This is a serious question. Just two months in to a job search in which I’ve focused on offering my skills in the specialized field of “marketing automation”, I cannot say that I have found any marketing automation practitioners among the ad agencies in Pittsburgh.
I follow some very active discussions about it on LinkedIn and Twitter.
But it seems as if very few people in Pittsburgh even know what “marketing automation” is, and fewer still know how to excel at it.
While things like “marketing automation”, “inbound marketing”, “content marketing”, and “demand generation” are setting the rest of the marketing world on fire, it seems as if very few marketing organizations and fewer ad agencies in Pittsburgh even know what it is.
Take a look at the websites of three of the largest ad agencies in Pittsburgh:
You won’t find “marketing automation” or the other terms on these sites. And yet, it should be “bread-and-butter” for these folks. Especially if they want to consider themselves as “thought leaders”.
“Marketing automation” is as important a discipline as there is now. And yet there are still agencies who are leading with their prowess on “SEO”, even though changing Google algorithims are rendering that discipline obsolete.
Eloqua and Marketo are probably the leading solution providers in this space. Eloqua had an IPO about a year ago for $12 per share, and Oracle bought them in December for $24 per share at quite a premium. Marketo had an IPO on Friday, opening at about $13 per share, and closing at $23.
Neither of these is an earth-shattering amount in the billions, but these are only two of probably several dozen “marketing automation” solution providers who are elbowing each other for market share. Their success portends a trend.
And it’s not so new that folks can’t have heard about it. Especially not if they’re having extremely successful IPOs.
Much of Pittsburgh seems to be sitting out this hugely important technological development.
Hi John! I’m so glad that you decided to write about this. It’s true, many of Pittsburgh’s most well-known marketers are still relying on old school tactics, which require a large investment and offer a measly return. The good news is that there is a huge opportunity for companies and agencies that *do* get it.
To your point about successful IPOs and the growth of Inbound Marketing and Marketing Automation, this technology is not new, but rather a new normal. As marketers and agencies, we have a responsibility to provide services that tangibly contribute to the achievement of the client’s business goals. In my opinion, that’s inbound.
Thanks for this post. 🙂