The Yin's and Yang’s Top 3 Marketing Automation Platforms in 2020

In 2020 I’ve tested and worked with many marketing automation platforms. As we progress into the future, it is fair to say that everything established on the market, can be interconnected nowadays, and no matter which apps you use now you can find a way for all of them to work together and deliver results.

However, when businesses decide strategically which path to take, they usually opt for one platform that offers most, if not all of the features they need. So below I mention only the platforms that offer All-in-one, rather than individual services (email, SMS, CRM, etc.) and I divide the TOP 3 into the top 3 platforms that provide the best value (Yang) and the top 3 that provide the strongest brands (Yin).
 
Yes. Below are the top 3 for 'SHE' and the top 3 for 'HE'.

TOP 3 FOR YIN

www.marketo.com

www.ibm.com

www.sap.com

TOP 3 FOR YANG

www.zoho.com

www.mailchimp.com

www.hubspot.com

Explanation

​The difference between the top brands and the top value-creating marketing automation platforms?
 
A brand is an intangible value in peoples' minds. Not always a brand can justify its position by the mere value it creates. The TOP 3 brands for marketing automation are those that are large, have a deductive top-down approach to App development, and whose price premiums enable focus on the largest corporate clients. These platforms speak the lingo of boardroom executives and have the off-shore accounts to afford them.
 
The top 3 marketing automation platforms, on the other hand, started from the button up, serving the little guys (SMEs). According to the theory of Clayton Christensen laid out in his book ‘The Innovators’ Dilemma’, these smaller guys would learn how to function with smaller margins and more effectively approach the market. With time, they are expected to encroach on the incumbents.
 
By being focused on numerous verticals and horizontals and companies of all types, large and small, Zoho One, HubSpot, and MailChimp that are focused on creating value rather than making a brand per se have outdone Oracle, IBM, and SAP in the value they create.
 
Think of the top 3 Yin brands as of the IBMs in the 90s. And obviously, IBM is still IBM.
 
Think of the top 3 value-creating Yang marketing automation platforms as the Microsofts and Huaweis in the 00s.
 
Surely, some companies would care about the brand first and the value second. They would endure technical fallacies and astronomical prices only to have a better-refined nuance of colors in their emails. If your philosophy revolves around looking pretty first and doing things second (Yin) then opt for the best brands. If you want to optimize the value you and your company create, choosing the top marketing automation platforms (Yang) would be a rational choice.
 
Whatever you chose for your company you can conclude which energy is dominant in your business. Is it the destructive, corrupted, and appearance-focused Yin, or is it the proactive, innovative, and unsullied Yang?
 
However, there’s something in between the transparency and down-to-Earth nature of Yang and the seductive attractiveness of Yin, and given that we live in a grey world, no wonder its revenues are 13 billion only from providing services that are CRM-based marketing.
 
And that’s SalesForce:

SalesForce started by serving the little guys (SMEs) and now is moving upstream with approaches that are more similar to SAP than to Zoho One. I would say this movement to be a natural progression.
 
But why do corporations tend to be tinting towards Yin as they grow and are hiring disproportionally Yin-like personalities? Why were the founders of these large companies who are now passed away or not actively managing the business mostly highly motivated, creative men who shared the creational Yang?
 
While Yang creates value, once a company is large enough to provide safety and shelter to employees it attracts mostly Yin-type people. Not hiring many Yang people. Procedures and rules that limit self-expression make such behemoths less interesting for the wild entrepreneurs who oftentimes create value by rocking the boat. Men and women.

With time, this cycle of Yin and Yang happens as part of the natural growth of each company. Surely, as time passes, the added-value of the Yang founders and their heirs would be diminished, but the scale would prevail and so will the off-shore accounts, mostly managed by Yins. This opens the downfall of the Yin brands that open the market for new Yang challengers (startups) or executives (outside CEOs) who would take them on a new path to salvation.
 
An eternal cycle, so it appears.

​So, Yang people. The world is yours for the taking. Just treat Yin with respect, as if she was a 'lady' and sooner or latter the world will come in your hands to save.