Are you one of those people who once upon a time thought you understood marketing, but now, in the days of e-mail newsletters, Web pages, blogs, search engines, RSS feeds, mobile solutions, social networking, YouTube (News - Alert) and podcasts realizes that with each passing day you know less and less?

 

You're not alone. Luckily, there are apparently companies that want to help you.

 

Percussion Software, a developer of Web content management (WCM) solutions for multichannel, customer-centric applications, today announced the introduction of its Percussion 2.0 Solution Series. The Percussion 2.0 Solution Series enables marketing and business professionals to buy packaged capabilities targeting specific line-of-business objectives for their customer-centric Web content managed by Percussion's Rhythmyx platform. The Solution Series is designed to automate online marketing functions —which now extend not only to Web sites and e-mail, but also blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, new mobile apps and social networking. The Percussion 2.0 Solution Series maintains and consistently delivers branding and content across multiple channels.

 

The first two offerings in the new 2.0 Series are the Blog Integration Solution and WebTrends Analytics Integration Solution. According to Percussion, these solutions highlight the diversity of offerings that the Solution Series has in store, from enabling new "Web 2.0" style customer interactivity through the Blog Integration Solution, to traditional marketing automation and business intelligence with the WebTrends Analytics Solution. The Percussion 2.0 Solutions for Web Analytics and Blogging will be available this month and support Microsoft Windows, Red Hat (News - Alert) Linux and Sun Solaris platforms.

 

"Marketing today is undergoing a transformation from two directions at once.

Traditional marketing programs are being scrutinized, measured and automated like never before. Meanwhile Web 2.0 has unleashed a wave of new social communication on-line that is changing all the rules for customer interactions," said Percussion CEO Barry Reynolds. "The Percussion 2.0 Solution Series simplifies the process for business decision makers, enabling them to buy and deploy targeted capabilities in the areas they need, leveraging their investment in the Rhythmyx WCM platform. The Percussion 2.0 Solution Series offers a diverse array of both Web 2.0 and traditional marketing capabilities, allowing our customers to deliver enhanced experiences to their customers and better engage with them."

 

Percussion is a certified WebTrends Open Exchange Partner for content management. Percussion's WebTrends Analytics Integration Solution provides a way to track the behaviors of targeted audiences, measure the effectiveness of campaigns and learn the channels and sites that Web users prefer. Percussion's WebTrends Analytics Solution provides the ability to understand Web usage data in the context of a Web site's content and structure. Then it can be linked back to the content management system, so that WCM users can take action by modifying the site using the data to enhance the experience of Web site visitors.

 

"This integrated solution takes the strengths of both WebTrends and Percussion and creates a way for marketers to target the most profitable customer segments," said Tore Steen, VP of business and corporate development for WebTrends. "The ability to directly track behaviors and measure effectiveness of campaigns allows organizations to continually improve the return on marketing investments. This combination will help organizations improve lifetime customer value."

 

Key benefits include:

 

 

Blogs have quickly grown into a common feature on many customer-facing Web sites. They are the most prevalent form of Web 2.0 application and the most widely used type of customer- and user-generated content. Blogs provide social connectivity through features such as pings, trackbacks and comments that allow other bloggers or blog readers to contribute. With frequent new posts, and high social interaction, blogs are a great means for generating a steady stream of readers or for drawing in and connecting visitors who share common interests. The WCM challenge stems from blogging's rapid growth: how is an organization to embrace the blog channel, yet integrate it with their overall content efforts to produce a compelling customer experience? Percussion has positioned the Rhythmyx Blog Integration Solution as the answer. It transforms almost any blog from a separate, isolated channel into a cohesive part of delivering a comprehensive, multichannel customer experience.

 

Key benefits include:

 

A) Increases social traffic to Web sites by incorporating blog content into them.

 

B) Increases the consistency and impact of corporate messages by delivering them through the blog channel.

 

For more information about Percussion Software, visit www.percussion.com.