From silos to strategy: How Snowflake and Recordly reshape the modern marketing stack

This blog is written in cooperation between Recordly and Snowflake. The authors of the blog are Anna Karlsson, Field Marketing Manager at Snowflake, Farah Chith, Partner Marketing Manager at Snowflake, and Michaela Holmström, Marketing Lead at Recordly.

The modern marketer stands at the intersection of AI, data, and creativity today. With 83% of CMOs planning to increase their martech investments already back in 2024 and with the number of marketing solutions growing steadily, the question isn’t if marketing will transform, but how.

At Recordly’s and Snowflake’s joint event, AI Data Cloud: Marketing Edition, held in Helsinki earlier this year, marketing and data leaders were brought together to explore that very question. This blog summarizes some key takeaways, insights, and real-world examples and shows why a unified, AI-powered data strategy is becoming a major driver of future marketing success.

Why marketing is becoming more strategic and AI-powered

Martech is anything but just a support function, it’s the engine powering modern marketing operations. However, even though the number of martech tools has skyrocketed from 150 in 2011 to more than 13,000 in 2022, more tools aren’t going to solve your problems.

Generative AI has already transformed marketing workflows, from content creation to automated segmentation and predictive recommendations. But as Katriina Kiviluoto, CEO of Recordly, noted in a panel discussion:

“Your AI is only as good as the data it’s built on.”

That’s why strategy and human judgment remain irreplaceable, also in an increasingly automated landscape.

Photo: Panel discussion with (from left) Anna Rose, Snowflake; Juha Saarinen, Columbia Road; Katriina Kiviluoto, Recordly; and Martin von Schantz, Snowflake

The problem: fragmentation, silos, and missed opportunities

Data-driven marketing is (still) the top priority of marketing leaders. Companies using data-driven personalization see 5-8 times the ROI on marketing efforts.

Despite the explosion in martech, many companies still struggle with a very basic issue, that is connecting their data. CRMs, customer data platforms (CDP), analytics tools, and campaign platforms often exist in silos, limiting full visibility and a single source of truth.

According to Snowflake’s Modern Marketing Data Stack 2025 (you can already download the 2026 version here) report, 87% of marketers consider data their most underutilized asset. The price for marketers not taking advantage of their data is slower campaign optimization, irrelevant targeting, which in turn leads to missed revenue opportunities.

AI Data Cloud unifies the stack and unlocks value

Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud offers a single, secure foundation that connects your data across platforms and enables native AI capabilities, all while integrating directly with your marketing stack.

Key benefits of the Snowflake AI Data Cloud are: 

• Single source of truth for all your enterprise and customer data
• Secure environment for AI and ML-powered marketing use-cases
• Modern marketing data stack: applications built around your data in the Snowflake Data Cloud

But you still need more than technology to make it all work. That’s where Recordly can help.

As a trusted Snowflake (Growth) Partner since day one, Recordly acts as the glue between Snowflake and CDPs, ensuring seamless integration across your marketing ecosystem. From designing data platforms to orchestrating AI use cases, Recordly helps marketing teams tackle complexity and unify siloed data.

What marketers can gain

When marketing teams work from unified, high-quality data, they unlock:

• Higher conversion rates from personalized campaigns
  
  
• Reduced manual work, thanks to automated audience segmentation and performance tracking
  
  
• Faster go-to-market with data-driven decision-making
  
  
• Better collaboration between marketing and IT, through democratized access to data insights.

Data democratization means marketing teams don’t have to rely on IT for every request. And with Snowflake, non-technical users can explore, segment, and act on customer data.

Four marketing facts in the age of AI

1. AI will automate more, but strategy stays human

AI is great at repetitive tasks. But strategic thinking, creative execution, and human-to-human interaction naturally require real people.

2. Data quality is the fuel, and often the bottleneck

AI agents and LLMs are only as effective as the data they use. Cleaning, enriching, and unifying customer data needs to be a top priority.

3. Integration is the new black

Silos persist. Modern companies prioritize API standardization, tech stack consolidation, and deep integrations across platforms.

4. Marketing and IT must meet in the middle

Marketing teams need more technical fluency. But IT must also adapt to marketing’s need for speed, experimentation, and autonomy. As Martin von Schantz, Account Executive at Snowflake put it when asked if marketers are going to be replaced:

“They are not going to be replaced, but we’re going to need better marketers - marketers who understand how data is structured, how segmentation works under the hood, and what’s actually possible with the data available.”

These themes came up repeatedly in our panel discussion. In questions about bridging the marketing–IT gap and debates about which operational tasks will remain human-led, it was clear that collaboration and a shared understanding are the way forward.

Photo: Martin von Schantz, Snowflake

Technical curiosity is the new essential skill

With Snowflake and modern CDPs becoming more accessible through visual tools, marketers don’t need to become full-stack developers or SQL literate. But make sure you’re at least data-literate, curious about new tech, and open to working side-by-side with data teams. That’s how you'll win in modern marketing.

Marketers who understand how data flows through their martech stack are better equipped to:

• Brief IT and data teams on their needs more effectively
  
  
• Troubleshoot issues with campaigns and attribution
  
  
• Build smarter segments and personalized journeys
  
  
• Collaborate on AI and automation use cases.

Data-driven marketing is still the priority

The modern marketing stack is about building a scalable, intelligent data foundation that supports the company’s business goals.

If you’re still struggling with fragmented systems, lagging campaigns, or underused data, now would be a good time to act. 

Here’s where to start:

• Audit your first-party data: is it clean, connected, and usable? (You can find tips on fixing your customer data for good in this blog by masted data expert Aino Vaittinen.) 
  
  
• Assess your martech stack: where are the silos slowing you down?
  
  
• Build for scale, for example with a future-ready foundation like Snowflake and a local expert like Recordly guiding your way.