????沒有人愿意被當成是其他人的“受眾”，但是大多數人都能接受一些微妙的手勢，比如電子商務網站根據你以往的消費記錄顯示的“推薦”。納西認為：“五年內，顧客就會開始反感所謂的‘受眾營銷’。同樣在五年內，如果你不能像亞馬遜（Amazon）一樣進行營銷，你可能就不會再有任何顧客。我們現在仍處于這種轉型的初期，但是顧客的心思非常善變。”

????營銷自動化軟件在過去五年里獲得顯著發展的另一個原因是“軟件即服務”交付模式的涌現，這也是為什么IBM對Silverpop這么感興趣的另一個原因。它的許多產品可以通過訂閱的形式采購，因此，營銷部門可以把這筆投資當成運營開支的一部分，而不是把它當成資本支出來管理。

????Frost & Sullivan公司的賈薩尼指出，營銷自動化軟件有三個定價層次，第一層是每年2萬美元起，可以使用基本的潛在顧客管理、追蹤、郵件營銷，而且可以與客戶關系管理平臺進行整合；第二層是每年5萬美元起，這一層可以使用一套全面的解決方案，包括一些更先進的分析功能，以及像潛在客戶評分等功能，可以幫助銷售團隊對潛在客戶根據重要性進行排序。

????Marketo公司共同創始人兼產品營銷副總裁喬恩?米勒指出：“營銷部門以前想讓信息總監批準這筆投資相當不容易，但現實是，營銷部門本來就已經花了很多錢。現在他們可以通過運營預算直接購買這些技術。Marketo公司的客戶包括麥肯森（McKesson）、曲線國際（Curves International）、克萊斯勒（Chrysler）、佳能（Canon）、松下（Panasonic）、索尼（Sony）和SunRun等知名企業。

????但是這并不代表營銷自動化軟件用起來很簡單。賈薩尼指出，雖然理論上使用營銷自動化軟件似乎是件簡單的事，但是如果一家公司的潛在客戶開發流程以及數據庫和系統的效率不高，或者它沒有正確的信息內容可以用來發送給客戶，那么它也不會帶來你所希望的效果。賈薩尼說：“如果沒有所需要的人才和資源，就不要對這個軟件抱有不切實際的期望。”

????這個行業也少不了小公司的身影，許多公司已經開始合縱連橫，壯大力量，表明爭奪市場份額的競賽還遠遠沒有結束。比如Marketo公司就在2013年12月末收購了從事個性化服務的Insightera，后者的技術可以使企業的網站根據訪客的身份顯示特定的內容。

????比方說，如果你之前訪問了一個頁面，并且瀏覽了和敞篷轎車有關的內容，網站就會重新安排有關圖片以激發你的興趣。米勒說：“我們的營銷活動信息都是為了讓你獲得與你個人最相關的瀏覽體驗。”

????另外一家值得密切關注的公司叫做Salesfusion，它剛在今年一月的第二輪融資中募集到了825萬美元投資，領投方是Noro-Moseley Partners、BLH Venture Partners和Hallett Capital等公司。這輪投資使這家公司的總融資額達到1010萬美元。

????這家公司的平臺可以與微軟的Dynamics CRM客戶關系管理系統緊密整合，而且現在它還包含了預測評分功能，也就是說，用戶只需根據“為我展示更多像這樣的潛在客戶”或“為我展示更少像這樣的潛在客戶”等短語，就可以要求系統提交報告。Salesfusion公司是通過今年2月收購LoopFuse公司得到這項技術的。

????Salesfusion公司CEO克里斯蒂安?納哈斯在一份聲明中說：“我們做市場調查的時候發現，傳統的營銷自動化系統在整合銷售和市場方面做得不夠好。智能的營銷自動化系統將在減少銷售與市場之間的摩擦上做得更多，甚至徹底消除這種摩擦。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????No one wants to be thought of as someone's "audience," but most people appreciate subtle gestures, such as the "recommendations" that are surfaced on e-commerce sites based on past purchases. "In five years, customers are going to reject audience marketing," Nussey said. "In five years, if you aren't marketing like Amazon, you're not going to have any customers. We are still at the beginning of that transition, but customers are fickle."

????Another reason marketing automation software adoption has accelerated dramatically in the past five years is the software as a service delivery model, which is another reason Silverpop was so interesting to IBM: many offerings can be paid for as a subscription, which helps chief marketing officers account for the investment as part of operational expenses instead of having to manage it as a capital expense.

????Frost & Sullivan 's Jasani suggests there are three pricing tiers for marketing automation software, starting at $20,000 annually for basic lead management, tracking, email marketing and integration with customer relationship management platforms; to $50,000 per year for comprehensive solutions that include more advanced analytics features and features such as lead scoring, which helps sales teams prioritize prospects.

????"Marketers have had a really hard time going to the CIO to get the investment money for this, but the reality is that marketers already spend a lot of money. Now, they can buy technology out of their operating budget," said Jon Miller, co-founder and vice president of product marketing for Marketo, which boasts customers including McKesson (MCK), Curves International, Chrysler, Canon (ADR), Panasonic, Sony (SNE) and SunRun.

????That's not to suggest this stuff is easy. On paper, the process of adding marketing automation might look simple but if a company's existing lead generation processes, databases or systems are inefficient or it doesn't have the right sort of messaging content to make things personal, it won't get the results it is seeking, Jasani said. "There is no point in having unrealistic expectations from the software, if you don't have the required talent and resources," he said.

????There also is no shortage of smaller companies in this space, which has already triggered consolidation and suggests the race for market share is far from over. Marketo, for example, snapped up personalization company Insightera in late December 2013. Companies using the technology can enable their websites to display specific content based on the identity of the visitor.

????For example, if you previously visited a page and browsed content about convertibles, the images can be rearranged to pique your interest. "We know the campaign history. It's all based on information we might use to present the most relevant experience for you, individually," Miller said.

????One company to watch closely is Salesfusion, which raised $8.25 million in Series B funding in January, led by Noro-Moseley Partners, BLH Venture Partners and Hallett Capital. That brings its total to around $10.1 million.

????The company's platform is integrated closely with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and now includes predictive scoring, which means users will be able to request reports based on phrases such as "show me more leads like this" or "show me fewer leads like that." It gained this technology through its acquisition of LoopFuse in February.

????"When we talk to the market, we hear that the traditional marketing automation systems haven't delivered on the promise of bringing sales and marketing together," said Christian Nahas, CEO at Salesfusion, in a statement. "Smart marketing automation is about doing more than reducing friction between sales and marketing, it's about removing it."