Customer Experience Matrix

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

The world clearly has more B2B marketing automation vendors than it needs – my master list of demand generation products includes two dozen. By contrast, mid-tier consumer marketers often have a hard time finding good options. Just launching a new version of its system, snappily named “Cross-Channel Marketing Hub”.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Resource Management Marketing Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 31, 2015

Yesterday I released the mid-year edition of the VEST Report on B2B marketing automation vendors, thereby meeting my self-imposed deadline of July 31. Here are some observations: - market positions are pretty stable. This puts them among the top 3 leaders in the small business sector. products are pretty stable, too.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Report Marketing Automation Paid Search Agency 120

Customer Experience Matrix

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Marketo today announced the launch of Spark , a new brand aimed at small and mid-size business. Most of these aren’t of interest to small business, and several involve additional charges even for Marketo’s regular packages. But the most ardent small business evangelists are companies including Infusionsoft and OfficeAutoPilot.

Small Business Marketing 120

Small Business Marketing Marketo Marketing Automation Services Work Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

OCTOBER 15, 2013

As I mentioned in last week''s post , I’m writing a paper on stages of marketing automation deployment. The premise of the paper and Webinar is marketing automation has a problem: clients who don’t move beyond basic email functions are unhappy. The paper itself will be available to Webinar attendees.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation BtoB 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 5, 2015

I just finished the latest release of the B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool , a.k.a. more micro-business vendors. All six of the vendors new to this report sell primarily to small businesses, and most are “all-in-one” systems that combine marketing automation with integrated CRM. VEST Report.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Report Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

Using free versions to grow marketing automation has consistently failed in the past, probably because people attracted by a free system aren't willing to do the substantial work needed for marketing automation success. Both integrations were presented as first steps towards deeper relationships.

Marketing Automation Services 0

Marketing Automation Services Hubspot Conference Marketing Automation 0

Customer Experience Matrix

DECEMBER 4, 2012

One easily predictable trend in B2B marketing automation is that vendors will tailor their systems to specific industries. The reason may be that B2B marketing automation products have a narrower scope than B2C systems, meaning there’s less advantage in creating vertical editions. MindMatrix is one of them.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Paid Search Agency Marketing Automation Advertising Agencies 120

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 6, 2013

One of the main reasons that marketing automation has not been adopted more quickly is that too few marketers know how to fully use it. Instead, RightWave offers what it calls “marketing automation as a service,” gives each client access to staff members who will set up and execute campaigns for them.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

DECEMBER 18, 2012

But this time I was able to answer right away because I’ve just finished a white paper on the future of B2B marketing automation, sponsored by Leadformix and available here for free download. The question answered by the paper is “What will marketing automation vendors do next?” This is what’s covered in the white paper.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

The Interwebs have delivered an unusually rich trove of data about the marketing automation industry in the past few weeks. Taken together, these provide a clearer picture than usual of the state of marketing automation. Here’s how I see things. They are vastly more likely than average to have a system in place.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Let me start by saying that the 50% revenue increase I’m projecting for B2B marketing automation in 2013 is a very healthy one. What really got me thinking about this was prepping for a Webinar I’ll be giving next Wednesday on the future of marketing automation ( register here ). Why is this worrisome?

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JUNE 12, 2014

I recently did a study of the strategies of B2B marketing automation vendors. One thing that doesn''t show up on the chart is that some successful vendors have shifted strategies over time, generally moving away from low prices to higher prices and from small businesses to mid-size and larger.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Vendors Marketing Automation Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

MAY 12, 2015

I briefly mentioned MDC Dot in an earlier blog post about giving sales people access to marketing automation capabilities. This is especially important for businesses that pay commissions to the customer’s original salesperson.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Microsite Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JUNE 4, 2013

They also get a toe-hold in B2C marketing and in marketing automation (via ExactTarget''s Pardot technology). Frankly, of the two, entry into B2C marketing seems more important because it''s such a large business and Salesforce.com needs to know where its next several billion dollars in revenue will come from. -

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Marketing Automation Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

I wrote last August that it’s still possible for new B2B marketing automation vendors to challenge the industry leaders. The answer may not matter to marketers who don’t themselves work for a marketing automation vendor. make it radically easier for marketers to use existing functions.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation Adwords 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 15, 2013

But since late 2011 the company has also offered a suite aimed at marketers, which now has more than 4,000 paid clients. Even in the small business sector, that count would make Vocus one of the largest marketing automation systems. But Vocus doesn’t quite match the profile of standard marketing automation products.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Social Marketing 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 12, 2011

As I mentioned yesterday, our new B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST) asks vendors to estimate the number of clients in each of four size categories. Installation counts are: Looking at the raw percentages doesn’t make much sense since businesses in each group are quite different.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Segmentation Marketing Automation Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

Marketing automation, Web analytics, and Web content management systems can all access this data via API calls for analytics and as inputs to their own selection and treatment rules. This is a major extension beyond traditional marketing automation, which works mostly through email to known prospects.

DemandBase 120

DemandBase Advertising Agencies Marketing Automation Services Paid Search Agency 120

Customer Experience Matrix

DECEMBER 20, 2012

Oracle announced today that it has agreed to purchase B2B marketing automation leader Eloqua for $23.50 The deal makes obvious sense, in that it gives Oracle a much stronger position in the fast-growing B2B marketing automation industry*. Small businesses in particular can expect little love from an Oracle-ized Eloqua.

Eloqua 120

Eloqua Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

MAY 13, 2012

Three weeks ago, Intuit shook up the low end of the marketing automation universe by purchasing small business marketing shooting star Demandforce. Since then, the company has continued to grow its marketing offerings, through acquisition and internal development.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation Buy 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

I’ve just published the latest edition of our B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST), with updated entries on all your favorites and several new entries to boot. mid-market leadership may be up for grabs. A few interesting trends stood out: revenue growth is accelerating. lots of new vendors.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Marketing Management Top of Funnel 120

Customer Experience Matrix

AUGUST 16, 2011

I’ve long believed that B2B marketing automation is just a passing phase: that, ultimately, B2B marketing automation systems will be absorbed into CRM systems instead of operating independently. Vendors serving either marketing or sales will probably do a better job than vendors trying to serve both.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

OCTOBER 18, 2011

As you might have guessed from my recent list of B2C marketing automation systems , I’ve recently been spending some time helping consumer marketers to select vendors. This is more a return than a departure: although I’ve written mostly about B2B systems for the past few years, my earlier work was largely in consumer marketing.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Automation Marketing Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

OCTOBER 17, 2012

MarketingPilot is best described as integrated marketing management for mid-tier companies. It has a pretty low profile in the B2B marketing automation world, partly because it serves a mix of B2C and B2B clients but mostly because it started as a marketing operations management system.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Vendors 120

Customer Experience Matrix

DECEMBER 5, 2011

One is about estimating the cost of a marketing automation system and the other is about evaluating vendor services. After much thought, I came up with four cost categories: direct system costs : the actual price paid for the marketing automation software itself. These are the other 75% of the typical marketing budget.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Cost 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

One of first marketing automation systems I ever saw – this would be during the Reagan Presidency – was a custom-built dial-up network to distribute collateral to farm equipment dealers. Some of these channel marketing systems focus on lead distribution, some on locally-customizable promotion materials, and some on campaign management.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Advertising Agencies Work Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I’ve just finished the latest update of our B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST), available on the raabguide.com Web site. The VEST is our evaluation of industry vendors, aimed primarily at companies choosing a marketing automation system. Both methods give similar results. How scientific can you get?

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Forecasting 120

Customer Experience Matrix

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

I’ll be giving a Webinar this Thursday on evaluating marketing automation software, sponsored by Neolane. Part of the content will be a list of Seven Deadly Sins of Marketing System Selection. The cost of skipping this step is that you don’t learn about existing business processes and user skills. So here goes.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation Vendors 120

Customer Experience Matrix

MARCH 26, 2014

The InterWebs were buzzing this morning with an Atlanta Business Chronicle article reporting that IBM is negotiating to buy Silverpop. Although they bought B2C marketing automation leader Unica several years ago, they lack enterprise-scale B2C email engine and B2B marketing automation.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Marketing Automation Marketing Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JANUARY 5, 2011

Summary: Here are my estimates for the size of the B2B marketing automation industry, broken down by customer segments. I've been working madly on my new report on B2B marketing automation vendors. Many are very small companies with just one or two marketing automation users.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

New-ish marketing automation vendor NurtureHQ showed me its product recently. Clean interface, easy to use, all the standard marketing automation features. Definitely take a look if you’re in that market for that sort of product. But I’m beginning to think those marketers were really saying something else.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

I released the 2012 edition of our B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST) report today, an event that deserves more hoopla that I’ve given it. Although the VEST is primarily intended to help people who are buying a marketing automation system, its database also provides a statistical portrait of the industry.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Report Marketing Automation Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JANUARY 10, 2012

I had an earful last week from Genoo president Kim Albee, who told me that I’ve misclassified her target customers as “micro businesses” (under $5 million revenue) for the past two years. The main cause of my misunderstanding was Genoo’s starting price of $199 per month, which is below any small or mid-size business system.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation 120

Customer Experience Matrix

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

Now that I’m more or less finished launching the B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST) , I can start catching up on the other topics. ClickDimensions does pretty much the standard marketing automation activities: email, landing pages, Web visitor tracking, drip marketing campaigns, and lead scoring.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation CRM Work Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JANUARY 11, 2011

Summary: Here's a closer look at revenue per employee and marketing automation revenue in general. Some of the comments on last week’s post on the size of the B2B marketing automation industry led me to dig a bit more deeply into the question of revenue per employee. So maybe let’s credit them with $10 million.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation ActiveConversion 120

Customer Experience Matrix

MARCH 4, 2011

Summary: Is stressing the need for process change making marketing automation too complicated, or a recognition of what it really takes for success? I’m not sure that whoever speaks for “conventional wisdom” would agree that marketing automation solutions must be expensive and complex.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Automation Loopfuse 120

Customer Experience Matrix

MAY 21, 2012

Experian Marketing Services yesterday announced its acquisition of marketing automation vendor Conversen. This is the third marketing automation acquisition in the past month, following Intuit’s purchase of Demandforce and FICO’s purchase of Entiera.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Advertising Agencies Marketing Automation 120