Category Archives: Technology

Marketo Files for IPO

On April 2, marketing automation vendor Marketo filed for a $75 million initial public offering; its ticker symbol on NASDAQ will be MKTO.

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Marketing and IT: A Lovefest?

I attended the Marketing Operations Cross Company Alliance (MOCCA) Executive Forum last week in San Francisco. For those of you who are not familiar with this group, it is composed of people in marketing operations leadership roles, primarily in b-to-b companies. True to its Silicon Valley roots, members mostly come from technology companies, although MOCCA’s ranks are growing with companies from other industries. There are two chapters, one based on the West Coast and one in Washington, D.C. We held an interesting Oxford-style debate on the topic of whether the “ownership” of marketing technology should be with IT or the marketing organization. One side took the position that marketing should be the absolute ruler of its technology and IT should butt out, and the opposing position was that IT was far better staffed and equipped to plan, procure and manage technology than marketing.

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A SiriusView on Marketing Automation Platform Providers

Today, a press release announced that SiriusDecisions has published its first SiriusView™ on the marketing automation platform (MAP) market. This research study features reviews of 12 leading MAP vendors: Act-On, Aprimo, Eloqua, eTrigue, IBM Unica, LoopFuse, Marketo, Neolane, Pardot, Sales Engine International (formerly Manticore Technology), Silverpop and TreeHouse Interactive. They were scored on their depth of functionality, essential elements (services/support) and vendor strength.

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Is Technology Really “Eating Marketing”?

The Web. Social Media. Mobile. Together, they’ve changed the world, connecting all of us. Technology is changing markets and buyer preferences at a rapid pace, and the rate of change will only continue to increase. Recently, venture capitalist Jeff Bussgang wrote for Inc.com: “Within the $1 trillion marketing industry, the impact of software eating marketing has now reached the boardroom. With the explosion of digital marketing, it is clear that technology is radically transforming the marketing function and the role of the marketing professional.”

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Introducing the Sirius View: A New Way to Look at Technology Vendors

It’s becoming difficult to differentiate b-to-b sales and marketing technology vendors from one another. To help executives make informed decisions, we’ve introduced the Sirius View as a model for evaluating and comparing sales and marketing vendors within a specific technology category. The Sirius View is designed to assist b-to-b organizations in identifying factors that differentiate technology vendors from one another, as well as outline any challenges these vendors face. Technology providers are evaluated based on vendor briefings and demos, in-depth surveys filled out by vendors, interviews with select customers, our own hands-on use of the technology, and data and information from client inquiries and benchmarks.

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Five Lessons for B-to-B Marketers from Apple’s iOS 6 Maps Gaffe

Last week's much-hyped release of the iPhone 5 has been somewhat overshadowed by the morning-after realization that the Apple Maps "upgrade" in iOS 6 is considered by many to be a step backward from the Google Drive Maps app included in previous versions of iOS. The new app does include valuable new features like turn-by-turn navigation, 3D and Flyover views, but the coverage and level of detail are a step back in many cases. While only time will tell whether this will hurt Apple in the long run, this product launch has provided some lessons for b-to-b marketers.

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