Right now, a social media “guru” in Colorado is using Buffer to schedule in posts across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A digital marketer working for the same creative agency in NYC just revised another client’s content strategy using social media insights from Brandwatch. And his client-side analog, the brand VP, just told an associate marketer to rework the current content marketing channels, powered by Percolate. And me? I’m writing this blog post in WordPress.
Content marketing is more powerful than ever, but just as with marketing automation, there is no integration. Different tools owned by different startups are dedicated to doing different things. Many of them are redundant, and sometimes price seems to be the only litmus test marketers apply before sticking with one option or another.
To be a successful digital marketer in 2015, you have to be WordPress, Drupal, Buffer, Hootsuite, Percolate, Social Studio, Rebelmouse and Brandwatch-savvy. In fact, that might not be enough.
This is why Parllay, a content marketing startup run by former Microsoft execs, is so interesting.
Say Hello to Parllay’s All-in-One Solution
Parllay isn’t shy about their aspirations. They want to create an all-in-one content marketing platform. One that will be a one-stop-shop for marketers.
Here’s what their two-part platform looks like right now (version 1.0):
Parllay Studio
- Social Pulse
- Instant Insights
- Interactive Campaigns
- Social Listening & Intelligence
- Streams
- Interactive Calendar
- Analytics
Parllay Channels
- Stunning Content Hub
- Loyalty & Rewards Program
- Social CRM
- Tap Ins
- Semantic Explorer
- Audience Intelligence
Without knowing what each of these does, it’s apparent that Parllay is trying something that is a bit unprecedented: the marriage of inbound and outbound marketing tactics.
In other words, they want the guy doing the social media strategy and the girl doing the direct mail opt-ins and promotions to rely on the same intelligence and publishing platform.
Let’s be clear: this is huge. If there really is a content marketing platform that can successfully do everything Parllay claims it can do — I’d be one of the first to sign up. Unified content marketing would make marketing about 1,000% more efficient.
Where’s The Fanfare?
Which is why Parllay’s less-than-stellar reception has been so puzzling. If you type “Parllay” into Google, you get this. All their coverage was back in early December 2014, when they launched. Almost half a year has passed, and they’ve tweeted 1,315 times, but only have 1,236 followers. And I can’t find a single review of their platform.
Could it be that these content marketing prophets aren’t actually very good at content marketing? Or is it that the world of marketing just isn’t ready for such a unified solution?
Or, is it that, like many other all-in-one solutions before it, Parllay overdelivers and underpromises? At $500/month, it’s not exactly the type of platform I’d try without a referral.
Have any of you used Parllay? Do you think it’s worth using? Sound off below!
