At present, ad tech and mar tech have become more and more popular in every marketing activity. In a word, it is the mechanism that automates and simplifies digital marketing tasks. However, the overdose use of these terms leads to some confusion for non-specialists, especially general managers. The evolvement and mushroom of tools and platforms partly blur the border between them. Therefore, this note offers a comparison, the difference between ad tech & mar tech. I hope it offer a clear helicopter view about the mainstream in digital marketing now.
Ad tech
Advertising technology, or known as ad tech, is an overarching term broad term that covers all software and tools that agencies, publishers, and platforms use to target, deliver, and measure their digital advertising effort across several websites and apps.
Adtech comprises a variety of tools and technologies that simplify serving relevant advertisements to relevant audiences.
DSP and SSP
A demand-side platform (DSP) is a platform to buy online advertising space through real-time bidding auctions. DSPs connect advertisers with ad networks, assess available inventory, and ensure ads are aimed at the right audience. With a DSP, advertisements can be distributed across multiple websites, simply time saving, and maximizing campaign effectiveness.
Whereas, publishers often join a supply-side platform (SSP) to sell ad space programmatically. An SSP can focus on one type of advertising like a native ads network or can provide buyers access to a wide variety of formats. The SSP will connect to the ad exchange and release available publisher’s inventory for DSPs to bid on. Thanks to the ad exchange mechanism, a DSP can submit multiple bids to an SSP. The SSP selects the highest price bid as the winner and sends the creative (banner ad, video ad, native ad, etc.) to the publisher.
Ad exchange or trading desk
An ad exchange is a marketplace for publishers (SSP) and advertisers (DSP) to buy and sell digital advertising spots. Currently, every single transaction can only need 100 milliseconds ( a 10th of a second) to be done with all forms of digital advertising display, video, and native ads across devices.
Search engine marketing (SEM) platform
Search engines, such as Google ads search, allow advertisers purchase ad space for specific keywords that they think will attract target customers. For example, a care home in Norwich, UK might place ads that appear in search results for “best care home in Norwich”.
Note: Some people might mistake SEO & SEM. Simply speaking, SEO is more about acquiring, monitoring, and analysing organic traffic (unpaid) while SEM refers strictly to paid advertising.
Data management platforms
A data management platform (DMP) straddles both ad tech and mar tech, serving as a unifying platform that collects and organizes all types of audience data from any source. The platform will group people into groups and anonymise their profiles via ads distribution.
Mar tech
Martech or marketing technology is a set of software solutions that help streamline, and scale up marketing campaigns through activities: email marketing, AB testing, personalisation, customer loyalty program.
CRM systems
CRM is a platform that automates manual tasks, streamline processes, and makes sales processes faster and more efficient. As a platform to manage the relationship with customers, CRM can designate customer experience:
- Build loyalty & customer success
- Manage customer service and complaint management
- Boost sales
Email marketing
Many people mistake CRM for email marketing and vice versa. However, the difference is clear. An email marketing tool focuses on automated email sending, helps you reach customers cost-effectively. An email marketing tool feeds data to the CRM. CRM supports managing the relationship with your customers – both current and prospective. Nowadays, more CRM and email automation are merged to offer overall service in one platform.
Marketing automation
is a broader term and solution than email marketing & CRM. It sorts out strategic tasks, such as campaign planning and design, goal development, research, brand consistency, KPI measurement, and more.
Social media management platforms (SMMP)
SMMP is a secure, scalable tool that enables businesses to manage multiple social media accounts across departments and devices. Social relationship platforms are used for monitoring, posting, and tracking social media, and help every task from customer service to lead generation.
In summary
While Ad Tech is used for ad transactions and tracking digital ad distribution, Martech is a more end customer-oriented management tool. We can find that while Ad Tech is used for ad transactions and tracking digital ad distribution, Martech is a more end customer-oriented management tool.
Tech advertising helps to get better ad placements, deliver the right content to the right person, and reduce the amount of wasteful spending. Ad tech also provides comprehensive user behavioral data that can be used to target potential audiences better and measure campaign success.
If ad tech concentrates on a simple ad purchasing process for buyers, mar tech is designed to help businesses understand their audience in a better way. For instance, through the website, you can use Google Analytics to track customers’ behaviors and journeys on site. You can track sign-ups and conversions through multiple tools. Later, you can use that data to determine which topics interest your audience.