I watched with interest the developing "scandal" over at VentureBeat regarding an article written by the CEO of LeadMD called How to choose the right marketing automation tools. This article sparked a great deal of controversy because LeadMD primarily resells one vendor - Marketo. This discovery led to an article / interview with the CEO of Eloqua (Joe Chernov) entitled What the !@#$ is marketing automation?, which is certainly my favorite title of the month. In this post Joe attempts to define the Marketing Automation category.
What I find so interesting about this entire debacle is not the fact that a service provider attempted to further their position by writing a semi-prejudiced post about a vendor they resell, but rather the continued confusion over what the category of Marketing Automation actually is and what vendors in this category actually do.
In the first question Dylan Tweeny, the Executive Editor of VentureBeat asks "Marketing automation sounds like another name for lead generation and customer relationship management. What’s the difference?". To me this question perfectly illustrates the nit I am picking at - people do not understand the category of Marketing Automation. I believe the reason for the confusion is because the name Marketing Automation is completely incorrect. What Marketo, Eloqua and their brethren do is not marketing automation, but rather lead automation. This is a critically important function and they do it well, but let's be clear about one thing, it is not MARKETING AUTOMATION its LEAD AUTOMATION and there is a HUGE difference. True marketing automation is
Now I don't suppose Gartner, Forrester or any of the analysts are going to change the name of the category because I am picking nits, but you never know.
What I find so interesting about this entire debacle is not the fact that a service provider attempted to further their position by writing a semi-prejudiced post about a vendor they resell, but rather the continued confusion over what the category of Marketing Automation actually is and what vendors in this category actually do.
In the first question Dylan Tweeny, the Executive Editor of VentureBeat asks "Marketing automation sounds like another name for lead generation and customer relationship management. What’s the difference?". To me this question perfectly illustrates the nit I am picking at - people do not understand the category of Marketing Automation. I believe the reason for the confusion is because the name Marketing Automation is completely incorrect. What Marketo, Eloqua and their brethren do is not marketing automation, but rather lead automation. This is a critically important function and they do it well, but let's be clear about one thing, it is not MARKETING AUTOMATION its LEAD AUTOMATION and there is a HUGE difference. True marketing automation is
- Multi-channel (both analog and digital mediums)
- Supports branding and demand generation tactics
- Supports lead management
- Relies on cross channel reporting and analytics to drive decisions
Now I don't suppose Gartner, Forrester or any of the analysts are going to change the name of the category because I am picking nits, but you never know.
Powered by Compendium
Comments for Picking nits on the term Marketing Automation
blog comments powered by Disqus