Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services. It was founded in 2000 under the name ExactTarget. The company filed for an IPO in 2007, but withdrew its filing two years later and raised $145 million in funding. It acquired CoTweet, Pardot, iGoDigital and Keymail Marketing. In 2012, it raised $161.5 million in an initial public offering, before being acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion in 2013. ExactTarget was renamed Salesforce Marketing Cloud in 2014 after its acquisition by Salesforce.[4]
| Industry | Marketing automation |
|---|---|
| Founded | Indianapolis, Indiana December 15, 2000 |
| Founder | Peter McCormick, Scott Dorsey and Chris Baggott |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 14[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Adam Blitzer, GM & EVP |
| Revenue | $292.3 million (2012)[2] |
Number of employees | 1,800 (2013)[3] |
| Parent | Salesforce |
| Website | MarketingCloud.com |
Corporate history
Salesforce Marketing Cloud was founded under the name ExactTarget in late 2000 by Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott, and Peter McCormick with $200,000 in financing.[5][6] Joanna Milliken joined ExactTarget as the first employee in 2001.[7] It raised $10.5 million in funding from Insight Venture Partners in 2004.[8] The firm grew from $11.5 million in its second year of operations to $41.1 million in 2006, which was its first profitable year.[9] In December 2007, ExactTarget filed an intent for an initial public offering with the Securities Exchange Commission,[10] but withdrew its filing in May 2009.[8] Instead, it announced that $70 million in venture funding had been raised for international expansion, which was followed by another $75 million round later that year.[8][11][12][13] An office was established in London[14] with the acquisition of a UK-based ExactTarget reseller, Keymail Marketing, in September 2009.[15][16] The company hired 200 additional employees.[8] In 2010, ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, a company founded in 2008 that develops and markets software for managing multiple Twitter accounts.[17]
ExactTarget went public in March 2012[18] and raised $161.5 million in funding on the New York Stock Exchange.[19] In late 2012, it acquired a marketing automation vendor, Pardot, for $96 million, and the developers of a product recommendation engine, iGoDigital, for $21 million.[5][20] In 2012, its revenues grew 40 percent over the preceding year.[21] The following June, ExactTarget was acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion.[22] A few months later, salesforce.com said it was laying off 200 staff due to overlaps after the ExactTarget acquisition.[23] That September at the ExactTarget Connections conference, salesforce.com said it was integrating ExactTarget into a new division called Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud.[24]
In May 2014, Scott Dorsey stepped down as CEO of ExactTarget and was replaced by Scott McCorkle.[25] The company was renamed in October 2014 to "Salesforce Marketing Cloud", removing "ExactTarget" from its name, as part of its integration with Salesforce.[26]
In 2019, Salesforce moved its Marketing Cloud to Microsoft Azure.[27]
Software and services
Salesforce Marketing Cloud develops marketing automation and analytics software for email, mobile, social and online marketing. It also offers consulting and implementation services.[28] The software is sold primarily on a multi-year subscription basis. The price of the subscription is based on what features are enabled, the number of users and level of customer service.[29][30]
The software's Interactive Marketing Hub was released in 2010, when the software's user interface was re-done. It serves as the software's primary user interface for managing communications and content through different media.[31][32][33] The Salesforce Marketing Cloud software is offered in a hosted, online subscription model.[10] The company owns the CoTweet,[32] Pardot, and iGoDigital tools. Its mobile features, as well as many of its workflow and collaboration tools, were released in July 2013.[34]
Salesforce Marketing Cloud was founded as an email marketing vendor.[8] Its email management software maintains mailing lists and schedules[35] and modifies email messages based on what recipients read, click-on or forward.[36][37]
In September 2014 the company introduced the Journey Builder for Apps, which is intended to create customer lifecycle maps of mobile app users.[38] That month, at the September 2014 ExactTarget Connections conference, they announced numerous updates to their software. This included integration with software products owned by Salesforce.com, such as Buddy Media and Social Studio, as well as improvements to workflow and content management tools.[39]
In November 2014 the company released a new version of Social Studio. This release expanded Social Studio beyond Salesforce's Marketing Cloud, where it started, integrating it with the Service Cloud and the Sales Cloud. This enabled sending leads over to the Sales Cloud — the salesperson can see the full context of the company's social media interactions with the lead.[40]
Operations
As of December 2012, about two thirds of ExactTarget's 1,500 employees were located in Indianapolis.[5]
The company hosts an annual user conference called Salesforce Connections, previously the ExactTarget Connections Event.[41] The first Connections event in 2007 attracted 500 attendees, and it has since grown into one of the largest conferences on digital marketing. The event was located in Indianapolis from 2007 until 2014, New York City in 2015, and Atlanta in 2016. It did not occur in 2017 as it was merged with world tours, and was brought back in Chicago in 2018.[42] As of April 28, 2016 the conference was renamed Salesforce Connections.[43] It merged with Salesforce World Tour in 2017.[44]
References
- ^ Global Offices, ExactTarget
- ^ ExactTarget Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012, ExactTarget, December 31, 2012, retrieved September 25, 2013
- ^ Human, Dan (August 29, 2013). "ExactTarget parent cutting 200 jobs worldwide due to merger". Indianapolis Business Journal. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ "Salesforce Marketing Cloud (ExactTarget), info and compare this Email marketing software". Email vendor selection. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
- ^ a b c "Digital marketer ExactTarget splashed onto NYSE". Indianapolis Business Journal. December 28, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Mitra, Sramana (February 2, 2012). "ExactTarget Rides Email Marketing Wave". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ "Former ExactTarget Executive Nominated for Appointment to bookacoach Board".
- ^ a b c d e "The $100 million Revenue Club: ExactTarget". The Wall Street Journal. February 10, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- ^ Andrews, Greg (December 17, 2007). . Indianapolis Business Journal. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ a b "FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933". Retrieved 2018-10-27.
- ^ Tartakoff, Joseph (May 7, 2009). "E-Mail Marketer ExactTarget Raises $70 Million from Venture Firms; Delays IPO". CBS News. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Mullaney, Tim (May 14, 2009). "DigitalGlobe Shares Advance after $279.3 Million IPO". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Hosford, Christopher (May 7, 2009). . BtoB Magazine. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ MacMillan, Gordon (March 3, 2010). "Twitter welcomes ExactTarget acquisition of CoTweet". BrandRepublic. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Hosford, Christopher (September 8, 2009). . BtoB Magazine. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ . The Deal Pipeline. March 2, 2010. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Ingram, Matthew (March 2, 2010). "Worlds of Email Marketing and Twitter Collide". Giga Om. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Tan, Anjelica (March 22, 2012). . Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ "Venture-backed IPOs raised $1.5 billion last quarter". Reuters. April 2, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Brosnan, Rob (October 11, 2012). "ExactTarget Acquires IGoDigital and Pardot". Forrester. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Fletcher, Chris (April 23, 2013), Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management, Gartner, retrieved October 19, 2014
- ^ Hesseldahl, Arik (August 29, 2013). "Can Salesforce Keep its Cloud Business Growing". AllThingsD. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Bort, Julie (September 4, 2013). "Salesforce Cuts 200 Jobs from Marketing Cloud Thanks to ExactTarget Acquisition". Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Konrad, Alex (September 18, 2013). "Announcing New Partnership, Salesforce and Workday Crash Oracle's Earnings Day". Forbes. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ Swiatek, Jeff (June 3, 2014). "New ExactTarget CEO predicts accelerated growth". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^ Council, Jared (October 9, 2014). "Salesforce drops ExactTarget name from flagship product". Indianapolis Business Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ "Salesforce chooses Microsoft Azure for marketing cloud migration". Cloud Computing News. 2019-11-15. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
- ^ Products, ExactTarget, retrieved September 25, 2013
- ^ Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 Registration Statement, Securities Exchange Commission
- ^ Baranouski, Artsiom (2023-08-08). "Top 5 Artificial Intelligence Customer Support Systems and Tools". Medium. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ Gonsalves, Antone (October 4, 2010). "Twitter CEO Williams Steps Down". InformationWeek. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b Diana, Alison (September 17, 2010). "Twitter Touts Redesign's Advantages for Marketers". InformationWeek. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Interactive Marketing Hub, ExactTarget
- ^ Levine, Barry (September 19, 2013). "Marketing Automation Provider ExactTarget, on a Roll, Launches New Email Products". CMS Wire. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- ^ Entrepreneur Press (1 March 2009). Start Your Own E-Business. Entrepreneur Press dba Entrepreneur Media, Incorporated. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-61308-065-8. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ Maximizing Your Sales with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Cengage Learning. 2009. pp. 229–. ISBN 978-1-59863-837-0. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ Cindy Krum (February 25, 2010). Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are. Pearson Education. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-0-7686-9479-6. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
- ^ Nicastro, Dom (September 23, 2014). "Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud Gets Personal with Apps". CMSWire. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Martinez, Juan (September 24, 2014). "Salesforce to add content management tools to the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud". TechRadar.
- ^ "Salesforce's Revamped Social Studio Includes Tighter Integration with Sales and Customer Service". 19 November 2014.
- ^ VanBoskirk, Shar (September 15, 2011), Making Connections Through Exact Target, Forrester, retrieved October 19, 2014
- ^ Swiatek, Jeff (September 25, 2014). "ExactTarget will move huge Connections conference to New York". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Simon, Kelley. "ExactTarget Connections is now Salesforce Connections". Marketingcloud.com. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ Liegl, Julie (12 January 2017). "Transforming Salesforce Events in 2017". Salesforce.com. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
External links
- Official website