Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Hubspot, Pardot, Eloqua, Mkting Automation Oh My!

Posted by chritz on 4/23/2014 at 4:39 PM ET 125 Points
I'm a one lady marketing show. Looking at the above mentioned marketing automation platforms.
If you have any good, bad or I wish I'd had known experiences with the three systems above your input would be greatly appreciated. I've never used a M.A. system before so I don't know what I don't know, ya know and I want to make the best decision.


My core focuses are on:
Nurturing Campaigns: Existing clients, leads from web and leads from sales (we use salesforce)

Content Customization: being able to use variable data within standardized content. (i.e. email a group basic info then specialize certain content for a segment of that group)

Online lead generation (landing pages via free materials if you give us your contact info)
&
Becoming more customer focused (relevant content for type of person it's going to).

What if any have your experiences been with one or all of theses systems and would you recommend them for a One Person Marketing Department.
Thank you!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by cookmarketing@gmail. on 4/23/2014 at 9:34 PM Member
    Hubspot
  • Posted by tcgren on 4/24/2014 at 3:50 AM Accepted
    You can view a high-level comparison at a couple places on web:
    https://www.thesaleslion.com/marketo-vs-eloqua-pardot-review-compare/
    They did a previous eval of Hubspot in a prior posting.

    The common theme is know what specifically you want out of this and what price, considering must-haves, deal breakers, or just nice-to-haves. I only know some general reviews of these, there are several other comparisons out there. And I agree above that a demo is best, and look at all options (but narrow down to a few to demo to save you some time).
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/24/2014 at 8:19 PM Member
    The main questions are:

    1. What are your immediate needs?
    2. Where do you see yourself in six months, in a year, and in two years?
    3. What kind of flexibility do you need now and what will you need as time goes by?
    4. What kind of longevity and reliability does (or will) your chose platform offer?

    Bear in mind that whatever you place on one of these platforms (content-wise) is only as lasting as the platform itself. If the platform goes south, so does your content.

    Contrary to what you might think you may not need to be seen everywhere, all the time as you make your initial start. You may be better off gaining visibility on just one or two platforms. To do this you may only need visibility via social media, or through linked, ranked, indexed, and shared content from a blog-based website.
  • Posted on 4/28/2014 at 3:08 AM Member
    Dear Chritz,
    I too had same concern. I handle marketing for Brand Design firm. I am only one handling whole marketing for my firm. As it's complex B2B buying process in my field, marketing automation is boon for me. As I am the only person handling sales as well as marketing, I've no choice than using tools for my various work. Otherwise it'd be impossible for single person to manage all activities. My firm is very small so budget was main concern for us. I solved it with set of different tools offering free packages. This method has few disadvantages as it becomes complex to manage them at a time. If you are looking for single tool and have sufficient budget, I'll suggest you to go for MARKETO or ACT-ON. ACT-ON is good if you are small firm or start-up(companies having low budgets). Otherwise, MARKETO is good. They offer you free subscription for certain time. You can evaluate these tools yourself. You can call their sales team and can ask for demo. I've taken demo from almost all of them.
    Please let me know which tool you finalized, your experience with that tool, reason to finalize it etc. Because I haven't bought any tool yet. I am still managing with free tools so that I accomplish my objective and company doesn't have to pay anything for it.
    Wish you best of luck!
    Regards,
    -Shrikant
  • Posted by links on 5/5/2014 at 11:06 AM Member
    I have researched several of these all-in-one platforms since they are very enticing, but in the end decided to just pick and choose each piece of software to use. Some of the reasons were:

    1. Lack of control. Most don't allow you too much customization.

    2. Costs. Pricing seemed inflated.

    3. You might lose some of the features if you cancel. For example, your newsletter list.

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