Tech Solution: Marketing Resource Management Software

Drowning in data, marketers find it difficult to manage customers in Excel sheets. So they turn to marketing automation software to streamline processes such as lead generation management, CRM, campaign management, and email marketing management. Targeting often-technophobic marketers, software providers have developed more user-friendly products that are accessible at reduced costs -- and many require little or no technology support. Unica MarketingCentral Delivery Model: Web-based software Price: Subscriptions start as low as a couple of hundred dollars per month, and range from $10,000 to $50,000 per year. Business Benefits: MarketingCentral caters to small and midsize businesses, empowering them with a marketing automation tool once previously attainable only by large enterprises. The application provides more efficiency internally for better campaign planning and the ability to reuse past work. With an integrated system, multiple departments can simultaneously work on (and communicate about) a campaign. Functionality: A pure on-demand marketing resource management solution, all of MarketingCentral's tools are flexible and integrated, requiring little to no technological training. Businesses are able to automate various administrative duties including budgeting, scheduling, results tracking, digital asset management, workflow management, event calendars, and scheduling. The software also reports on underperforming campaigns and investments, providing alerts to signal a remedy. Contact: Unica Corp. at 1-877-864-2261; or visit www.unica.com. Alterian Marketing Services Platform Delivery Model: Web-based and installed software Price: Subscriptions start at $50,000 for an average term of three years. Business Benefits: Alterian's Marketing Services Platform provides the opportunity to utilize a whole suite of applications to manage all marketing efforts. The platform is accessible on a drag-and-drop intuitive interface common to all users. Data is accessible across all platform applications, as well as from all channels, departments, and geographic locations. Functionality: Once siloed functions, marketing applications on Alterian's platform share a single data architecture in an integrated environment. Data from all applications is stored in the Alterian Engine, located within Alterian's marketing data infrastructure. Capabilities include analytical and business reporting, campaign manager, customer selection planner, contact optimizer, dynamic messenger, and Alterian Modeling and Modeling-KXEN. Contact: Alterian at 1-312-704-1700; email info@alterian.com; or visit www.alterian.com. SAS Marketing Automation Delivery Model: Web-based and installed software Price: Subscriptions start at $227,000 per year. Business Benefits: Recognizing the limited budgets marketers struggle with, SAS Marketing Automation aims to provide businesses with the tools to distinguish their most valuable customers and direct resources accordingly. Businesses can follow their customers throughout the entire life cycle -- providing more user-friendly analytic capabilities along the way -- and are able to execute their customer communication strategies in a more personalized and timely manner. Functionality: SAS provides an integrated solution that handles various processes involved in marketing: comprehensive data management, campaign management, and advanced customer analytics. Marketing Automation is part of SAS Customer Intelligence solutions, which can be extended through integration with other SAS solutions: SAS Marketing Optimization, SAS Interaction Management, and SAS Digital Marketing. Contact: SAS Institute at 1-919-677-8000; or visit www.sas.com. Contact Editorial Assistant Jessica Tsai at jtsai@destinationCRM.com.

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