Marketo Alternatives?

Ernest Ebio CEO at WOD toys LLC

April 3rd, 2015

Recently ran into Marketo & I love the data driven platform. I also love the idea of having all of my marketing efforts in one place, however I don't like the $1,300 a month price tag. Is there a platform anyone can recommend that is similar with a more affordable price tag?

Richard Pridham Investor, President & CEO at Retina Labs

April 4th, 2015

About a year ago I conducted a thorough analysis of multiple marketing automation platforms. This included: Eloqua, Marketo, HubSpot, InfusionSoft, Pardot, SalesFusion and a few others. Eloqua (acquired by Oracle) is in a class by itself but it's a very complex and costly platform. In the end it came down to Marketo vs. HubSpot. I ended up going with HubSpot. It had a much easier to use, more intuitive interface and some really good SEO features and an integrated blog platform. The price of both products was comparable ($1300/month for 10K database I believe).

One of the products I looked at which was interesting was InfusionSoft. It's in the lower end of the product spectrum...an entry-level MA system but it was pretty decent for the price. Plus, it comes with integrated CRM. Keep in mind that with most MA platforms, you need to factor in the cost of your CRM licence. The company I am currently investing in is using InfusionSoft and it's working very well for them. Consider this type of product as "marketing automation training wheels".

One thing I learned is that you really need to setup your MA system properly and fine tune it over time for it to yield results. This includes mapping out your inbound processes, developing your content plan, setting up your lead conversion forms, autoresponders, building your nurturing tracks, etc... You can buy Eloqua but if you don't set it up properly, you're wasting money. Most MA vendors will assign a success team to your account to make sure you get off the ground smoothly and quickly. This is often part of the start-up fee they charge. The HubSpot team was great.

One thing for sure is that marketing automation is no longer a nice to have. It's mandatory! These systems, if put to proper use, can be incredibly powerful and effective for driving inbound leads and converting leads into customers. I can't see how any company can operate without one.

Anonymous

April 6th, 2015

I have recently did a bake-off between Hubspot vs. Marketo vs AutoPilotHQ for our marketing and inbound.

I think Hubspot and Marketo are too costly, and deliver very low value for the $$$$ spend.

On the other hand, I found AutoPilotHQ very helpful, and really rocks at what it does.

Kurt Baumberger Executive in Residence at Duke University

April 3rd, 2015

Check out Hatchbuck. It's made for SMBs and is only $100 per month. Sent from my iPhone

Paul Paetz Startup Advisor, Consultant in Disruptive Innovation, Adjunct Professor

April 6th, 2015

Hubspot is your best bet. It is suitable when you're small, and will grow with you. I think it's better designed than Marketo, but people have their own preferences. Your only other alternative is to use Wordpress and cobble together your own thing from templates and plug-ins, but I really think you're better with a complete solution that has vendor support.

Paul Paetz Startup Advisor, Consultant in Disruptive Innovation, Adjunct Professor

April 6th, 2015

@Vijay. Any decent marketing system is going to be integrated enough that some things are tough outside their ecosystem. Pardot is a Salesforce product and pretty much requires buy-in to that ecosystem. I wouldn't get hung up on need to buy in -- that's going to be true no matter what you pick if there's a lot of automation.

Ernest Ebio CEO at WOD toys LLC

April 3rd, 2015

Kurt & Gopi thanks for the initial recommendations.

Ernest Ebio CEO at WOD toys LLC

April 6th, 2015

Richard thank you for the great response.

Vijay MD Founder Chefalytics, Co-owner Bite Catering Couture, Independent consultant (ex-McKinsey)

April 6th, 2015

I've heard good things about Pardot from some venture funded companies.

Hubspot is great if you buy in, but make sure you like their walled garden. It's pretty tough to do anything outside of their ecosystem.

David Stewart Agile Coach, Scrum Master and Product Owner

April 4th, 2015

Not sure about cost but you may want to look at Pardot or Hubspot.

Tomas Fecko CTO at Mongoo and Librade

April 7th, 2015

HubSpot
Pardot
Acto-On
Active campaign
AgileCRM
Autopilot
GoldLasso
InBoundio
InfusionSoft
LeadSquared
NetResults
Ontraport
Spokal
JumpLead
RightOnInteractive
MindMatrix
ActiveConversion
SalesGenius
SilverPop
eTrigue
Eloqua
Vocus
GreenRope
OutLeads