16 AUTOMATION TOOLS TO AMPLIFY CONTENT STRATEGY & PROVE ROI

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THESE ARE THE AUTOMATION AND EMAIL PLATFORMS USED BY TODAY’S TOP CONTENT MARKETERS.

Marketing automation and email software services all promise roughly the same thing: our products will grow your business by helping you collect, nurture and convert leads (through a highly sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, data analytics and content management system).

For content marketers, the lead-nurturing phase that makes up the bulk of marketing automation defines the success of our work. If we cannot meaningfully engage to form a deeper connection with our prospects, what is the point in acquiring these leads in the first place?

We enter the search for a software system to help us manage and amplify this process, yet with so many email and automation services, selecting the right one can feel a lot like staring at the milk-carton case.

Disenchanted, we wonder, “Are they really that different?” Maybe. But does the selection say something about the goals we are trying to achieve and our ability—whether real or perceived— to achieve them? Absolutely.

(Don’t even consider explaining the health benefits of nonfat Horizon to the almond milk enthusiast.)

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While the choice between alternative automation and email software is a bit more compounded than selection based on brand or lifestyle preference, the same principle applies: understanding the difference between key features is necessary when making a selection that will allow you to meet your intended outcomes.

In our last eBook, we asked 17 content marketing experts which marketing automation and email tools were driving their campaigns and businesses. Then we did a little research on our own. Below are a compilation of the top marketing automation and email platforms driving the campaigns (and content) you see, engage with and remember.

Whether you are satisfied with your marketing automation system, searching for a platform that meets your developing needs, or inactively pining for something that drives real revenue— the breakdown below will help you assess your current software and compare it to what your marketing compadres are using to gain their competitive edge.

Happy Hunting, Erin C. Nelson Director of Content, GSMI [email protected]

@erincnelson | @SMS_summit | @GSMIonline

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The Comprehensive Model The comprehensive model for marketing automation gives you what you need in one fell swoop. Content management, lead nurturing, analytics, social integration—the list goes on. These are the automation tools for the marketer who wants to amplify his or her digital content campaign, efficiently and with an armory of marketing tools.

Tools Ideal For What differentiates this tool? The Pitch Clients Marketo The career marketer who wants Efficiency. “The fastest path for Sony, Charles Schwab, Canon, GE Healthcare, data and engagement to drive mastering marketing.” Hyundai content strategy. Pardot The integrated sales-marketer The Sales-Marketing Super “B2B marketing auto- Socialware, Stanley Black & Decker, VidYard, or sales-marketing team. Team. mation by Salesforce.” Field Nation, Arteki Group Eloqua The cross-channel, enterprise Quanity and scale. “Tame the complexity Dow Chemical, Zalora, Snagajob, Avalara marketer. of .” Hubspot The inbound (read: content) Inbound marketing veterans. “Don’t interrupt buyers, Care.com, Century Interactive, Media marketer who wants to deliver attract them.” Junction, Eyemagine a valuable content experience. Act-On The marketer who want Brand advocacy. “Marketing Automation Content Marketing Institute, Dove, TomTom, to turn prospects into brand for the Real World.” American Express Travel, Progressive and advocates. Zenefits InfusionSoft The SMB content marketer. Integrated online store. “Sales and marketing Cleancorp Cleaning Services, Leftfoot software for small Academy, Mint Social, Optibike business.” Ontraport The entrepreneur who sees Simplicity and reliability. "Removing the burden Series of SMBs and individual entrepreneurs. the benefit of content-driven of technology for automation. entrepreneurs." Curata The data-driven content Content marketing and cura- "The software platform Dell, Cisco, IBM, SAP, Xerox, EDC marketer and creator. tion platform. for a predictable content supply chain." Kapost The content-centric B2B Scale B2B enterprise content. “Take control of your AT&T, LinkedIn, Lenovo, Hach, Lead MD, marketer. B2B marketing engine.” Brady Maropost The marketer searching for Marketing strategists on tap. “An enterprise platform HP, Samsung, Discovery Channel, BMW, strategic insight. for marketers.” Digital Marketer LeadPages The content marketer hungry Lead collection. “Grow your business. CoSchedule, SuperFastBusiness, Michael Port, for leads. Collect more leads. MindValley Hispano Drive more sales.”

Email Automation As lead nurturing becomes one of the most important elements of your content marketing strategy and ability to prove ROI, it’s critical to select an email automation system that will allow you to achieve objectices specific to your brand’s needs.

Tools Ideal For What differentiates this tool? The Pitch Clients MailChimp The marketer who wants clean Clean, adaptive, versatile. “Send better email.” Walker Art Center, Betabrand, Gapingvoid templates, personalization and multivariate testing. Express Pi- The marketer with an image- Aesethics; responsive editor. “Powerful email for No. 1 Threads, Context Media, Penn University, geon driven audience (millenials). savvy professionals.” Walker Sands Campaign The B2C storyteller. Image-friendly newsletter “Elegantly simple email AirBnB, Birchbox, Lacoste, Disney, Buzzfeed, Monitor templates + data. marketing.” Apple, Coca Cola AWeber The integrated marketer (Face- Integration and affordability. “Connections that are The Middle Finger Project, CrazyEgg book. Wordpress, Leadpages). built in the inbox.” BrightWave The marketer ready to out- Creative tech agency. “North America’s lead- Google, Liberty Mutual, and Chick-fil-A souce strategy. ing email marketing agency.” 16 AUTOMATION TOOLS TO AMPLIFY CONTENT STRATEGY & PROVE ROI

Table of Contents

A: The Comprehensive Model ...... 5 Marketo...... 6 Pardot ...... 8 Eloqua...... 11 Hubspot ...... 14 Act-On...... 17 InfusionSoft ...... 19 Ontraport ...... 21 Curata...... 23 Kapost ...... 25 Maropost ...... 27 LeadPages ...... 29

B: Email Automation ...... 31 MailChimp ...... 32 Express Pigeon ...... 35 Campaign Monitor ...... 37 AWeber ...... 39 BrightWave ...... 41

C: Final Notes...... 43

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As comprehensive marketing automation software, Marketo increases efficiency—growing business faster through lead-nurturing, aligning marketing with sales objectives, developing customer retention and development programs, and improving (read: proving) marketing ROI. The operative word here? Efficiency. For Marketo, speed is key.

“The fastest path for mastering marketing.”

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While some marketers use a plethora of tools and plugin applications to achieve their business goals— Marketo is a one-stop shop. Whether it’s email, social engagement, webinars, offline events, optimiza- tion or testing—Marketo has a program, a video tutorial and managers to enable (or empower) your marketing program.

As an ‘Engagement Marketing Platform,’ Marketo has build out four key elements: Marketing Automation (B2B marketing and ), Consumer Engagement Marketing (email and campaign management), Real-time Personalization (personalization across channels), and (budget and calendar).

Who uses Marketo? “Built by marketers, for marketers,” the Marketo platform is (quite intuitively) for the career marketer looking to secure data-backed, engagement-heavy automation systems. Marketo is friendly to content marketers who want to organize and automate varied campaigns at a rapid pace. While it is enterprise focuses, Marketo is not exclusive to large companies. When your SMB CMO (or CEO) tells you it’s time to generate leads, an efficient and comprehensive system like Marketo may jumpstart your impact.

Marketo users report excellence in usability and design, as well as ease in nurturing multi-touch mar- keting programs. (“The triggers work great.”) Marketers highlight simplicity in tracking programs from creation to execution.

Big clients include Sony, Charles Schwab, Canon, GE Healthcare, Hyundai.

Note: Comprehensive automation systems like Marketo are less relevant if your (small) team is on the front-end production. As Michael Brenner, head of strategy for Newscred would say, “Build the content machine first.”

More on Marketo’s product reviews and pricing.

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An arm of the Salesforce machine, Pardot is both powerful and sophisticated. As one would expect from a tech-giant affiliate, its aim is not just to perform one function; Pardot takes on and manages your B2B marketing system using an abundance of features that (in theory) work together.

“B2B marketing automation by Salesforce.”

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The software allows marketers to set up marketing automation rules (ie segmentation) and drip campaigns (to nurture leads), while also providing landing page, form, site-search, ROI analytics, and social engagement features. Upon a bird’s-eye view Pardot can, and likely will, be overwhelming. The key to mastering this B2B marketing automation platform is take it one step at a time: research which features correspond to your marketing goals, then learn to conquer those features as they apply to the priorities in your overall strategy. If this sounds like a clunky approach, is it. Fortunately, Pardot has a useful cheat sheet.

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Who uses Pardot? Pardot caters to the hybrid sales-marketer (the Jack or Jane of all trades) or marketing teams intimately engaged with the sales department.

The difference between the Big P and its competitors rests in Pardot’s ability to integrate sales and marketing incentives. Typically, content marketers generate material that draws leads; leads are imported and managed by further content production and distribution. Once properly nurtured, marketing campaigns are integrated with the sales teams who, in turn, connect with these satisfied leads to complete the conversion process.

Alternatively, sales teams import less qualified leads which become more qualified through content-driven lead nurturing; once fed, leads can convert either through reentry into the sales funnel or through content directed at conversion. In any case, the crux of Pardot is the collaboration between marketing and sales. As Pardot boasts, “Work together. Win together. Create a Marketing and Sales Super Team.” (The cape is an additional fee.)

Pardot users report seamless integration with Salesforce and its effectiveness as a total CRM/media platform (filing, , management).

More on Pardot’s product reviews and pricing.

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Acquired by Oracle, Eloqua is a cross-channel marketing automation cloud that amplifies B2C, B2B, content marketing, social marketing and data management capabilities. As one might expect from the machine that is Oracle, Eloqua’s list of marketing automation products is extensive. (See below.)

“Tame the complexity of digital marketing.”

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While this laundry list of products is available to all Eloqua customers, the company also segments targeted strategies and tools by ‘Industry’ (Communications, Education, Financial Services etc.) and ‘Solution’ (Acquire, Retain, Engage).

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Across the board—and similar to Marketo and Pardot—Eloqua uses lead management, campaign creation, analytics and social systems to help engage the “right audience at the right time” in its buyer’s journey. Acknowledging the challenge in turning vast amounts of data into actionable strategy, Eloqua also promotes the use if its real-time Digital Body Language analytics software that, when analyzed by sales and marketing teams, allows companies to close deals faster—and connect conversion to marketing ROI.

Who uses Eloqua? Enterprise marketers dealing with vast amounts of data and cross-channel marketing. Perhaps not the number one choice for the shutterbug millennial entrepreneur, Oracle Eloqua is about quantity and scale.

Eloqua users report easy segmentation of large lead-bases, simplicity and flexibility in building HTML emails, landing pages and forms, and cite the Eloqua University as a great resource for less-experienced marketers.

More on Eloqua’s product reviews and the difference between Eloqua and Marketo.

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As leaders in inbound marketing, Hubspot supports the content-based marketing lifecycle. The platform works to help marketers create and optimize content, distribute it through social channels, and integrate sales and marketing teams. Hubspot features integrate content as it passes through every phase of the marketing funnel (blogging, SEO, social media, etc.).

“Don’t interrupt buyers, attract them.”

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According to Hubspot, providing these tools is merely the logical process in today’s modern marketing age. “That’s how you market to humans. That’s inbound marketing.” With tech and marketing wizard Dharmesh Shah (co-founder and CTO) behind Hubspot’s development, it’s no surprise the automation software emphasizes analytics, intuitive UX and promotes its own perpetual evolution. For better or for worse, Hubspot has never been afraid to cut loose what isn’t working.

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Who uses Hubspot? While in 2015, the majority of marketers have hopped onto the ‘great-content-is-great-marketing’ express train, Hubspot was a pioneer in this approach. Then (in 2006), as it does now, Hubspot targets inbound marketers who vow to abolish the traditional form of marketing that feels like a series of interruptions.

Today, Hubspot uses its blogs to draw in inbound (read:content) marketers, sales teams and agencies who “wish to turn their websites into magnets”—and are prepared to churn volumes of high-quality content.

Hubspot users report easy-to-use interface, ability to create unique data fields (without having to contact administrators), integration with Gmail templates, and adoption of the software as part of company culture.

More on Hubspot’s product reviews and pricing.

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Taking it a step beyond automation software that connects marketing to sales, Act-on coins itself as the company that manages the “entire lead to revenue lifecycle, from attracting new prospects to building new advocates.”

“Marketing Automation for the Real World.”

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As marketers, we know that tying content marketing to ROI can be a challenge. It’s for this reason that Act-on’s promise is extensive (and intriguing). Act-on doesn’t just say, we’ll turn your leads into sales. Going a step further, it promises: we’ll not only convert your leads, but turn those customers into loyal advocates who promote your offerings.

How does Act-on deliver? The company uses a combination of email marketing, forms and landing pages, website visitor tracking, and social media to qualify and score prospects based on readiness to buy. The score allows marketers (and sales teams) to assess the type of content best suited for that prospect at varying stages in his or her journey. And in case you are low on strategists, the even have in-house experts on tap.

Who uses Act-on? For one, Joe Pulizzi—content marketing poster boy and founder of the Content Marketing Institute. (How do we know that? Cough, this eBook.) Why does this matter? When the founder of the institute that teaches us how to transform content marketing from an idea into a strategy (and has himself made a lucrative career from these teachings)—does something, we pay attention.

Act-on’s clients range from SMBs to enterprise departments. If you’re a small to mid-size business (or a smaller marketing team working within a larger enterprise), this software is particularly relevant for you. Act-on can be activated in days, without the help of an IT system manager. Companies that are transforming their marketing modules and rapidly scaling are jumping on board. Customers include Dove, TomTom, American Express Travel, Progressive and Zenefits.

Act-on users report reliable integration with Salesforce, the ability to prioritize “hot leads,” easy-to-use analytics and reporting tools, a user-friendly dashboard, and its use as a solid tool for inbound marketers.

More on Act-on’s product reviews and pricing.

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Similar to Act-on, InfusionSoft is geared towards small business professionals and marketing teams. The focus? Turning leads into customers through careful hand-holding segmentation and tagging to identify behavior and deliver optimal content/engagement.

“Sales and marketing software for small business.”

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InfusionSoft integrates sales teams through auto-generated content, offers consultation services and provides a digital checkout for companies with an online store.

Aimed at small businesses integrating their sales and marketing departments (are we sensing a trend here?), InfusionSoft advocates its Lifecycle Marketing model. All content based, the Lifecycle process involves three steps: attract, sell and wow. The idea is that, when adopted, small businesses can rely on this integrated, content system and be able to spend more time on the things they want to do.

Who uses InfusionSoft? Small businesses and marketing teams that are content-centric. InfusionSoft may be especially appealing to companies with a readily available product or service interested in integrating a shopping cart, inventory or billing system.

InfusionSoft users report convenient integration between database management, campaign creation, reporting and calendar features (with a special focus on the ability to “peddle eBooks”).

More on InfusionSoft’s product reviews and pricing.

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Dedicated to “removing the burden of technology for entrepreneurs,” Ontraport markets itself as the go-to relationship management (CRM) system for the business owner who wants to focus on running his or her company. CEO Landon Ray says to his beloved entrepreneurs, “At the end of the day, there are just a few things you want from your technology: you want it to be easy to set up, and you want it to work right all the time.” Ontraport’s “All-in-One” automation systems includes four components: publish, market, sell organize. The goal? Establish a single system of organization where you don’t have to overthink content publication, distribution and management.

“Build a better business. Publish. Market. Sell. Organize.”

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For a company earnestly targeting the “non-techy” entrepreneur, Ontraport integrates sophisticated marketing tools—such as 2-way SMS messaging and electronic postcard marketing—into its strategy.

Who uses Ontraport? At first glance, Ontraport appears relevant the passionate, earthy entrepreneur who sells goods and services that connect customers with the outside world (it’s welcome video is brimming with yoga instructors posing atop sunset-laden rocks). A closer look reveals a target persona perhaps more relatable to many of us in the less-woodsy marketing world: the (hipster leather-maker) individual sitting frustrated in front of the Apple laptop, trying to translate marketing systems into real-world influence and sales.

The irony of the image becomes a modern-day reality upon which Ontraport hopes to capitalize. As seductive as our new Apple hardware and latest software updates may be, flash alone doesn’t ensure success. Ontraport aims to be the automation system for entrepreneurs who have the right hardware and on the tech pulse, but who need a simple and reliable system to jumpstart campaigns and data management.

Ontraport users report flexibility, simplicity and reliable/effective customer service.

More on Ontraport’s product reviews and pricing.

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Curata, which describes itself as “the software platform for a predictable content supply chain,” is an automation device designed to deliver data-driven results to content marketing teams. The software platform does so through two products (that, ideally, work together): the Content Marketing Platform (CMP) and Content Curation Software (CCS).

“Scale your content marketing to grow leads and revenue.”

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While the Content Marketing Platform (CMP) focuses on analyzing the relationship between sales and marketing efforts to streamline the content production process, Content Curation Software (CCS) helps to discover, organize, contextualize and publish content. Together they amplify the content marketing machine.

Who uses Curata? Content marketers. Content marketers. And also, content marketers. Some noteworthy content marketing customers include Dell, SAP, Xerox and the American Marketing Association, as well as Jason Miller, the Senior Content Marketing Manager for LinkedIn.

Curata users report easy usability for lean teams, strong curation features, and value for companies with a highly targeted audience.

More on Curata’s pricing.

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Kapost’s marketing automation strategy (designed for content-centric B2B companies) involves four components of the content marketing pipeline: plan, create, distribute, optimize.

Planning mechanisms coordinate between departments and hone in on B2B-specific strategy. Creative tools set up clear workflows and maintain an intuitive editorial calendar. Distribution elements spread content between internal teams and dispel to external prospects. Optimization cycles use data to deliver targeted content to the buyer depending on where they are in the pipeline.

“Take control of your B2B marketing engine.”

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Kapost’s pecial features include a Content Auditor (how well is your site URL performing?), a Content Gallery, and Content Planner.

Who uses Kapost? Kapost has an extensive catalog of large to medium B2B customer case studies listed on its site. Its heavy-hitters include AT&T (on building a network of internal contributors), IBM (on putting content first), LinkedIn (on scaling processes and analyzing content), and ThermoFisher Scientific (on developing a corporate blogging strategy).

It’s important to remember that Kapost focuses on streamlining strategy. If you’re after an image- conscious email marketing service, the B2B marketing engine might not be your most savvy investment. Know your audience and what you want Kapost to do before you sign-up to get ‘er done.

Kapost users boast about the ability of the software to keep writers and editors on task. In addition, users report efficiency surrounding content creation, editing and approval, as well as the ability to integrate with Marketo. www.socialmediastrategiessummit.com #SMSsummit 27 More on Kapost’s pricing. ° 16 AUTOMATION TOOLS TO AMPLIFY CONTENT STRATEGY & PROVE ROI

Maropost identifies itself as a Strategy as a Service platform that offers experienced marketing strategists and tech engineers as part of its advantage. With such model, Maropost doesn’t just promise a host of features to generate real-time and integral marketing statistics—they promise the people-power to turn those numbers into a calculable strategy.

Powerful data plus strategic insight to interpret this data (and the capability to implement an actionable plan), argues Maropost, is the most effective recipe for company growth. The platform integrates email, mobile, social, web, automation, analytics and data services to comprise “a powerful, easy-to-use enterprise solution.”

“An enterprise platform for marketers.”

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Who uses Maropost? INTERVIEWS WITH TODAY’S TOP CONTENT MARKETERS Maropost appeals to enterprise-level individuals who believe that at the core of smart marketing are numbers. Among them is Ryan Deiss, the founder and successful businessman behind Digital Marketer.

RYAN DEISS

While most marketing automationRyan Deiss services is the deliver co-founder endless Idea amounts Incubator of data, LP Maroposts and CEO also of provides experts to tell you what thoseDigitalMarketer.com numbers mean—and. Over how the that last should 36 months dictate your Ryan content and his strategy. team have: For teams that produce high-qualityinvested overcontent $15,000,000 that isn’t ranking, on marketing Maropost tests, may generatedbe the strategic tens boost of millions of unique visitors, sent well over a billion permission-based necessary to stay in the game. emails, and run approximately 3,000 split and multi-variant tests. Maropost users report on theRyan value is also of the a highlystrategists/team sought after behind speaker the platform and consultant and highlight whose the deliverwork - ability of its email service.has impacted over 200,000 businesses in 68 different countries. [@ryandeiss] More on Marorpost’s services and pricing.

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“Welcome to the Great Pixel Land Rush.”

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LeadPages’ mission is to help you collect high-quality leads and use those leads to convert sales by capitalizing on the conversion opportunities “that are (literally) everywhere.”

Using the 80/20 Rule (80% of conversions come from roughly 20% of your site), LeadPages maximizes lead conversion by integrating web pages, email, social and SMS. Though integrated across channels, LeadPages segments its features into several categories: LeadPages, LeadBoxes and LeadDigits, LeadLinks, A/B Splits Tests & Analytics and Template Importer. Why? To be able to specialize on certain aspects of lead generation, analysis, and management.

“Grow your business. Collect more leads. Drive more sales.”

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Especially dedicated to analytics and A/B testing, LeadPages allows you to sort templates by the highest conversion rate and—as a true tech-based startup—is mobile responsive, doesn’t require you to enter code (they do that for you), and is “totally intuitive.” (To access LeadPages’ Ultimate List of Features click here.)

Who uses LeadPages? In addition to Nathan Ellering, Content Marketing Lead at CoSchedule, LeadPages users include marketers and entrepreneurs who want to efficiently tap their qualified lead potential while being able to easily integrate Wordpress (content creation), Facebook (distribution) and email automation (optimization) features. Influence time is quick and the platform is relatively cost effective. LeadPages users report ease in putting together last-minute opt-in pages, general usability and strong reporting/analytics features. More on LeadPages’ pricing.

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Mailchimp is a popular email marketing choice for a wide spectrum of marketers— and for good reason. It’s templates are clean, adaptable and its introductory pricing-plan is free.

“Send better email.”

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Special features highlight personalization. Subscriber profiles allow you (the marketer) to track viewer engagement and website activity.

Workflows have built in segmentation, automation and targeting options, with the possibility to set custom rules. Advanced analytics include performance tracking, interactive graphs, trend monitoring, industry comparison, subscriber activity and revenue reports. For global companies, there is the option to view engagement by country. Perhaps more than any other email service, MailChimp is hailed for delivering on both visual and analytical levels. It’s trustworthy, relatively intuitive and somehow… friendly? (Who doesn’t love that little knapsack-sporting chimpanzee?) When I asked a marketing colleague which she prefers, MailChimp or Pardot, she said, “If we send the same email the the same list, our MailChimp emails have better open and clicks rates.” The question of where campaigns are best initiated, managed and integrated with sales is another story, but interesting (ape) food for thought.

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Who uses MailChimp? MailChimp’s userbase is extensive, making itself available to the beginning mom-and-pop marketer, the growing business team, the pro marketer, and high-volume sender—all looking to take where they are and improve performance with multivariate testing and comparative campaign reporting.

Mailchimp users report positive feedback on the software’s intuitive user experience, sophisticated drip campaigns, optimization features, simplicity in email list segmentation and affordability. More on Mailchimp’s product reviews and pricing.

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Express Pigeon is an email delivery and reporting system for the hip.

The software program provides extensive email templates with a responsive editor, compatibility and “deep personalization” features. As an email service, the hyper-active bird provides sophisticated segmentation. As a tech-savvy advocate, its templates are optimized for mobile platforms and make it easy for developers to merge data with a powerful API .

“Powerful email for savvy professionals.”

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Who uses Express Pigeon? Anyone planning to integrate email aesthetics into their email-marketing plan. The key here? Knowing your audience. If your leads are image-conscious (and said behavior inspired their generation as your lead), this type of an email campaign—and this service—might make sense. Image-driven brands and B2B companies using photos as an integral part of their storytelling campaigns—here’s talkin’ to you, kid. While the landing page and preliminary text suggest Express Pigeon’s target market is the iPad-clad hipster, the service is generally geared towards marketers concerned with generating a clean, attractive campaigns that can be tested in A/B format and have templates ready for a large, mobile audience.

Express Pigeon is perhaps not the optimal platform for content marketers accustomed to pushing text-based emails with a single link to a blog post. (Neil Patel would likely not adopt.) But brands that rely on image or design to inspire an emotional connection with the reader are likely to benefit from this variety of email-savvy marketing. Express Pigeon users report on the application’s ability to “think like a marketer,” honing in on its intuitive system. Users also focus on the ability to create beautiful emails quickly and embed images, videos, etc. More on Express Pigeon pricing.

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Like Express Pigeon, Campaign Monitor prides itself in providing an email marketing service that is aesthetically superior while remaining committed to producing impactful data in the modern marketing era. Somewhere in between hipster and minimal, Campaign Monitor templates are easy on the eye, without feeling too ‘industrial warehouse.’

“Elegantly simple email marketing.”

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Who uses Campaign Monitor? Campaign Monitor has an impressive list of customers that care about emails visuals without caring too much about emails visuals (sorry, almond-milk latte crowd). Clients are mostly B2C companies including AirBnB, Birchbox, Lacoste, Disney and Callaway Golf. Campaign Monitor users report on the software ability to easily manage many clients/campaigns at once, on efficiency of its list segmentation features and ability to clone campaigns, and on the availability of its customer support team. More on Campaign Monitor pricing.

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Aweber is an email marketing automation software that prides itself in providing cost-effective templates, reliable deliverability, human-centric customer service and integration with 3rd party applications (Facebook, Leadpages, Wordpress, PayPal). (For a complete list of features click here.)

It’s top pitch? Affordability, due to its comprehensive services. “When you get all the email marketing tools you need for one price, you get the most for your money—really.”

“Connections that are built in the inbox.”

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Who uses AWeber? Alongside ballsy and success marketing entrepreneur, Ash Ambirge from The Middle Finger Project, AWeber caters to marketers who wish to integrate plug-ins and widgets, access easy-to-edit templates and utilize comparative analytics features (split A/B tests).

AWeber users report superior organization of campaigns, available customer service, and its strong internal communication features. More on AWeber pricing.

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“The first thing you need to know about Brightwave is that we are laser-focused on email.” Brightwave is not just an email platform with automation tools and statistics—it is a company that provides strategic insight. The eCRM platform and agency hones in on email to formulate one-on-one customer relationships with prospects “through their inbox,” while remaining committed to creativity and meaningful ROI. With campaign management, creative and strategic features, BrightWave’s goal is to become an extended member of your team. (Yes, that means they want to work with you IRL.)

“North America’s leading email marketing agency.”

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Who uses BrightWave? BrightWave lists some mega-brands as email “partners”—Google, Liberty Mutual, and Chick-fil-A. On a wider scale, it targets similar B2B and B2C enterprise companies that want to see clearer deliverables on email strategy to nurture customer relationships and boost revenue. More on BrightWave contact information and pricing.

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THIS LIST IS BY NO MEANS COMPLETE. IT IS, HOWEVER, A START— AND AN EXIT FROM DENIAL.

As a writer or editor, signing onto a content management automation system can feel like robots are hijacking your creative process. This eBook humbly acknowledges that smart content marketing isn’t writing a blog post (or eBook) with the hope it will “catch” and amplify (this isn’t the dorms). Rather, this eBook is a declaration that intelligent content marketing strategy utilizes integrated systems to optimize, organize, manage and convert content into real-time engagement and sales. This list is meant to help you—the writer-marketer-business professional—decide which marketing automation tool (or set of tools) best meets your business needs so that you can go back to creating superior content.

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FOR MORE ON CONTENT MARKETING, STORYTELLING, ENGAGEMENT AND DATA MEASUREMENT—JOIN US AT ONE OF OUR UPCOMING SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES SUMMIT EVENTS:

Social Media Strategies Summit, Boston October 21-21, 2015

Social Media Strategies Summit, Dallas December 8-9, 2015

You’ll find articles, eBooks and information on 2016 events on our blog (managed by yours truly).

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