There are few marketing automation applications that security software company Symantec Corp. doesn't use. Symantec has invested in database management and segmentation tools, campaign management and reporting, lead generation and scoring and Web analytics.

One might expect it from Symantec, but other companies should be expecting it of themselves, said Scott Kosciuk, director of marketing programs at Symantec.

“Marketing automation is the key ingredient that binds and enables the execution of an integrated campaign,” Kosciuk said. “It's been the key to tracking all the marketing interactions by our customers, and customizing our communications and offers to them as they journey through the buying cycle.

“As a result, we continually lower the cost of lead-generation and management,” he said.

To cover all its bases, Symantec uses marketing automation solutions from integrated marketing company Aprimo Inc., email service provider Responsys Inc., CRM vendor Salesforce.com and business intelligence company BusinessObjects, plus content management through Interwoven Inc.'s TeamSite application.

And the company is gearing up for more, including mobile and social.

“We believe our customers and employees should be able to access information from any device or location with confidence,” Kosciuk said. “Emerging marketing automation will allow us to provide the information stakeholders need to make the best- informed decisions, via any platform.”

But not every marketer has the background—or confidence—to take advantage of all that's new, said Lisa Arthur, CMO at Aprimo.

“There's an amazing change going on in marketing,” Arthur said. “Marketers are excited, but frightened. They often don't feel equipped in integrating the functions of marketing, data processes and their go-to-market channel.”

The most unsettling thing, Arthur said, is, “We don't even know the channels that will emerge in the next 24 months.”

Nevertheless, the rapid pace of change, spurred by the recent economic turmoil is turning marketers' attention to technological solutions.

“I've spent 20 years flogging marketing automation, but there is a momentum and stimulation now that just hasn't been there before,” said Phil Fernandez, president-CEO of lead-management company Marketo Inc. “The good news is, we'll see some of the promise of marketing automation become reality. The bad news is, it must be disorienting for marketers trying to make sense of it all.”

Fernandez said a key change in the market has been a new emphasis on revenue performance—the use of automation to convert leads into sales, and not merely track and report on prospect behavior. He said this is being driven by a fundamental change in buyer behavior.

“Buyers are in control,” he said. “They don't want to talk to salespeople. They don't need to talk to them. So the transformation isn't just about marketing but about every step along the way—and about how revenue is created.”

One trend, in particular over the past year, has been an attempt by marketing tools vendors to integrate a wide variety of capabilities to cover any contingency.

Aprimo, for example, offers about 30 marketing modules that can be used separately or in combination, and IBM is busy consolidating its recent marketing automation purchases into a suite of services.

At the other end of the spectrum, companies that used to be singularly focused are aggregating more capabilities through partnerships or acquisitions.

Among these are design tech company Adobe Systems, now offering Web analytics, content management and social marketing; communications technology company Cisco Systems, launching a social monitoring and response product to augment its call-center platform; email company Responsys, blending in cross-channel marketing and social media capabilities; and email service provider Silverpop, adding remarketing, behavioral analytics and lead-management tools.

Sometimes, however, an automated approach to a single task is sufficient.

The Technology Association of Georgia, an umbrella society for 27 technology groups, uses predictive analytics technology from VueLogic to help manage its email outreach to a database of 18,000 contacts.

“The way our members hear about our events and services is through email, but we constantly hear them say they get too many,” said Melanie Brandt, COO at TAG. “We don't want to limit our communications; we just want to eliminate the excess noise.”

VueLogic's database technology predicts customer behavior based on historical data. With it, TAG has been able to more effectively segment its database, understand who is most likely to be interested in what TAG services and create more appropriately targeted messages to those individuals.

The ability to focus on individual needs and wants is an important element in the growing marketer appreciation of automated assistance.

“The key for the future will be that messages are more customized, delivered and accessed at the time of the most impact on the buying cycle,” said Symantec's Kosciuk. “In turn, we should see more cost-effective prospecting and discovery that will reduce the [length of the] sales cycle.”

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