LinkedIn Corp. has acquired PointDrive, a provider of web content development tools that marketers use in online sales and marketing campaigns. The social media company didn’t say what it paid for PointDrive.
“I’m delighted to announce that we’ve acquired PointDrive, a company that developed an innovative product which aims to improve the way sales professionals engage with prospects and customers through the sharing of rich content,” David Thacker, LinkedIn’s vice president of product, says in a company blog posted yesterday.
Thacker says PointDrive’s content management application “allows sales professionals to package, personalize, and deliver polished and engaging sales content to their prospects and customers.” PointDrive users, he adds, can “simplify the buyer-seller conversation in ways that result in more productivity and generate greater efficiency.”
LinkedIn is looking into integrating PointDrive’s technology with the social network company’s Sales Solutions portfolio of software, which includes Sales Navigator. Businesses can use Sales Navigator to reach out to existing customers as well as prospects based on such information in LinkedIn as names of people who have recently checked a marketer’s LinkedIn profile or posted information about particular products.
Bill Burnett, CEO of PointDrive, says in a Point Drive blog posted yesterday that the combination of the two companies will enable them to provide better ways for business professionals to build commercial relationships. PointDrive’s mission, he says, has always been to “enable salespeople to engage B2B buyers in the most innovative and compelling ways possible. Our vision of differentiated buyer engagement is a natural extension to LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions goal to connect the world’s buyers and sellers to build relationships. I couldn’t imagine a better partner to carry forward our concept to a global audience.”
LinkedIn, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft Corp., also recently launched an automated ad-buying system.
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