Written by Sumesh Raghwani on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
However, a majority of people don’t understand the major differences between the two. While they are both closely related to each other, they perform very different functions.
So, we can deep dive into the topics to understand them better:
What is MarTech?
MarTech refers to “Marketing Technology”
The technologies that are used to execute a comprehensive digital marketing plan.
All the technology used from the point of lead capture throughout the sales funnel until the conversion is considered MarTech.
MarTech spending is only going to rise in the future.
There are more than 8,000 tools that populate the MarTech landscape, and this number is only expected to grow in the future.
That’s not all 60% of marketing experts have stated that they expect MarTech to grow even more soon.
This can include the following technology tools:
- Email marketing tools
- Lead magnets
- Digital marketing analytics tools
- Customer data platforms
- Social media management tools
- Marketing automation programs
- Content marketing tools
- CRM software
- Web analytics tools

MarTech-specific tools are designed to help businesses understand their audience in a better manner. For example, if you publish a blog on your platform, you can use an analytics tool to determine the number of conversions that it generates.
Real-life examples of MarTech:
- Mixpanel is a commonly used business analytics tool that tracks user interactions with a product. It allows users to analyze data such as sign-ups and conversions and help them track the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns.
- Buffer is a social media management tool that allows businesses to offer better support to their customers through social media channels. It is a marketing tool that helps businesses understand the needs of their customers better and tailor their products accordingly.
What is AdTech?
AdTech refers to “Advertising Technology”
The technologies that allow for programmatic ad buying and digital spending.
Tech advertising primarily focuses on demand-side and supply-side platforms and ad exchanges.
With the help of advertising technology, companies can focus on a targeted audience.
This helps save a great deal of money and improves returns on advertising spend. The cost of consumer acquisition also dips sharply.
Needless to say, AdTech can help companies maximize the returns from their advertising spending by focusing on audiences that are interested in buying their product.
AdTech primarily measures the effectiveness of every campaign. Ultimately, this helps marketers get the best bang for their money.
Examples of AdTech include:
- Data management platforms
- Ad exchanges
- Ad servers
- Programmatic advertising tools
- Tag managers
The Adobe Advertising Cloud is an example of a tool that’s used commonly in AdTech.
The two major platforms that play an integral role in AdTech are demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms.
So, what are Demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms?
Demand-Side Platforms
A demand-side platform is a digital platform, or a software program used by advertisers to purchase ads from a centralized marketplace.
Google Ads is a primary example of a demand-side platform.
Why they are important: Demand-side platforms remove the human element from the equation, thus making the process cheaper and much more efficient.
Supply-Side Platforms
A supply-side platform is a software program that allows publishers to sell their ad inventory.
The underlying technology beneath demand-side and supply-side platforms is the same. Whereas advertisers use demand-side platforms to purchase cheap ads, supply-side platforms use supply-side platforms to maximize the price for their impressions.
Common examples of supply-side platforms include Google, OpenX, AppNexus, and AOL.
Why Are They Important: Publishers actively avoid negotiating with human ad buyers for their media prices. Instead, they prefer using technology to buy ads more efficiently. A supply-side platform helps maintain a balance and allows publishers to effectively manage their relationships with several buyers.
Popular Examples of AdTech:
- Tapad is a simple tracking tool that assigns a unique digital ID to each user and then tracks their activity on multiple devices.
- Undertone helps its customers design advertising campaigns over multiple platforms. The company focuses primarily on mobile advertising.
AdTech primarily focuses on the use of programs and tools that can be used to analyze buyer behavior, evaluate the performance of ad campaigns, and improve them.

Conclusion:
So, now we have learned both MarTech and AdTech technology tools play a crucial role in the business.
Businesses are increasingly looking at different ways by which they can employ both AdTech and MarTech to segment their audiences in a better manner, which ultimately results in better value for the business.

Synergistic gains between the two will only help businesses in the long run.
In the future, we will probably see MarTech, a mixture of both MarTech and AdTech platforms deployed together to create a bigger impact on advertising and marketing techniques.
Most asked questions
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