Too many tools, too little impact
Most martech stacks are bloated. Every tool in it had a compelling sales pitch, a promise to revolutionize how you reach customers. But now? Most of them are just sitting there, collecting dust, burning budget, and making your team’s job harder, not easier.
Back in 2011, there were only 150 marketing tech solutions on the market. Today, there are over 14,106. That’s a 9,304% explosion in just over a decade. Sounds like progress, right? Not really. The problem isn’t a lack of options—it’s that most of these tools overlap, don’t integrate well, and take more effort to maintain than they’re worth.
Every new tool creates complexity. Your team spends more time managing integrations and troubleshooting than actually using the software to drive revenue. Martech operations (MOps) turn into a traffic control center instead of a force for growth. The result? Slower decision-making, fragmented data, and a marketing engine that can’t move at the speed of business.
Solving problems vs. betting on potential
When it comes to buying martech, there are two types of leaders: the ones who solve problems and the ones who chase possibilities. Both approaches can work, but only one avoids waste.
The problem-driven approach is surgical. Smart CMOs start with a pain point—low conversion rates, abandoned leads, gaps in customer data—and they look for a tool that directly fixes it. Nothing extra. Nothing vague. A retail CMO, for example, deployed an AI-driven recommendation engine because bounce rates on product pages were killing sales. The result? Immediate, measurable improvements. That’s how tech should work.
Then there’s the solution-seeker approach—the executives who invest in potential. These are the big thinkers, the ones willing to place bets on AI, automation, and composable architecture before there’s a clear use case. Sometimes, this pays off massively. You buy a platform without a specific plan, and later it becomes core to your strategy.
“The risk is that, more often than not, these tools end up half-implemented, underused, and expensive.”
Neither approach is entirely wrong. If you only fix today’s problems, you risk falling behind tomorrow. If you only invest in possibilities, you waste resources on things you don’t actually need. The best strategy is balance—solve real problems now while keeping an eye on emerging trends, not jumping on hype trains.
The Martech industry is selling you problems you didn’t know you had
Let’s talk about how martech vendors work. They don’t just wait for you to come looking for a solution—they create the problem for you.
Think about AI. Just a few years ago, AI-driven marketing tools were “nice to have.” Today, vendors are telling you that if AI isn’t in your stack, you’re already behind. They’re not wrong, but here’s the trick: They shape the market by defining what a problem is before you even think about it. Suddenly, you’re scrambling to implement the latest AI-powered platform because it’s framed as a competitive necessity.
It doesn’t stop there. Buying one tool often forces you to buy five more. You get a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to improve segmentation, but now you need data cleaning, profile enrichment, and workflow automation tools just to make it useful. Martech creates its own gravitational pull.
The reality? You don’t need every new tool just because it’s trending. The companies that win don’t chase the latest features. They focus on what actually moves the needle. Martech should work for you, not the other way around.
Martech sprawl hurts more than just your budget
When your stack is overloaded, your best people spend their time maintaining tools instead of executing strategy. Your MOps team is buried in integrations. Your IT department resists every new request because they’re still dealing with the mess from the last implementation. Your finance team questions every tech investment—even the good ones—because they’ve seen too many go unused.
And worst of all? Your team stops believing in new solutions. They’ve seen tools come and go. They’ve watched big promises turn into disappointing rollouts. So when you actually find something transformative, they hesitate. Cultural resistance to change isn’t born out of stubbornness—it’s born out of fatigue.
The fix? Cut the clutter. Make every tool prove its value. If it’s not driving a measurable impact, it doesn’t belong in your stack. The goal isn’t to have the biggest martech stack—it’s to have the sharpest one.
“When your tech is clean, simple, and purposeful, your team stops fighting complexity and starts driving results. That’s where real transformation happens.”
Rebuilding trust in martech starts with winning small
Every time a new tool fails to deliver, your team loses faith in martech. IT becomes skeptical. Finance becomes reluctant. And marketing? They hesitate before adopting new solutions, because they’ve seen too many end in disappointment.
Fixing this isn’t done by spending or getting better tools—it’s proving that martech can work, one step at a time. Start small. Identify an obvious, painful bottleneck in your current stack and fix it. Not by throwing more software at it, but by simplifying, integrating, and optimizing what you already have.
Take a company struggling with poor lead conversion. Instead of chasing a brand-new platform, they cleaned up their existing CRM workflows, integrated automation properly, and set up real-time tracking. The result? A measurable jump in sales without adding more complexity.
When people see results, they start believing in the process again. Document and showcase these quick wins. Make sure finance sees the ROI. Get IT involved early so they feel like partners, not blockers. When people trust that new technology actually makes their jobs easier, adoption stops being a fight.
Martech isn’t the problem. Poor implementation is. Show that your stack can deliver, and the culture shift will follow.
A data-driven framework for smarter martech decisions
Martech should serve a clear purpose, not just exist. The only way to ensure that? Hard data.
Every tool in your stack needs to prove its worth, and that means tracking actual usage and impact. Here’s how:
- Active users vs. purchased licenses – If only 30% of your seats are being used, you’re overpaying.
- Core feature adoption rates – If you bought a tool with 10 key features and your team only uses three, it’s not the right fit.
- Integration health – How much manual effort goes into making these tools work together? If it’s too much, that’s a hidden cost.
- Time spent on workarounds – If people are spending hours finding ways around a tool instead of using it, it’s a problem.
- Total cost beyond licensing – Maintenance, support, training—all of it adds up.
A well-run company doesn’t keep underperforming assets on the books. Why should your tech stack be any different?
Take the enterprise that sunsetted its outdated email platform after realizing their teams spent more time fixing template bugs than creating campaigns. They consolidated into their existing marketing automation tool, cut costs, and improved results. This kind of cleanup is necessary if you want your martech investments to work.
Set quarterly reviews. Track usage. Look at real costs, not just licensing fees. And don’t be afraid to cut what isn’t pulling its weight.
Martech is about people, not only the tools
The best tools in the world are worthless if your team doesn’t know how to use them, or worse, if they don’t believe they’ll make a difference.
True transformation happens when people feel confident in their tools. That means:
- Investing in training – Your team should be experts in the software they use, not just clicking buttons and hoping for the best.
- Building internal communities – Create spaces where teams can share best practices, troubleshoot together, and actually get better at using the tools.
- Leading by example – If leadership doesn’t use the tools, why should anyone else? Show up, get involved, and make sure adoption starts from the top.
This is where most companies fail. They buy tech, but they don’t invest in the skills and culture needed to make it work. And when the tool underperforms, they blame the tech instead of looking at how it was implemented.
The companies that win at martech build an organization that knows how to evolve. That’s the real goal. Not just having better tools, but having a smarter, more adaptable team that can make the most of them.
Key executive takeaways
- Streamline your Martech stack: Evaluate and consolidate your marketing technology to eliminate redundancies and reduce integration complexity. Leaders should focus on trimming excess tools to drive better ROI and operational efficiency.
- Adopt a balanced investment approach: Prioritize tools that solve defined business challenges while keeping an eye on emerging technologies for future growth. Decision-makers must blend problem-solving with strategic innovation to avoid wasteful spending.
- Implement data-driven reviews: Regularly track tool usage, feature adoption, and integration health to identify underperforming assets. Establish clear performance metrics and act decisively to retire tools that do not deliver measurable value.
- Invest in people and collaboration: Ensure cross-functional teams—spanning IT, finance, and marketing—are trained and empowered to use technology effectively. Leaders should promote a culture of shared ownership to enhance technology adoption and drive digital transformation.
