We hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend, and are enjoying summer! We stumbled across an interesting collection of marketing automation stats for 2014, and thought we’d share a few of the more surprising and interesting ones. (Incidentally, the article also confirms what we’ve been saying for a while – marketing automation specialists are very en vogue this year!)

• First off, did you know that there are 211 different marketing automation solutions on the market?? If you’re new to marketing automation, that’s one heck of an intimidating field to navigate. Luckily, we have a team of marketing automation specialists available to help you select and implement one of these solutions. We also have a handy Marketing Automation Vendor Comparison Guide, featuring a comparison of the most popular systems, and user reviews.

• Of companies that use cloud-based marketing automation tools, apparently 50% of them use multiple systems. We find this very surprising, considering the next stat – that 85% of B2B marketers using marketing automation platforms feel they’re not using them to their full potential. Well, this is where the DRs come in – we help our clients plumb the depths of their marketing automation tools, to get the best performance and ROI. Why invest in a marketing automation solution, if it’s not going to BE a solution to your actual problems?

• And here’s our favorite fun fact – marketing automation skills are among the most coveted digital marketing skills. However, there’s a 24% talent gap between how much marketing executives say they value marketing automation skills and how much marketing automation talent their teams actually possess. Again, that’s where the DRs come in! As an Eloqua Specialized Oracle partner, our expertise is proven. We can help you tackle troublesome projects, support your team members with training and how-to guides, or just be an extra pair of helping hands.

You can also check out our Knowledge Center for some free tools to help you get on your way to marketing automation brilliance. Or just drop the DRs a line, and start a conversation!