How to Turn Your Martech Stack into a Growth Engine in 2026
Building the right martech stack is a crucial management decision in 2026. Only integrated, strategically assembled stacks can leverage AI, data, and platforms effectively. In many companies, the stack is growing, but its impact isn’t.
This is what the martech and adtech landscape looks like in 2026
The marketing and advertising tech landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift in 2026. A quick look at the numbers clearly shows how the market is developing:
In 2025, there were already over 15,000 martech solutions worldwide. That’s a rise of nine percent year over year. And it also means that the number of tools has increased nearly a hundredfold since 2011.
However, after years of unchecked growth, there are now signs of consolidation: Platform providers are expanding their suites, while specialized best-of-breed tools are either being integrated or disappearing from the market.
Marketing managers are faced with a dilemma: Never has there been so much choice. At the same time, the decision has never been so complicated. After all, marketing managers want a martech stack that is not just powerful, but also manageable, integrable, and makes long-term economic sense.
This is where you have to ask yourself the critical question: Is your martech stack enabling growth or merely creating structural friction?
Which martech applications are companies currently investing in?
The market clearly shows which functions are currently attracting the greatest interest: Growing numbers of companies are opting for technologies that meet three key requirements:
- Consolidating and leveraging data: CRM, CDP, and analytics tools are the foundation of modern martech stacks. They provide a coherent overview of customers and enable consistent, personalized communication across multiple channels.
- Automation and scaling: Marketing automation tools, e-mail and social automation, and lead-nurturing solutions help manage fragmented customer touchpoints. Increasingly, these tools are supported by AI.
- Activation and media efficiency: The adtech side is dominated by solutions for programmatic advertising, retail media, and data-driven communication with target groups. This is less about reach and more about relevance and performance in the face of increasing cost and privacy requirements.
One shift stands out clearly: Individual tools are losing ground to integrated ecosystems that consolidate data, processes, and activation in a single platform.
For marketing managers, this means that what matters isn’t how many tools you have, but how well they work together.
Why converged tools are emerging as a strategic success factor
Against this backdrop, converged platforms are gaining significant traction. Alexandra Mennes, VP Growth DACH at Valtech and STRAC Lab leader in the Digital Agencies working group within the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW), sums up the current transformation of martech:
“Martech strategy is being rewritten in 2026: AI is emerging as a crucial evaluator, while marketers are developing their own solutions using vibe coding to cut costs. Success doesn’t come from increasing the number of tools deployed, but from integrating them intelligently. The real innovation lever lies in converged platforms that align technology 100% with business goals and user needs. Convergence doesn’t mean more tools but better orchestration – people and agents working hand in hand, open standards, and clear governance. That calls for an intelligent enterprise as the foundation. With this approach, companies can reduce their running costs, accelerate processes, and cultivate the efficiency that creates scope for growth.”
Converged platforms: Why silos don’t cut it in 2026
For a long time, martech, adtech, and salestech operated as separate ecosystems:
- Martech orchestrated customer journeys and campaign automation
- Adtech provided reach through paid media
- Salestech was responsible for conversion and CRM
Since 2025, these boundaries have become increasingly blurred, and in 2026, the process is practically irreversible.
Today’s converged platforms combine campaign management (marketing automation) directly with media buying (programmatic ads). In practice, this could mean that data from your online store feeds into ad management in real time.
Leading martech companies are expanding their portfolios and already offer functional converged platforms today. This includes major names such as:
- HubSpot
- Adobe
- Oracle
- Salesforce
These providers’ clouds and tools cover all the steps from customer journey mapping to content creation to ad delivery to some extent. This tool convergence is breaking down the boundaries between marketing, advertising, and sales.
Avoid these typical martech stack mistakes
Given the nearly unlimited possibilities for equipping your team with technology, assembling the right martech stack is becoming more and more important. When you’re making this decision, be sure to avoid the following mistakes:
- Selecting a tool without a clear use case
- Assembling a fragmented stack without clean integration
- Deploying AI without adapting your processes
- Leaving gaps in responsibilities between marketing, IT, and data teams
Successful organizations focus on clarity, prioritization, and clear governance structures that make technology manageable in the long term. The same rule applies here: It’s not the number of tools that matters but having clarity on responsibilities.
How to build a future-ready martech stack in 2026
A high-performing martech stack doesn’t come together by chance. Five principles are critical when assembling your stack:
- Define your use cases before the tools: Strategic goals should determine your martech choices.
- Identify your core systems: CRM, CDP, and analytics serve as the foundation.
- Think integration from the outset: Consider APIs, iPaaS, and real-time data.
- Use AI strategically: Deploy it only where it is proven to improve processes.
- Clarify skills and ownership: Marketing engineering is becoming a core competency.
The takeaway: Update your martech stack now
Martech is no longer a tool topic of limited relevance in 2026, but rather a comprehensive transformation lever. Anyone still buying standalone solutions is increasing the complexity of their stack without strengthening its impact. By doing so, they risk baking in structural inefficiencies in marketing. You need to consider technology, processes, and people simultaneously to harness the potential of modern platforms. When it comes to your martech stack, the key to success lies not in innovation per se but in steering it effectively.
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