Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 26, 2010

Summary: DataMentors has launched a low-cost marketing database product with limited functionality. It's an interesting test of what marketers really want. Marketing database software and service vendor DataMentors last week tossed its hat into the ever-more-crowded ring of marketing automation for small(ish) businesses. The new product, DataPoint, is a limited version of the company’s flagship PinPoint system.

Work Management 160

Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Cost 160

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 13, 2010

IBM announced this morning that it was purchasing enterprise marketing automation leader Unica for $480 million, more than double the company’s current stock market valuation. This is wholly unsurprising: as the last and only big independent left in its space, Unica was obvious acquisition bait. It was also a motivated seller, since it faced an increasingly impossible struggle to fund the product enhancements necessary to compete with the likes of SAS , Teradata and Siebel / Oracle.

Marketing Automation Services 188

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Acquisitions Marketing Management 188

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 12, 2010

Summary: Genius.com has added a free version of its system. But I think its strategy of offering an intermediate product between email marketing and full marketing automation may actually be more useful in attracting new customers. On Monday, Genius.com announced “the first free, instant-on demand generation solution”, a description carefully crafted to distinguish their offering from the free version announced by LoopFuse in June.

Work Management 175

Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Loopfuse 175

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 11, 2010

Summary: Adobe added Web content management, digital asset management and social media features to its arsenal when it purchased Day Software last month. But it still lacks key pieces of a complete marketing solution. Last month, Adobe announced their $240 million acquisition of Web content management vendor Day Software. Adobe was already a major force in Web development through its Dreamweaver, Flash and ColdFusion products, not to mention Omniture for Web analytics.

Digital Asset Management 131

Digital Asset Management Enterprise Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 131

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 10, 2010

Summary: In a constantly changing world, flexibility is more important than optimization. Marketers need people, processes and technology that allow them to react quickly to new opportunities. The always-insightful Adam Needles is running a series of blog posts this week that summarize the “real state” of B2B demand generation. So far, his main points have been that the role of B2B marketing has expanded to cover the entire buying cycle from initial lead generation through closed deals and that

Process 187

Process Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services Demand Generation 187

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 3, 2010

Summary: Marketo continues to follow its own path. Enterprise Edition adds the complex security needed by large organizations but sticks to simple campaign flows. Revenue Cycle Management blazes an important new trail for others to follow. I finally caught up with Marketo for a briefing on their Enterprise Edition (announced in March) and Revenue Cycle Analytics (announced in May).

Enterprise Management 168

Enterprise Management Marketo Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 168

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 18, 2010

Summary: LeadForce1 infers Web visitors' intent and sales stage from the contents they read. It combines this with standard B2B marketing automation features to provide better-qualified leads to sales people. The B2B marketing automation industry has reached the stage where product features are similar and companies compete primarily on business and marketing savvy.

Marketing Automation Services 237

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation Jigsaw 237