How many separate online marketing tools do you use on a daily or weekly basis? If you are like me, you unfortunately have to manage multiple accounts from an assortment of vendors and separate businesses. There’s a google account to manage your Adwords campaigns and your website analytics. There’s the email service provider account you have to help manage your opt-in email lists. There’s the content management system that you utilize to manage your website and/or landing page content. The list could go on.
The Need for an Integrated Online Marketing Management Solution
Integrated marketing is the process of ensuring that all brand contacts, or touch-points, that are received by a customer or prospect are relevant and consistent. Creating integrated marketing campaigns is no longer an option or a “nice-to-have” for organizations that wish to get or stay ahead of their competition. It is a necessity. As the buzz about integrated marketing communications has grown, so has the need for truly integrated Internet marketing tools.
A few years ago, I made the decision to utilize EmailLabs as the email service provider I would utilize to manage my company’s opt-in email lists. There were several other email service providers that I reviewed at the time. Most of the services I reviewed shared very similar features, however, I decided to go with EmailLabs. At the time, I didn’t really realize how happy I would end up being with that decision.
The Lyris HQ Solution
EmailLabs is owned by a company called Lyris, Inc. Over the past few years, Lyris has acquired online marketing companies with the plan of creating an integrated Internet marketing platform solution. Lyris HQ was launched in early 2008 and follows a software-as-a-service business model. Lyris HQ includes the following software solutions:
EmailLabs: Manages the creation, distribution, and tracking of email newsletters and email campaigns
ClickTracks: A web analytics solution to help monitor website, landing page, and search engine marketing analytics
HotBanana: A web content management platform that allows marketers to create, manage, publish, and optimize websites, campaign landing pages, and email assets
EmailAdvisor: Provides email deliverability analytics
BidHero: An online pay per click search engine marketing management solution
So far, I have been happy with the Lyris HQ solution, however, I have to admit I have not been able to utilize all of its features yet and am not using it to its full potential yet. I will say that I have read some not-so-positive reviews of the solution. These negative reviews mainly focus on the cms which my company is not using to manage our corporate website. We had another CMS already in place when we signed on with Lyris HQ. However, I am working on setting up the CMS to manage campaign landing pages, but that process has only just begun.
What are Your Thoughts on Lyris HQ or Other Integrated Marketing Platforms?
I’d love to hear feedback from others out there that have used Lyris HQ and had either a positive or a negative experience. I am also very interested in learning about other integrated marketing solutions that are out there? I am especially interested in hearing about other software-as-a-service business in this niche. I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, etc. on this topic!
Hi Ryan,
Great post. Like you said, it’s an unfortunate situation that many marketers have to use separate platforms or tools to manage multiple accounts. (It’s also incredibly inefficient.)
Knotice recognizes the challenges marketers face in the fragmented online marketing space.
They’ve got a unique software platform, Concentri, that is a truly unified online marketing solution: it unifies the vital direct digital marketing functions of web, email and mobile.
This unification saves the marketer time and money while also improving the relevance and performance of a campaign.
You can find out more about Knotice and Concentri here: http://www.knotice.com/concentri/index.htm
Also, Knotice’s blog might be of interest to you. It covers a wide range of digital marketing topics: http://lunchpail.knotice.com/
Feel free to shoot me an email if you’d like. I’d be glad to talk with you.
Casey
@Casey – Thanks for the comment. I will definitely check out your company and Concentri. The market for saas-based integrated marketing platforms is really growing. It’s got to be exciting to work for such a company.