Hubspot recently released their Top 20 Marketing Trends for 2013 and #14 is “Marketing Technology Evolves”. Not quite revolutionary in concept… however what the author (CTO Dharmesh Shah) points out is that with the porting and syndicating of content out to multiple platforms combined with increased consumer interaction across platforms, marketing mavens will need to aggregate all this disparate data across platforms to make any sense of the impact of any single marketing initiative.
But boy, integrating social media engagement metrics, web metrics, and CRM system leads and returns – particularly across short, medium and longer term timeframes – is not for the faint of heart! Luckily, the technology trendsetters are hard at work evolving solutions to this very problem. Cookie-based tracking has revolutionized online advertising (tracking, ad serving), lead management (learning, responding) and soon we will enter into the magical world of dynamic content delivery where based on your interests, you will actually only see content highly relevant to your search, click and share behaviors. WOW!
In the meantime, here are some of my favorites solutions for 360 degree data measurement, management and insights:
Social Media Engagement
My Pick: Radian 6
Owned by Salesforce and keeping up with the evolving social media landscape, Radian 6 tracks engagement metrics across the social web. Competitors include Techrigy, BuzzGain, Trackur, Viralheat, Beevolve, Visible Technologies, Scout Labs, Collective Intellect, Biz360, Sysomos, Omllion, Meltwater Buzz, BuzzWatcher, AT Internet, Salesforce Buddy Media, Webfluenz , Engagor, Pluggio and Simplify360.
Web Metrics
My Pick: Omniture (Now Adobe Online Business Optimization)
Omniture, post Adobe integration, has evolved into a full suite of products covering a full-service spectrum of functions: advanced web analytics and segmentation (SiteCatalyst, Discover and Data Warehouse), search marketing (SearchCenter), optimization (Advanced Testing and Targeting – Offermatica and TouchClarity), and the marketing integration platform (Genesis). Competitors include: WebTrends, Kenshoo, Authenticlick, Coremetrics, Refined Labs, eSearchVision, PredictiveIntent, Banckle, Performable, KISSmetrics.
CRM : Customer Relationship Management
My pick: Salesforce
With on “on demand”, SAAS model of CRM solution delivery via the cloud with a variety of subscription models, Salesforce is well positioned to serve small to medium sized business (and non-profit) which comprise the bulk of Leapup’s clients. That’s you folks! Competitors include: Senokian, BEA Systems, SAP, Oracle Corporation (Siebel CRM), Microsoft Dynamics CRM, UserVoice, SuggestionBox.com, RightNow Technologies, INES CRM, Sugar CRM
Years ago marketing was so simple…now it’s just EVER so technical. I guess sometimes, it pays to be a little geeky. Whew!