Skedulo Launches Independent Platform, Helps Transform Customer Experience

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March 15, 2018

Serenova Launches Skylight for CRM: CCaaS Integration for Salesforce and Zendesk

Serenova’s Skylight: A New Agent Experience Extends CxEngage’s Omnichannel Functionality to CRM for Increased Agent Productivity and a Personalized Customer Experience

Serenova, a leading contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) and workforce optimization (WFO) provider, released Skylight for CRM with key integrations to Salesforce and Zendesk. The all-new agent experience, included in the latest release of CxEngage, embeds omnichannel interaction and routing capabilities directly into the customer relationship management solution (CRM) to provide agents a single workspace for supporting customer interactions. By combining the advanced CRM functionality and data exchange between Serenova and leading CRM platforms from Salesforce and Zendesk, agents gain the ability to respond to customers based on their full history in any channel – or pivot seamlessly from one to another, as needed, to improve the customer experience.

Also Read: Small Businesses Can Grow and Innovate Faster Thanks To Salesforce Essentials

Customers are increasingly connecting with businesses via digital channels such as chat, mobile applications, SMS, or social media like Facebook Messenger. However, agents struggle with multiple systems that don’t connect to each other, which causes frustrations for the customer as they have to repeat the same information. With Skylight for CRM, the contact center solution is embedded directly within the agent’s CRM interface and interaction data is connected to each customer’s record. With fewer clicks and applications to switch between, agents increase productivity and accuracy – all while being able to support a higher volume of interactions.

Also Read: Adobe’s Survey Highlights the Importance of DMPs

“Customer experience – the totality of customer interaction with your company – has become a primary battleground for organizations, and yet, many are not equipped with the right tools to provide the best service possible. Serenova provides robust pre-built integrations with leading CRM solutions, so agents have the information they need to make customers happy. Based in the cloud, Skylight for CRM can be up and running quickly with plug and play deployment for companies using Salesforce or Zendesk. With one unified agent workspace, contact center agents have what they need to do their job without having to switch back and forth between applications,” said Matt Despain, chief product officer, Serenova

Skylight for CRM offers key contact center functionality directly in the CRM system, including:

Matching inbound and outbound call information with CRM data;
Providing agents the ability to control calls, including, click-to-connect functionality;
Saving call logs automatically when a call ends;
Displaying CRM data via screen pops when interactions are made or received; and
Incorporating call data into the CRM’s reports.

All-Star Speakers for Emma’s Fourth Annual Marketing United Conference

By

Shalaka Nalawade

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March 15, 2018

The Onion’s Mike McAvoy, CNN’s Mel Robbins, and New York Times Best-Selling Author Bob Goff join the likes of Google’s Daniel Sieberg, Voicera’s Cory Treffiletti, Mel Robbins, Jay Acunzo of the ‘Unthinkable’ Podcast and Others

Emma, a provider of best-in-class marketing software and services, is hosting its fourth annual Marketing United Conference. This is the most anticipated marketing event of the year! What with world-class speakers, hands-on learning, and an unbeatable venue in Nashville, Marketing United Conference is set to be your best bet for getting better at your job in 2018.

The conference will take place April from 9 to 11, 2018 at the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville. And this year’s theme, “Tell Your Story,” is said to help equip marketers with best practices for getting the most out of social, video, content, brand, email and more.

While Day One will be a welcome party that will help participants break the ice, Day Two is when the fun begins. After the Opening Remarks by Wellford Dillard, CEO, Emma, award-winning author and columnist Kindra Hall will be speaking about ‘The irresistible power of strategic storytelling’. This will be followed by ‘Going Digital: Effective Storytelling in the Age of Social Media’, an address by Arun Chaudhary, official White House videographer for ex-president Barack Obama.

Cynthia Price, vice president of marketing at Emma, added, “This speaker lineup is an absolute marketing dream team, and I can’t wait to see what happens when they all take the stage. We’re also lucky to have a terrific venue like the Country Music Hall of Fame right in our backyard as the home for Marketing United. It’s a place that combines Nashville’s rich history and creative spirit with some of the most stunning views of the city.”

Some of the interesting sessions include:

Satire in a World of Fake News – The Onion’s Mike McAvoy will discuss how satire is the cure for making consumers smarter and holding media organizations accountable for publishing the best journalism.
The 5 Second Rule – Achieve Breakthrough Performance in Your Career & Life- CNN legal analyst Mel Robbins will explore the science-backed secret to change: the power of five-second decisions.
Choosing to Love Audaciously – Bob Goff, author of the New York Times best-selling book “Love Does,” will connect with audiences in a powerfully inspirational yet down to earth manner. He’ll inspire attendees to stop simply dreaming about change and start doing it.
Why A.I. Voice Is the Future of Branded Communications – Voicera CMO Cory Treffiletti will speak about how regardless of industry, every brand is driven by the same thing: their customers. And thanks to ongoing advancements in technology, artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful vehicle for marketers to better serve their customers.
The Battle for the Inbox: How to Stop Bad Email Once and for All – Colby Cavanaugh, SVP of Marketing, Emma, will get tactical and cover ways to boost subscriber engagement including Segmentation, Design, and Automation.

Other conference highlights include sessions and keynotes by:

Jay Acunzo, host, “Unthinkable” podcast
Travis Wright and Stewart Rogers, hosts of VentureBeat’s VB Engage podcast
Allen Gannett, Founder and CEO, Trackmaven
Chris Sietsema, Digital Marketing Consultant, Teach to Fish Digital
Daniel Sieberg, Senior Marketing Manager, Google
Paul Beck, CMO, storybooth
Aaron Dun, SVP Marketing, SnapApp

“We were blown away by the response to the first Marketing United. It really became a rallying point for marketers who want to get better at what they do and who share our view that great marketing starts with being genuinely helpful to your customers. Marketing United is a big part of our commitment to the broader marketing community and a natural extension of our belief that we do our best work when we do it together,” said Clint Smith, co-founder and CEO of Emma.

Marketing United 2016 also offers an opportunity for attendees to give back through an interactive, virtual reality experience with Emma customer charity: water, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring clean drinking water to every person on the planet.

Also Read: Have Your Best Email Marketing Year Ever by Focusing on Engagement

Marketo’s New Accelerate Partners Help Marketers Intelligently Engage Through Every Stage of Buyer’s Journey

By

PRNewswire

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March 15, 2018

Marketo’s new class of partners, includes Ceros, CleverTouch, Folloze, Lattice Engines, LeanData, nFusz, and PFL.com.

Marketo, the leading provider of engagement marketing software and solutions, welcomed seven new partners to Marketo Accelerate, the MarTech industry’s first partner accelerator. This new class of partners, including Ceros, CleverTouch, Folloze, Lattice Engines, LeanData, nFusz, and PFL.com, integrate into the Marketo Engagement PlatformTM to allow marketers to create and deliver personalized experiences to their customers across all channels throughout the buyers’ journey.

Also Read: Marketo Announces “The Fearless Marketer” as the Theme of Marketing Nation Summit 2018

Shai Alfandary

“Marketers have surpassed being a cost center and are now truly revenue drivers. Each new partner who joins our ecosystem increases the ability of marketers to more closely align with sales and deliver results. These seven companies are great examples of that,” said Shai Alfandary, vice president, global head ISVs & Launchpoint ecosystem, Marketo.

Also Read: Dialpad Launches Call Center to Help Modern Businesses Build a Superior Customer Experience

From lead routing, data-driven insight into KPIs and attribution, to auto-personalized content, interactive design and videos, AI for audience engagement, and customized direct mail, Ceros, CleverTouch, Folloze, Lattice Engines, LeanData, nFusz, and PFL.com allow marketers to more intelligently engage with customers at all stages of the funnel.

Also Read: Marketo Moves into a New Office in Denver with a Clear ‘Purple’ Vision for 2018

Announced last year, Marketo Accelerate is part of Marketo’s robust, best-in-class partner ecosystem, Launchpoint. The program provides partners with full access to the Marketo Engagement Platform, sales enablement activities, co-marketing activities, and more to drive growth for their business. Marketo, Inc., offers the leading Engagement Platform that empowers marketers to create lasting relationships and grow revenue. Consistently recognized as the industry’s innovation pioneer, Marketo is the trusted platform for thousands of CMOs thanks to its scalability, reliability, and openness.

Allbound Triples Business, Grows Leadership Team as Partner Programs Fueled by Modern Software Are Imperative to Success

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PRNewswire

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March 15, 2018

Growth Spurred by Customer Results as PRM Software Becomes Critical to MarTech Stack

Allbound, the leading next-generation partner relationship management (PRM) platform, announced the results of a record fiscal year, tripling annual recurring revenue (ARR) year-over-year while surpassing 100 customers. With the announcement, some of the leading companies in the world have chosen Allbound as their top vendor to deliver value for their channel partners, resellers, and distributors.

Mike Chadwick

“The performance demonstrates that regardless of size, industry or geography, indirect sales and channel partner programs are a top priority for businesses and software to manage those programs is just as critical. The PRM space is quickly becoming a critical component of companies’ marketing and sales technology stacks, much like customer relationship management (CRM) software did nearly two decades ago,” said Mike Chadwick, CEO, Allbound.

Allbound’s growth has in large part been fueled by the success of their customers, as recently displayed from their recognition as the leader in the Partner Management Software category by customer review website, G2Crowd. To align with their growth and maintain their industry-leading levels of customer satisfaction, Allbound has more than doubled the size of their customer success team over the past quarter.

“We’re thrilled about the company’s performance in 2017, but more than that, we’re excited to partner with some of the most innovative brands in the world to help drive success for their partners and customers,” said Scott Salkin, Allbound founder.

Also Read: Allbound Appoints Mike Chadwick as New CEO, Announces Additional Fundraising

In addition to new business growth, Allbound also announced the hiring of several key employees expanding the company’s leadership team. Jen Gray has joined Allbound as Vice President of Marketing and Denise Newberry as Director of Customer Success.

Gray joins Allbound from leading Silicon Valley referral software company, Extole, where she served most recently as Director of Marketing and Business Development. As Vice President of Marketing, Gray will be responsible for global go-to-market and demand generation strategies as Allbound looks to further accelerate its growth.

Newberry joins the company from leading physical therapy SaaS company, WebPT (https://www.webpt.com/), where she served as the Manager of Member Success. As Allbound’s Director of Customer Success, Newberry will oversee the strategy and execution of the company’s full customer lifecycle, from onboarding and implementation through continuous value-added activities and renewal management.

“Jen and Denise are two of those rare talents who bring both sharp operational excellence and strategic thinking to all aspects of our business – we’re lucky to have them on our team,” said Chadwick.

Recommended Read: Interview with Scott Salkin, CEO & Founder – Allbound

GlobalWide Media Joins TUNE Certified Partner Program to Advance Mobile Marketing Standards

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March 14, 2018

GlobalWide Media Joins TUNE Certified Partner Program to Advance Mobile Marketing Standards

The Latest Partnership with TUNE’s HasOffers Platform to Provide Increased Value for Partners and Customers

GlobalWide Media (GWM), a leader in data-driven digital marketing, has announced that it has joined the TUNE Certified Partner Program. The program, run by TUNE, the leader in mobile marketing measurement, honors integrated advertising partners who have demonstrated their commitment to upholding unbiased and trustworthy standards in mobile marketing.

Recommended Read: Five DIY Activities to Become a B2B Content Rockstar

At the time of this announcement, Ryan Buma, Chief Commercial Officer at TUNE, said, “The TUNE Certified Partner Program establishes and furthers industry best practices for mobile marketing. GlobalWide Media has demonstrated its commitment to providing mobile marketers with the utmost level of transparency, service, and value, we’re pleased to welcome them to the program. I applaud their commitment and dedication to helping mobile marketers, and the industry as a whole, succeed.”

GlobalWide Media Joins a League of Committed Mobile Marketing and Mobile Advertising Companies

As a member of the TUNE Certified Partner Program, GWM joins a group of mobile marketing and advertising companies who support mobile marketing best practices for the benefit of all marketers. This certification furthers GWM’s efforts in support of brand safety, quality inventory and transparency.

By supporting mobile marketing best practices, GWM is arming marketers with the necessary insights to select the best advertising partners to meet marketing campaign goals.

“To maintain a leadership position in the digital advertising space, it’s imperative to be an active participant in the growth and advancement of industry best practices as a whole, in order to provide the most value to our clients,” said Bjorn Hougaard, SVP of Sales and Media Strategy at GlobalWide Media.

Bjorn added, “We are proud to join forces with fellow advertising partners who are committed to implementing and upholding unbiased, trustworthy standards for mobile advertisers and to be recognized as one such mobile marketing partner.”

Read More: Fireside Chat with Shawn Schwegman

GWM completed a rigorous evaluation process defined by TUNE, which evaluates and scores a company’s ability to adhere to mobile marketing best practices across both technical, practical and customer support requirements. As a result, GWM has demonstrated their commitment to implementing the highest of industry standards for mobile marketers and advertisers alike.

TUNE Certified Partner Program: An Overview

Established in July 2015, this certification was the first in the industry to outline standards for mobile marketing, helping marketers to find trusted advertising partners while promoting more transparency within the industry. To maintain the integrity and quality of the program, TUNE performs annual and on-demand certification compliance reviews to ensure all existing Certified Partners continue to meet program requirements.

GWM has also partnered with Tune’s HasOffers platform to provide unique data insight into user acquisition, engagement and retention, offering increased value to customers and partners. The new partnership with TUNE provides an opportunity for clients and partners to take advantage of the HasOffers platform, with easy access to GWM’s high-quality inventory.

Currently, GWM is recognized as a global data-driven digital marketing leader, providing premium media solutions for the world’s leading brands and agencies. GlobalWide Media connects advertisers with custom audiences through direct response and brand campaigns, activating proprietary and first-party data.

HIRO Media, the World’s First Safe SSP, Presents Exclusive Roundtable During Advertising Week Europe

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March 14, 2018

HIRO Media’s Event to Explore Issues, Trends, and Opportunities That Are Top of Mind for Brands, Agencies, and Publishers

HIRO Media, the world’s first safe SSP, is proud to bring together thought leaders and influencers from all sides of the digital advertising industry – Brands, Publishers, Agencies and Advertising Technology – for an exclusive Advertising Week Europe event in London.

Also Read: GDPR Will Drive A Coach And Horses Through The Online Advertising Ecosystem

The Programmatic & Media industries are changing rapidly. Programmatic trading is set to reach 67% of the digital display market by 2019, according to research from Zenith. Over the next two years, the value of these ads will increase at an average of 21% a year, from $57.5bn in 2017 to $84.9bn in 2019.

This momentum marks a transformation in programmatic from a tool to sell off remnant inventory to the go-to system for sales in premium environments. Canada, the US, and the UK remain the leaders in the space, with 81%, 78% and 77% of the digital display is comprised of programmatic respectively in 2017. In fact, legacy ad formats are not as lucrative as before. This is true not only for print ads but also digital display, which is being squeezed by ad blocking and heightened competition caused by programmatic ads.

Also Read: Why Does the Programmatic Auction Type Matter

Furthermore, for publishers, access to audiences has been ceded to platforms. Publishers’ old value proposition to brands – access to audiences – is dissipating with the rise of social platforms with massive user bases, and not to mention the many popular digital publishers sprawled across the internet. These emerging forces have also disrupted legacy publishers’ control over audiences.

With more and more ad dollars shifting from traditional media buys to programmatic, agencies of all kinds are widely looking for ways to stay competitive and retain their valued clients.

Also Read: HIRO Media Unveils New Safe SSP Platform to Extend Its Real-Time Ad Filtering Technology

To wit, social advertising in all formats is gaining traction and will be among the key drivers of digital ad growth in the next five years. Social ad revenue is poised to climb to $30.8 billion by 2021, up from $15.5 billion this year. Artificial intelligence augmented and virtual reality, and sponsored content will also help propel further digital ad growth in the next decade.

Confirmed speakers include:
● Christian Dankl, CEO of AdVoD at ProSiebensat1
● Terry Honsby, Director of Programmatic and Ad Product, Trinity Mirror
● Leon Siotis, Managing Director, UK & Southern Europe at SpotX
● Yoav Arnstein, Facebook Publisher Solutions, Audience Network, EMEA
● Pauliina Jamsa, Global Senior Online Marketing Manager at Siemens
● Guy Kedar, Sr. Partner, Head of Innovation, Wavemaker UK
● Ofer Oved, Chief Strategy Officer, HIRO Media

ABM Update: DiscoverOrg Scoops Strategic Investment from The Carlyle Group

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March 14, 2018

Latest Partnership Would Help DiscoverOrg Accelerate Growth and Innovation in Sales and Marketing Operations

DiscoverOrg, a leading Sales and Marketing Intelligence provider and a Top 150 MarTech RADAR company, has announced that it has received a strategic minority investment from global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group along with additional investment to come from 22C Capital. TA Associates will maintain a significant equity stake in DiscoverOrg.

Patrick McCarter, Carlyle’s Co-Head of US Buyout Technology, Media & Telecom and Managing Director, said, “The DiscoverOrg team has built the industry-leading intelligence platform for sales and marketing teams across the globe. Consistent revenue generation requires accurate and actionable data, and that is what DiscoverOrg delivers. We are delighted to partner with the management team to accelerate growth and foster innovation.”

Todd Crockett, TA’s Co-Head of the North America Services Group and Managing Director, added, “Since the start of our partnership with DiscoverOrg in 2014, the Company has consistently executed against its growth strategy and positioned itself as a clear leader in the middle of the large and fast-growing sales and marketing technology market. We are thrilled to partner with Carlyle to build upon that foundation and support DiscoverOrg in its next chapter of growth.”

Randall Winn, 22C Capital Managing Member and former CEO of Capital IQ, noted, “We are exceptionally pleased to have been involved in DiscoverOrg’s success over the last few years as the team has built a truly unique data platform and developed into a world-class company. We are excited to be in a position to continue to work with DiscoverOrg and invest in Henry’s vision.”

Henry Schuck, DiscoverOrg CEO, said, “The confidence that Carlyle, TA, and 22C have shown in

DiscoverOrg is a testament to the incredible value that we are creating for sales and marketing teams everywhere.”

Equity for the investment came from Carlyle Partners VI, a $13 billion US buyout fund. Raymond James & Associates and Cascadia served as financial advisors to DiscoverOrg. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisors to DiscoverOrg and TA Associates. Debevoise & Plimpton served as legal advisors to Carlyle.

Read More: Is GDPR Really Changing Ad Tech?

ScaleX.Ai Announces Personalization at Scale, Powered by Artificial Intelligence

By

PRNewswire

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March 14, 2018

ScaleX Acquires the FlowEngine AI for ABM Technology Suite

ScaleX.Ai Announced a Smarter, Faster, and Better Way to Accelerate Sales and Increase Revenue Through their Personalization at Scale Suite.

ScaleX.ai, the leader in personalization at scale, powered by artificial intelligence, announced a smarter, faster, and better way to accelerate sales and increase revenue through the ScaleX.ai Sales Personalization at Scale Suite.

Also Read: Voicera Secures $20 Million Series A Financing Backed by Leading VC, Enterprise and Collaboration Players

The ScaleX.ai Personalization at Scale Suite, Powered by Artificial Intelligence, includes:

AI-Powered BDR Selection Technology
AI-Powered Personalization at Scale
Predictive Intelligence
Coaching as a Service
Conversation Acceleration
Social Selling
ScaleX Dashboard and Reporting

Also Read: What We Learned From MarTech CEOs in 2017

“As the Senior Director of Global Sales and Business Development for a public Unified-Communications-as-a-Service company, I learned that SDRs and BDRs are usually great at one core competency, which is either phone, email, or social, and usually not all three. By de-coupling email and social from the BDR and having a bot personalize the outbound messaging, BDRs can now focus on sales conversations while bots can do what they are good at – personalizing messages that convert to meetings at an unbelievably high rate,” said Chad Burmeister, Co-Founder, CEO, ScaleX.

Also Read: Marketing Strategies Turn to Mobile for Data and the Role of AI in 2018

Companies curious about testing the power of artificial intelligence in sales need look no further than ScaleX.ai. Whether supporting a team of 1 or 1,000, this AI offers a 3-month pilot program that has consistently delivered 60 – 125 meetings to prove the value of personalization at scale, powered by artificial intelligence.

ScaleX.ai delivers personalization at scale, powered by artificial intelligence (TM). Whether you are looking to bring 10X more productivity to your internal sales team, or partner with a company that consistently delivers 25-50 meetings per month per BDR, ScaleX has a solution.

Recommended Read: Progress Launches AI-Driven Native Chatbot

Adobe’s Survey Highlights the Importance of DMPs

By

MTS Staff Writer

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March 14, 2018

Adobe's Survey Highlights the Importance of DMPs

Adobe’s Survey Showcased, Why DMP Is a Technology That’s Here to Stay

Modern Marketers can’t imagine going about their daily activities without Data Management Platforms (DMP). DMPs allowed marketers to effectively channelize their marketing efforts to be, timely, accurate, and intelligible while guaranteeing customer experience. DMP showcased why it is a technology that’s here to stay. Despite only being less than a decade old, it has become the main factor that decides whether your campaign will succeed or your competitors. Using DMPs has enabled marketers to understand their audiences better, which let them tweaks their campaigns and maximize ROI.

Also Read: Media Is Hard and We Suck at It; And, How to Be Better in 2018

Adobe conducted a survey that encompassed 500 US marketing and IT professionals to understand the intersection of DMPs with the customer experience and the impact it has on their journey.

Key findings include:

Experience-based DMPs are the future: More than 2/3 of survey respondents note that DMPs that lead with experiences are most valuable, vs. one focused solely on media. Additionally, 77% believe that an experience-based DMP is important to their organization’s success.
Providing a best-of-class DMP experience is crucial, and many may be rethinking their strategy – likely due to first-generation DMP shortcomings: More than half (51%) of those surveyed who currently leverage a DMP, note they are likely to switch DMPs in the next two years; employees who work in the IT field are most likely (61%) to make the change. Additionally, 71% of organizations expect their audience management budget to increase.
Managing a DMP in-house is still standard; CDP’s following suit: While there’s been much debate over the role of agencies in adding value to data management given their media expertise, 50% of those surveyed note they manage a DMP in-house, while 25% leverage an agency. Customer Data Platforms, gaining traction and media notoriety in recent months, seem to be taking on a similar pattern, as 39% of respondents claim to manage their CDP in-house, with 22% say an agency owns CDP management.
IT teams are taking ownership over DMPs: Nearly half (47%) of survey respondents note that the IT team owns and manages (or will own/manage) the DMP for their brand. Those at organizations with an annual revenue on the high-end (over $250 million) skew more towards IT managing their DMP – 56% vs. 39%. However, successful DMP practices require cross-functional collaboration. Not surprisingly, the teams most involved with DMP strategy include IT, analytics, media and CRM.
Data management is the new data science: The need for DMP skills will be in demand over the next 5 years as 79% of respondents note that DMP skills will be essential for any digital marketing in the future and that DMP skills will rise in the next half-decade.

Also Read: Adobe Named a Leader in Enterprise Marketing Software Suites and Cross-Channel Campaign Management by Independent Research Firm

“While the DMP market isn’t new, we’ve noticed an incredible growth pattern and shift in the marketplace in the last few years. The DMP has evolved from a nice-to-have to a must-have, for any brand looking to create a compelling customer experience. We have great insight internally into who is driving disruption leveraging the DMP, what strategy is most efficient and effective as well as what the future looks like – but we wanted to get an outside perspective on what really matters to those brands, that understand the importance of investing in a DMP,” said Ali Bohra, the director of strategy and product marketing with Adobe Audience Manager, who was quoted by Forbes.

True Influence Helps Marketers to Build Smarter Leads Fueled by Dun & Bradstreet Data

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March 14, 2018

True Influence Helps Marketers to Build Smarter Leads Fueled by Dun & Bradstreet Data

InsightBASE Platform Creates Highly Targeted Leads with Intelligent Company Data

True Influence, the leading provider of lead solutions, announced the newest release of its InsightBASE lead acceleration platform. This enhanced platform is driven by a partnership with Dun & Bradstreet which enables True Influence to access information from the world’s largest commercial database. By analyzing 16K+ attributes of entities of all sizes around the world, combined with web activity, intent data, and more, the True Influence platform curates the most predictive information for a customer, informing specific segmentation and targeted campaigns that help marketing and sales teams run more efficient programs.

Also Read: Terminus Has a New CMO; Sangram Vajre Is Now Chief Evangelist

“To drive accurate, fact-based leads, it is critical that marketing and sales teams have relevant, personalized engagements with their prospects. Our InsightBASE platform capabilities support the need for marketing and sales teams to activate scalable lead growth. It gives their teams data-driven insights about their high-value company prospects and gives them the ability to take automated actions on that information,” said Brian Giese, CEO, True Influence.

Also Read: How will AI Feed Account Based Marketing?

The newest release of True Influence’s InsightBASE drives three principal benefits to increase the breadth and depth of high quality leads:

Data from Dun & Bradstreet integrated within the solution.
Company and contact matching, powered by a patent-pending True Influence Relevance Engine technology, enables companies to better match incoming lead and account data, thus creating more accurate lead scoring.
Enhanced operationalization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) through improved targeting.

“The role of marketing is increasingly complex. Not only are they expected to drive leads, but they are expected to drive return on investment. With Dun & Bradstreet data fueling True Influence InsightBASE sales and marketing teams can access data-driven insights to identify high-impact leads,” added Giese.

TwentyThree Scoops $2.5 Million Credit Facility; Plans to Further Expand Its 800% YoY Growth in the US

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March 14, 2018

TwentyThree Scoops $2.5 Million Credit Facility; Plans to Further Expand Its 800% YoY Growth in the US

New Funding Will Allow TwentyThree to Further Their Growth and Ambition into the US to Bring Video Marketing Platforms to All Marketers

TwentyThree, a leading Video Marketing Platform, has announced that it has raised a $2.5 million credit facility. As an organically grown European SaaS company, TwentyThree has 40+ employees, a 13,000 square foot office in Copenhagen, recently opened an office in San Francisco, is challenging North American competitors, partnered and integrated with market-leaders such as HubSpot, and seen rapid market adoption since its breakthrough video marketing platform launched in 2016.

The world’s best marketers need a video marketing platform to make better-informed decisions about video across the entire marketing funnel.

At the time of this announcement, TwentyThree CEO and Founder, Thomas Madsen-Mygdal, said, “This funding will allow us to further our growth and ambition to bring video marketing platforms to all marketers. I am frequently asked about what funding stage we are in, and I often flip the question to how sustainable our business is.”

Thomas added, “For me, it is about building a long-term business that focuses on its customers and employees.”

Video marketing platforms are seeing adoption in 2018, but overall, still, trail compared to other MarTech categories. TwentyThree aims to change that – as the only European video marketing platform – by offering a product that empowers marketers to analyze video beyond vanity metrics, integrate with their existing tech stack, run video across every social platform, and generate leads with video.

“As a serial entrepreneur, I look at the current tech industry, which is full of young talent, and I do think it is an important relay the message that founders can build a business organically to fit the market you’re serving,” added Thomas, who previous to TwentyThree, built and sold collaboration platform Podio to Citrix. “We believe it’s important to showcase this type of growth, that there is a different way.”

Currently, TwentyThree’s platform is used by hundreds of marketing teams and enterprise companies around the world, and in the past year alone, has hosted 1.5 million videos, measured 1.7 billion impressions, and tracked 650 million video plays.

The credit facility was raised from a European growth fund and European bank. The facility will enable TwentyThree to expand in the U.S market, hire top-talent, and continue to build the best product for its customers.

AdSpruce Places the User at the Forefront of the Adtech Revolution

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March 14, 2018

AdSpruce Places the User at the Forefront of the Adtech Revolution

AdSpruce Has Revealed an Updated Line-Up of Ad Spots That Offer a Faster, Focused and Friendlier Ad Experience, Which Falls in Line with Its “User-First” Philosophy

Built on creative studio technology of AdSpruce and ad server via a proprietary, made-for-mobile delivery platform, the updated ad line-up provides new features and functions based on industry research and consumer feedback in order to provide a truly user-first advertising experience.

The improvements come as many in the ad industry battle against the growing adoption of ad-blocking technology, with consumers citing low quality and intrusive ad experiences as the primary reason for using ad blockers. This, in turn, creates a massive problem for publishers and content owners who, according to a 2016 report by Juniper Research, are predicted to lose $27 billion in ad revenue by 2020 globally.

Also Read: The Two Mobile Trends That Cannot Be Denied

Bad adverts can be a problem for users, if an ad had been poorly created, poorly optimized or poorly delivered, then users face unwelcome and bad experiences. With ads that have slow load time and high data usage because they have not been optimized for the mobile web and ads that have been so badly designed they leave an unpleasant experience with the user. This is potentially damaging to both the publisher and advertising brand’s image.

“Delivering engaging ad experiences across 15,000 different mobile devices in low bandwidth environments has been our philosophy since day one. New standards from IAB and the Better Ads Coalition are a good thing for the industry. We focus on emerging markets where ad experiences and brand love varies wildly across countries. Better ads globally that engage users and deliver better value to all parts of the value chain is the ultimate goal,” said Ian Mullins, AdSpruce, CEO.

Also Read: Mobile Performance Marketing Platform Yeahmobi Joined the IAB Tech Lab

AdSpruce looks to solve these problems of poor ads by offering better ads, for the publisher and user. The AdSpruce HTML5 Ad studio only creates ad types of the highest quality standards, and are delivered with the user’s experience in mind. Every advert that is served is optimized for the device it is shown on.

Four Takeaways From Last Week’s Webinar World

By

Maggie Norby-Adams

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March 14, 2018

Last week, marketers from around the world gathered at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco’s Union Square to learn more about the increasing role of webinars in digital marketing. The second annual Webinar World, hosted by On24, featured keynotes by executives from On24, Forrester, Gimlet Media, Heinz Marketing, and TOPO Inc, and breakout sessions focused on webinar best practices, marketing strategy, and webinar execution.

Here were some major takeaways from the event —

Webinars Can Play A Role At Each Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

Presenters at 2018’s Webinar World showed a range of goals and strategies for their webinar promotion and content. One thing that stood out among these differences, was the ability to use webinars to engage people at each stage of the buyer’s journey. Each stage requires a different promotion strategy and a unique approach to live content.

According to Annie Lei, CRO of the live stream audience development platform AmpLive and presenter of “You’ve Planned The Perfect Webinar — Here’s How To Make Sure People See It,” top-of-the-funnel webinars should be eye-catching and distributed to new audiences. That way, you can capture the attention of your target audience on a large scale, increase brand awareness, and deliver your message to people who haven’t heard it before. Nurturing content, on the other hand, can be more technical and promoted to your existing contacts and followers. In general, technical content like product demos are better for people toward the end of the buyer’s journey, when they’re making a decision about purchasing your product.

Also Read: Webinar World TechBytes with Annie Lei, Chief Revenue Officer, AmpLive

Webinars Are Going Global

Alright, #Webinerds. It’s time for our #WebinarWorld 2018 award ceremony! pic.twitter.com/v7hLkcRcDM

— ON24 (@ON24) March 7, 2018

With tools like On24, lots of companies are finding ways to overcome the challenges of streaming live to people in other countries, and scaling their content across the globe. Oracle’s Karim Mokhnachi, VP of South & ECEMEA Marketing, argued for a stronger international webinar strategy in his session, “The Role of Webinars in a Successful Global Digital Marketing Strategy.” Through tools that provide easy subtitle uploads and “simu-live” event hosting, differences in language and time zone are no longer substantial barriers to reaching global audiences. When companies have to reach audiences in other countries, simu-live webinars allow for more personal interaction and engagement than blog posts, emails, or static ads can provide.

Also Read: Webinar World TechBytes with Aaron Dun, Senior Vice President, Marketing, SnapApp

Webinars Are A Valuable Tool for Account-Based Marketing

In the B2B world, reaching target accounts with is one of the most important challenges marketers face. Account-specific webinars can play an important role in teaching teams at larger companies how to use your product. They can also make companies feel like you value their business. You can even use your live content to put your company on the radar of professionals at target accounts that haven’t yet engaged with your content elsewhere. This is thanks to a new partnership between On24 and AmpLive, announced by On24’s CEO and CTO during their Keynote on Tuesday afternoon. The specific feature that will help marketers use live content to capture the attention of specific accounts is called account-based distribution. It leverages a massive data pool to make sure specific job titles at over 8000 target companies see webinar content while it’s live.

Also Read: Webinar World TechBytes with Amy Holtzman, VP, Marketing, Splash

Webinar Producers Need To Be Storytellers

In his keynote, “The Power Of Storytelling in a Digital World,” Gimlet Media CEO and Co-Founder Alex Blumberg walked the Webinar World audience through a series of snippets of interviews and finished produced audio. He argued that good storytelling has a rhythm with regular points of interest each minute, and displays emotional honesty. Good storytelling is what makes people feel connected to your content and keeps them engaged, but it takes time, editing, and a thoughtful ear.

Also Read: Webinar World TechBytes with Fred Isbell, Senior Marketing Director, SAP

SourceMedia Debuts New Suite of Branded Content Products

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March 14, 2018

SourceMedia Debuts New Suite of Branded Content Products

Marketers Can Utilize Branded Content to Drive Marketing Outcomes, Push Customers Through the Sales Funnel

SourceMedia, a digital business information and performance media company serving senior decision-makers in finance, technology, and healthcare, announced the launch of a new set of Branded Content offerings. The new offerings equip marketers with the ability to dynamically target B2B audiences with branded content in the form of native advertising. The products also position SourceMedia to capitalize on the demand from marketers for content marketing products, which is projected to grow to $25 billion this year (eMarketer).

“We’re creating branded content and adding a layer of performance and data targeting on top so that marketers can more effectively scale their native campaigns. Using our sophisticated platform, marketers can also use branded content with account-based marketing activities to drive outcomes and push customers through the sales funnel,” said Matthew Yorke, CMO of SourceMedia.

Also Read: Most Consumers Fill Out At Least One Online Form a Week, But Businesses Struggle to Design Consumer-Friendly Forms

These new offerings allow clients to use their existing content, or to tap into SourceMedia’s expertise to create content for them, and then natively deliver that content to its powerful readers. SourceMedia’s turn-key offerings are comprised of the following three new products:

Topic Title: A custom, co-branded rich media unit that couples the client’s own content with SourceMedia’s must-read, topic-specific editorial content for high-impact, brand alignment, and content adjacency.
Content Fuse: A truly dynamic solution for native content that “learns” based on user engagement. SourceMedia’s technology serves native content in real-time, targeting specific audiences while adapting the placement of the content based on performance for maximum ROI.
Partner Insights: placement of a client’s custom content alongside and within SourceMedia’s own editorial content creating a highly relevant and integrated approach.

Also Read: Tracking First Joins Adobe Exchange Partner Program to Enhance Data Governance and Reporting

Data-Driven Insights

Using A.I., SourceMedia brings audience and intent together to identify the right individuals to target. The Branded Content offering leverages first-party user data, such as demographic and firmographic; A.I. from Lytics, SouceMedia’s Customer Data Platform (CDP); third-party data from Dun&Bradstreet, Adaptive Intelligence, miEdge, and Bombora. The combined datasets enable SourceMedia to target audiences that demonstrate core buying traits and have a propensity to engage with a brand.

“SourceMedia’s role as partners to marketers is growing. Marketers are coming to SourceMedia and asking us to take on more, from ad creation to account targeting. As ad budgets continue to move towards content marketing, this will be a tremendous growth area for our business,” added Yorke.

Recommended Read: Transform Your Marketing Team Into A 3D Organization

Inkit Integrates with Iterable: Direct Mail Better Than Ever

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March 14, 2018

Inkit Integrates with Iterable: Direct Mail Better Than Ever

Strategic Partnership Leverages Companies’ Focus on Delivering Real-Time, Triggered, Direct Mail Automation for Omni-Channel Marketers

Inkit, the dominant direct mail automation platform, recently announced a partnership and integration with Iterable, provider of the next-generation Growth Marketing Platform. Inkit’s direct mail infrastructure and the Iterable’s growth marketing platform make direct mail simpler, faster, and more automated than ever. The strategic partnership provides growth marketers with a user-friendly stack that offers next-gen technical infrastructure and tools to build and run high-performance omnichannel marketing campaigns.

Direct mail is an essential component of a flourishing growth and retention strategy. The union of Inkit and Iterable helps marketers determine what immediate actions to take—be it sending a simple nudge to users encouraging them to place an order or a direct mail piece thanking customers for their loyalty. All of this engagement creates increasingly greater revenue opportunities.

Also Read: Is Your Company Domain Vulnerable To Email Impersonation?

“Direct mail marketing remains a leading channel for retention. Delivering dynamic, personalized postcards and direct mail pieces to customers’ mailboxes can be an integral link to successful lifecycle engagement. With Inkit’s innovative automation capabilities, Iterable customers can seamlessly integrate direct mail, email, web, mobile and social campaigns into real-time, event-driven workflows,” said Dave Schwartz, Head of Business Development and Partnerships at Iterable.

Also Read: Talk to People, Not Numbers: How Email Personalization Can Turn a Cold Lead Warm

“Inkit’s team is excited to integrate with Iterable. Our unique CRM integration was built intelligently for marketers by marketers. Simply send automated direct mail pieces to customers’ mailboxes via Iterable’s existing workflow. I’m confident we are providing marketers with the fastest, most accessible and cost-effective way to retain their existing customers and win back inactive ones. We’re proud to offer our customers this powerful joint solution to directly benefit from our combined strengths,” concluded Michael McCarthy, CEO at Inkit.

Mindmatrix Sales Enablement Software Introduces Electronic Contract Signing Feature

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March 14, 2018

Also Read: Mindmatrix Channel Marketing Automation Software Introduces the Chrome Extension That Truly Takes Channel Marketing Automation to the Next Level

Mindmatrix Sales Enablement Software Introduces Electronic Contract Signing Feature

The Leading Sales and Channel Enablement Platform Will Now Support Electronic Signatures

Mindmatrix Inc., announced the addition of an electronic contract signing feature to its channel and sales enablement software, permitting customers and channel partners to electronically sign contracts and agreements. With encryption and access codes in place, the feature meets the necessary security and legal requirements to ensure that any contract signed using the Mindmatrix platform’s e-contract module is secure and legally binding.

Also Read: Mindmatrix PRM Software Enables Channel Partners and Vendors to Manage Opportunities Better

The e-contracts can be shared via email using the Mindmatrix platform. The contracts can be created using the Mindmatrix sales and channel enablement platform’s template creation capabilities. This allows for auto population of key sender and receiver data in the contract including company logos, names, contact information, company names, etc. The documents signed using the e-contract module are automatically stored in the Mindmatrix channel and sales enablement software platform and also reflected in the CRM that is integrated with the software. The e-contract signing feature is also supported in the app version of the sales and channel enablement software so that deals can be formalized anytime, anywhere.

Also Read: Mindmatrix Marketing Automation Software Introduces ‘Hotspots’

Harbinder Khera, CEO, Mindmatrix says, “E-contract signing can make a lot of difference to the entire sales process by simplifying it to a large extent for everyone involved-salespeople, channel partners and customers. With more than 80% accessing their emails and other documents on mobile devices such as cell phones and iPads, sending contracts via emails as traditional PDF attachments isn’t efficient anymore. It is inconvenient, more prone to errors and also delays the final step of getting the ink on paper. Our e-contract signing feature takes care of all these challenges to help you seal the deal faster.”

Mindmatrix offers Channel & Sales Enablement Software for direct and indirect sales channels. Mindmatrix is the only provider of a Single Unified Platform that combines PRM software, Direct Sales and Channel Enablement, Channel Marketing Software, Marketing Automation software and Marketing Asset Management.

NetBase Introduces Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence for Image Analysis

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MTS Staff Writer

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March 14, 2018

NetBase Introduces Next Generation Artificial Intelligence for Image Analysis

The Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Delivers the Deepest Insights into Facial Emotions, Scenery, Objects, and Logos

NetBase, a global leader in enterprise social analytics, announced its next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis capabilities. The NetBase next generation AI analyzes visual posts to identify brand logos and keywords to give the most comprehensive view of a brand’s performance. The platform also accurately classifies images by facial emotions, common scenery, and everyday objects to provide a great depth of insight in the market today.

The platform is the first machine learning and artificial intelligence solution to measure the impact of images on Instagram and other visual channels. Expert learning capabilities combined with NetBase’s deep natural language processing technology provide the most accurate image analytics in a single powerful platform. This enables social and customer experience professionals to understand the full scale of a brand’s conversation by tracking an influencer’s product placement, event sponsorship signage reach, and fan-created content.

Also Read: NetBase Instant Search Achieves Hyper-Growth Rate Since Launch in February 2017

NetBase Unveils the Most Comprehensive Cross-Channel Social, Earned, And Owned Engagement Analysis — Paige Leidig

“More than three billion photos are uploaded and shared on the internet every day, but solutions did not exist to enable brands to comb through this sea of content to see all the images their customers were sharing on social media unless the brand was explicitly tagged. Over the past two years, we developed a next-generation artificial intelligence framework to solve this. Since visual content is forty times more likely to be shared on social than text, we can now give companies the most accurate social analysis of both text and images,” said Paige Leidig, chief marketing officer at NetBase.

Also Read: Interview with Paige Leidig, CMO, NetBase Solutions

NetBase Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Image Analysis capabilities include:

High Precision Logo Recognition: NetBase can identify a logo if it is partially hidden, rotated, or even modified. If a logo is changed into inappropriate context, or a trademark is infringed, NetBase’s AI-based search will flag it so the brand can quickly be notified, find the source, and take swift action. Additionally, Enterprise brands can monitor regional variants and support an array of logos to protect brand reputation.
Comprehensive Visual Analysis: The platform tracks more than logos, it can also monitor for objects, memes, scenes and faces. The tool will also identify emotions of the photograph, better-enabling users to understand the context and where, when, and how consumers are using a brand’s products.
Find Inspiration from Customers: NetBase tracks photos from campaigns and allows brands to leverage user-generated content to create ideas for new UGC campaigns. Insights from customer use will lead to more engaging campaigns and drive content ideation. It can also help identify companion products for potential partnership and co-branding opportunities.

IAS Launches First-To-Market Mobile In-App Solution for Programmatic Brand Safety

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March 14, 2018

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IAS Launches First-To-Market Mobile In-App Solution for Programmatic Brand Safety

The Trade Desk, DoubleClick Bid Manager, Oath, Viant’s Adelphic, AppNexus, and MediaMath Integrate IAS to Increase Mobile In-App Transparency

Leading ad tech platform for measurement and analytics, Integral Ad Science (IAS), has announced the availability of first-to-market technology that allows programmatic buyers to target mobile in-app inventory. Now, in-app advertisers can leverage inventory that is brand safe, fraud-free, and expected to meet a given viewability goal. Through key integrations with top programmatic platforms, IAS is increasing transparency to a channel that has become increasingly attractive to advertisers.

IAS Brings Additional RTB Optimization to Mobile In-App Advertisers

The Trade Desk, DoubleClick Bid Manager, Oath, Viant’s Adelphic, AppNexus, and MediaMath will integrate IAS’s targeting data to provide targeting that generates immediate impact and maximizes the ability to reach and engage in-app audiences. Additionally, the proof comes at added value – IAS provides real-time reporting to demonstrate the effectiveness and also identify areas of additional optimization.

David Hahn, CSO, Integral Ad Science

At the time of this announcement, David Hahn, CSO of Integral Ad Science, said, “Programmatic offers advertisers powerful opportunities to make the most of their digital dollars and, for many years, buyers have been able to easily optimize those opportunities across web-based campaigns with IAS data.”

David added, “Now, by offering mobile in-app segments to our customers, we’ve extended that flexibility and control to drive more of their automated buys, and keep up with the momentum in the marketplace towards in-app advertising.”

According to a recent eMarketer report, eight in 10 US mobile digital display ads are traded programmatically, an amount that will rise to 85.2% by 2019. However, the advantages of programmatic can only be fully realized when traders are armed with the ability to protect brands in digital environments and optimize towards quality inventory – brand safe, fraud-free, and viewable. Until now, there have not been controls in place to address these key areas when advertising on mobile apps.

The ability to target environments that are not only aligned with their brand values but also provide opportunities to be viewable to real consumers is critical to fulfilling the final business goals.

Traders Could Exceed Viewability Goals with Better Ad Fraud Prevention and Viewability Targeting with Mobile In-App Solution

IAS’s mobile in-app pre-bid segments have solved for that for the first time. Their technology allows traders to define the content categories they need to be protected against based on customized risk thresholds, and then only target the apps that meet those brand safety expectations. Additionally, with ad fraud prevention and viewability targeting, traders can ensure bids are not wasted on fraud and find the apps that will meet or exceed their viewability goals.

David Danziger

David Danziger, Vice President of Enterprise Partnerships at The Trade Desk, said, “Deepening our partnership with IAS for new pre-bid segments gives advertisers on our platform the data needed to ensure they are bidding on high quality mobile in-app opportunities.”

David added, “In-app mobile environments are becoming an increasingly effective place to reach consumers, and we’re excited to work together to elevate the mobile in-app buying experience for our customers.”

“As mobile increasingly becomes a focus of advertisers, it’s important that we provide them with the transparency and targeting that they need to best optimize their campaigns,” said Yael Avidan, SVP Product at Adelphic.

Yael mentioned, “Adelphic is constantly evolving and integrating best in breed technologies to its self-service platform. By partnering with IAS we are able to provide pre-bid in-app brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability targeting in RTB in-app environments for the first time.”

Currently, Integral Ad Science (IAS) is branded as a global measurement and analytics company that builds verification, optimization, and analytics solutions to empower the advertising industry to invest with confidence and activate consumers everywhere, on every device.

Recommended Read: Is GDPR Really Changing Ad Tech?

Madison Logic Partners with Bizible to Uncover ROI for B2B Marketers

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MTS Staff Writer

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March 14, 2018