In September, Adobe acquired Marketo for a whopping $4.75 billion. Marketo is an account-based marketing automation business with 500 partners and 65,000 members. The merger will benefit both companies in areas where they show signs of weakness, but will it also hinder other growth capabilities?
Between Adobe Marketing Cloud’s analytics and personalization features and Marketo’s management and account proficiencies, a fruitful relationship is bound to manifest in the coming months. Adobe now has the opportunity to become a major player in the B2B realm and Marketo can enhance their customer services and server scalability. In the past, users have expressed Marketo’s slowness in editing templates on the platform and considered the business not to be a strong “customer company.” But with Adobe on their side now, all of this is likely to change.
Here are some other pros and cons the future may bring:
PRO: Better Scalability As mentioned previously, Marketo has been known for having the somewhat slow software. With Marketo scaling up its servers and Adobe creating stronger cloud capabilities, such issues should reduce significantly.
CON: Butting Heads with Google Last year Marketo joined a partnership with the Google Cloud Platform, a direct competitor to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. If Marketo and Google decide to part ways, this could mean a loss in machine learning and scaling opportunities for Marketo.
CON: Increased Rates Anytime a large vendor acquires a smaller company, subscription rates typically increase. Especially if new features or products are about to be launched by these brands.
PRO: Growth for AI, Media, and E-commerce Adobe and Marketo will be filling the gaps between each company’s two niches of B2C and B2B respectively. Such improvements will also most likely guarantee an upsurge in artificial intelligence use and software ability. Users with e-commerce needs and a desire to improve their media presence will see benefits in this growth. The compound annual growth rate of B2B marketing automation is predicted to increase by 19.4% by 2023. A merge with Adobe and Marketo is a clear example of how big businesses are willing to spend a lot of money to invest in marketing automation development and improvements. Whether or not you’re a Marketo user, this is a sign of big steps being made to help customers grow and become more proficient within the marketing automation industry.
PRO: More Innovation
There should be an increase in creativity and innovation for both brands. Adobe and Marketo will have the best arsenal of marketing tools at-hand, which means more product experimentation and enhancement for marketing automation.CON: Threat to Competitors
Marketo competitors include Salesforce, Pardot, Oracle, and HubSpot – all major competitors in B2B marketing automation. Although these companies may be intimidated by such a powerful merge, there is still room for growth on such platforms. Every software is customized for certain marketing needs, meaning marketers will probably remain to find value in smaller software catered to their preferences. The future might also bring more consolidation in these businesses as larger companies buy out smaller brands to join the marketing automation industry.PRO: Better Scalability As mentioned previously, Marketo has been known for having the somewhat slow software. With Marketo scaling up its servers and Adobe creating stronger cloud capabilities, such issues should reduce significantly.
CON: Butting Heads with Google Last year Marketo joined a partnership with the Google Cloud Platform, a direct competitor to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. If Marketo and Google decide to part ways, this could mean a loss in machine learning and scaling opportunities for Marketo.
CON: Increased Rates Anytime a large vendor acquires a smaller company, subscription rates typically increase. Especially if new features or products are about to be launched by these brands.
PRO: Growth for AI, Media, and E-commerce Adobe and Marketo will be filling the gaps between each company’s two niches of B2C and B2B respectively. Such improvements will also most likely guarantee an upsurge in artificial intelligence use and software ability. Users with e-commerce needs and a desire to improve their media presence will see benefits in this growth. The compound annual growth rate of B2B marketing automation is predicted to increase by 19.4% by 2023. A merge with Adobe and Marketo is a clear example of how big businesses are willing to spend a lot of money to invest in marketing automation development and improvements. Whether or not you’re a Marketo user, this is a sign of big steps being made to help customers grow and become more proficient within the marketing automation industry.
