"Spark by Marketo" Rapidly Gaining Velocity in SMB Market

SAN MATEO, Calif., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketo, the fastest-growing provider of Revenue Performance Management (RPM) technology, today announced that its marketing automation solution for small businesses, Spark by Marketo, is gaining dramatic market adoption, with average sales growth of more than 110% each month since its introduction last September.  In that short time, Spark by Marketo has secured more than 100 customers.

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"Some products take nine months to integrate into a company," said Micky Thompson, CEO of Post.Bid.Ship. and a current Spark customer. "I wanted results right away and with Marketo I got them. We bought Spark after a thorough review of the product and we are delighted with the results." As Thompson states in a recent New York Times article, he had Spark up and running in about two weeks.

Post.Bid.Ship. alleviates inefficiencies in today's freight transportation marketplace by helping aid both sides of the commercial transportation market – shippers of commercial goods and the transportation providers who haul freight. Using Marketo, Post.Bid.Ship.:

• Increased their lead generation by more than 300%
• Reduced costs by more than $6,000/month on overhead due to automated lead nurturing campaigns
• Decreased customer acquisition costs by 50%

"We chose Marketo because it offered a clear path to growth. We are a small company now but Marketo gives a path to grow from 10 to 100 to a 1,000 person organization," continued Thompson. "No other vendor could offer us a solution that we could leverage throughout our growth cycle."

Other small business customers using Spark by Marketo include Bullseyehub, CentraStage, Clean Power Finance, Cloudscaling, LiveRail, Loggly, Nalpeiron, PolySpot, StatPro Group, Speakserve and Waka Digital Media Corporation.

The company also recently doubled the dedicated Spark sales team to support the swiftly growing small business channel. "The amazing thing about Spark is that customers are buying it fast, in a sales cycle that is less than one week," said Bill Binch, senior vice president of sales at Marketo. "This is a huge testament to the trust and confidence that the market has placed in Marketo's leadership."

In February, the sixth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service named Spark a silver award winner in the new product and services category for Sales & Customer Service. Spark also received a 2011 Product of the Year Award in December from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine, and was the only marketing automation solution to receive this critical award.

About Marketo

Marketo is the fastest growing provider in Revenue Performance Management. Marketo's powerful yet easy-to-use marketing automation and sales effectiveness solutions transform how marketing and sales teams of all sizes work — and work together — to drive dramatically increased revenue performance and fuel business growth. The company's proven technology, comprehensive services and expert guidance are helping more than 1,600 enterprise and mid-market companies around the world to turn marketing from a cost center to a business-building revenue driver. Marketo also offers Spark by Marketo™, a new brand of marketing automation tailored specifically for small businesses – the fastest-growing and largest segment of today's economy.

Marketo was recently named one of "America's Most Promising Companies" by Forbes Magazine, the #1 fastest-growing private company of 2011 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and the "2011 CRM Market Leaders Awards Winner for Marketing Solutions" by CRM Magazine. For more information, visit www.marketo.com, or subscribe to Marketo's award-winning blogs at blog.marketo.com.

SOURCE Marketo