As noted in a recent Demand Gen Report article, B2B buyers are now using a wider range of sources than ever before to research their purchases. It's part of a trend that will have profound implications for sales and marketing professionals.

That's the key takeaway from a recent webinar –  An Exclusive Look Inside The Mind Of Today's B2B Buyer,” – that featured speakers from Demand Gen Report and Act-On Software. During the webinar, Andrew Gaffney, Editor of Demand Gen Report and Atri Chatterjee, CMO of Act-On Software, shared insights to the B2B buying process and the impact of the Web.

Demandbase, a provider of B2B marketing technology solutions, today announced a new online ad-targeting service designed for the business-to-business market.

The company's Demandbase Company-Targeted Advertising platform will allow B2B advertisers to deliver online ads tailored to specific companies or to groups of companies that match particular attributes. The platform also includes measurement and performance analysis tools.

Aprimo yesterday announced the availability of its Digital Messaging Center, a comprehensive cloud-based solution that offers a hub for managing digital messaging activity. The Digital Messaging Center incorporates messaging technology obtained through Teradata’s recent eCircle acquisition.

Aprimo Digital Messaging Center integrates with web analytics tools, CRM platforms, e-commerce systems and in-house databases to provide real-time access to customer preferences and behavioral data from all channels. The solution enables marketers to operate more efficiently, while simultaneously building customer trust by providing automation support in the following areas:

As the marketing automation market matures, it makes sense for vendors to focus more heavily on specialized, industry-specific offerings. That's exactly what Eloqua is doing with its just-released Eloqua Asset Management solution.

Eloqua Asset Management, according to the company, is designed to help "mutual fund wholesalers, institutional asset managers, and marketers within the financial services sector to strengthen relationships while reducing overall marketing costs." The company also claims that its offering is the first of its type to target asset management marketers.

This month's DemandCon event in Boston offered a number of good case-study sessions for B2B marketers. One of the best of these studies showed just how important it is for a content marketing campaign to begin – and end – with a solid grip on B2B marketing fundamentals.

The session in question featured computer hardware maker Lenovo's work with Oceanos, a marketing services firm that focuses primarily on list acquisition, intelligence and marketing support. According to Steve Barnard, Senior Marketing Manager for Lenovo, the objective was to ramp up market share for the company's workstations used in computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) – a relatively profitable product line in a PC market normally defined by razor-thin profit margins.

StrongMail, a provider of email marketing and cross-marketing solutions, today announced an upgrade to its flagship email marketing solutions, Message Studio.  The StrongMail Message Studio 7.1 features new testing, optimization, automation and reporting capabilities.

Yesterday's acquisition of Pardot by email marketing vendor ExactTarget raises some interesting questions – both in terms of what the deal means for other email marketing firms, as well as its implications for ExactTarget in particular.

Earlier today, Demand Gen Report had the chance to speak with Act-On Software CMO Atri Chatterjee, who provided an interesting take on both questions.

ExactTarget yesterday announced plans to acquire marketing automation solution provider Pardot and e-commerce personalization solution provider iGoDigital.

ExactTarget paid $95.5 million in total consideration for Pardot, including $85.5 million in cash and $10.0 million in ExactTarget common stock, and $21.0 million in total consideration for iGoDigital, consisting of $14.7 million in cash and $6.3 million in ExactTarget common stock.