By Tom Jacobs, Founder & President, Jacobs Agency

B2B decision-makers conduct more investigative research, and are more selective than ever before. Purchase decisions are generally reached by a committee of buyers. Buyers are interested in content relevant to the purchase decision at hand. With the influx of online resources and peer communities, now buyers can avoid contact with a company until later in the buying cycle. If, as a marketer, you’re not providing relevant information, you won’t be among the consideration set. Fortunately, there are a few key steps to get your product or service under consideration and move prospects through the buying cycle.

Act-On Software, a provider of marketing automation technology, announced record results for Q4 2011. Act-On reported 171 new customers in the quarter, and a 405% increase year-over-year in annual recurring revenues.

Headquartered in Beaverton, OR, Act-On said it increased its employee count by more than 600% year-over-year, to continue technology innovation and accommodate its commitment to customer support.

Pardot, a provider of cloud-based marketing automation software, said it completed its most successful quarter and year to date in December 2011, closing out the year by adding 140 new customers in Q4 alone.
The Atlanta, GA-based company experienced a 30% year-over-year growth in new customer sign-ups during 2011. With that record growth last year, Pardot now has more than 800 clients, predominantly in the SMB category.

As the marketing automation space continues to develop, Pardot’s CEO David Cummings told DemandGen Report he expects the company’s growth to continue at a similar or more aggressive pace.

By Mani Iyer, CEO, Kwanzoo, Inc.

In order to find smart ways to identify and nurture prospective customers who visit their web site, B2B companies have been making significant investments in marketing automation and RPM platforms such as Eloqua and Marketo.

LeadMD, a provider of marketing automation services, announced its acquisition of Marketing Engine, a CRM services company that specializes in Salesforce.com implementation. With the acquisition, LeadMD said it will expand its marketing-to-sales solution that includes process development, integration of CRM and marketing automation software, demand generation best practices and content development. The acquisition includes all of Marketing Engine’s intellectual property, customer relationships, and employees including Founder and Principal, Tyeson Cluff.

Rainmaker Systems, Inc., a global provider of B2B e-commerce solutions, today announced enhancements to its B2B e-Commerce solution. The company’s solutions are designed to drive online sales and renewals for products, subscriptions and training for clients and their channel partners.

By Joe Payne, CEO, Eloqua

CRM, PPC, SEO, SaaS – the demand generation industry is an acronym-filled world. In case you missed it, the acronym receiving quite a bit of attention this past year has been RPM (Revenue Performance Management). A business category on the rise, Revenue Performance Management is a strategy for managing a company’s interactions with buyers through the entire purchase process to enable more predictable and rapid revenue growth.

Neolane, a provider of conversational marketing technology, today announced it has closed a $27 million financing round, led by Battery Ventures. Other investors include Auriga Partners, XAnge and Gilles Queru. 

The company said it plans to use the funding to aggressively expand its reach, particularly in North America, and enhance its sales, marketing and product development efforts.

“Neolane has successfully carved out an impressive footprint within the marketing technology space,” said Morad Elhafed, Vice President, Battery Ventures. “We are impressed with the financial discipline that drove profitability for the company in 2011, its measured approach to corporate expansion, and Neolane’s ability to drive consistent and impressive revenues.  We are optimistic about Neolane’s expansion goals and the overall future growth trajectory of this category.”

KnowledgeVision Systems, a provider of cloud-based tools and services for creating online, on-demand and live multimedia presentations, has closed an additional $2 million in Series A financing from a group of investors led by GrandBanks Capital. The company said it plans to use the new funds to strengthen its market positioning and support global expansion.

The Concord, MA-based company’s tools — KVStudio and Knovio — are designed to enable users to create synchronized online video and audio presentations that combine their best communicators with PowerPoint slides, web pages and applications and supplemental material, and make them available from web browsers and mobile devices anytime, anywhere.

Callidus Software Inc. a provider of sales effectiveness and cloud computing solutions, today announced its acquisition LeadFormix, a marketing automation and lead management vendor. The company acquired LeadFormix for approximately $9 million in cash, subject to final adjustments as set forth in the Agreement, according to a company press release.

Silicon Valley-based LeadFormix offers the Marketing Automation 2.0 solution, designed to help marketers convert anonymous online visits into qualified sales leads, and determine web site visitor interest and intent. Designed to drive collaboration between marketing, inside sales and field sales, the solution also features business intelligence and data mining technology.