News

As intelligent systems take on more responsibility, marketers must ensure that performance doesn’t come at the cost of privacy. The good news? AI can be both privacy-conscious and results-oriented, supporting personalization while honoring user intent. At the upcoming MarTech Conference, which is available free and online, Nov. 4, 2025, the session “Consent, compliance and trust …

Read more “The stakes around trust, compliance and consent are higher than ever”

Digital analytics is coming full circle. After years of relying on browser-based tags and cookies, marketers are returning to a familiar concept — server-side tracking — to regain control of data accuracy, privacy and performance. The long view: Nearly 30 years in analytics Some people see the gray beard and gray hair. What they don’t …

Read more “Why server-side tracking is making a comeback in the privacy-first era”

MarTechCharts regularly highlights data of interest to marketers and marketing operations professionals. Marketing agencies are in a period of transformation, thanks in part to AI, and they’re using the opportunity to think about purposeful reinvention, according to a survey of agency leaders. The report, “AI’s Effect On The Marketing Industry” (registration required), from Sunup found …

Read more “AI is changing the hiring practices of marketing agencies”

In today’s marketing environment, speed and precision determine who wins attention — and who wastes budget. Campaigns move fast, but signals move faster. The challenge? Humans can’t keep up. That’s why AI is stepping in as the marketer’s always-on performance analyst: monitoring, learning and acting in real time to keep every campaign running at its …

Read more “Let’s discuss performance monitoring and optimization with AI”

It’s easy to assume email problems come from the people hitting send. But sometimes the real issue is much bigger — and higher up the org chart. If you’re in senior leadership and your email metrics feel like a slog with low opens, lower clicks and unsubscribes creeping up, it’s tempting to blame the email …

Read more “Do you know who’s on your email list?”

The IAB Tech Lab has announced two major developments aimed at strengthening privacy and transparency across the digital advertising ecosystem: a new update to the Global Privacy Protocol (GPP) and the release of Version 2 of the Data Deletion Request Framework (DDRF). Both updates are now open for public comment through December 1. GPP update …

Read more “IAB Tech Lab pushes privacy standards forward with GPP and DDRF updates”

Marketing runs on technology — but somewhere along the way, the tools meant to make our work easier began to slow us down. What was designed to spark creativity now often drains it. The fatigue of too much tech When I was the leader of a project management team, I recall watching our newest hire …

Read more “Quiet martech is redefining how teams work”

The energy at this year’s INBOUND conference was electric, with one topic dominating the hallways, keynotes and coffee chats — artificial intelligence. Everyone was talking about AI, buying AI and trying to integrate AI. Yet behind the excitement, a quiet frustration lingered. Many organizations I spoke with were stuck in AI chaos, caught in a …

Read more “Structuring AI for marketing impact through focused, real-world activation”

It’s been about 14 years since martech emerged, and in that time, companies have spent billions trying to capture its transformational promise. Some have succeeded, but many can’t get it to deliver strategic business outcomes, like revenue growth and customer satisfaction. Can AI change that? Yes, according to a new McKinsey & Company report, which …

Read more “From tech tangle to growth engine, martech gets a do-over”

Customer data platforms (CDPs), long associated with B2C brands, are becoming essential to the B2B martech stack. Industry analysts now recognize B2B CDPs as an emerging category — with dedicated Forrester and Gartner reports underscoring their growing relevance. For B2B organizations, the need is clear. Long sales cycles, complex buying groups and fragmented data make …

Read more “5 ways a B2B CDP transforms your marketing and sales alignment”