Forrester is about to publish two of my reports discussing the state of marketing automation in Europe; one focuses on European buyers and the other on European vendors (they are currently with the vendors mentioned as what we call a  “courtesy copy” – they get a day or so notice before publication). Which will be great timing because we’re holding the EMEA edition of Forrester’s Forum for Marketing Leaders in London next week. I will enjoy showing these reports to clients there to demonstrate how we pay attention to their needs.

What I did in the first report, entitled “Which L2RM Platform Vendors Have an Edge in Europe? The L2RM Platform Forrester Wave™ From a European Point Of View,” was pretty simple. I took our January 2014 Forrester Wave™ analysis, which Lori Wizdo wrote and I edited, and focused on criteria that I know are more important for European marketers. I also considered whether or not each vendor was represented in each of the numerous European countries — and if so, how. Many lead-to-revenue management automation vendors with a global reach have still not seriously set up shop in Europe, because they consider firms here to be late adopters of marketing automation. European marketers, most of whom market internationally by necessity, do have different requirements than those who market primarily to a domestic market. Vendors that focus on those special requirements have a significant opportunity to thrive in the reviving European market.

This localized Forrester Wave analysis does indeed differentiate some vendors from others by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in two areas: global marketing support and local presence. A lot of the details in the report were collected by research associate Tyler Otte in our San Francisco office, in what turned out to be his last project for Forrester before he takes advantage of another opportunity. (Good luck in Austin, Tyler!) He told me that he was quite bemused at the complexity of doing business in Europe.

The other report, “Marketing Automation Success With European Companies: Who’s Hot In Europe?” focuses on marketing automation vendors that have started up here in Europe and which are helping our clients to success: I’ve published previous versions of this report over the past years (2011, 2013). Contrary to assumptions, Forrester survey data tells us that, in Europe, technology buyers now see marketing applications as the most innovative area for investment after big data and mobile and have been planning their investments accordingly (see below).

In this year’s edition, I profile several vendors for the first time — ADAM Software, Adestra, BrandMaker, CrowdVu, Salespredict, Synthesio, Selligent, and Showpad. Some of these companies have already been recognized in other Forrester Wave™ reports.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you in London, or elsewhere in my travels. If you are a Forrester client, watch out for those reports in the next days. If you have any other questions on the above, just drop me a line — or place an inquiry with me if you are a Forrester client. As always, I’d love to hear from you on this and other topics.

 Always keeping you informed! Peter