Roving Software Inc., a business-to-business e-marketing services company, added its e-mail marketing tool to BuyerZone.com's online business marketplace as part of a one-year agreement formed this week.
Under the agreement, BuyerZone, which caters to small and midsize businesses, will promote and distribute the e-mail marketing application through its Web site, newsletters and outbound e-mail campaigns.
The marketing tool, Constant Contact, is a permission-based application for small and midsize businesses. Roving representatives said the application helps companies to build permission-based e-mail lists and send e-mail campaigns and provides them with “closed-looped” marketing results.
Meanwhile, BuyerZone, Cambridge, MA, features a network of more than 15,000 suppliers of business applications and services and reaches “tens of thousands” of individuals with its weekly newsletter, company representatives said.
“Adding Constant Contact to the portfolio of services they bring to their online sellers just made a ton of sense,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Roving, Needham, MA. “It makes it easy and affordable for these small businesses to do what they should be doing.”
Roving, which distributes Constant Contact through about 20 other online business marketplaces, including SmartAge and Switchboard, partnered with BuyerZone because of the company's Request For Quote service, which enables buyers to request quotes and sellers to respond to them directly, Goodman said.
Roving also teamed with BuyerZone because it is the so-called purchasing vehicle for other business entities' Web sites, including BusinessWeek magazine, CNBC and Bloomberg, Goodman said.
The deal calls for BuyerZone to promote and distribute Constant Contact through its Web site and e-mail channels. The marketing tool will be integrated into the marketplace and featured on BuyerZone's Quote Zone and Partner Showcase sections, Goodman said.
BuyerZone also will include a hyperlink in its e-mail newsletter that will drive buyers back to Roving's Web site at www.roving.com, said Jim Casey, vice president of marketing at BuyerZone. However, the hyperlink, which will be included in the content-based newsletter as a promotion, will not be featured every week, he said.
Additionally, the hyperlink will be added throughout the Web site in sections covering Web-based marketing, he said.
“The partnership is consistent with our business mission of providing a complete purchasing experience for these small businesses,” Casey said. “It's one of those services that a lot businesses are looking to expand into, particularly from a marketing perspective.”
Goodman added that Constant Contact also would be distributed through purchase alerts and banner ads.
