Marketing automation madness revisited: @Marketo back on the App Exchange

Developing story…but it looks as though Marketo is back up on the AppExchange. One week after my original post on marketing automation madness….Well – they are back.

 

 

Marketing automation craziness — Oh boy, here we go.

Yesterday and today were busy in the world of marketing technology twitterverse. Now, keep in mind, I am not a reporter…I am posting Tweets and articles.In other words, I am happy to post up any clarifications, etc…just put them in the comments field. A lot of these people are my friends so I am not taking sides…but boy there is a scrum happening right now.

Hold on to your hats folks..because here we go:

I will start with this article on Business Insider, the title should tell you everything: Fresh Off A Hot IPO, Marketo’s Biggest Partner, Salesforce.com, Is Now Its Biggest Threat [Read more...]

Salesforce.com acquires Exact Target – Is the end of the marketer’s golden age looming?

My post on the Exact Target acquisition by Salesforce.com actually was one of the most visited posts in the history of the Funnelholic.

I didn’t get the chance to give my personal take on the acquisition so here we go. First I will start with some random notes on a scoreboard:

1.  The Salesforce Marketing Cloud wasn’t really a good Marketing Cloud as far as Marketing Clouds go.  A lot of analysts have talked about the acquisition in terms of why it was good for Salesforce.com. In the context of the Marketing Cloud, I agree. The Marketing Cloud probably needed email and marketing automation pieces.  Considering all that was happening in marketing technology, Salesforce had a truly incomplete offering – this helps.B2B marketing party

2.  What’s my take on the overall acquisition from a market perspective? Bunch of dudes from Indiana made fat stacks -  that’s my analysis. Maybe I am just not that smart but I don’t feel like speech making on this one. Organizations will still choose to buy marketing automation and email marketing from other vendors. There is no evidence that Salesforce would put their customer relationships at risk by messing with the API or the AppExchange. I think we move on. As a matter of fact, one week later and it feels like no one is talking about it anymore.

P.S. Congrats to the “dudes from Indiana” – I am very happy for them. (I wanted to make this point in case the annoying commentor “ihate@you” comes on again and accuses me of being jealous.) [Read more...]

B2B Marketing is starting to resemble B2C Marketing: Madlibs with @jchernov

Joe Chernov – If they write books on b2b marketing from 2006 on, he will be in it. In the book that will be written on marketing automation, Joe will be in there. His public battles with Marketo were classic but he was really one of the faces of Eloqua and his role of thought leader was important to their brand. He will be featured in the b2b content marketing book as well. He was pioneer in bringing design, readability, and cadence to the b2b content game. He also was part of the team that hired a journalist, Jesse Noyes, to run the blog. Now, you see that recommendation all the time. With that, here he is – -Joe Chernov: [Read more...]

The Impact of Salesforce.com’s acquisition of Exact Target: The Experts Weigh In

Well, that is big news!  If you haven’t been following, Salesforce.com just bought Exact Target for $2.4 bill.  Once you are done picking your self off the floor, read this post. I asked some of the people I respect their opinions on the acquisition.
Please note: I plan to continue to update this post as people “roll in” with their opinion. Put your opinion in the comments box too..

Here we go!

Brian Vellmure
Independent Analyst

It took about 18 months longer than expected, but Salesforce finally filled a hole in its marketing cloud with marketing automation capabilities. I didn’t necessarily see ExactTarget coming as Marketo was was being mentioned in most circles once Oracle scooped up Eloqua.

With ExactTarget, Salesforce picks up a company with a large install base with at least twice the revenue of Marketo and for likely less than twice the multiple of trailing twelve months revenue. In short, it was simply a better deal. [Read more...]

Best Practices for Highly Effective Demand Generation: #Demand2013 feat @heinzmarketing

Join Matt Heinz on May 15 at 10AM PDT or watch his presentation on demand anytime in the window below! hashtag is #Demand2013


The b2b buyer just wants to be loved: Madlibs with Mike Volpe

Mike Volpe is part man, myth, and legend when it comes to marketing and specifically, inbound marketing and he seems to have fun while doing it.  What else can I say? He is Mike Volpe….and when someone finally writes a book about this era of marketing, he will be listed as one of the thought leaders that led the way.  And here are his contributions to the Funnelholic’s Madlibs: [Read more...]

Marketers are having fun again : Madlibs with Jason Miller

Jason Miller is not just a guy who works in content and social at Marketo.  He is a convincing, compelling evangelist for social marketing ROI.  He is one of the few people out there that talks about social marketing as a ROI-driving, results oriented practice.  He is so good, he gets ROI on Facebook and he wants you to get ROI on Facebook as well which is why he shares all his secrets. It’s worth listening to.  We have collaborated on content in the past — check this session we did on theMarketo Happy Hour!  Here are his Madlibs:

  1. The b2b buyer is in complete control of the buying process. Your job as a marketer is to build that relationship as early on as possible by helping, educating, and sometime entertaining the buyer until they are ready to talk to sales. Staying top of mind is the key.
  2. [Read more...]

Four content marketing quotes that I can’t get out of my head

What a title! I have been using these content marketing quotes when I work with clients or talk with others in the marketing space, but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to get them into blog posts. So, I decided to just write this post and finally get them out there.Content Marketing

First a note on content marketing: I always believed that content marketing SHOULD work, but was getting nervous that it wasn’t going to be true. I recognized that the buyer had changed and understood their preferences for helpful content, but really just wanted other success stories besides Hubspot. Now — GAME ON. Content marketing successes are happening all over the place. It works. More on this in later segments.

Now, here are a couple quotes on the topic that I just can’t get out of my head:

1. “We wrote our first blog post before we wrote our first line of code.” – Jon Miller, Marketo [Read more...]

The b2b funnel is killing real progress: Madlibs with Justin Gray

Justin Gray is both an amazing marketer and a successful entrepeneur.  Fun Fact: LeadMD is not his only company…he has a number of successful ventures.  Over the years he has become a good friend and trusted resource for me on marketing, sales, and business in general.  His Madlibs contribution is thoughtful and intelligent – enjoy.

    1. The b2b buyer is human
    2. The biggest innovation in marketing is the effective use of actionable big data
    3. The coolest thing happening in b2b marketing is a focus on adding actual value

[Read more...]