BUYING MARKETING AUTOMATION
It’s Not About The Tool Don Dalrymple 1
BUYING MARKETING AUTOMATION
It’s Not About The . . . Tool By Don Dalrymple
Marketing automation has been around for more than a decade. There are many capable vendors that provide remarkable technology.
The core technology of a marketing automation system is focused on a primary goal. That goal is to convert leads into buyers. Anything less than this is noise.
However, a strange thing happens when people start educating Buying Today themselves about technology. They get enamored with features and benefits The internet has shifted how products and start comparing technology. and services are bought. Interrupting people with your message, selfItʼs not about the tool. This is where the promotion and a sales meeting are noise of the marketplace distracts what worked in the old economy. buyers rather than focuses them on the goal.
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BUYING MARKETING AUTOMATION
Buyers are now in control. Marketing automation serves to connect. Today, these tactics result in mistrust and lost opportunity. Buyers are now in control. Here are the new rules of how marketing and sales work: Information is easy to get Buyers educate themselves Buyers do not want to be sold Buyers delay interacting with your sales team • When buyers are ready, they collaborate with you • Trust is built by process • • • •
The need for automating the buying process arises from the largely self-service aspect of buying. Thus, marketing automation serves to connect with timely, relevant and personal content. Marketing Automation Features
consumption and form requests are captured in their database records. Reporting from the analytics helps drive feedback. 4. Autoresponder: Automated sequential email which can be driven by a decision tree. Merge fields from database fields make the communications personalized. 5. Logic And Triggers: A rules-based method for triggering emails or tasks in a CRM system. A decision tree can be built for the right logic. 6. Lead Scoring: Ascribing quantitative value to lead behaviors. This is based on rules set up for captured triggers such as opens, page visits, filled forms or clicks. Scoring creates priority for sales engagement or further specialized marketing These are common features which are integrated to provide you with information that you can act on and deliver timely and automated communications to your unseen buyer.
Marketing automation tools have a common feature set which helps to nurture leads and prepare them for a trust-based sales engagement. They grew out of an email marketing and analytics paradigm to extend the If Itʼs Not About The Tool, Then What marketing interaction. is It About? Here are six features of the leading marketing automation systems: 1. Marketing Database: A way to store names, email addresses and contact information. These are typically captured from web forms. 2. Email Marketing: A way to prepare email campaigns. 3. Analytics: Measuring all the movements of your anonymous and identified buyers. Their opens, clicks, page visits, content
In and of itself, your marketing automation tool will not prevent you or help you to generate more demand or convert more leads. There are no bragging rights because one company has one tool and another has a lesser known brand. At our marketing automation firm, AscendWorks, we have worked on many marketing campaigns and use various marketing automation systems. We have interchanged systems with the same campaign logic, presentation and recipes. Success has not come down to the tool.
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BUYING MARKETING AUTOMATION
This is true for many professions. There are a dozen different tennis racquets that Roger Federer could use to win tournaments. There are a dozen different golf drivers that Tiger Woods could win with.
“The tools are secondary. Success comes down to strategy, talent and leadership.” Don Dalrymple President of AscendWorks
The same analogy is true for world-class guitarists, cooks, actors and journalists. The tools are secondary. Success comes down to strategy, talent and leadership.
Strategy Your goals drive your strategy. Increasing revenue, converting leads and getting sales meetings will dictate how your marketing automation campaigns should be developed. A campaign may consist of 20 different emails triggered from specific timing and buyer actions. The landing page designs and the content pieces that provide value need to be carefully crafted in order to entice a buyer.
If you have C talent on your team, then your results should not surprise you. If your In the new economy, talent marketing automation prevails. The intuition, campaigns do not have a mechanics and smarts of a precision that resonates with marketing automation team buyers, then the lack of can drive multiple types of marketing automation systems. resolution towards the goal is likely due to talent. Typically, it takes a team. Marketing automation has many disciplines which come Leadership together: We have seen many Without a champion that has a organizations that buy world Copywriters vision for how your buyers will class systems that they pay • engage, how your campaigns thousands of dollars for only to • Copyeditors Graphic Designers will be delivered and how to use base functionality which • drive results, marketing any email marketing system or • Website Developers Project Managers automation becomes nothing website can accomplish. • more than another spend item • Systems Administrators Software Developers on the budget. The strategy for winning must • revolve around the buying • Marketing Analysts Leadership is required for process. This process is about success. The content which buying, not selling. Answering It is extremely rare to find these talents in one person. connects must be well thought the questions about what is The talent involved in each of through, and the vision for important to your buyer and providing value must be how to provide extreme value these skill sets have different championed. should be the focal point. creativities and aptitudes. Strategy comes from talent.
Talent
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BUYING MARKETING AUTOMATION
Most sales and marketing organizations are focused on selling. It is human nature. It is hard to put yourself in the other personʼs shoes. The buyer wants value. You want to sell. Strong leadership will ensure continuity and consistency around buying. Weak leadership will result in fragmented campaigns, delivery and content which misses.
In either case, the buying decision needs to have the right expectations. Self-service assumes a great responsibility beyond the purchase of a system. The costs of learning, failing, refining and iteration are real. Fullservice allows you access to this value immediately. Winning
This begs a fair question which should be answered in your pursuit of a marketing automation system.
Self-service Or Full-service If you believe you will have the strategy and talent to drive your marketing automation, then self-service may be the desirable choice. Your choice means that you are in the marketing automation business or want to be in it. Learning the systems and failing forward needs to be part of your expectations. However, if the goal is clear and you want the result, then a full-service option would make sense. Strategy, talent and leadership are packaged within a marketing automation team that you can hire to drive to the goals you have.
Ensure that your marketing automation selection accounts for the things that matter beyond features and benefits. These are the determinants for your success. • Are you able to develop strategies that drive to the goal? • Do you have a team that is talented? • Are you positioned with thought leadership? Winning with marketing automation requires bringing together the right ingredients, not just buying a tool. Great teams, strategy and leadership with any competitive marketing automation tool will prevail.
Visit us at www.ascendworks.com
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