Recently we explored how marketing was rapidly becoming the most powerful and resource-rich function in any business and also how the Future of Marketing is in the Cloud.  This touched on how marketing was changing and the rise of new disciplines such as influencer marketing and content marketing within the whole move to data-driven marketing.
We also recently looked at the metrics that marketers are now swamped with and at the increasing importance of differentiating between relatively meaningless social metrics and indicators of real attention or influence. Also in looking at how to understand what successful marketing really looks likes – we gave some insight on the theory behind our #CloudInfluence rankings.
We thought it appropriate then to follow up with a #CloudInfluence special report this month on marketing, to look at who the real influencers are that are grabbing all the attention in this field. We understand that while there are a number of cloud marketing services that are growing rapidly, not all marketing is yet cloud-based. At the same time traditional disciplines such as Web Content Management (WCM) are maturing and evolving into a broad set of interconnected data-driven marketing disciplines. Our analysis, while time specific (looking at the last 60-90 days), seeks to encompass this whole spectrum and focus on those firms and individuals that are influencing the agenda in marketing, rather than just achieving their own marketing ends.
#CloudInfluence Marketing Companies
All the major cloud marketing firms understand the importance of influencer marketing as a key component of the current marketing framework. All are seeking to provide a service or solution to help their clients promote themselves and are at the same time vying for prominence and attention themselves. While the rankings provide a snapshot of current prominence that favours companies with recent major announcements, these firms all need to be making such newsworthy announcements on a regular basis in order to grab attention and maintain their profile and prominence.
Timing on this occasion favours Oracle and Adobe – both are not only key marketing platform providers, but are also ones that have announced recent major enhancements.
Zia Consulting, a provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Intelligent Document Capture solutions, made a big recent play of its new strategic partnership with SeeUnity, the content integration experts. Similarly WPP’s Data Alliance, the WPP company that supports the group’s data business, made an announcement to promote its deepening partnership with Facebook to provide new data-driven solutions that can deliver personalisation at scale on Facebook.
Most vendors have a real mixture of stakeholders in their ecosystem from their own employees and executives, to technology and integration partners as well as marketing agencies and in-house client marketing departments. Enabling positive advocacy across each of these constituencies is essential. In particular however, partner ecosystems will have a major role in determining the long term winners and losers in the market. Not all players have their partner strategy right, but some do: for example Perficient in 5th in the rankings rose to prominence having become a Sitecore Platinum Implementation Partner, while BrainJocks in 11th gained coverage for becoming a Sitecore Gold Implementation Partner.
It’s not just the software vendors that are partnering in this way. The Accident Data Center (ADC), an online resource for people who have been involved in recent motor-vehicle crashes, has launched a Sponsor Network, providing injury attorneys with exclusive advertising and content-marketing opportunities.
As other players make big announcements the rankings will change (and we may revisit this topic again in the future). Rather than blame the rankings or this current snapshot, any firms that do not appear should be asking themselves why they are not more visible. In such a fragmented and competitive market that is in a critical growth phase, all players should be seeking to be as visible as possible and all should understand the importance of grabbing attention and achieving real influence.
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