Audit your advertising expertise stack with the 6Cs to refine its capabilities and show its return on funding
Have you learnt The Stackies? They’re an off-the-cuff contest organized by Scott Brinker, creator of the Advertising and marketing Know-how Vendor Panorama Supergraphic, the place totally different corporations visualize their advertising stacks in other ways to share their approaches. In 2025, Scott shared the most recent MarTech stack entries, of which three are featured right here, on LinkedIn.
They supply a fast, easy strategy to visualize the usage of MarTech in your organization to different companies and get concepts on enhancements. With the common adoption of AI in companies, the most recent entries are attention-grabbing since they present various approaches to integrating AI into companies, as proven on this instance:
For me, a part of the fantastic thing about The Stackies, is that companies have a free rein to current them in vastly, alternative ways that are helpful in prompting alternative ways of considering. Listed here are some that stood out from the 2025 Stackies.
I additionally like this instance because it highlights how the Advertising and marketing Ops group talk the worth they hope to ship.
Right here you’ll be able to see components of the funnel much like RACE together with administration and the expertise used to help this.
A less complicated strategy to audit your MarTech
One potential criticism of The Stackies and The Supergraphic is their complexity. For the reason that objective of Sensible Insights is to simplify digital advertising to raised plan, handle and optimize it, we’ve got utilized this strategy to MarTech too.
After all, you’ll be able to audit your advertising stack in opposition to any of those ‘Stackie’ entries, however they are usually firm particular. After we first noticed them, the construction of a number of the examples, prompted us to suppose whether or not there was a easy, generic approach of visualising or auditing a advertising expertise stack that may work throughout corporations (notably small and medium companies) and was easier than our Advertising and marketing instruments wheel. Most of the methods introduced are highly effective in that that current all the principle MarTech choices in a single slide. Nonetheless, we thought that many of those stacks are for giant companies and are trade or firm dimension particular or don’t cowl the complete vary of instruments.
So, as an easier various to the 30 classes of our Digital Advertising and marketing Instruments wheel, we developed our personal ‘MarTech Matrix’ audit device by analysing the vary of applied sciences to develop this sensible table-based MarTech audit which is fast to use throughout several types of enterprise.
You may see that this MarTech audit (above) evaluations six several types of companies proven on the left throughout seven fundamental communications channels (proven throughout the highest) which should be managed as a part of immediately’s built-in advertising technique
At the moment, given the significance of AI for the long run, summarising how you’ll you AI could be a helpful extra row – much like the way in which a number of the Stackie examples have referred to as out AI.
The classes of auditing in our desk is much like these from the 2025 Stackies:
Right here is the audit utilized to Sensible Insights (from just a few years again). You may see it has the benefit of exhibiting at a look the place you might be at present utilizing a service in opposition to the place you could have a niche – the place it’s a description slightly than a brand.
The six several types of martech service are:
1. Core broadcast communications (advertising cloud companies).
We begin with these since these are the martech platforms that each enterprise wants. Of those seven core instruments for every of the communications channels, the 5 fundamental varieties of platform for various channels are a content material administration system for serving web site pages (with commerce administration for e-commerce companies) which types the web site expertise; web site (and cell) analytics; an electronic mail advertising or advertising automation system for sending out newsletters and promotional emails to subscribers and a social media administration system for posting social media updates and interacting with social media contacts and an analytics platforms. Advertising and marketing cloud companies like these from Adobe, Oracle, Marketo and HubSpot sometimes cowl all of those 5. Lastly, there are the all vital gross sales and customer support methods for firm individuals to immediately work together with clients by cellphone, electronic mail or social media. We additionally advocate that companies have a device for managing the goal key phrases for search engine optimisation (search engine optimization) and paid media, though these are much less generally in place than the opposite 5 and companies may match immediately with Google instruments for search engine optimization or advert platforms like Google Adverts or the Fb promoting platform.
2. Personalised particular person communications.
We’ve got outlined a separate layer for focused communications with particular person prospects, clients or companions since separate expertise from totally different distributors are sometimes used for this function. For instance, though some content material and commerce administration instruments embody personalisation capabilities, it’s typically higher to make use of a specialist answer. This personalised layer of MarTech companies is usually added after the primary layer is in place, so is for extra mature companies.
3. Optimization instruments.
The optimisation instruments of this MarTech layer can be regarded as non-compulsory since they’re for extra superior testing and structured checks. For instance, electronic mail packages will typically embody personalisation and AB testing options, however don’t all the time embody instruments for detailed checks.
4. Perception.
The perception stage isn’t immediately concerned with buyer communications. As a substitute, it provides extra superior evaluation instruments. Once more, these aren’t important, since some measurement shall be obtainable from the core instruments or analytics. As a substitute, superior customers will use these instruments to analyse extra perception not obtainable in normal analytics bundle.
5. Planning.
To handle these six advertising channels individually and create an general advertising plan extra planning instruments. These are the varieties of instruments supplied by Sensible Insights and different analysts which allow you to construction methods.
6. Productiveness.
These collaboration companies are for inner communications. Some companies on this class can be utilized for inner comms throughout all channels, however separate channels can be found additionally.
Reviewing your MarTech in opposition to rivals
You may overview the MarYech your small business and rivals are utilizing with companies that monitor and categorise the Javascript tags which can be used on web sites to trade knowledge with SaaS companies. If you happen to kind in your web site URL to companies like BuiltWith.com; SimilarTech.com or ObservePoint.com you’ll be able to see the variety of Martech tags and the class of selling software, e.g. Analytics, Promoting, CRM, and so forth. If you happen to take a look at the rating for bigger digital companies like Expedia or John Lewis you will note they’ll have greater than 50 totally different tags.
The 6Cs classes of Martech
As one other various, Scott Brinker has described The 6Cs for organising the chaos of selling expertise. It is useful because it gives a straightforward to recollect mnemonic and covers many of the bases nicely:
If you happen to evaluate Scott’s 6Cs in opposition to our 6 classes you will note some similarities, however with totally different labels since our labels are longer and extra purposeful – about what you are trying to obtain. So, for instance, we separate messaging by electronic mail and on-site personalization whereas these are coated within the intersection between Prospects and Content material. Collaboration is much like our productiveness and administration, and our Optimisation is much like core.
Our matrix has the benefit that it is a sensible device you’ll be able to fill in the important thing classes of martech that the majority companies will want.
Whichever framework(s) you employ in your MarTech evaluation, the vital factor is that you’re auditing your MarTech to establish the gaps, in order that your small business can ‘Compete on Martech’ and that they’re easy sufficient to speak the necessity to audit and useful resource your advertising expertise.
