nel99 helps marketers to measure performance of vendors and channels //

Channel99 launched today with a mobile app for free and promises a complete platform offering in the new year. It will provide technology that can track not only the marketing channel activity but also the vendors behind them. LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular social media channels, but it also measures the business impact of that activity.

It combines spend data with measurement and outcomes to give marketers visibility into the cost of producing those outcomes. This allows them to allocate budget more efficiently. These twin goals are to increase pipeline and reduce acquisition costs. Channel99 sells to B2B marketing agencies and the app has been used by many enterprise and mid-market clients.

We care. There are two reasons. This could be a significant contribution to the aging attribution problem, which increases in complexity with the increase of channels. “Half the advertising money is wasted. The problem is that I don’t know the other half,” is an old saying.

Second, Channel99 was created by Chris Golec. He founded Demandbase, an enterprise ABM company in 2006 and managed it for 13 years. (He remains a member the board). After working as an adviser and investor, he is excited to get back into the startup world.

He said that some of his engineers were in Poland, while others are in Poland. It’s very difficult to invent and build a company remotely. It’s hard to be in the office with people.

How does it feel to be a leader after so many years at Demandbase? He said, “It’s great.”

Independent source for truth. Channel99’s vision is to be an independent source for truth for marketers, Golec stated. Channel99 will measure the impact of spending across dozens of channels, and the various vendors that operate within them. Jackson Square Ventures has provided seed funding of $5 million.

Golec stated in a press release that “more than 90%” of the activity directed to B2B websites provides little or no value when it is about driving new business. The industry needs a single source to measure the effectiveness of their efforts, as it has hundreds of channels and vendors.

Mobile experience. It is unusual for a B2B solution to start with a mobile offering. Golec explained to us that launching a mobile app free of charge first allows customers to interact with you more effectively than filling out forms and calling them 20 times in the next two weeks.

It provides insights into channel and vendor traffic and matches it with accounts. The app also scores it based upon whether it is relevant to a business’s market. “It’s really an Onboarding Strategy because our next product will contain financial information and really help marketers improve where they spend money and how they make decisions.”

He said that although he wouldn’t consider it pure attribution, it was clear that it would show what’s working well and what isn’t.

Get deeper: The truth about marketingattribution

Some vendors and channels are in for bad news. Channel99 might be able to identify areas where wasteful spending can be identified. This could not be good news, however, for vendors and channels that are performing poorly. Golec acknowledged that “that may happen.” Golec said that it might be a good thing for them to improve, but that if a vendor or channel isn’t reaching your target audience then you shouldn’t spend any money there.

However, just because one vendor performs poorly for one company doesn’t necessarily mean that it will do the same for another. It all depends on your target audience.

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