News

For as long as marketers have been compiling customer records, those records have been inaccurate and incomplete. A retail marketing executive, for example, recently said that in the process of cleaning up its database the company discovered hundreds of customers with the same email address: 123@aol.com. His anecdote elicited nervous laughter from many in the audience as they recognized that their customer records were also in need of some housekeeping.

Database integrity isn’t just a B2C issue, and the problem can be even more complex in a B2B environment as people change jobs, titles or responsibilities and records quickly become outdated. In addition, B2B buyers are least as likely as B2C buyers to use tactics such as entering wrong email addresses or phone numbers to avoid a follow-up from a salesperson as they research new products or services for their companies.

Silverpop, a digital marketing technology vendor, and EPiServer, a provider of digital marketing and e-Commerce solutions, announced plans to integrate their platforms. The integration will enable marketers to more effectively manage their online presence and deliver timely and relevant content to their target audience, said executives from both companies. The integration will also continuously connect each individual’s interactive communications and web site experience, drawing from the set of digital behaviors in the Silverpop Engage database.

Marketers will be able to deliver personalized content to the right audience and get a complete view of how the visitor moves through the entire purchase path.

Bizo, a business audience marketing firm, announced that the company has generated more than $22 million in revenue in 2012. In addition, Bizo said it works with two-thirds of the top 50 B2B brands.

Key milestones that fueled the 2012 success include: Increased customer base by more than 50%; grew headcount by approximately 70%; increased publisher partner ecosystem by 110%; and closed $10 million series B funding.

While not specifically mentioning continued integration with Salesforce.com, Oracle and Eloqua officials pledged ongoing support for multiple CRM systems in a joint statement issued after shareholders approved the deal on Feb. 8. Eloqua users had previously expressed concern about continued integration with Salesforce.

“The open Eloqua platform will continue to support multiple CRM systems,” according to a statement by Joe Payne, CEO of Eloqua, and Steve Miranda, EVP Application Development for Oracle, posted on Eloqua’s It’s All About Revenue blog. “Users will be able to maintain existing integrations without disruption, and keep business running as usual.”

Revenues of B2B marketing automation vendors will grow 50% to reach $750 million in 2013, according to Raab Associates’ just-released B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST). While the growth rate is slightly lower than the 2012 rate of 54%, the dollar increase – $250 million vs. $175 million – is substantial.

“B2B marketing automation continues to grow at a very healthy pace,” said VEST author David M. Raab. “But some of the larger firms are reporting a lower growth rate, and, unlike previous years, we haven’t seen enough growth by industry challengers to raise the industry total.”