Gartner has revealed the four technologies it believes can transform the marketing ecosystem.

Customer Data Platforms, AI for marketing, Blockchain for Advertising and Real-Time Marketing were identified as the four technologies capable of transforming the industry.

According to the Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising, these four technologies are currently at their ‘peak’.

“Marketers today must strike the right balance between delivering meaningful customer experiences that differentiate their brands and focusing on providing real value to the business,” said Gartner Marketing practice vice president analysts Mike McGuire.

“Event-triggered and real-time marketing will have the biggest impact on marketing activities in the next five years. However, before marketers can realise the benefits of these technologies, they must first become proficient in predictive analytics and delivering personalized communications.”

Customer Data Platforms (CDP) are currently a hot topic for some of the biggest outfits in marketing technology, including Adobe, Salesforce and Oracle.

The technology stands to give marketers a 360-degree view of their customers, however Gartner found “the reported use of the technology differs from the advertised capabilities”.

Half of the marketers surveyed by Gartner who have deployed a CDP claimed it’s being used as their CRM system, which is somewhat of a waste of the technology.

There is still a great deal of hype around AI for Marketing according to Gartner, but its value is still yet to be fully realised.

“Over the next 20 years, the power AI holds with marketers will drive pervasive shifts across the marketing technology ecosystem, effectively transforming the marketing practice,” Gartner said.

“A Gartner 2018 survey revealed that 11 per cent of marketing technology executives reported AI as their top choice as the technology that would have the most impact on their marketing efforts in the next five years.”

Blockchain for Advertising holds a great deal of promise, although there are still challenges around scaling technology and adoption.

Garter explained support of the technology from big companies like IBM, Comcast and Amazon will help it develop into a genuine marketing force.

Real-time Marketing meanwhile is a technology that is very much here right now.

Search technologies and social media make it easy to compare and rate differing experiences, meaning customer behaviour is now real-time in nature.

It allows brands to combine behavioural analytics and marketing automation to deliver the right message at the right time.