing and hosting platforms, quality equipment and marketplaces to connect podcasters with brands. Voice commands are based on intent and therefore improve content visibility and brand awareness.

VOX develops voice assistants

startup disasterVOXprovides a conversational AI platform to develop voice assistants and voice-enabled applications for chatbots. Its voice assistants automatically generate human-like conversations and interact with users in a personalized way. Additionally, the platform uses predictive modeling, big data, and analytics to analyze conversational data and create consumer archetypes for better engagement. Brands and businesses use VOX to connect with customers through their preferred channels, reduce wait times and maximize operational efficiency.

Julep simplifies podcast hosting

german startupJulepoffers a platform for podcast monetization, hosting and production, as well as a marketplace to connect podcasters and advertisers. It has premium audio quality, content storage, cross-platform publishing and performance information. The platform also supports dynamic ad insertion technology to schedule and replace branded ad campaigns on individual episodes. Podcast creators use the Julep solution to monetize their content and increase reach, while advertisers use it to implement podcast ads and target specific audiences.

9. Marketing omnicanal

Effective audience positioning and targeting requires an omnichannel marketing strategy. Startups are developing marketing technologies that allow SMS, email, phone calls and chatbot campaigns to be managed through a single platform. Additionally, demographic and behavioral targeting based on third-party data is disappearing, forcing marketers to use CTV and OTT to deliver relevant ads. Furthermore, content becomes the key to determining the right audience and forming relevant audience segments. Omnichannel marketing automation and programmatic advertising across all forms of media are areas where startups are creating innovative solutions.

TVDataNow (TVDN) allows CTV attribution

startup based in the United StatesTVDNprovides a measurement and optimization platform for CTV and OTT advertising campaigns. Provides cross-device CTV attribution and collects campaign performance data through ad exposure placement and website conversion pixels. The platform delivers performance results through its proprietary cross-device attribution graph around user-selected KPIs. Thus, TVDN allows CTV marketers to track metrics such as impressions served, households reached, and conversions delivered with greater visibility.

Wapping helps manage omnichannel loyalty

Wappingis a Spanish startup that develops an omnichannel loyalty management platform. Combine commerce and customer data management (CDM) to bring online and offline channels together in a single dashboard. The platform uses this data to analyze consumption habits, dropouts and customer satisfaction, among others. This allows retailers to better plan up-sell and cross-sell efforts, as well as deliver personalized experiences. Consequently, the Wapping platform improves conversion and retention rates, sales and customer satisfaction.

Discover all marketing technologies, trends and emerging companies

In the future of MarTech, the use of metaverse and Web3 marketing shows an upward growth trend. So it becomes imperative that each of these solutions is optimized for mobile devices. Startups are already experimenting with wearables and IoT to provide unique marketing experiences. These technologies also enable first-hand data collection and effective ad delivery. In addition, growing concerns about data privacy will require stricter data management policies and regulations.

The startup and marketing technology trends outlined in this report only scratch the surface of the trends we identified during our data-driven innovation and startup research process. Among others, Web3, AI, blockchain and XR will transform the industry as we know it today. Identifying new opportunities and emerging technologies to implement in your business goes a long way toward gaining a competitive advantage. Get in touch to quickly and thoroughly explore new companies, technologies and trends that interest you!