Marketo today announced its acquisition of Crowd Factory, Inc., a social campaign management platform. In the company’s first acquisition, Marketo aims to provide integrated social marketing functionality within marketing automation. The combined solution is designed to enable marketers to amplify and measure social-enabled campaigns.

The Crowd Factory platform helps marketers accelerate social and word-of-mouth marketing, grow marketing databases and attract new customers via social profiles. The platform allows marketers to add social applications and messages to every channel, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds, as well as landing pages, web sites, banner ads and emails. Crowd Factory automatically tracks the reach and impact of social sharing, and it provides feedback on social marketing ROI. The platform has been implemented by companies such as Molson Coors, Sony Music, Jive Software, Quickoffice and British Telecom.

Nimble, a social business and CRM platform, is now available in the Google Chrome Web Store. The solution is designed to help organizations build relationships with prospects and customers via social media, as well as track and manage sales opportunities.

Using the Nimble platform, organizations can manage all social network accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+,  in a central location. Marketers also can stay up-to-date on the most popular discussions and networks, engage with customers and prospects, and communicate effectively by identifying and tracking relevant topics.

By Caroline Bishop, VP Marketing, Web Reply

For B2B marketers, the process of delivering marketing campaigns to support quarterly sales goals is both an opportunity and a challenge. The focus on deadlines and execution usually detracts from “thinking time” — the time to take a step back, gain perspective and plan for the future.  Continuing to deliver campaigns today while building a clear and concise strategy to improve effectiveness and lead quality, and to move beyond the quarterly scramble, is a constant challenge.  How do we win this battle?

This June, DemandGen Report will once again honor leading organizations as part of its annual Sales & Marketing Integration Awards. Given the increased market pressure to develop strategies based on revenue performance and measurement, this special report will profile organizations that have achieved success in driving revenue by developing common goals and processes around lead generation and lead management.

Click here to access the 2011 Sales & Marketing Integration Awards Report and nominate your organization today!

Act-On Software recently announced record results for Q1 2012, with a 350% year-over-year revenue increase. Act-On acquired 246 new customers in Q1 2012 compared to 171 new customers added in Q4 2011.

Act-On serves a variety of client verticals and industries, with key customers including Motorola, Progressive, IBM, AssociatedBank, InsideSales.com and Liberty Tax Services.

ReachForce, a provider of cloud-based conversion acceleration software, today announced the launch of SmartForms, a real-time web site registration form solution designed to enhance and append registrant lead profiles. The solution leverages the company’s proprietary technology and a high quality business data set to help marketers optimize their marketing automation ROI.

Designed to work with leading marketing automation and CRM solutions, SmartForms is available on a subscription basis. A variety of technology companies have adopted the SmartForm solution, including Marketo, Pinstripe, ELT and ReadyTalk.

By Mike Shanker, CEO, Extraprise

Editor’s Note: The following is the second in a two-part series exploring the key considerations for when to outsource marketing, as well as the how to handle top marketing challenges. View part 1 here.

Last week, we discussed when it makes sense for an organization to outsource some of their critical marketing functions. Today, we take it one step further by discussing ten challenges that can be easily overcome by enlisting the help of outside professionals.

Brainshark, Inc., a provider of online and mobile video presentations, recently introduced the Brainshark Connector for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Through Brainshark’s integration and partnership with Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can take advantage of Brainshark to improve the quality and effectiveness of their sales communications.

Brainshark’s cloud-based software enables organizations to create online video presentations by adding elements such as voice, video clips, survey and test questions, and attachments to PowerPoint decks and other static documents. This video content is then automatically formatted for optimal viewing on desktop and laptop computers, smartphones and tablets.

LeadMaster, a provider of web-based sales and marketing solutions, recently announced enhancements to its marketing automation platform. Available to LeadMaster resellers and consultants, the marketing automation platform is designed to enable users to automate marketing efforts, such as launching email campaigns, adding prospects to lead nurturing campaigns and reporting.

Roswell, GA-based LeadMaster offers a multi-function cloud-computing software solution for sales and marketing professionals that includes functionality to optimize key tasks, including e-marketing, click-to-call, lead management and CRM.

By Mike Shanker, CEO, Extraprise

Editor’s Note: The following is the first in a two-part series exploring the key considerations for when to outsource marketing, as well as the how to handle top marketing challenges.

Since Neil H. Gordon’s classic 1964 article, “The Concept of the Marketing Mix,” and E. Jerome McCarthy’s, “4Ps of Marketing,” much has been written about the basic elements of marketing. In addition to the standard Product, Price, Promote, Place attributes, the intervening years have seen many additions and variations: the 5 Ps and 7 Ps, among others.