Marketing technology has become a fact of life, as new data from digital agency Squiz attests. Roughly two-thirds of senior marketers surveyed in Australia, the UK and the US have invested heavily in marketing technology over the past year, the study shows.

Another third of respondents said they have either invested a little to add to their existing marketing technology stack, or have taken their first steps in marketing technology.

• Of marketers under age 35, 86 per cent are optimistic about the power and influence of marketing in an organisation over the next few years while 56 per cent of marketers age 56 and older feel confident.
• Of younger marketers (35 and under), 78 per cent are confident that organisations should be making investments right now; only 59 per cent of marketers age 36-45 felt now was a good time. But this growing optimism from younger marketers has not yet resulted in growing budgets.
• Marketing budgets are ripe for growth. More marketers are expecting increased budgets in the next six months. 36 per cent of marketers expect an increase, up 8 per cent from Q2 2016. This is a stark contrast from January 2016, when 22 per cent of respondents felt their marketing budgets would decrease.
• Marketing budget allocation has remained stable, but when it comes to budget cuts, 24 per cent of respondents said they would reduce their media placement budget, but only 4 per cent would cut their analytics budget.

Last year, the Adobe Digital Trends report showed data-driven marketing to be the top priority for marketers, with 90% of survey respondents citing it as their number one choice.

• Gartner sees an upsurge in inquiries in the areas of Ad Blocking, B2B Marketing Analytics, and Mobile Wallets, driving their inclusion in the Hype Cycle for the first time this year. 
• Predictive B2B Marketing Analytics has the potential to increase win rates, improve average deal size, and accelerate sales cycles. 
• Personalization continues to be a challenge for the majority of marketers. 
• Nine technologies have been removed from the Hype Cycle this year.