Knotice

Founded in 2003 by CEO Brian Deagan and CTO Bill Landers, Knotice operated as a direct digital marketing software and services company from its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Deagan, a serial entrepreneur, identified a market need for integrated digital marketing services based on client feedback at a previous agency, which led to the spin-off that became Knotice.

The company developed a proprietary, on-demand software platform, Concentri, which it released in 2006. This platform unified website, email, and mobile marketing functions, allowing clients to manage direct digital communications from a single interface. A key component of Knotice's offering was its data management platform (DMP), which consolidated customer information to create unified profiles, enabling personalized marketing and analytics. The business model combined software-as-a-service (SaaS) with a suite of professional services, including strategy, creative development, and analytics. Knotice primarily targeted small and midsize businesses, finding them more agile and able to adopt an integrated marketing approach compared to larger, more siloed organizations.

The firm secured $500,000 in funding from JumpStart Inc. in 2006, which facilitated significant growth from nine employees in 2006 to nearly 90 by early 2012. Knotice eventually repaid this investment with interest by mid-2010. The company's growth was initially tempered because its DMP technology, created in 2008, was ahead of market readiness. However, industry recognition, particularly from a Forrester report, later put the company on the radar of larger players. In March 2014, Knotice was acquired by New York-based IgnitionOne, a digital marketing technology provider. The acquisition was a strategic move by IgnitionOne to integrate Knotice's DMP, email CRM, and mobile messaging capabilities into its own Digital Marketing Suite. Knotice's leadership, including CEO Brian Deagan, CTO Bill Landers, and CFO/COO Jon Grimm, were the largest shareholders at the time of the sale, and Deagan joined the IgnitionOne management team. Subsequently, IgnitionOne itself was acquired by Zeta Global in 2019.

Keywords: data management platform, direct digital marketing, marketing automation, cross-channel marketing, SaaS, email marketing, mobile marketing, customer data platform, personalization, marketing analytics, customer profile management, IgnitionOne, digital messaging, Concentri platform, Brian Deagan, Bill Landers, marketing technology, AdTech, customer relationship management, lifecycle marketing