Digital marketing has always been conducive to acute measurement, and any self-respecting agency has a resource that it uses to streamline the data management process.

Until now, the decision regarding which digital interface is right for entry-level marketers has been a careful process of balancing the offerings of the platform with its price, the number of clients it can support (and that you can pay for), and the nature of support needed. Tapclicks’ recent merger with Raven Tools may have just provided a best-of-both worlds scenario: late last month, it was announced that premier reporting and marketing data visualization provider TapClicks had bought its smaller competitor Raven Tools.

As a reporting interface, TapClicks is second to none. It offers integration, customization, and sharing of data from any source one can think of. Raven Tools, on the other hand, is a smaller, limited-service platform that offers everything digital marketers need to run their day-to-day operations, from reporting to keyword research and even website audits.

For those trying to please their current clients and effectively do the research for potential new ones, Raven offers the perfect amount of commitment. The problem for Raven Tools was that it never broke through to the scale required for larger businesses, and while it did feature adequate reporting, it lacked the number of integrations and level of customer support of larger platforms. Co-founder of Raven Tools, Jon Henshaw, explains…

“If you’re a smaller agency, professional or brand that needs essential marketing reports, Raven is the perfect solution. However, if you or your organization needs more advanced reporting capabilities with almost limitless capabilities, then TapClicks is what you want.”

The problem is one that has resonated with Tapclicks’ CEO Babak Hedayati since the beginning of his career in 2007.

“I went into product marketing and management…and ended up working for a CEO who was well known in the industry for being knowledgeable of quality data reporting & analytics and, had high demands because of that.”

As he went about his work, Hedayati realized that there were no tools dedicated specifically to the marketing process. Inspired by Facebook’s seemingly limitless growth on the foundation of pulling data from networks, Hedayati envisioned a marketing platform that could serve as central component to the marketing process, and that with a few clever business deals he could put all the tools and data that marketers need at their fingertips. So, doing what any motivated CEO-material person would do, he hired twenty developers to build his platform. Soon, Tapclicks reached the point that it began to compete with Raven Tools, and Hedayati realized its value as a potential ally: “As we got into the business, they were one of the competitors that came up very often. Customers mentioned their ease of use and self-serve capabilities, deep knowledge of Analytics, and their focused capabilities.”

Now that Tapclicks has gotten to the point of being able to acquire its former competitor, Hedayati’s vision is within reach. With the merger, marketers will soon have access to a tool that manages all parts of the marketing process. Marketers from larger companies will no longer have to conduct keyword research on SEMRush in the morning, use Klipfolio for reporting after lunch, and then use Google Webmaster tools for organic query data in the evening! Marketers from small agencies won’t have to settle for a basic reporting system without certain integrations, nor spend too much on a system that charges $500 a month because it is the only one that offers the data integration they need.

Customers on both platforms are already benefitting, and may even see some unexpected improvements on top of the strategic assimilation. Raven Tools customers can already benefit from Tapclicks’ customer support and sales resources, and anything that can be shared immediately — such as webinars — will be accessible to both sides. One of the best things about the merger, Hedayati adds, is that the bringing together of seasoned entrepreneurs has already had unexpected benefits like improved background implementations that one side has discovered and shared with the other. “Many of the changes might not be noticed at first” he added excitedly, but should still be eagerly anticipated. The platform might run faster here, or be streamlined there. After all, who doesn’t like a pleasant surprise?

Mr. Hedayati’s has every reason to be confident. Last year, TapClicks was named the 87th fastest growing private company in the United States on the Inc. 500 list, making it the 4th fastest growing company in the marketing/advertising sector. While the effects of the merger remain to be seen, it is clear that TapClicks understands what customers need, and will continue progressing towards its ultimate goal of dashboard Nirvana.