ENGINEERING.com is investigating marketing automation software. We’re a small shop, so we ruled out the big guns like Marketo and Eloqua right away. If the budget didn’t kill us, the implementation would. Our wish list: intuitive toolset for creating landing pages, email creation tools with delivery and reporting, lead management including nurturing and scoring, social media campaign management.

If you’ve never watched the expert interviews on BeetTV, a site that covers video advertising, it’s worth a visit. They recently aired an interesting interview with Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer at the giant agency DDB. Amir points out that there is now endless data. He says, that while analyzing data may give you insights into how your prospects behave, you still need great creative to engage your audience.

In the month of September, ENGINEERING.com delivered over a dozen sponsored stories. These were written at our clients’ request by members of ENGINEERING.com’s regular editorial team. (In every case the author disclosed that the post was sponsored.)

It’s no secret that digital media is replacing print. In 2013 US adults spent 309 minutes online, while the time spent reading magazines has dropped off a cliff. The average U.S. adult now spends only 14 minutes a day reading magazines. Print advertising costs 15X more for a print impression than online; marketers should consider dedicating more budget to digital.