A research guide for marketing agencies
SharpSpring vs. Marketo2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
MarketoMarketo launched in 2006 and has been a market leader since 2012, providing an engagement marketing platform with bundled services including marketing automation, email marketing and more. Marketo’s price point is on the high end of the spectrum, and an annual contract with quarterly payment is required.
SharpSpringSharpSpring launched in 2014 with a focus on digital marketing agencies. Today, more than 1,100 agencies use SharpSpring to deliver marketing automation to 5,000+ clients. SharpSpring is month to month and is 1/10th the cost of Marketo.
Reviews
Terms
Annual Cost Agency + 3 Client Licenses(Get Started)
$40,196($13,424 Get Started)
Annual contract paid quarterlyMonth to month
Features
8.2/10 4/5
Trust Radius Software Advice
4.2/5
MarTech
8.3/10 4/5
Trust Radius Software Advice
3.7/5
MarTech
Comparable
Basic plan plus add-ons from Pro to upgrade features and add an instance
$6,000($2,300 Get Started)
SharpSpring vs. Marketo
Steve Buck, Black Tie Digital Marketing
“I've used other automated marketing platforms at another agency, however
they are wildly expensive and more geared towards large business.
SharpSpring was affordable enough for our agency and our business clients.
SharpSpring is by far my favorite 3rd party vendor. Truthfully it is the
product as a whole that really made us decide we NEEDED to use it.”
What one SharpSpring partner says:
Real Results
GetIT Comms is a fast-growing B2B marketing agency that operates in 19 countries, providing regional services to some of the world’s leading technology organizations. After implementing SharpSpring for its clients, GetIT Comms experienced an average revenue increase of 20-30% per client.
Demodia is a digital marketing agency that specializes in demand generation, digital marketing, website development, and channel enablement. The agency got up and running with SharpSpring for lead generation in just over one month, and then began using it for clients and getting results in under three months.
2WWW.SHARPSPRING.COMSHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Annual Cost Per Client
Included Contacts
Commitment Due At Signing
Onboarding Fee(One-Time Fee, Includes Agency & All Clients)
Annual Cost
Price Point Per Instance
SharpSpring wins on cost and contract type.SharpSpring comes in substantially lower than Marketo when it comes to monthly costs and is also lower for onboarding. In addition, Marketo locks customers into a full-year contract, while SharpSpring partners only pay month to month and can cancel at any time.
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 3SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
$1,800
$6,000
Additional Contacts $3 per 1K/mo.
$150/mo.Month to month, cancel anytime
$2,300Includes agency instance & 3 client
instances
$1,800 $6,600
100K 100K
Emails Included Per Month 100K Unlimited
$4,500
$40,196
$200 per 10K/mo.
$550/mo.Annual contract paid quarterly
Pricing & Terms
$6,000
$40,196
AgencyBasic plan plus add-ons from Pro to upgrade
features and add an instance
ANNUAL COST FOR AGENCY + 3 CLIENTS
$13,424($4,874/1st quarter +$2,400 to tier up to 100k contacts for 1st quarter + $1,650 to add 3rd
instance for 1st quarter + $4,500 onboarding)
Includes agency & 2 instances, so this price includes a 3rd instance added for fair comparison
and also tier up to 100K contacts
7/7
2/7
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 4SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Email FeaturesAgency Features
TOTAL
Rebrandable Interface (Logo/Colors)
White-Labeled URL
Rebrandable Sales Materials
Rebrandable Notifications
Add a Client In-App
Multi-Client Management Console
Share Templates Across Clients
AGENCY FEATURES
2/77/7
SharpSpring promotes YOUR agency’s brand.SharpSpring is specifically designed to help agencies build and enhance their relationships with clients. Agency partners can reinforce their brands throughout the client relationship via SharpSpring’s rebrandable sales and marketing materials, interface, URL and more.
Basic
REQUEST A DEMO
8/8
8/8
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 5SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Email FeaturesEmail Features
TOTAL
Drag-And-Drop Editor
WYSIWYG Interface
Dynamic Content
Responsive Templates
Render Testing
After-The-Click Tracking
RSS Email Syndication
A/B Testing
Feature parity in email marketing.Email marketing is at the core of all marketing automation platforms. SharpSpring and Marketo both excel in this area by offering all of the features that help agencies use email as an effective campaign tool for their clients.
EMAIL FEATURES
8/88/8
Basic
10/10
10/10
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 6SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Email FeaturesAutomation Features
TOTAL
Unlimited Workflows and Tasks
Triggers and Filters
Branching Workflows
Time-Based Automations
Advanced Lead Scoring
Behavior-Based Automations
AUTOMATION FEATURES
Strong automation features in both platforms.Automation is another area where SharpSpring and Marketo match up almost evenly in terms of features, with both platforms offering marketers the tools they need.
10/10 10/10
Dynamic Lists
Advanced Segmentation
Personas
Dynamic Landing Pages
BasicBasic
Edge to Marketo, but autocomplete can be more effective.Marketo offers progressive profiling to gather data incrementally from leads, but this is a philosophical difference between the two platforms. SharpSpring’s approach is to use autocomplete to pre-populate a form with information previously provided, but to continuously allow leads the option to update their email, phone or other information that has changed since their last visit.
Form Features
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 7SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
11/12
12/12TOTAL
Drag-And-Drop Form Builder
Dynamic Forms
Use CSS To Match Your Site
Custom Calls To Action
Progressive Profiling
Autocomplete
Referral Forms/Fields
Hidden Fields Supported
Third-Party Forms Supported
Third-Party Post-Back
Native WebEx Integration
Navigate GoToWebinar Integration
FORM FEATURES
12/1211/12
Basic
6/6
6/6
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 8SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Email FeaturesContact Tracking
TOTAL
Identify Anonymous Site Visitors
Contact Info From Anonymous Visitors (ZoomInfo)
Track Behavior History Of Known Leads
Timeline Of Lead Interactions
Important Page Visit Tracking
Daily Email Of Site Visitors
CONTACT TRACKING
6/66/6
Contact tracking features pair up.Both platforms track information on anonymous site visitors and then tie those histories to their respective leads upon form fill-out. Both providers also offer IP lookup to reveal visitors’ company names and even offer potential lead names based upon those look-ups.
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
7/7
7/7
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 9SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Email FeaturesLanding Page Builder
TOTAL
Point-And-Click Editor
WYSIWYG Interface
Dynamic Content
Library Of Responsive Templates
Build Single Landing Pages
Optimize For Mobile
Build Landing Page Funnels
Both platforms offer landing page funnels.SharpSpring and Marketo both offer landing page builders that go beyond basics by offering pre-built and customizable funnels – a series of landing pages designed to work together to convert and transform visitors into leads. SharpSpring offers an extensive library of responsive landing page templates, while Marketo makes it easy to set up workflows from landing pages.
LANDING PAGE BUILDER
7/7 7/7
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
AGENCY FEATURES
Blog builder unique to SharpSpring.If content is king, SharpSpring wins by offering a blog builder designed to crown your top-of-the funnel marketing and lead acquisition efforts. SharpSpring’s blog builder is also dynamic, allowing the index page to automatically respond to a lead’s attributes.
Blog Builder
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 10SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
7/7 0/7TOTAL
Point-And-Click Editor
WYSIWYG Interface
Dynamic Content
Library Of Responsive Templates
Advance Post Scheduling
RSS Email Syndication
Social Sharing Widget
0/77/7
BLOG BUILDER
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
Edge to Marketo in social features.Both solutions offer social media profiling and the ability for sales teams to interact with leads through social channels. More importantly, both platforms can track social media conversions/ROI. Marketo provides additional publishing and monitoring capabilities, which are on SharpSpring’s roadmap but aren’t currently available within the platform.
Social Media Features
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 11SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
3/5 5/5TOTAL
Social-CRM Integration
Social Profiling
Social Media Monitoring/Interactions
Social Media Publishing
Social Media Conversions
SOCIAL MEDIA FEATURES
5/53/5
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
Edge to SharpSpring in sales features.SharpSpring sets itself apart from competitors by providing a free CRM that’s also optional (i.e., it plays nice with other CRMs). With Marketo, a user must have another CRM; otherwise data is simply stored in what is effectively a repository. This means that more third-party CRM software licenses are required in order for Marketo to be as effective, which also means more required integrations and more costs.
Sales-Focused Features
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 12SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
4/4 3/4TOTAL
Built-In CRM
Advanced Lead Scoring
Shopping Cart Integration
Native Salesforce Integration
SALES-FOCUSED FEATURES
4/4 3/4
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
Parity in platform features.The platforms stack up well here, with both offering key integrations that are of value to marketers.
Platform Features
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 13SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
6/6 6/6TOTAL
Universal CMS Compatibility
Open API
Zapier Integrations
Multiple Device Tracking
Native Salesforce Integration
Third-Party/Native Form Compatibilty
PLATFORM FEATURES
6/66/6
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
Partner support is a key focus for both platforms.Both SharpSpring and Marketo offer platform migration support and a dedicated success manager, but Marketo limits support to 15 hours before extra charges are incurred. Additionally, Marketo charges a custom add-on fee for any integration assistance, while SharpSpring always offers unlimited free assistance to help partners with implementing their integrations.
Partner Support
WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM 14SHARPSPRING VS MARKETO
2017 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
5/5 3/5TOTAL
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
Platform Migration Support
In-App Contextual Support Videos
Ongoing Training
Phone, Email Support
Included, but limited
Included, but limited
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3/55/5
REQUEST A DEMO
Basic
SHARPSPRING VS MARKETOJANUARY 2017WWW.SHARPSPRING.COM
REQUEST A DEMO
Grow your agency.Tie your clients to you.
Reviews
Terms
Annual Cost Agency + 3 Client Licenses(Get Started)
$40,196($13,424 Get Started)
Annual contract paid quarterlyMonth to month
Features
8.2/10 4/5
Trust Radius Software Advice
4.2/5
MarTech
8.3/10 4/5
Trust Radius Software Advice
3.7/5
MarTech
Comparable
Basic plan plus add-ons from Pro to upgrade features and add an instance
$6,000($2,300 Get Started)