Marketing Automation Leader Act-On Keeps Creativity in Platform

While marketing automation software goes to great lengths to simplify marketing processes by automating repetitive tasks, there is one inherent flaw in most automation software, according to industry leader Act-On.

“Marketers by their nature are creative,” David Appelbaum, CMO of Act-On, told TMCnet. “There is a very strong creative impact that marketers bring to their jobs and most marketing automation solutions completely ignore the fact that marketing is a creative discipline.”

Since 2009, Act-On – an integrated online marketing platform – has been equipping marketers with marketing automation tools that allow them to express their creativity while still generating the kinds of leads and reporting they need.

Act-On’s cloud-based integrated marketing platform is rapidly becoming the foundation for successful marketing departments in organizations of all sizes, according to company officials. Its user interface, Instant-On database, and complete online marketing tool set, have contributed to the accelerated adoption of marketing automation technologies by smaller marketing teams without dedicated database maintenance, process analysis and IT support.

“What we see is that many marketing automation vendors are very focused on the analytics but nobody in the marketplace is actually there yet,” Appelbaum said.  “Our goal is to fundamentally change that – make it easy enough and focused enough so that our organizations can utilize all of the solutions that we provide.”

Act-On offers a full suite of services that automates email, provides website analytics, manages Web form design and oversees social media prospecting. The company also provides marketers with necessary analytics and reports.

The entire marketing automation process from Act-On is also highly simplified so that marketers can deploy and become fluent with the system in a matter of minutes.

“We understand that marketers are not accountants or IT experts,” Appelbaum said. “With our software, you do not have to spend nine hours of online training to use the product; one hour of training is all that’s required. The goal is to make it simple, easy, accessible, and focused on the three things marketers need most:  brand, lead generation and analysis reporting.”

Act-On’s simplified marketing automation software has found a home in companies across all verticals and of all sizes. Whether it’s large or small enterprises, Act-On provides toolsets that are adequate for all types of companies, according to Appelbaum.

Some of Act-On’s customers include Progressive Insurance, IBM, Cisco (News - Alert) and Siemen.

So what can we expect from Act-On during the rest of 2011?

“Continued growth,” Appelbaum said. “You can expect continued integration with other leading sales and marketing technologies that help to enable marketers to do their jobs better.”

Act-On is also looking to expand its geographic penetration – by dabbling in the UK and Asian markets —and expanding its number of partners.

“When you begin to look at this particular space, you see that for all the noise and for all the general hubbub around marketing automation, it’s still a very poorly performing market sector because a majority of the vendors don’t acknowledge that marketing is a not a binary function.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.