Marketers now able to harness the power of the consumer’s voice within social media as an integral part of their online and offline marketing strategy

LONDON – 15 July, 2009 – Businesses now have a uniquely powerful marketing platform available to them thanks to today’s announcement that Alterian (LSE: ALN) a leading international integrated marketing platform provider, has acquired Techrigy Inc., a global leader in social media monitoring and analytics software.  This acquisition follows another successful year for Alterian, with a 73% increase in revenue reported for the financial year to 31 March 2009.

Alterian’s acquisition of Techrigy enables a fundamental shift from mass marketing to marketing based on engagement and conversation with the individual. The augmentation of Alterian’s existing technology portfolio with the robust Techrigy social media monitoring and analytics solution means marketers can now, for the first time, get a full view of their marketing landscape by listening to their consumers online. From understanding consumers’ reactions to all marketing campaigns irrespective of channel, through to monitoring brand reputation, influencer identification, competitive analysis, and market research, marketers now have an unprecedented ability to understand and measure the mood of their market.  Marketers are empowered to fully utilize social media dialogue with the consumer to make informed, intelligent and insightful decisions around their entire marketing programmes, whether online or offline, and therefore create a more in depth profile of their existing and potential customers.

Social media, the creation of online content, and the voice of the consumer are now integral parts of how a brand is perceived by customers and partners. Jeremiah K. Owyang, author of “Social Media Playtime is Over”, an independent report by Forrester Research, Inc., (March 2009), notes that marketers must now make, “…social applications a permanent part of marketing, measuring and demonstrating their value, and integrating them into marketing efforts.” This makes social media monitoring and analytics an imperative area that marketers need to use as a standard part of their marketing programmes – not just for online monitoring or experimentation.  By integrating Techrigy’s leading products with the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform, Alterian is leading the way in bringing social media into mainstream marketing.

To bring marketers up to speed in this space, Alterian is making available a free evaluation version of the Techrigy SM2 system, ‘Freemium’, to its 1,100+ existing customers and 150 business partners, as well as any new organisations that are planning to explore the powerful insights available to them through social media monitoring.  This version can be upgraded to the full version which is a subscription-based product.

“Social media monitoring and analytics are a complex challenge. Social media and Web 2.0 applications are developing and changing so rapidly that only those companies that can combine an understanding of social media with a solid history in marketing analytics will succeed in this fast emerging space,” said David Eldridge, Chief Executive Officer of Alterian. “By combining Alterian’s platform with Techrigy’s SM2 technology, marketers now have a complete, easy and practical solution to understand the complete view of their customers and take action to use this to build brand equity and generate opportunity.”
Eldridge continues, “Marketing is currently going through a revolution. The days of mass marketing, untargeted mailings, email blasts and generic brochure-ware websites are numbered. Marketers now need to appeal to the individual and engage with customers on a one-to-one basis. The addition of Techrigy to the Alterian platform further strengthens our ability to give marketers an holistic view of social media which can be applied to their entire marketing mix, and a set of tools to help strengthen the relationship their company has with its customers.”

Aaron Newman, Founder and President of Techrigy Inc., adds, “Today’s announcement marks a great step in the SM2 story and for social media monitoring. We don’t see this as the end of the Techrigy story but the start of something bigger. Through the backing of the Alterian brand and integration with the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform, SM2 now becomes an integral part of the marketer’s arsenal and social media monitoring and analytics takes a giant leap forward in becoming a key driver of marketing activity. We are excited to be part of the online marketing revolution and delighted to be joining the Alterian team.”