Marketing industry publisher Adweek is expanding with the acquisition of newsletter and event producer Social Media Week. Adweek itself was purchased last June by Shamrock Capital and bought Target Marketing and Publishing Executive magazines in September. So we know what’s on Shamrock’s mind, too.
The non-profit sector is less attractive to outside investors but vendors still jostle for position. Fundraising marketing company Moore just bought Amergent, adding the direct marketing and donor management company to its existing stable of 37 businesses. This follows Personify’s purchase of MemberClicks late last month. Personify and MemberClicks both help associations and other non-profits manage their businesses.
Digital customer service platform Khoros just bought Topbox, which collects and analyzes interaction data from calls, chat, social media, surveys, and other sources. The deal was accompanied by a new investment in Khoros by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which bought control of customer success vendor Gainsight last December. You can see what they’re thinking.
Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.