By Matt McKenzie, Contributing Editor

Marketing software provider Vocus announced last week that it had acquired iContact, a provider of cloud-based email and social marketing software. The $159 million purchase is expected to be of particular interest to B2B marketers working at small and midsized firms — the primary target market for both companies today.

Vocus originated as a provider of software and services to PR professionals. In recent years, however, the company expanded its cloud-based offering to include a broader suite of marketing-oriented products that embrace social media, search, and publicity tools (including its 2006 purchase of PRWeb) designed for marketers as small and midsized firms.

By Jesse Noyes, Corporate Reporter, Eloqua

Maybe no one needs to sell you on content marketing.

You’ve got some guidance on how to map content to the buyer’s journey. But perhaps you’re still wondering what tools can help make the path smoother.

From blogging to email, there are so many touches in the journey from someone first finding your content to becoming a customer that it can feel overwhelming. These 6 technologies can make delivering, optimizing and measuring your content easier.

Aprimo reported new data-integration capabilities for Aprimo Relationship Manager (ARM), the company's suite of marketing automation tools designed to create and manage multi-channel marketing campaigns.

The new feature, called Extended Data Source (xDS), will be integrated with existing campaign management and analytics capabilities built into the ARM platform. Marketers can use xDS to pull information from third-party databases – including data from service desks, inbound and outbound call centers, and transactional systems – into a Teradata database that serves as a central data-storage repository. A marketing organization can then use this integrated data within new or existing ARM marketing campaigns.

Aprimo reported new data-integration capabilities for Aprimo Relationship Manager (ARM), the company's suite of marketing automation tools designed to create and manage multi-channel marketing campaigns.

The new feature, called Extended Data Source (xDS), will be integrated with existing campaign management and analytics capabilities built into the ARM platform. Marketers can use xDS to pull information from third-party databases – including data from service desks, inbound and outbound call centers, and transactional systems – into a Teradata database that serves as a central data-storage repository. A marketing organization can then use this integrated data within new or existing ARM marketing campaigns.

DemandGen Report (DGR) has announced additional speakers for its first annual Content2Conversion Conference, to be held Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at the Times Center in New York City.

Executives added to the list of presenters include: Matthew Papertisan, Research Director, Demand Generation Strategies at SiriusDecisions; Elle Woulfe, Senior Marketing Manager at Eloqua; and Ruth Stevens, eMarketing expert and author. The C2C Conference was developed to provide marketers with optimal resources to strategize, develop and promote collateral that drives lead and demand generation.

By Matt McKenzie, Contributing Editor

What defines a successful marketing automation initiative? When it comes to lead generation, it's largely a matter of focusing on quality over quantity, according to a new study from Gleanster Research.

Gleanster's Gleansight Marketing Automation report surveyed more than 300 companies that have adopted marketing automation technology. Within that group, Gleanster analysts then identified top-performing companies, based on year-over-year improvements in three key areas: reductions in per-lead costs, increased customer acquisition rates, and increased return on marketing investments.

By comparing these top-performing organizations against others in the study, Gleanster analysts identified a number of differences in terms of why companies turn to marketing automation technology and what challenges they face along the way.

Anticipation of the iPad3 has initiated a great deal of industry conversation about the role of tablets as a business tool. Industry estimates indicate that less than 2% of iPad apps available are truly for commercial business use.

According to Forrester Research forecasts, enterprises will spend 58% more on Apple hardware in 2012 than they did 2011 – an estimated $19 billion. Moreover, the research firm expects that figure to reach $28 billion by 2013.The potential to utilize tablets in a sales transaction is largely untapped due to a lack of software available to optimize the device’s functionality.

By Bryan Brown, Director of Product Strategy, Silverpop

Adding contacts to your prospect list is the necessary first step in building a comprehensive database of preference and behaviors that will enable marketers to send automated, triggered and highly relevant messages. People are accessing more channels than ever — whether it’s email, social media, web sites or their smartphones and tablets.

Webcasting is a familiar tool for many B2B marketers. When software giant SAP partnered with ON24 for a recent webcasting initiative, however, it got a powerful reminder of the impact this technology can have on customer conversion rates and bottom-line revenue.

SAP is widely recognized as a leading enterprise software provider. Since its founding in 1972, the German-based company had grown to include more than 54,000 employees in 50 countries, serving a worldwide customer base exceeding 183,000. For SAP customers, partners, employees and independent experts, the company's SAP Community Network (SCN) represents a unique and valuable business resource.

Webcasting is a familiar tool for many B2B marketers. When software giant SAP partnered with ON24 for a recent webcasting initiative, however, it got a powerful reminder of the impact this technology can have on customer conversion rates and bottom-line revenue.

SAP is widely recognized as a leading enterprise software provider. Since its founding in 1972, the German-based company had grown to include more than 54,000 employees in 50 countries, serving a worldwide customer base exceeding 183,000. For SAP customers, partners, employees and independent experts, the company's SAP Community Network (SCN) represents a unique and valuable business resource.