MarTech Glossary

Marketing technology, or MarTech, is the collection of software and operating practices used to plan, run, measure, and optimize marketing. This glossary defines the terms that come up most often in stack planning, analytics, automation, and customer-data conversations.

Marketing technology (MarTech)

The collection of software a team uses to plan, run, measure, and optimize marketing — spanning analytics, customer data, automation, content, and advertising.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A system that unifies customer data from many sources into persistent, governed profiles that other tools can activate. A CDP is built for marketer-accessible, identity-resolved data.

Data Management Platform (DMP)

A platform focused on anonymous, often third-party audience segments for advertising. DMPs are declining as third-party cookies are deprecated.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A system of record for known contacts and accounts, usually owned by sales or service. A CRM tracks relationships and interactions rather than behavioral event streams.

Marketing automation platform (MAP)

Software that executes multi-step campaigns across channels based on triggers, audiences, and rules — email, SMS, push, and journey orchestration.

Tag management system (TMS)

A tool such as Google Tag Manager that deploys and governs tracking tags and pixels without changing site code for every change.

Server-side tracking

Collecting and forwarding analytics and marketing events through a server endpoint instead of directly from the browser, improving control, durability, and privacy.

Data layer

A structured object on a page that exposes consistent, named values (page type, user state, ecommerce data) for tag management and analytics to read.

Measurement plan

A document mapping business questions to the events, parameters, and KPIs that answer them — defined before any tag is implemented.

Identity resolution

The process of stitching events and records from different devices and channels into a single customer profile.

Consent management platform (CMP)

A tool that captures and enforces user consent choices so tags and data collection respect privacy regulations.

Composable MarTech

An architecture that assembles best-of-breed, interoperable components around shared data instead of relying on one monolithic suite.

For how these pieces fit together, see the guide on planning a MarTech stack and the comparison of CDP, CRM, and marketing automation linked below.