A client confessed recently that one of the reasons his company had selected Marketo as a marketing automation provider was because he was so impressed by their marketing. His logic (presumably): if a technology provider is promising to help improve our marketing effectiveness, shouldn’t their own marketing reflect those same high standards? Tangentially, I’d argue that more companies should select marketing agencies by the same criteria.). Full disclosure: Spear Marketing Group is a Marketo agency partner. To wit: 1. What would I change? MORE >>

Marketo today announced the launch of Spark , a new brand aimed at small and mid-size business. Functionally, Spark is pretty much identical to the standard Marketo system. Most of these aren’t of interest to small business, and several involve additional charges even for Marketo’s regular packages. Spark starts at $750 per month with no annual contract, compared with Marketo’s $2,000 per month minimum and annual contract for its full-featured Professional Edition. Whether Marketo actually makes any money at this price is questionable. MORE >>

The growing adoption of marketing automation systems is empowering B2B marketers to develop, produce, and execute email campaigns more efficiently, and more effectively, than ever before. Well-designed templates for HTML emails, landing pages, thank you pages, fulfillment/confirmation emails, and other creative assets can provide a foundation for long-term email marketing success. The success of an email campaign depends on a number of variables, chief amongst them the quality of your list and the attractiveness of the offer. Keep graphics to a minimum. Use sidebars. MORE >>

When I heard word of Marketo’s $50 million round, my immediate response was, “Good for them; better for the industry,” predictable though it may sound. fully expect this round – which, according to industry observers, brings Marketo’s total raise to $107 million – to brighten the spotlight that’s already shining on  marketing automation and related categories like revenue performance management. When it comes to Marketo’s funding, the question most observers will ask is: Why did they need to raise $50 million just one year after securing $25 million? MORE >>

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*. Oracle does have an existing B2B marketing automation product, based on the technology it acquired from Market2Lead in 2010. Market2Lead was very good system, but it lacked the huge market presence that Oracle gains from Eloqua. What if you're an enterprise marketer? per share, which comes to $871 million. recently, so $23.50 MORE >>