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Andy_Theimer
Andy_Theimer
Level 2
April 4, 2019
Question

What did you use before Marketo?

  • April 4, 2019
  • 21 replies
  • 7642 views

Just for fun, what single marketing automation or ESP did you use before graduating to Marketo? Pardot for us.

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    21 replies

    Jay_Jiang
    Jay_Jiang
    Level 10
    April 4, 2019

    Started off on Marketo, but have also worked with Hubspot, Pardot, Infusionsoft, SharpSpring and Act-On. Looking back, Pardot was probably worst value for money, while SharpSpring was pretty good value for money.

    Andy_Theimer
    Andy_TheimerAuthor
    Level 2
    April 8, 2019

    Interesting, I've never used Infusionsoft but heard recently they could have as many as 35K companies using their product. Active Campaign was a pretty good value for the money... I used it AFTER Marketo when shifting startup phases $$$$ > $.

    Brooke_Bartos1
    Brooke_Bartos1
    Level 4
    April 8, 2019

    Microsoft Click Dimensions.

    M
    matjazz
    Level 6
    April 15, 2019

    Hi Brooke,

    would you mind sharing your thoughts on Click Dimensions vs Marketo (especially in MSD CRM environment)? I did read some reviews online, but additional insights are always valuable. Thanks! Matjaž

    Kevin_Weisenber
    Kevin_Weisenber
    Level 4
    April 8, 2019

    IBM Campaign Automation (formally Silverpop)

    Bryan_Epstein
    Bryan_Epstein
    Level 5
    April 8, 2019

    I started with using MailChimp & Constant Contact for freelance clients, but I used Salesforce Marketing Cloud for 5 years before moving into the world of marketing automation with Marketo.

    Tashmeem_Waqas1
    Tashmeem_Waqas1
    Level 2
    April 8, 2019

    Mailchimp and Hubspot very briefly. Also used Hubspot again, for one of my clients 2 years into using Marketo exclusively and didn't enjoy it at all.

    Meg_Stout
    Meg_Stout
    Level 2
    April 9, 2019

    Most recently, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Real Magnet, Informz. Prior to that, Salesfusion, Swiftpage (the stuff of nightmares!), VerticalResponse, Constant Contact, and MailChimp.

    ChristinaZuniga
    ChristinaZuniga
    Level 9
    April 9, 2019

    Aprimo!

    Casey_Grimes2
    Casey_Grimes2
    Level 10
    April 9, 2019

    Infusionsoft, ExactTarget, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, homegrown Postfix-based solution. Have and still occasionally use Sendgrid/Mandrill/SES as needed.

    The fact that Infusionsoft uses Marketo never fails to amuse me.

      M
      Mark_Price
      Level 6
      April 13, 2019

      so I was Infusionsoft' Infusionsoft Admin / Marketing Automation Architect at that time and then scaled the Marketo instance. This was in 2015, so things could have changed but for context- their system is for companies with: 1-50 employees, $50k - 1.5mil in revenue, db size of 1 - 100k.

      Through customizing the internal Infusionsoft (and eventually connecting to Netsuite), it scaled until there were 500-600+ users, $60 million in revenue and database size of 1mil+. At that time, there were issues running it so far outside of the intended use. The company decided it didn't make sense to have the software engineers working on something that wasn't going to help the customers - and looked at mid-market / enterprise tools.

      Casey_Grimes2
      Casey_Grimes2
      Level 10
      April 16, 2019

      Oh, I'm totally aware of Infusionsoft's limitations and hacking around it—my company was the one that was waaaay too big for Infusionsoft's target company size that was using it for early automation and ecommerce management (but had to build a custom connector to not use Infusionsoft's in-house CRM). Not sure if they were still a customer as of 2015 but managing that thing was a beast as a result. I just find it a bit funny that there's a not-eating-its-own-dog-food component to the setup.

      Which is probably for the best, as Marketo does a far better job in that space.

      Devraj_Grewal
      Devraj_Grewal
      Level 10
      April 9, 2019

      Began with an ESP (MailChimp) and then began marketing automation with Act-On. Transitioned from Act-On to Marketo.

        Justin_Norris1
        Justin_Norris1
        Level 10
        April 9, 2019

        MailChimp.

        As a straight-up ESP they were top notch and of late have been adding in some light-weight automations (useful for an ecommerce site perhaps).

        I think transitioning from MailChimp's slick design and consumer-level ease of use to circa 2011 Marketo was especially tough, until I figured out the power under the hood.

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