Marketing automation is quickly becoming like the self-driving car for B2B marketing. Led by Eloqua (now part of Oracle) and Marketo (with a very successful IPO last week), today marketing automation companies are collectively worth billions. When Marketing Automation Is Unnecessary. Like anything else in B2B marketing, automation should be an outcome of your objectives and planning process, not an assumption going in. Unfortunately, these situations are all too common, even among marketing automation clients. MORE >>

So.our friends at Marketo announced today that they've received another $25 million in venture funding. Marketo's strategy has been clear from the start: spend heavily to establish a strong position despite a relatively late start in the market. they needed a solid product and good marketing as well. Obviously Marketo has a plan in mind and has convinced some pretty savvy investors that it makes sense. Certainly Marketo could be acquired by one of those companies but I don't think the price would be high enough to make the VCs happy. lost track." MORE >>

by Jon Miller Marketing automation is a technology that streamlines and automates marketing tasks so companies can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster. In other words, companies don’t buy marketing automation to automate their marketing. Measure and prove marketing ROI. Save time and money in marketing. But while some companies achieve amazing ROI (100%+ improvements) from marketing automation, others achieve more modest gains, and a few fail to get value at all. Marketing Automation MORE >>

This obviously allows you to match your customers with sales transactions, but more importantly for marketers it allows you the option of layering on a marketing automation system that can deliver targeted messages at the right time without continuous management by additional personnel. If you’re like many companies, you employ a marketing individual or team to collect your contacts information and execute campaigns in somewhat of a batch and blast situation. Marketing automation, what is it? You can scale your processes. Probably everyone. MORE >>

The Marketing Automation industry is evolving continuously. Many digital marketers are using marketing automation tools to automate lead nurturing. And that’s where Inbound Marketing comes in. “Isn’t that Search Marketing?&#. Yes, I feel that Inbound Marketing is sort-of a rebranding of Search Marketing. But Inbound Marketing focuses primarily on organic search, not pay-per-click (like AdWords). Inbound Marketing is more than just SEO. Inbound Marketing Automation. Conclusion. MORE >>