Update: SharpSpring Named Best Marketing Automation Software Vendor on CrowdReviews.com - check the reviews out here: http://www.crowdreviews.com/ratings-of-best-marketing-automation-softwar...

A well balanced article Neil - good job on getting it out so fast. Time will tell if this was a good move for Microsoft and I'm a little surprised Google didn't pip them at the post after having 3 failures at building their own Social / Business Social Media (Google+ just being the last).

What's next, Google buying Facebook - now that is a scary prospect!!

Those Stats are really interesting, I've found the Millennial to be a bit of a paradox sometimes! When surveyed they say that CSR and Environmental Issues are important but a lot of the time in the very next survey they'll all list Price are their top concern. From what I've seen reading over various reports trying to dissect the Millennial demographic it seems Millennial purchasing behaviour is heavily dependent on the product in question.

There is one tip I'd like to share and your data backs it up! Millennials are happy to share their data but expect more for it, they're more likely to make impulse purchases but equally far more likely to extensively use comparison or review websites. By providing highly personalised Marketing messages that make the Millennial customer feel exclusive whilst putting a very immediate time constraint on the offer you can utilise useful Millennial traits whilst side-stepping the trickier ones. One-hour sales have been getting increasingly popular for online retailers in the last few years, the Amazon Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale formats are a great illustration of bringing Exclusivity and Time Constraints together to achieve the promotion of impulse-purchasing!

Henry, thanks for your input. I'm often surprised when I meet some business owners or senior people who've either never used these tools, or haven't even heard of them. Your right, just because they've been around for years doesn't mean they've lost their usefulness.

The clarity that comes with getting summary data, which might extend to many pages, into a 'one page SWOT' is often very powerful - especially when it comes to prioritisation.

As a result of this article some companies have asked how they know if a competitor analysis is needed at all. If you follow this link you will be able to find out http://www.wsi-emarketing.com/Site/MarketingAnalytics/CompetitorAnalysis...

Charlotte, yes it's interesting how a company can go from being the consumers hero (when they refused to give prominence in search based purely on how much a company was willing to pay unlike Yahoo at the time) to the bad guy.

Now businesses can barely get on page one of the SERPs results without paying people are looking at Google through a different lens.

Yes this is an issue. The only way to do it right now seems to be that each geo location has their own Facebook Page. Not perfect by any means. I think Facebook has played with having multiple locations through their 'places' options in the past, so hopefully they'll recognise the need and adjust the set-up in the future

Useful Inforgraphac Chris that just goes to show the gap (in performance terms) that is widening between those sales people (mostly B2B focused) who use social selling techniques and those that don't.

Despite the above graphic, it's not rocket science! But it does require a disciplined approach to adopting the right behaviours.

Here are a few articles that might help: http://blog.wsi-emarketing.com/?s=social+selling&submit=Search

The early bird ticket for the 'Marketing Automation' focused "#GrowWithDigital" event finishes on 18th Jan so you need to book now.

Just reading this after Christmas and New Year - what a fun read and great insights Darren. Keep them coming!!