Venture Capital investment in Marketing Automation has been at record pace the last 10 years. For instance, ~$700M has gone into the marketing automation segment over that timeframe, with ~$125M already spent in 2014 alone. The Top 3 — Hubspot w/$131M, Marketo w/$108M, InfusionSoft w/$88M.
In addition, there has been ~$7.5B spent on acquisitions of MAP companies since 2010. Top 3 — ExactTarget (w/Pardot) @ $2.5B, Responsys + Eloqua by Oracle @ $2.37B, Neolane by Adobe @ $600M.
The most recent report from SiriusDecisions suggests the technology penetration is in its infancy – with only ~16% of all B2B companies currently using a MAP. However the entrance of industry behemoths such as IBM, Oracle, SFDC, etc, will surely propel the technology to cross the chasm to mass market.
In other words, if you don’t adopt a MAP soon enough you might lose a competitive edge because most likely your competitor is implementing one as we speak.
Just my $0.02.
With over two decades of experience, Parin leads an expert demand-generation agency, StratMg, that helps industrial manufacturing clients achieve unambiguous and quantified organic sales growth across the US, EMEA & APAC.
Parin has built & positioned StratMg to be a value-added marketing services provider that strives to create a culture of quantified sales-driven marketing initiatives leading to sustained business growth through channel management, diversification, new customer acquisition and retention strategies and tactical execution.
