Even while fewer than 30 percent of contacts on average actually change companies (your numbers may be higher depending on the industries you serve, or even target geographies), one thing is certain: the data you have in your CRM database on an individual customer or prospect is likely to be outdated after a mere 12 months. Most commonly, companies looking to clean up CRM data turn to database providers like ZoomInfo, Data.com , and InsideView to append and replace outdated contact information. That incentive is good content. MORE >>

We’ve been talking a lot at SIGMA Marketing Group recently about the end benefit we deliver to our clients.  For years, we’ve described what we do as a means to improve the marketing ROI for our clients.  How we help them with analytics, strategy and marketing technology today really goes beyond just the marketing process, helping them deliver a consistent and relevant brand experience across the entire consumer relationship. Be ready with automated messaging and outbound support as soon as those events happen.  Martha Bush. Share. Attract. Convert. Retain. MORE >>

Summary: Entiera is a sophisticated consumer marketing automation system, offered as a service and at a lower price than conventional competitors. Entiera Insight is a marketing automation system primarily for companies that sell to consumers. m highlighting this because most of my recent posts have been about B2B marketing automation (demand generation) systems, and the two types of systems are quite different. See the paper Demand Generation vs. Marketing Automation in the Resources section of the Raab Guide site for more on this topic.) MORE >>

It prevents situations in which you may lose forever the ability to market to an individual because he/she happened to dislike one particular email. And it does so under the cloak of customer service, i.e. giving the subscriber the opportunity to choose the type of email communication most relevant to his/her interests. Because the page is hosted in Marketo , a leading marketing automation platform, the person’s email address, first name, last name, title, and country are all pre-populated, making it easy for the individual to update or correct outdated profile information. MORE >>

Summary: consolidation isn't new among marketing software vendors. As I wrote in my June 30 post on consolidation among marketing automation vendors , I expect the number of competitors to shrink fairly quickly as new buyers concentrate their purchases among a handful of leading vendors. This is a natural result of a maturing market, as technology-oriented pioneers are replaced by buyers less likely to research their options in depth. Will weaker marketing automation vendors merge with each other to establish a larger market presence? MORE >>