IBM has launched a new cloud-based Web analytics and digital marketing suite, which can help businesses automate their expat marketing campaigns across online channels.

The IBM Coremetrics Web Analytics and Digital Marketing Optimization Suite will help companies understand their customers’ buying preferences and patterns across digital media, including web sites, social media networks, mobile phones, and tablets. Its goal is to aid companies in designing and delivering tailored online experiences and marketing promotions through real-time, personalized recommendations and email ad targeting.

Robert Gilbreath, E-commerce Director at Calendars.com, commented, “IBM is the company we trust to help us continue to evolve our approach to customer-centric online marketing, and identify new opportunities as they arise.”

With the majority of expat marketing efforts now online, it is more important than ever for businesses to effectively analyze their web traffic and campaign ROI, a task now complicated by the rise of social media. A 2010 survey found Google Analytics controlled 44% of the market, followed by Adobe’s Omniture. IBM’s Coremetrics was third with only a 17% share. Critically, the survey found 37% of e-commerce sites used a combination of Google Analytics and another analytics suite.

Smaller companies will undoubtedly want to stick with Google Analytics. Though not quite as robust as Coremetrics or Omniture, Analytics is free (the others run into the tens of thousands of dollars). However, larger companies targeting expats, such as banks, may judge the benefits to be worth the additional cost. The key variables are the size and complexity of the expat business.

If you’re uncertain which analytics suite best fits your needs (and assuming you have the budget to be choosey) best is to start with Google Analytics and see if it does the job. If not you can always shell out for a more expensive product.