Adobe Systems Inc., a provider of graphics software that increasingly is focusing on the web, will beef up its digital marketing capabilities with the planned acquisition of Efficient Frontier. U.S.-based Efficient Frontier provides search, social media and display marketing services. Adobe did not say how much it will pay for Efficient Frontier, but expects to the deal to close in the first quarter of 2012.

Adobe says the acquisition will enable it to better help advertisers to place online ads and squeeze more revenue from them by adding forecasting and optimization technology to Adobe’s digital marketing offerings. “With the explosion in global Internet advertising, our customers need to know where, when and how to spend their digital marketing dollars to get the greatest return,” says Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager of Adobe’s digital marketing Business.  “The addition of Efficient Frontier will give our Digital Marketing Suite customers a leading platform for turning ad spend into business impact.”

Efficient Frontier’s technology helps retailers to build Facebook ad campaigns, monitor their reputations across social networks, craft paid search campaigns and create bidding plans for display advertising efforts. Efficient Frontier has developed algorithms designed to help retailers determine bids and budgets for broad digital marketing campaigns.

“Adobe’s vision of digital marketing is perfectly aligned with the Efficient Frontier approach—use data and intelligence to manage risk and drive ROI across a growing number of digital channels,” says David Karnstedt, president and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “Adobe customers will have greater insight into how their social, search and display spend impact one another and how to optimize their cross-channel campaigns.”

In 2009, Adobe announced its $1.8 billion acquisition of Omniture Inc., which sells web analytics and web content optimization applications.