Silverpop Acquires Location-Based Marketing Platform PlacePunch
Silverpop, provider of an integrated email marketing and marketing automation platform, has acquired Atlanta-based PlacePunch, a location-based marketing platform. The acquisition brings a new dimension to Silverpop's Social Connect strategy, designed to help marketers drive revenue by being where their customers are, all the time.
PlacePunch makes it easy to engage customers via location check-ins incorporated into multichannel campaigns. Its suite of marketing programs instantly works across all major location-based social networks, such as Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, and includes the following components:
- Rewards Programs that deliver special incentives to customers who check-in to a particular location;
- Check-in Contests that drive customer visits, brand engagement, and social-media buzz;
- Location-Based Offers designed to increase traffic to specific locations by automatically sending offers to nearby customers;
- Check-In Messaging that drives email opt-ins, promotes new products or simply thanks customers for visiting a store, trade show booth. or virtual location; and
- Reporting and Analytics to evaluate and enhance location-based campaigns.
"Today, marketers must listen carefully to their customers and deliver the most relevant content at the moment they want it most," said Bill Nussey, president and CEO of Silverpop. "Our acquisition of PlacePunch, a true pioneer in the location-based marketing space, provides a remarkably powerful opportunity for our customers to market to people who have clearly indicated an interest in their company and a desire to purchase its products or services. This is an incredibly important insight, and I am looking forward to seeing our customers benefit from making it part of their campaigns."
PlacePunch is the latest addition to Silverpop's Social Connect collection of products and features. Social Connect also includes Share-to-Social, giving marketers the ability to turn email into socially-enabled viral messages, and Social Sign-In, which allows site visitors to register for online offers by signing in with their existing social network accounts.
"We are excited to join forces with Silverpop to help marketers stay one step ahead of their customers by being where they are, literally," said Adam Steinberg, co-founder and CEO of PlacePunch. "The fact that Silverpop was a fellow Atlanta-based start-up just 11 years ago also brings an additional level of excitement to this new opportunity. By combining PlacePunch's location-based marketing features with Silverpop's marketing automation platform, we can truly enable marketers to reach customers at exactly the right time and location."
While the exact terms of the deal will not be disclosed, Steinberg will be joining Silverpop as segment marketing director for social media. Co-founder Chris Glace will join Silverpop as a product innovation architect after integrating PlacePunch into Silverpop Engage.