ActiveCampaign B2B Marketing HubSpot marketing automation marketing automation systems Marketing Marketo Pardot SharpSpring
5 Most Popular Marketing Automation Systems among B2B Companies
By ActiveCampaign, B2B Marketing, HubSpot, marketing automation, marketing automation systems, Marketing, Marketo, Pardot, SharpSpring
As your company starts growing, you will find it more difficult to maintain 1:1 relationship with your customers. Your marketing program will become too complex to handle only with Outlook, Word, and Excel spreadsheets and this is when marketing automation comes to the rescue.
In a 2018 survey on marketing automation statistics, Emailmonday reported that 51% of companies are currently using marketing automation while a majority (58%) of B2B companies are planning to adopt the technology. Marketo defines marketing automation as “a category of technology that allows companies to streamline, automate, and measure marketing tasks and workflows, so they can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster”. If you also want to forget about having to manually press “send” on each and every email or message you create but still offer your customers a personalized experience with your business, the only thing left to do is to choose a marketing automation system.
What to consider when choosing a marketing automation system?
According to a report published by Adestra, when deciding what marketing automation system best suits your business needs, you should consider: the ease of implementation (64%), technical support (42%) and cross-platform integration (41%). Ascend2 took the analysis one step further and reported that analytics and reporting (52%), campaign management (46%) and lead nurturing (46%) are considered the most useful marketing automation features.
From our experience, before making a decision on what marketing automation system is the right one for your business, you should take all the above mentioned factors into account but also check these systems in terms of costs, ease of use and their unique selling arguments.
Looking at the results published by Finances Online and Trust Radius, the most popular marketing automation systems are: HubSpot, SharpSpring, Marketo, Pardot (Salesforce product) and ActiveCampaign.
To invest or not to invest in a marketing automation system?
From our experience, it is very important to carefully review and understand the true cost of using the marketing automation system, including all the hidden costs for onboarding, training, implementation and continued support after the initial installation. Let’s have a look at the offers of the top marketing automation systems on the market, emphasizing their unique selling arguments.
With an annual billing plan starting at $15,000 (no setup fees), Pardot was founded by Salesforce only as a B2B marketing automation system and is the most expensive system on the market. This price is justified especially by the coverage of up to 10,000 contacts in your database, a number 10 times higher than the other marketing automation systems considered here. In addition to this, other features included in this plan are:
- real-time sales alerts;
- customizable board available for measuring and tracking campaign outcomes;
- easy-to-use segmentation wizard;
- generating only high-quality leads.
Although its annual billing plan starts at $12,600 (including an one-time onboarding fee of $3,000), HubSpot ranks first on every list of customers’ preferences. Let’s see what you get in this package:
- coverage for 1,000 contacts in your database;
- an all-in-one inbound marketing and sales software;
- easy-to-use interface;
- compact and ready-to-use marketing funnel.
The next system in terms of costs is SharpSpring, with annual costs starting at $7,200 (including an one-time onboarding fee of $1,800). Unlike HubSpot that requires an annual subscription, SharpSpring offers a month-to-month billing basis that includes:
- coverage for 1,500 contacts in your database;
- fully optimized for mobile usage;
- dynamic forms for lead capturing;
- excellent client support.
One of the best money-for-value marketing automation systems is provided by ActiveCampaign. Unlike HubSpot or SharpSpring, ActiveCampaign offers both an annual and a monthly payment, with costs starting at $588 (paid yearly and no setup fees) or of $840 (paid monthly and no setup fees). This package includes:
- coverage for maximum of 1,000 contacts in your database;
- intuitive automation builder with a drag-and-drop flowchart tool;
- focus on customized “smart content”;
- fully-featured sales CRM suite.
Unlike the marketing automation systems presented so far, Marketo’s pricing plans are available only on a quote basis. Let’s have a look at its features the users consider most valuable:
- installing social components to the emails via the “Forward to Friend” functionality;
- creating beautiful landing pages with data capture forms;
- native integrations with leading CRM and productivity service providers;
- fully optimized for social marketing.
Final thoughts
All marketing automation tools help you identify your audience, design the right content, and automatically trigger actions based on schedules and customer behavior. Depending on your business needs and commercial objectives, you should choose the marketing automation system that best fits your marketing strategy. Get in touch with us today and our dedicated team will help you make this decision.
Latest Posts
Categories
- B2B Marketing (170)
- blog (147)
- Social media marketing (66)
- social media (51)
- Marketing (42)
- Lead Generation (39)
- Digital Marketing (30)
- Lead Generation (28)
- Press releases (28)
- Marketing Strategy (27)
- Behind the Scenes (26)
- Marketing (21)
- Strategy (21)
- marketing automation (21)
- Content Marketing (17)
- content marketing (16)
- B2B (14)
- Business continuity (14)
- PR Communication (13)
- B2B business (12)
- Business Growth (11)
- Marketing News (11)
- Marketing Planning (11)
- online marketing (11)
- Employer Branding (10)
- Marketing Automation Tool (9)
- SEO (9)
- White papers (9)
- b2b lead generation (8)
- b2b tactics (8)
- crisis management (8)
- inbound marketing (8)
- online PR (8)
- B2B email marketing (7)
- E-books (7)
- HubSpot (7)
- Pinterest (7)
- Twitter (7)
- b2b strategy (7)
- marketing plan (7)
- social networks (7)
- B2B companies (6)
- Business Development (6)
- Facebook (6)
- Webinar Recording (6)
- b2b business objectives (6)
- b2b sales (6)
- b2b social media (6)
- marketing objectives in b2b (6)
- marketing tips (6)
- sales prospecting (6)
- Conversion Rate (5)
- Events (5)
- Facebook page (5)
- HubSpot Certified Agency (5)
- IT (5)
- Marketing Management (5)
- Social Media Strategy (5)
- b2b strategies (5)
- internationalisation (5)
- marketing automation for B2B businesses (5)
- Cost per Lead (4)
- Digital Influence (4)
- Email Marketing (4)
- Instagram (4)
- LinkedIn (4)
- NNC Services (4)
- Tech Startup (4)
- Tech Startup Marketing Strategy (4)
- Uncategorized (4)
- automated marketing (4)
- b2b best practices (4)
- b2b prospecting (4)
- b2b sales plan (4)
- best practices during crisis (4)
- content strategy (4)
- digital communication strategy (4)
- market entry (4)
- marketing automation systems (4)
- personal branding (4)
- proactive marketing (4)
- social media marketing campaign (4)
- technology marketing (4)
- B2B Blogging (3)
- B2B Marketing Budget (3)
- Financial (3)
- Google+ (3)
- Hubspot Portal audit (3)
- Internal Marketing (3)
- Lead Generation Trends (3)
- Pardot (3)
- SMB international Business Models (3)
- Tech (3)
- Video Content (3)
- Video Marketing Strategy (3)
- b2b customer aquisition (3)
- barriers to entry (3)
- brand engagement (3)
- business plan (3)
- buyer persona (3)
- demand generation (3)
- doing business abroad (3)
- employer brand (3)
- employer branding strategy (3)
- marketing automation strategy (3)
- marketing content (3)
- online demand (3)
- outsourcing (3)
- prospects (3)
- social media trends (3)
- tech business (3)
- trends (3)
- 4P’s (2)
- Agile Marketing (2)
- B2B Contacts (2)
- B2B digital agency (2)
- B2B marketing campaigns (2)
- B2B presentations (2)
- Customer-Centric (2)
- DIY business (2)
- Digital Transformation (2)
- Facebook content (2)
- Hubspot Inbound (2)
- Hubspot marketing portal (2)
- IT recruitment (2)
- Internship (2)
- Landing Page (2)
- LinkedIn marketing strategy (2)
- Marketing Trends (2)
- Microsoft Dynamics (2)
- PPC (2)
- PPT (2)
- Pardot to HubSpot Migration (2)
- Product Marketing (2)
- SEO Strategies for B2B Companies (2)
- SEO trends (2)
- SMART (2)
- SMB (2)
- SME (2)
- Sales Automation (2)
- Sales Automation Tools (2)
- Telemarketing (2)
- Tumblr (2)
- action plan (2)
- b2b blogging (2)
- b2b planning (2)
- b2b tradeshow (2)
- banking (2)
- blogging (2)
- business communities (2)
- business management (2)
- celebrities (2)
- client presentations (2)
- company presentation rules (2)
- context marketing (2)
- corporate presentations (2)
- customer research (2)
- employee value proposition (2)
- employer value proposition (2)
- entertainment industry (2)
- free marketing tools (2)
- fundraising (2)
- gdpr (2)
- how to present in front of customers (2)
- how to write a presentation (2)
- inbound leads (2)
- leading marketing automation tools (2)
- marketing audit (2)
- marketing outsourcing (2)
- marketing portfolio audit (2)
- marketing segmentation (2)
- networking communities (2)
- nonprofits (2)
- online communities (2)
- online strategies (2)
- outbound marketing (2)
- outsourced marketing (2)
- presentation structure (2)
- product audit (2)
- product portfolio (2)
- promotion (2)
- sales enablement (2)
- sales funnel (2)
- segmentation (2)
- service marketing (2)
- slideshows (2)
- storytelling (2)
- succes management (2)
- supporters (2)
- targeting (2)
- tourism industry (2)
- tradeshow attendance (2)
- tradeshow objectives (2)
- tradeshow results (2)
- tradeshow strategy (2)
- visual content (2)
- 2014 (1)
- ABM Strategy (1)
- ActiveCampaign (1)
- AdidasOriginal (1)
- Android (1)
- B2B Campaigns (1)
- B2B Email Marketing Campaigns (1)
- B2B Marketing Collaterals (1)
- B2B e-mail copy (1)
- B2B e-mail marketing (1)
- BWBB (1)
- Blockchain (1)
- Blockchain Technologies (1)
- Business Intelligence (1)
- Business Strategy (1)
- CTA button (1)
- Channel Integration (1)
- Design Thinking Model (1)
- Direct Marketing (1)
- Dreamforce 2017 (1)
- Drip Marketing Campaign (1)
- Dynamics 365 (1)
- Dynamics 365 marketing (1)
- Dynamics Marketing (1)
- E-Commerce (1)
- Eastern Central Europe (1)
- Eastern Europe (1)
- Employee Feedback (1)
- Event management (1)
- External Marketing (1)
- Facebook Apps (1)
- Facebook marketing (1)
- Freemium SaaS (1)
- Go-to-Market (1)
- Go-to-Market Strategies (1)
- Google AdWords (1)
- Google Analytics (1)
- HR planning (1)
- Hubspot Outbound (1)
- Hubspot Sales portal (1)
- IT marketing (1)
- IT outsourcing (1)
- IT service price (1)
- Innovation (1)
- Integrated Marketing (1)
- Intel (1)
- Lead Gen Automation Tools (1)
- LeadGeneration (1)
- Linkedin Groups (1)
- Machine Learning (1)
- Market Entry Strategy (1)
- Market Research (1)
- Marketing Automation Migration (1)
- Marketing Metrics (1)
- Marketing Results (1)
- Marketing frameworks (1)
- Marketing vs Sales (1)
- Marketo (1)
- Medium Companies (1)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 (1)
- Networking (1)
- Online Events (1)
- Organizational culture (1)
- Paid Advertising (1)
- Pay-per-Click (1)
- Personalized messages (1)
- Pictures (1)
- Price (1)
- ROI (1)
- Recruitment Marketing (1)
- RevOps (1)
- Romanian content marketers (1)
- SaaS (1)
- Salesforce (1)
- Salesforce Partners (1)
- SharpSpring (1)
- Small Business (1)
- Social Proof (1)
- Tactics (1)
- Target (1)
- Tech events (1)
- Template (1)
- Till Hahndorf (1)
- VirginAmerica (1)
- Webinar (1)
- Work alternative (1)
- app (1)
- artists (1)
- b2b benchmark (1)
- b2b buyer (1)
- b2b buying process (1)
- b2b customers (1)
- b2b marketing vs sales (1)
- b2b modeling (1)
- b2b price (1)
- b2b video marketing (1)
- b2b viral campaign (1)
- benghmarking (1)
- brand advocates (1)
- business (1)
- buyer behaviour in b2b (1)
- buyer journey (1)
- buyer motivation (1)
- buyer persona template (1)
- buyers (1)
- call to action (1)
- clients (1)
- cold-calling (1)
- company (1)
- company marketing (1)
- competition (1)
- copywriting (1)
- cybersecuritystrategy (1)
- dan schawbel (1)
- detailed buyer persona (1)
- differentiators (1)
- e-mail campaigns (1)
- e-mail message and copy (1)
- eCommerce Marketing (1)
- employer brand experience (1)
- employer of choice (1)
- entrepreneurs (1)
- environmental marketing (1)
- fans (1)
- gdpr benefits (1)
- gdpr benefits for marketing (1)
- go-to-market channels (1)
- green marketing (1)
- hotel (1)
- how to find leads (1)
- how to sell (1)
- hubspot vs pardot (1)
- human resources (1)
- iOS (1)
- inbound marketing services (1)
- inbound marketing vs outbound marketing (1)
- international business (1)
- investment in marketing (1)
- investors (1)
- jamie oliver (1)
- lead generation results (1)
- leads (1)
- letter writing (1)
- like (1)
- market price (1)
- marketing benchmarking (1)
- marketing goals (1)
- marketing investing (1)
- marketing investments (1)
- marketing leadership (1)
- marketing letters (1)
- marketing message (1)
- marketing objectives (1)
- mobile (1)
- mobile marketing (1)
- music (1)
- new business opportunities (1)
- omnichannel marketing (1)
- online reputation (1)
- pardot vs hubspot (1)
- personal branding tips (1)
- personell issues (1)
- photos (1)
- positive employer brand (1)
- price debate (1)
- price negociation (1)
- pricing (1)
- pricing stratey (1)
- product cost (1)
- product price (1)
- promote (1)
- recession tactics (1)
- roadmap (1)
- script (1)
- service price (1)
- services (1)
- setting objectives (1)
- setting the price (1)
- social channels (1)
- social networking (1)
- social platform (1)
- social recruitment (1)
- startup (1)
- subscribers (1)
- sustainability (1)
- talent pool (1)
- tech hub (1)
- tech professionals (1)
- tools (1)
- updates (1)
- viral campaignes (1)
- viral marketing (1)
- viral videos (1)
- visual (1)
- website optimization (1)