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Inefficient processes, rising costs, and shrinking profits are some of the biggest challenges agencies face today. And in recent years, these struggles have been amplified by industry developments such as increasing signal loss and growing media fragmentation. To stay competitive, many agency leaders are turning to their advertising and marketing technology stacks to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and deliver better results.
But this is often easier said than done. Leaders must carefully assess whether each piece of technology aligns with their unique business needs and goals, then ensure their teams have the necessary resources and training to use it effectively. With half of marketers finding martech complicated and difficult to use, many agency leaders struggle to realize the full benefits of their tech investments.
To meet the needs of today’s complex digital advertising ecosystem and prepare their organizations for the years ahead, agency leaders must take a strategic approach to evaluating and optimizing their existing tech stacks. This includes ensuring disparate systems integrate and work together smoothly, leveraging automation tools to streamline workflows and boost efficiency, and equipping teams with the training and resources needed to fully capitalize on these technologies. By aligning tech investments with operational goals and client needs, agencies can drive better outcomes, reduce team burnout, and position themselves for long-term success in a rapidly evolving industry.
Given the network of challenges facing agencies, leaders need tech stacks that not only tackle today’s operational inefficiencies but also position their organizations for long-term growth and adaptability. Optimizing these systems now can help agency leaders address some of their most pressing pain points—such as strained client-agency relationships, siloed data, team burnout, and more—while driving stronger outcomes across the board.
With 43.4% of agencies reporting that their relationships with clients are more strained today than they were two years ago, it’s clear they must prioritize the improvement of their client relationships. A streamlined tech stack can help with this goal.
A well-integrated tech stack reduces errors, ensuring more accurate campaign results and fewer communication breakdowns. It also facilitates more effective, data-driven campaigns, leading to better outcomes for clients. In addition, agencies can leverage their tech stacks to differentiate themselves in a competitive market. By showcasing how their tech enhances efficiency, improves transparency, and drives results, agencies can both build trust with existing clients and attract new clients.
In an era of increased signal loss and heightened data privacy concerns, it’s critical that agencies organize and handle their data effectively. Though having data is critical in and of itself, the value of that data is significantly diminished if it is not easily accessible. For instance, if an agency is working with a client who collects first-party data through a loyalty program, but the data is spread across several disconnected systems—such as a CRM, marketing automation platform, and separate analytics tools—then it becomes nearly impossible to action that data effectively. Without proper tech stack integration, the agency risks missing key insights, limiting the ability to create personalized campaigns that drive results.
A streamlined tech stack, on the other hand, ensures that data flows across systems, enabling real-time insights that can drive campaign decisions. Having a strong tech stack helps agencies deliver more effective, targeted campaigns that drive better results for clients—while also maintaining regulatory compliance and data security.
It’s no secret that burnout is a huge problem in the advertising industry. With more than 70% of agency professionals saying their job is harder today than it was two years ago, leaders are under increased pressure to find ways to alleviate stress and improve team morale in the workplace. One solution lies in optimizing tech stacks: By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining workflows, agencies can reduce the time spent on low-value work, allowing teams to focus on more strategic, meaningful tasks. This shift not only reduces burnout but also helps foster a more engaged and productive team.
The pace of technological innovation is accelerating rapidly. But if an agency’s tech stack doesn’t work cohesively, teams won’t be able to add new tools and harness their full potential. This lack of adaptability can stifle progress and hinder the effective use of emerging technologies to remain competitive in today’s complex advertising landscape.
For example, consider the rise of generative AI-driven solutions. Many of these tools offer marketing teams significant benefits, such as reducing burnout and improving retention. However, many businesses are struggling to realize their full potential. To make the most of AI-driven solutions, agencies’ tech stacks need to be organized in such a way that adding the right new solution can help to reduce complexity, rather than add to it. A cohesive and adaptable tech stack enables seamless integration of new tools, empowering teams to stay efficient, engaged, and ready to navigate the ever-evolving advertising landscape.
In 2024, marketers are only using about one-third of their martech stack’s capabilities—down from 58% in 2020. This underutilization can stem from a variety of factors. For some teams, it could be that they have too many tools that don’t work well together, while others may lack the necessary training or resources to fully leverage the technology they already have. And, in some cases, their tools may not align well with a team’s specific needs or goals, leading to inefficiencies or underperformance.
To address this, agency leaders should begin by auditing and assessing their existing tech stacks to identify the factors undermining their effectiveness. By pinpointing the root causes of tech stack underutilization, leaders can craft a targeted strategy to optimize their systems and unlock their full potential.
At the same time, marketers must evaluate how to optimize their tech stacks to prepare for how the industry is evolving, considering factors like rising signal loss, increased complexity across digital media channels, and heightened demands around personalization. To that end, agency leaders should consider solutions that foster interoperability, increase automation, and offer robust implementation and training support.
A key challenge agencies face when optimizing their tech stacks is ensuring that their tools work together effectively. More than half of agency professionals report using six or more tools in their adtech and martech stacks, with 17.3% juggling 10 or more to manage client campaigns. Using this many different systems is a challenge to begin with—and if these tools don’t operate well together, advertisers are left toggling between platforms. When martech and adtech platforms don’t work together seamlessly, an estimated 13% of teams’ time is wasted, 12% of budget wasted, and 12% of employee effort wasted.
In addition, a lack of interoperability can exacerbate the challenges posed by fragmentation and complexity across today’s digital media ecosystem. For instance, when a team uses several disparate platforms for different channels—i.e., connected TV, social media, and digital display—each system may operate with its own set of data and metrics, making it difficult to create a cohesive omnichannel strategy. Without a unified view of campaign performance across all channels, agencies risk missing critical insights and opportunities to optimize ads in real-time, resulting in inefficiency and reduced campaign effectiveness. As such, improving their teams' tech stacks presents a significant opportunity for agency leaders to drive meaningful change within their organizations and potentially boost profitability through better campaign outcomes.
So, how can leaders increase interoperability between their tools? One potential solution is exploring and investing in integrations that allow data to flow smoothly between platforms, reducing the need for duplicate data entry and ensuring that campaign insights are accessible from a single source of truth. Whether it’s linking a customer data platform (CDP) to a marketing automation system or integrating analytics tools with advertising platforms, increasing interoperability helps eliminate friction, improves decision-making, and ultimately streamlines workflows for teams.
Depending on a team’s unique needs, embracing automation tools can be another powerful way to optimize an agency’s tech stack. In fact, 61% of marketers say their organization has invested in new technology to automate or streamline processes in the past year, and 66% say their company has plans to do so in the next 12 months.
One key area where automation can make a significant impact is in meeting the growing demand for personalization—which is particularly pronounced among younger audiences. For example, tools powered by generative AI can automate the creation of multiple variations of creative assets, allowing agencies to quickly produce personalized content tailored to different audience segments. This capability not only streamlines the creative process and reduces manual, redundant tasks for team members, but also ensures that campaigns are highly relevant and engaging for diverse audience segments, improving both reach and performance.
To make their tech stacks more automated, leaders might consider investing in an automated advertising platform, which can integrate all media channels into one place. These platforms not only improve interoperability by connecting existing tools, but they also facilitate integration across systems, making it easier for agencies to invest in new innovations down the line.
Implementation and training are critical (and oft-overlooked) components of optimizing a tech stack. Without a well-defined plan for onboarding and training, even the most advanced tools can go underutilized, resulting in missed opportunities and wasted resources. In fact, a whopping 63% of marketers report a lack of technical expertise within their teams to use the tools available to them.
Investing in tech with a dedicated onboarding team can help make the transition smoother and ensure teams are equipped to use new systems effectively from the start. This support ensures that the technology is properly integrated into existing workflows and that teams are comfortable with new processes and platforms. Ongoing training is also essential for helping teams to maximize the long-term value of new systems, ensuring they’re trained on the latest updates and innovations that different systems offer. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, agencies can not only improve adoption but also keep up with the rapidly evolving landscape of marketing and advertising technology.
For agency leaders, optimizing their team’s tech stack is more than just a trend—it’s a critical strategy for both tackling present challenges and ensuring long-term success for their organization. By first examining existing systems to identify inefficiencies or gaps, agencies can make informed decisions about which tools to add or remove. Focusing on interoperability, streamlining workflows, and embracing automation tools can help agencies reduce inefficiency, minimize team burnout, and build stronger relationships with their clients, thus maintaining a competitive edge in a constantly evolving digital advertising landscape.
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Looking for deeper insights on the state of advertising agencies today? We surveyed advertising industry professionals from agencies across the US to see how they feel about their jobs, their agencies, their industry, and its future. Check out the findings in our 2024 Advertising Agency Report.