Cloud-based marketing and PR software company Vocus has acquired email software provider iContact, the company announced on Feb. 28. The acquisition is designed to allow Vocus to add an enhanced email offering to its marketing suite, which currently includes search, social and publicity marketing modules.
iContact’s software is designed to enable small and medium-sized businesses to create and execute email campaigns, which can be integrated with Facebook and Twitter. Vocus anticipates the iContact acquisition will enhance its Vocus Marketing Suite, the best-selling product in the company’s history since launching last October.
“Social media marketers want a return of message-based marketing, including branding and PR, and just enough of metrics marketing,” said Vocus CMO Jason Jue. “We feel like we’ve developed the dream team of integrated marketing, with search, social, publicity and now (with iContact’s technology) email.”
Jue expects iContact’s assets will allow the company to offer a more comprehensive software-as-a-service marketing product for small and medium-sized businesses, which he believes currently lack options when looking for technology solutions.
Vocus’ clients include Southwest, National Geographic Society, and REI. iContact’s current clients include Triangle Family Services, Beacon South Beach hotel, and UniKey Health Systems.
The acquisition closed on Feb. 24. Decisions about how this will impact iContact’s leadership team and staff have yet to be made, but Jue said that there “will be job impacts.”
