The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation

The Definitive Guide to

Marketing
Automation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
03 Introduction
04 Part One: What is Marketing Automation?
13 Part Two: Why is Marketing Automation So HoT Right Now?
20 Part Three: How is Marketing Automation Different From...?
36 Part FOUR: Common Features in Marketing Automation
51 Part five: Business Case for Marketing Automation
72 Part six: Getting Successful with Marketing Automation – More than Technology
80 Part seven: Buying Marketing Automation
89 Part eight: Future of Marketing Automation
95 Part nine: Marketo’s Marketing Automation
97 Conclusion
98 appendix: Key Marketing Automation Experts
99 About this guide

introduction

why should i read the definitive
guide to marketing automation?
Every business has one thing in common: the desire to achieve higher revenue and faster growth.
But many companies struggle to align their people, processes, and technology to achieve these goals.

Marketing automation is the technology This Definitive Guide to Marketing We’ve also included worksheets that you
that allows companies to streamline, Automation is designed to answer any can use to discern whether your company
automate, and measure marketing and all questions you have about the is ready for marketing automation and how
tasks and workflows so they can topic. It will show you what marketing it will help you increase your revenue and
increase operational efficiency and automation is and how it can help your attain your other business goals.
grow revenue faster. company. It will show you how to select
the right system, and what investments We hope this guide will be your ticket to a
are required for success. It will new world of more effective, efficient, and
also explain: lucrative marketing.

• Why marketing automation is so
hot right now

• How marketing automation differs
from other technologies such as CRM
and email marketing solutions

• The common features and
advanced functions of marketing
automation tools

• How to build a business case and
convince internal stakeholders to act

• The future of marketing automation

3

part one
What is marketing
automation?

part one: What is marketing automation?

some context
Let’s do an exercise. Do you have the ability to look at a list of
potential customers and prioritize them
Raise your hand if your company has the based on fit with your business and
ability to send marketing emails. likelihood to buy?

I mean it. Don’t just read along – really, Can you filter leads by level of engagement
raise your hand. This one’s easy. I’ll wait. and interest in your brand?

OK. Now, keep it raised if your company Is your hand still up?
can easily create new landing pages for
each campaign. Last question. Keep your hand raised if
you can measure the revenue contribution
Is it still up? of each of your marketing programs.

Now keep it raised if your marketing team If your arm is still up, you probably already
can set up all the emails for an event before know what marketing automation is and
it starts, and let it run ‘lights-out’. No one you are using it effectively.
looking. All parts whirring—and working.
Congrats! Give yourself a fist pump, and
Yes, I know—that one’s a little trickier. Just go ahead and skip to the next section to
a few more. I know your arm may be learn why marketing automation is so hot
getting tired. right now.

Everybody else… read on.

5


Marketing automation defined
Let’s begin with a definition:
WHAT: Marketing automation is a category of software.
HOW: It streamlines, automates, and measures marketing tasks and workflows.
WHY: So companies like yours can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster.

So WHO uses marketing automation?

COMPANY SIZES: Large enterprises INDUSTRIES: Companies across all
have long found value in the technology, industries are using it. The early
but it’s important to point out that adopters were primarily in “business-to-
marketing automation isn’t just for big business” (B2B) industries such as Marketing automation is a key technology
companies. In fact, Small and Mid- high-tech / software, manufacturing, that enables many modern marketing
Sized Businesses (SMBs) make up the and business services. But increasingly, practices, including:
largest growing segment in the companies across all categories –
marketing automation technology including “business-to-consumer” (B2C) • Lead generation
space right now. (That’s any company industries such as healthcare, financial • Segmentation
with between $5 and $500 million in services, media and entertainment, and • Lead nurturing and
annual revenue.) And thousands of retail – are adopting marketing lead scoring
companies even smaller than that use automation for its real-time, relationship-
• Relationship marketing
marketing automation as well. oriented approach to maintaining and
extending customer relationships. • Cross-sell and up-sell
• Retention
• Marketing ROI measurement

Some of these practices are possible at
small volumes without marketing
automation, but technology becomes
essential with any scale.

6


Features of marketing
automation platforms
Features include email marketing, landing
pages and forms, campaign
management, lead nurturing/scoring,
Email Marketing
lead lifecycle management, CRM
integration, social marketing capabilities, Landing Pages
and marketing analytics.
Campaign Management
But hold up. Put that hand down to
steady yourself. We’ll take a deep-dive
into common features in Part Four.
Marketing Programs
Lead Generation
Prediction/Scoring
Marketing
Lead Management
Automation
CRM Integration
Social Marketing
Resource Management
Marketing Analytics

7


What marketing
automation is NOT
We’ve talked about what marketing
automation is. Now we need to cover
what it is not:

1. A fancy name for email marketing 2. A way to send spam – Like anything 3. A solution that only benefits 4. A solution that delivers value
– Not even close. Like the term suggests, else, marketing automation technology marketing – Yes, the marketing without effort – If only you could just buy
marketing automation encompasses delivers results based on how you use it. department benefits from marketing marketing automation technology, then sit
marketing campaigns across all Yes, it can be used for bad marketing, like automation. But high-quality marketing back and watch the results produce
channels—from direct mail and phone spam. But it can also be used for automation usage ultimately is about themselves. But no. Marketing automation
campaigns to online and social initiatives. exceptional marketing that truly connects increasing revenue. When you think about is not a panacea by itself. To deliver, it
What’s more, marketing automation with customers. it, that’s how things should be. requires the support of a comprehensive
combines robust, insight-focused strategy that integrates the right
capabilities from your CRM, lead processes, people, content, data, and
management system, web analytics more. In other words, success is not
platform, and other systems to create guaranteed. Want to know what it takes?
something that’s more than the sum of See Part Six.
the parts. That means you get insight that
can knock company revenue out of sight.

8


What marketing automation does
Beyond the time-saving and efficiency benefits of automation, marketing automation enables modern
business processes that are essential to any modern marketing department. For B2B companies, this
includes lead nurturing, lead scoring, and lead lifecycle management. For B2C companies, it includes
cross-sell, up-sell, and retention. And for all companies, it includes marketing ROI analytics.

Nurture relationships with leads that Retain and extend customer
aren’t ready to buy. On average, only relationships. The marketer’s job is far
20% of leads are sales-ready when they from finished once someone becomes a “Without marketing automation, you are just guessing
first come in. This means you need a customer. For most industries, the real
disciplined process – known as lead value comes from retaining and deepening
– just hoping that people will take the bait and be ready
nurturing – to develop qualified leads until the customer relationship over time. This to buy your products. Statistics show that buyers don’t
they are sales-ready. Done well, includes selling more of the same product
nurturing can result in 50% more to the customer (up-sell), selling additional do that. They want to learn at their own pace and be
sales leads at 33% lower cost products to the customer (cross-sell), as reached when they need more information or are ready
per lead. well as customer loyalty and retention. Note
that relationship marketing means more to buy. A well-constructed marketing automation
To learn all about this important process than sending a monthly newsletter. You strategy makes that a reality.”
download Marketo’s need multiple tracks for each buyer persona
Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing and buying stage that “listen” to how the
(www.marketo.com/DG2LN) customer behaves, and adjusts accordingly
– just like a real-world relationship.
– John McTigue, Kuno Creative

9


What marketing automation does
Build alignment with sales. Prove – and improve – marketing ROI.
Many of the so-called “leads” you Marketing automation goes beyond
generate are not true potential buyers for process automation to help marketing “Marketing automation enables marketers to
your products. You need “demographic executives get much-needed insight into adopt an integrated approach to generating,
lead scoring” to find the customers that which marketing programs are working and
fit your target profile. You also need which aren’t. It gives CMOs the metrics they nurturing and converting leads into customers
“behavioral lead scoring” to find the hot need to speak confidently to the C-suite by automating various marketing techniques
ones displaying buying behaviors that about Marketing’s revenue impact.
indicate that they are ready to engage and processes to optimize the marketing-
with you and make a purchase. And, For more, check out:
once you’ve identified a lead as “hot,” The Definitive Guide to
sales pipeline. It is rapidly becoming a
you want to make sure Sales follows up Marketing Metrics and ROI. standard practice, with an increasing number
quickly – and in a relevant manner, so (www.marketo.com/DG2MM)
you need integration with CRM and of organizations turning to marketing
automation of processes like sales automation to solve problems, such as
alerting, lead recycling, and service level
agreements (SLA). According to the diminishing lead quality, proving contribution
Marketo Benchmark on Revenue to the sales pipeline, and difficulty evaluating
Performance, companies that
implement this kind of lead scoring enjoy a lead’s readiness for sale.”
28% better sales productivity and 33%
higher revenue growth than companies – Econsultancy Marketing Automation
without lead scoring.
Buyer’s Guide
Learn more by downloading our
Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring.
(www.marketo.com/DG2LS)

10


Worksheet: are you ready
for marketing automation?
Use this worksheet to determine if your company is ready to use marketing automation.

For each category, select the appropriate Disagree Agree To interpret your results, tally your score.
Factor
number. If you strongly disagree, choose
1 2 3 4 5 • If you scored > 35, you’re ready for
1. If you strongly agree, choose 5. The
numbers in between 1 and 5 correspond Our revenue process is complicated. It involves multiple touches from marketing automation.
to your level of agreement, neutrality, or Marketing and/or Sales.
• If you scored between 20 – 35,
disagreement. Tally your score when We target sophisticated buyers who do a lot of research before they you’re moving in that direction. You
you’re finished, and follow the engage with us. should consider getting started with
instructions at the end.
Our company requires more insight into the exact value that our marketing automation very soon.
Marketing programs deliver, so we can quantify our investment.
• If you scored under 20, you may not
Our customer base out-sizes our Sales team (assuming you have be ready for marketing automation
one), so we lack direct personal relationships with all of our quite yet. But that doesn’t mean you
customers and prospects.
can’t keep reading!
It would be impossible to personally call every potential customer or
new lead that we generate. Regardless of your score, there’s good
news: where you are now is exactly where
Many of our new leads aren’t yet ready to buy from us. They require
nurturing. you need to be in order to get more leads,
get better leads, and know how to tell the
We would improve our sales results if Marketing played a bigger role good from the bad.
in our revenue process, particularly as it applies to nurturing
relationships with target early stage prospects. So flip over into Part 2, and let’s get this
We already use most, or all, of the capabilities of our current email party started.
marketing service provider.
Data drives almost every decision that our marketing team makes.

Our marketing team is generating (or has specific plans to generate)
significant amounts of personalized content for our target prospects.
**This evaluation was based on research from Gleanster.

11

Thought leader Snapshot:

justin gray, CEO leadmd

Justin Gray is the CEO of LeadMD. He Just as the combustible engine changed JG: Marketing automation is a journey. If executives experience often. Also, be
founded the company in 2009 with the the way we work, then the computer you think it’s at all like a light switch that prepared to admit that you’re not
vision of transforming traditional advanced us leagues ahead, and now you can just flip on, you will fail. If you think measuring correctly – or at all – right now.
“grassroots” marketing efforts through software is delivered via the cloud – the you don’t need a strategy or can afford to
the use of marketing automation and next revolution of progress lies in just skip over the planning process, you’ll Sounds risky, I know, but hear me out.
CRM solutions. connected data. I think we’ll see Marketing also be quick to fail. The reality is that Why admit this? Because you’re not really
Resource Management (MRM) emerge marketing automation is bigger than CRM able to measure properly with the archaic,
With 13 years of experience in the industry, again as a component of MA – but this and higher on the proverbial food chain of non-integrated tools currently at your
Gray has seen the potential for growth in time with ease of use as data. Too many people are treating disposal. Many marketers are looking for
this space and the willingness mid-size a centerpiece. marketing automation as a tool, as if it’s ROI on marketing automation, but the
companies have to join the SaaS revolution just an email platform, and it’s limiting the kicker is that a vast majority of them
as it pertains to their marketing processes. Marketing automation as the mouthpiece growth of the space. As we see the weren’t measuring what they had
for forming conversations was step one, ecosystem grow, the respect for it will previously been doing. So, how do you
Marketo interview with Justin Gray and now the next step will be to shape this grow as well. And once marketing compare something to nothing? You can’t.
platform to listen to, react, and share the automation is treated as a platform for
MKTO: What do you think the future of data of other systems in response. The success, it will become precisely that. The first step in selling marketing
marketing automation will look like in the heart of that evolution boils down to automation to your executive team is
next few years? integration. As we expand our skillsets, MKTO: What should you focus on when admitting you have a problem. Then, step
best practices, plugins, and apps, we selling marketing automation to your two is using marketing automation to
JG: Marketing automation, as it currently develop a true ecosystem – the future of executive team? What are some things establish a benchmark. Wondering where
stands, is software, but it won’t be long marketing automation. This platform will that might resonate with a CEO, CFO, or improvement fits into the process? It’s step
before it’s a full platform. I know – that then become much greater than the sum Sales? number three. Too many organizations try
concept isn’t revolutionary in and of itself, of its parts and will be set apart as the to jump right to improvement, right from
but it’s important to note that skill sets are place where marketers spend their day. JG: Three things comprise the language the beginning. Don’t be that guy (or gal) – it
what will drive this change. The ecosystem I’m excited. that is spoken by the CEO, CFO, and Head never ends well.
that evolves around software takes of Sales – efficiency, scalability, and
marketing automation from being simply MKTO: What are the most important ROI–both tangible and intangible. Lead
a “tool” into being a real element things you have to keep in mind in order to with these heavy hitters because they’ll
of change. be successful with marketing automation? translate well to the pain points these

12

part two
Why is marketing
automation so hot right now?

part two: why is marketing automation so hot right now?

trends driving marketing automation
Marketing automation is not a new concept. According to the Google Ngram Viewer, the term was first
used in 1980, and then started to gain traction in the late 1990s, peaking around 2004. The term then
started to decline in usage, reaching a low point in 2007 before it slowly began to rise again. Today, it’s
back up near the 2004 peak.
Source: Google Ngram View, keyword “marketing automation”

Source: Google Trends, keyword “marketing automation”
100

80

60

40

20

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

14


The dot-com boom and bust Today: The rise of
The first rise and fall of marketing Software-as-a-Service Solutions
automation was tied to the dot-com The middle of the 2000s marked another shift
boom and bust. The late 1990s brought for marketing automation, when next
an explosion of marketing automation generation vendors like Eloqua (now owned by
vendors, including Annuncio, Aprimo, Oracle), InfusionSoft, and Marketo emerged. At
Broadbase, Epiphany, MarketFirst, the same time, marketing automation started to
Paragren, Prime Response, Revenio, get hot again – much hotter than before. This is
Rubric, SAS, Siebel, and Unica – just to likely due to three key trends:
name a few.
1. Changing buyer behaviors forced
But then the bust happened. Not one of companies to change how they market
those companies (with the exception of and sell.
privately-held SAS) survived as a
2. The 2008 recession permanently altered
stand-alone vendor.
how companies approach revenue
generation and measurement.
Some of the solutions are still in the
market today. For example, Epiphany is 3. A new software delivery model unlocked
part of Infor Epiphany CRM solutions; many new sales opportunities.
Unica is part of IBM; Aprimo is part of
Teradata; and Siebel is part of Oracle.
But overall, the bust left marketing
automation with a somewhat
tarnished reputation.

15


Trend #1.
Changing buyer behaviors
forced companies to change
how they market and sell.
Before the internet and social networks, But this solution posed a challenge of its
buyers had limited ways to obtain the own: the problem of scale. Self-empowered
purchase information they needed, so buyers demand relevant, personalized “In a business of any size – especially one
the seller controlled the buying process. conversations on their own timeframe. If you with an engaging web and social media
But then buyers moved into the power don’t provide that experience, they’re likely
position. They could access the to opt out of your communications. But how presence – buyer interactions can number
information they wanted on their own do you manage individual dialogues with
online, anywhere and at any time. And hundreds of thousands, even millions, of
in the thousands, millions, or even
they could delay engaging with selling potential customers? hundreds of millions. Without the right
representatives until they knew as much
(or more) than the salesperson did. This is precisely why having a marketing
tools to automate the planning, execution,
For example, think about how you automation platform became so critical in and measurement, even the hardest-
approach buying a car. You don’t go to a the mid-2000s. There literally wasn’t any
dealer until you know exactly what model other way to keep up with the demands of working marketer can be overwhelmed by
you want, and how much you want to modern marketing. As Lucille Ball famously the complexity.”
pay, right? demonstrated at a candy factory, attempts
to implement such massive processes
To address the challenge, Marketing without the right systems quickly create
– Phil Fernandez, Revenue Disruption
started to play a larger role in the revenue colossal messes and lost opportunities.
process. They nurtured relationships
with early-stage prospects until they
became ready.

16


Trend #2.
The 2008 recession
permanently altered how
companies approach revenue
generation and measurement.
No business completely escaped the At the same time, budget cuts made it
impact of the economy in 2008. But while more important than ever to measure the
some organizations hunkered down to effectiveness of their marketing
weather the recession, cutting resources investments, even as new highly-
and headcount, leading companies measurable digital channels raised the
recognized that growth was their ticket not expectation for measurement across all
only to survive – but also thrive. So they channels. Empowered with these new
reorganized their processes to increase tools, companies determined what was
revenue effectiveness. They refused to working and what wasn’t, and then
tolerate traditional dysfunctions between scientifically re-allocated their resources to
marketing and sales departments, and operate more strategically.

2008
those associated with measurement tools
like spreadsheets. Instead, they invested in
technology that automated and
streamlined critical revenue processes.

17


Trend #3.
A new software
delivery model unlocked
many new sales opportunities. Conclusion
Unlike prior generations of marketing These two factors are critical. Marketing Given this history, you can understand “This is the first time in the
automation, today’s leading companies is unfortunately seen as a cost center at why SMBs are the fastest-growing
provide their solutions using “software as most companies. This made it a group of marketing automation history of B2B marketing in
a service” (SaaS) – meaning marketers challenge for marketing to get the capital adopters—because only after marketing which marketers are
could access the tools in a browser with investment and IT support needed by automation software was offered as a
little or no IT support. Also, these traditional solutions. But at the same service could it be available and responsible for purchasing
solutions are sold as a recurring time, marketers have large discretionary affordable to them. This shift drove rapid
operating budgets that they easily spend growth in the space. As the industry
and managing their
subscription, so marketers can buy
them using operating budgets instead on marketing programs such as began to mature, businesses from all own technology.”
of making capital investments. tradeshows, online advertising, and sectors began to cross the chasm and
agency services. By enabling companies join early adopters from high-technology – Carlos Hidalgo, ANNUITAS
to buy marketing software like any of organizations. Soon, even traditionally
these services, the SaaS-based conservative and pragmatic companies
marketing automation vendors removed started to use marketing automation,
the largest impediment to marketing which has resulted in the phenomenal
automation adoption. growth we see today.

18

Case study:

algonquin college
Highlights Challenges The marketing organization is now in a
With campuses in Ottawa, Canada’s position to move from basic nurturing to
• Improved lead generation by 28% Capital, and across the Ottawa Valley, what they term “advanced nurturing” -
year-over-year and increased Algonquin College has over 19,000 where they use a set of elaborate
sales by 18% full-time students and more than 36,000 campaigns and triggers to launch relevant,
continuing education students. targeted content at the instant the
• Lowered cost of distribution
prospect expresses interest. This will allow
and marketing
To generate student leads, the Algonquin to further refine lead
• Enabled precise measurement of organization operated essentially in batch segmentation and ensure they deliver the
which campaigns are most valuable email mode, leaving the college in the dark right message at the right time.
in terms of closing new business in terms of tracking the effectiveness of its
marketing content. In addition, because of Benefits
• Able to understand what is required the diverse student base, the sales cycle With marketing automation, Algonquin

28%
to move prospective students from could range from just a few days to four College has gained deep, actionable
consideration to buying years. It was clear they needed a solution insight to determine the content that has
that was flexible enough to provide the most immediate positive impact on
• Allows Marketing to measure ROI detailed insight into prospect behavior and lead generation, open rates, conversion
and take a leadership role in driving the sales pipeline. rates, and closed sales.
higher revenues lead generation
Solution As a result, they have improved deal flow
Algonquin College considered several and are able to move prospects through year-over-year
marketing automation products before the buying cycle faster. In fact, the college

18%
they ultimately selected Marketo based on has improved lead generation by 28%
its ease-of-use and Salesforce integration, year-over-year and increased sales by
which were at the top of the requirement 18%, all while lowering its cost of
list. However, the college was particularly distribution and marketing. In addition,
impressed with Marketo’s ability to provide their ability to measure ROI has
first-hand insight into how customers
progress through the website, interact with
dramatically improved with Marketo,
allowing Marketing to take a leadership
increased sales
landing pages, and respond to marketing role in driving higher revenues.
campaigns in real time.

19

part three
How is marketing automation
different from...?

part three: how is marketing automation different from...?

context
We already know that marketing technology is not a new thing. For example, companies already use solutions for email
marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), so many marketers are confused. What does marketing
automation replace, and what does it complement? Furthermore, how does marketing automation compare to other new
technologies and marketing trends, such as content marketing, inbound marketing, and social marketing?

This section answers those questions.

21


relationship to crm
Many CRM systems already have a module for marketing, which is why marketers wonder
whether they really need marketing automation to run their modern marketing departments.

If you dig into the design and capabilities, In the end, marketing automation systems
CRM Marketing Automation
you’ll find that while CRM systems provide focus on the needs of the marketing
indispensable value to any kind of sales department in a way that CRM simply Business Goal Track opportunities and Develop customer relationships,
organization, the reality is that they fall cannot, while CRM provides a must-have pipeline, manage contact automate marketing programs,
short for most marketing departments. solution to the sales department (as well as and account information measure marketing ROI
CRM systems are designed and optimized many others). Most importantly, given the Departmental Primarily sales and Primarily marketing and marketing
for a very different purpose, which is what advanced integration capabilities of Focus sales management, management, some sales
creates the whitespace for marketing today’s platforms, the two categories of some marketing
automation vendors. technology are designed to work together
in a way that was never possible before. Communication Individual communications Communications to groups and
Style (sales rep to buyer) segments (may be personalized
From a functional perspective, CRM Both systems are necessary, and it’s
and triggered 1:1)
systems typically do not provide necessary to understand what each one
functionality for things like email marketing, does for you – and what it doesn’t. Architecture Database-oriented, Workflow-oriented, highly detailed
prospect behavior tracking, and marketing transactional queries behavioral data queries
program management. And it’s true that
many CRM systems can be customized to
handle things like automated campaign
flows, lead scoring, and de-duplication.
But it’s hard.
“When it comes to marketing automation capabilities, using CRM is like building a car from a kit. All the parts
are there, but you need the time and skill to put it all together. Using marketing automation is like buying the
car you want or need, with all the features you want already installed and some gas in the tank, ready to
drive. In either case, you still need to know how to drive and where you want to go.”
– Mac McIntosh, Marketing Automation Expert

22


relationship to email marketing
Virtually every company has invested in having the ability to send emails to their customers.

In fact, MarketingSherpa’s 2012 B2B In reality, much of the email marketing The answer is to use email solutions
Marketing Benchmark report ranks you see today is pretty terrible. Messages that do more—coordinating with
email marketing as one of the top three are untargeted. Their delivery is ill-timed other tools, delivering more dialogues “A marketing automation
marketing tactics. On average, and poorly formatted. It’s no wonder that that build relationships and engage solution delivers essentially all
companies with over 100 people allocate engagement—the holy grail of email buyers (not companies) on their
9% of their marketing budget to email response rates—is falling along with timetables. That’s where marketing the benefits of an email
alone, and those with fewer than 100 declining open and click rates. automation comes in. marketing solution along with
employees up the ante to 16%.
Other traditional marketing tools—such integrated capabilities that
The fact is, email still works really well. as CRM, landing pages, social media,
But the world is changing. The inbox is and web analytics—only compound the
would otherwise need to be
fragmenting like never before. Marketers problem. Because they don’t integrate cobbled together using various
have to deliver their messages in more with the email solution, email is left in a
formats to multiple devices. And their silo. It suffers from limited segmentation, standalone technologies.”
messages have to be more relevant, and creates excessive amounts of
delivered more frequently, and somehow administrative work for marketing teams – Gleanster Research
still make it into the “most important” who endeavor to connect their
section of their buyer’s inbox. processes and consolidate reporting
manually. Costs quickly escalate for ad
hoc solutions that deliver poor ROI, and
revenue flounders because companies
deliver inconsistent, unpersonalized
experiences to their customers.

23


seven signs you need to
graduate from email
Seven Signs You Need to 6.
Graduate from Email to
7.
Marketing Automation sad sales can’t tell if email
There are 7 signs that will indicate that your
company is ready to graduate from email
team is driving pipeline
to marketing automation. or revenue

1.
Email blasts,
not customer dialogues 3.
email in
a silo

5.
trigger
insensitivity
2.
wasting time on
manual campaigns 4.
difficult oR imprecise
targeting & segmentation
24


graduate from email
1. You’re sending email blasts rather 2. You’re being inefficient by wasting 3. Your email marketing exists
than engaging in customer dialogue. time on manual campaigns. in a silo. Email is divorced from your other
Customers are savvy. They don’t want to Consider ShipServ, the world’s leading customer interaction channels. It would be “While there’s certainly value in
be blatantly marketed to, and they are marine marketplace. Before they started awkward to walk up to a customer in
getting better and better at screening out using marketing automation, they had a person and start a conversation without
using marketing automation
mass emails. However, customers are set of marketing tools, but were ineffective referencing the conversation where you solutions to send email, and
willing to engage with relevant content, when it came to nurturing customer left off last time you talked. Yet that is
and they’re willing to build relationships relationships. They could see the open rate exactly what happens with most marketing
create landing pages and
with companies that they like, who on an email campaign, but they had no emails. In addition, email marketing website forms, it’s a bit like
approach them in the right way. In order to way to take the next step and respond to platforms are generally divorced from web
engage in a relevant customer dialogue, these stats in an automated way. As a site pages. using a supercar to drive Miss
you need what we call “multi-step drip result, they were constantly analyzing data Daisy around town.”
campaigns” to nurture your relationships manually, creating lists and setting A customer who clicks through to your
with customers patiently, over time, and calendar notices in order to simulate a company’s web site after receiving an
move them through their purchase journey. personalized marketing experience for email campaign becomes lost. You’re
each customer. Needless to say, this leaking opportunity because your email
The first step in making your email blasts difficult and cumbersome task limited their marketing is unrelated to other marketing.
engaging is to map out workflows, but it’s ability to scale their business. Instead of
important to note that the workflows must being able to clone and individually tweak
be adaptable — never static. You should similar campaigns, they were stuck
always adjust your email campaigns to the building fresh campaigns from scratch
responses and behaviors of your each time — a huge time-suck.
prospective customers. This is where
marketing automation comes in. Without it,
you are limited to “batch and blast” email
campaigns that are based on your own
timetable — not the buyers’. You’re
decreasing your ability to get relevant
content to your customers on time.

25


graduate from email
4. Your segmentation and targeting works for. In addition, behavioral filters— 5. You have “trigger insensitivity”
are subpar. This is arguably the most which web sites customers visit, what problems. Triggers are the ability to
important of the seven signs. The ability to keywords they click on, what they say on listen and respond in real-time with a
“Marketing automation is
precisely micro-segment your database social networks—are key metrics. If your one-to-one response that goes breaking free of email.”
and target your list of leads and contacts email exists in a silo, you’re missing out directly to the customer displaying a
is a crucial part of your marketing on the ability to target the right people in particular behavior. Real-time triggers – Eric Wittlake,
campaign. An old (and still valid) rule of the right way based on their behaviors. can include:
thumb is that 50% of your success in a B2B Marketing Expert
campaign comes from how well and how Jupiter (now part of Forrester) did a study • When a customer visits a web page
specifically you target your list. The more a few years ago and found that • When a customer fills out a form
you target, the more relevant your companies who target their emails • When a customer’s lead
message, the better your response based on behavior have up to a 350% score changes
rates… and your economics. increase in open rates and a 50%
• When an opportunity is updated
increase in conversions. That’s a lot. in the CRM system
Good targeting today means both
demographic and firmographic filters— It’s also important to know where your • When an activity is logged
in other words, who the person is, and if buyer is in their buying cycle. Are they an When any of these activities occurs,
necessary what company the person early-stage prospect? An active lead? marketing automation can trigger an email
An engaged customer? Without a way to to that customer. It’s relevant and timely.
segment your customers according to And timeliness is everything
where they are in the buying cycle, you with marketing.
can’t send the right message at the
right time. According to research done at MIT
recently, the difference between following
up to a customer hand-raise in 30 minutes
versus 5 minutes means the difference
between a 100 exchange in the contact
rate and a 21 exchange in the likelihood of
actually qualifying that lead.

26


graduate from email
6. You can’t tell if your email is 7. You’ve got a “sad Sales team.”
driving pipeline or revenue. Email They don’t know which leads are good or
platforms can tell you about open rates who to follow up with, and they can’t send “I can explain a move from an Email Service Provider
and click-through rates, but what you their own marketing emails. When you
really need to find out is which activities don’t have Marketing and Sales working (ESP) to a marketing automation platform with an
are leading to actual revenue. If you can’t closely together, Sales becomes analogy – still photographs versus video. ESPs are like
make this connection, you can’t frustrated and sees less value in
determine marketing ROI. Marketing. Sales and Marketing must be still photographs – you can get great stats from using
closely aligned for success. one, but each campaign is effectively a snapshot in
time. Marketing automation platforms are like videos
– you can see the behavior of people in multiple
campaigns over time, taking all the snapshots and
connecting them together to make a “flip movie” or
video out of them.”
– Joseph Zuccaro,
Founder and President of Allinio LLC

27


relationship to inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is: The process of helping potential customers find your company – often before they are
even looking to make a purchase – and then turning that early awareness into brand preference, which
ultimately creates leads and revenue.

Inbound marketers create relevant and • Better brand preference. Where Inbound
compelling content to attract and convert Brand preference trumps brand Marketing Falls Short
leads—for the purpose of building awareness any day, so inbound Inbound marketing is a highly effective
audiences and attracting attention. Their marketing builds preference by strategy, but it will fail for most companies
job is not to find leads, but to help leads engaging with buyers early, often if executed alone.
find them. before they are intending to make a
purchase. All other things being Two of the most critical limitations are:
Inbound marketing can deliver: equal, people are more likely to buy
from a company with whom they 1. It’s hard to target specific 2. Inbound marketing doesn’t
• Increased brand awareness. have a relationship. audiences with inbound marketing. motivate people to act. By definition,
Buyers must find you before they can
Inbound marketing can’t effectively reach inbound marketing waits for buyers to take
buy from you. If your company shows • More leads for less investment.
a specific set of contacts—for example, action when they’re ready. It’s not a good
up high in the search results, you’ll get Inbound marketing has a tendency to
decision makers at a list of target solution when you need someone to act
“free” brand awareness when build on itself. Great content pays off
accounts. To use a military analogy, on a specific timetable, such as signing up
customers seek information. Also, you dividends for a long time, multiplying
inbound marketing is like an “air war.” It for an event. All good marketers readily
earn highly relevant brand exposure as you create more content.
allows you to efficiently carpet-bomb acknowledge inertia and recognize that
when they share your content.
broad areas, but it’s harder to use it to hit people sometimes need a push not a pull,
specific targets. In contrast, you need to take action. This is especially true for
“ground war” tactics (think Marines and targeting pragmatists and late adopters
snipers) to target specific objectives and who don’t actively seek out alternatives
hold territory. and new solutions.

28


Marketing Automation +
Inbound Marketing Together
Because of the limitations of inbound Above all, it’s critical to remember that
“The best marketers are using
marketing, a complete marketing inbound marketing is a strategy, not a both inbound marketing and
strategy needs to incorporate a full technology. Many technology solutions
portfolio of approaches, including can help with inbound marketing, including marketing automation
events, webinars, email, and blog software, content management, SEO, together, and they are
advertising—plus inbound tactics. and social media monitoring. These can sit
alongside a marketing automation getting great returns.”
To extract the maximum value from solution. So, definitely pick the right
inbound marketing, companies need to inbound marketing tools and the right – Greg Head,
combine it with relationship marketing, marketing automation platform for your
scoring, and other components of business, but don’t handicap yourself by CMO of InfusionSoft
marketing automation. We call this the thinking of it as an either-or proposition.
Inbound Marketing Multiplier. Without it,
you simply generate raw names for your
business – without turning those names
into leads and customers.

29



Common Misconceptions The reality is, marketing automation is a
Misconception Response
about Marketing Automation tool that can be used for good marketing
Vendors who promote inbound marketing that people love, or bad marketing that Doesn’t build the list Complete marketing automation systems include functionality
technology like to pit inbound marketing people hate. It’s not the tool itself but how for lead generation, including online and offline events, pay-per-
and marketing automation against each it’s used that matters. In fact, in most click, and tradeshows, as well as organic programs such as
other, vilifying marketing automation as a cases, marketing automation provides social and content marketing.
source of robotic communications and behavioral segmentation and 1:1 targeting Too narrow, too email While modern marketing automation started with email, many
unwanted spam. But while this “good” vs. capabilities that improve the relevance of focused platforms today provide a single source of truth for everything
“evil” debate may make good copy, it communications. you know about a prospect or customer. They combine
oversimplifies the problem and favors an information from your CRM system, social activity, your website
isolated agenda. Here are some of the inaccurate claims and blog, buyer purchase history, and other behavioral
made about marketing automation. information. With this complete view of a customer’s needs and
interests, you can trigger relevant interactions at the right time,
over any channel.
Not Social Today’s marketing automation systems directly provide or
integrate with social capabilities including social profiles,
campaigns, sign-on, and promotions. This means you can
trigger marketing actions based on any of these activities, such
as making a tweet, sharing a post, and so on.
Ignores customers Marketing automation is not just about new business. The same
segmentation and nurturing capabilities can and should be
used to develop and deepen relationships with customers, not
just prospects.

30


relationship to social and
content marketing
Social marketing has become an integral part of the marketing mix, and content marketing plays an
increasingly dominant role as well. But while social and content marketing are both hot tactics for building
awareness and generating leads, they still require marketing automation to convert those leads into revenue.
Without marketing automation, you also can’t measure the effectiveness of these programs.
Social marketing is the process of Content marketing is the process of The Need for Automation
building relationships online on social creating and distributing highly relevant Like inbound marketing, social and “Marketers are beginning to
platforms and influencing buyers even and valuable content to attract, acquire, content marketing are essential ways to
before they’re identified as potential leads. and engage clearly defined and adapt to and leverage changing buyer realize that the quality of
understood target audiences—with dynamics in today’s era of information content is crucial to success
A few years ago, everyone was talking the objective of driving profitable overload. Clearly, all three strategies deliver
about the importance of social listening, customer action. results and should be part of any in both lead generation and
along with having a presence on sites like marketing portfolio.
Facebook and Twitter. Today, the Content strategies operate on the
lead nurturing. Marketing
conversation has shifted. Leading belief that buyers will ultimately reward But don’t forget that these three tactics are automation will yield higher
marketers recognize that social is more businesses who deliver consistent, also all mostly “Top of the Funnel” (TOFU)
than just a channel or tactic; it is a strategy ongoing information with their business strategies. In other words, they build conversion rates and ROI
that should be present in every aspect of and loyalty, so the ROI of your content awareness and can generate new names because campaigns are
your marketing. Leading marketers ask marketing hinges on your ability to for your database. However, the vast
themselves, “How can I entice and communicate with prospects and majority of these leads will not be ready to better targeted towards the
engage my audience to share my customers without selling. When content make a purchase—particularly because right persona and utilize
message and be a brand ambassador? offers relevant and valuable information good content, inbound, and social
How can I socialize every campaign?” that makes buyers more intelligent, marketing tends to entertain and inform consistently high quality,
instead of pitching products or services, broadly, rather than promote specific
buyers look forward to receiving it. They products. In other words, while highly
relevant content.”
also engage with your content, and effective, these three tactics cannot deliver
amplify your message by sharing it with revenue on their own. –John McTigue,
their networks. Kuno Creative

31


relationship to event marketing
Event marketing serves as an important way to connect in person with potential customers. Events also offer
the unique opportunity for prospects and customers to interact with solution providers and get a firsthand
sense of the company’s focus, perspective, and personality.

Events help: While you can’t automate all aspects of a
great event, there are many areas where
• Generate leads technology can play a significant role in
making that event seamless and
• Build brand awareness
professional. For this reason, the event
• Increase customer and technology category is growing fast. This Marketing automation + Event technology
prospect engagement includes webinar platforms, virtual event equals the ability to run dozens or hundreds of
providers, and event registration solutions. great events with minimal work.
• Educate your market
Marketing automation complements and
integrates with such event technology
solutions, thus eliminating the need to
waste time manually importing data from
each platform and risk costly errors. It also
provides direct event capabilities itself.
Examples include email invitations,
registration landing pages, reminders and
follow-ups, and event reporting and
analytics—and the ability to clone previous
events to streamline the process and
increase productivity and efficiency.

32


relationship to Revenue
Performance management (rpm)
At the end of the day, revenue is every company’s most important objective.
Revenue Performance Management (RPM) is a strategy to optimize interactions
with buyers across the revenue cycle to accelerate predictable revenue growth.

RPM arose out of marketing automation Revenue Performance Management
as a strategy to optimize interactions with transforms the way Sales and Marketing
buyers across the revenue cycle. work together. In order to achieve this kind
Marketing automation itself is not always of transformation, RPM requires
a CXO-level priority, but every company companies to address their organization,
has an objective to improve revenue compensation and incentives, job roles, Without marketing automation,
performance. RPM bridges this gap by and work practices as well as their Revenue Performance Management
shattering obsolete approaches to technology infrastructure. It’s important to (RPM) can be slow, error-prone, and
Marketing and Sales while providing the note that RPM is a business strategy—not inconsistent across an organization.
blueprint for building a far more effective a technology. But it requires marketing
and efficient revenue process in automation tools for implementation.
companies of all sizes.

33


relationship to Revenue
Performance management (rpm)
Six Sigma for Revenue
Over the last couple of decades, we’ve Now, we need to apply that same rigor to The sales process needs to start with
seen other core business processes the demand chain, which is why we’re marketing, and the same tracking
undergo fundamental transformations to seeing the rise of Revenue Performance methods need to be applied to the entire
improve efficiency, quality, and Management. RPM is doing for revenue process, from start (marketing) to finish
contributions to profitability. In the 1980s, what earlier process transformations have (the sale) in a single integrated revenue
General Electric, under the leadership of accomplished for other key business model. RPM is creating a new mindset
Jack Welch, started a trend by instituting functions. In the 1980s, it was Six Sigma. that maximizes a company’s revenue
the Six Sigma set of practices to improve In the 1990s, it was Supply Chain by merging the Sales and
their manufacturing processes and Management. In the early years of the Marketing processes.
eliminate product defects. Six Sigma 2000s, there was Agile Development. All of
focuses on measuring, analyzing, these revolutionary processes have led us To achieve breakout revenue growth,
improving, and controlling company- to where we are today: RPM. businesses need to transform every
wide business processes. It has created aspect of how they create revenue. They
a lot of opportunities for the supply chain Traditionally, companies have been must re-think the roles, responsibilities,
in enterprises because of a continuous focused on the sales cycle. But in a world metrics, and processes that are used by
focus on measurement and improvement where Marketing is taking more and more their departments on the front-line of
of processes. responsibility for revenue, just analyzing revenue creation—specifically Marketing
and perfecting the sales cycle is no longer and Sales.
enough. A key principle of RPM is aligning
Marketing and Sales. From the buyer’s We’ll see more of RPM in Part Five, where
perspective, there is only one buying we talk about Marketing Automation
cycle, but from a traditional company Maturity. You can also take a side trip to
perspective, Marketing and Sales our RPM cheat sheet at
cycles have always been separate. www.marketo.com/rpm.

34

Thought leader Snapshot:
jason kort, editor for
marketing automation times
Jason Kort is a Senior Consultant at MKTO: What are the most important Process: Having a repeatable business Recently I helped a customer troubleshoot
akaCRM and one of the forces behind things you have to keep in mind in order to cycle allows for a more predictable their marketing automation solution. Their
Marketing Automation Times, a blog be successful with marketing automation? marketing ROI. internal team tried to fix the issue and was
dedicated to providing the latest news and so frustrated that they hired me as an
information on the world of marketing JK: You would not build a house without Reporting: Learn much more than who outside resource. Once inside I found that
automation. Jason is an experienced a blueprint and yet many companies rush clicked what and when. With marketing there were some simple fixes that resolved
online marketing professional with a history into marketing automation without a automation you can monitor prospect the problem and allowed the customer to
of developing personalized, relevant and plan. Marketing automation is a tool behavior throughout the purchase process start using the solution. The marketing
timely communications to help businesses that requires careful planning for it to and target relevant messages that matter. automation company involved also
close more sales. be successful. You can also better understand what type agreed to do more end user training
of content works as well as messaging. with the customer.
Marketo interview with Jason Kort It all starts with great content, so always
start with an audit of your marketing The Power of Now: Instant notifications The point of this story is that often
MKTO: What do you think the future of materials. After that, build customer and lead scoring allow your sales team to technology needs a helping hand from a
marketing automation will look like in the personas to understand what your quickly react and reach customers when human being. Make sure your marketing
next few years? customer needs and then match the right they are ready to talk. automation provider can provide you
content with those customers. with help.
JK: The end user experience will continue MKTO: What are the most important
to improve as each marketing automation Think of marketing automation as the things to look for in a marketing
company deploys more of the same pipeline for delivery and reporting. automation vendor?
design interface that can be found on the Content is the fuel that fills the pipeline.
consumer web (i.e. Apple, Google, JK: Like many industries, I think service is
Amazon). Passive reports and MKTO: What are some benefits of the most important element in selecting a
dashboards will be replaced by more marketing automation that you would marketing automation vendor. The
actionable reporting elements as the point out to someone who is considering technology platform is important but the
ultimate goal is to help Marketers be better switching from their Email Service program that trains and supports your
Marketers. CRM integration will continue to Provider (ESP)? team is equally important.
advance and those relationships will grow
stronger. The customer wants a one-stop JK: Automation: The ability to have
shop for all customer marketing activities. multiple campaigns triggered based on
activities is a huge time saver.

35

part four
common features in
Marketing automation

part four: common features in marketing automation

features overview
Marketing automation platforms provide broad functionality including email marketing, landing pages and
forms, campaign management, lead nurturing/scoring, lead lifecycle management, CRM integration, social
marketing capabilities, and marketing analytics.

Each vendor has different strengths and
capabilities across these categories, so
we’ve also indicated how common each
feature is in the tables below:

common Variance sometimes

37


Email and online marketing
COMMON VARIANCE SOMETIMES
Email marketing is the often the most
Real-Time Triggered Emails Testing
important online marketing channel and is
Triggered emails give you the ability to listen for An effective split-testing strategy drills into what
even more powerful when combined in a specific customer behaviors and events and works to maximize response rates, and can raise
single platform with landing pages and respond with an appropriate real-time email. For your conversions by 48% or more, according to
forms. Marketing automation systems can example, when a prospect clicks on a specific MarketingSherpa. You can test emails (subject
usually replace an email service provider link, a sales rep logs a call, or a lead score goes lines, copy, graphics, calls to action, frequency,
(ESP), though the depth of email above a certain threshold, you can automatically timing, etc.) as well as landing pages, forms,
functionality does vary across vendors. send the right message at the right time. and so on.
Personalized, 1:1 emails based on real-time
behavioral data can increase open rates by 50% Dynamic Content
and conversion rates by 350% Emails and landing pages that have been
(Jupiter Research). customized for specific segments drive much
higher engagement. Customize text, images,
Batch Email Marketing Landing Pages and calls-to-action based on criteria, including
Email marketing is the ability to create The landing page is an essential part of many location, industry, job title, and much more.
“what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (WYSIWYG) marketing campaigns. By directing clicks to a For example, send different messages to
emails and newsletters with easy-to-use design landing page customized for a specific email current active opportunities than to early-
tools, send emails to groups of customers and rather than a generic home page, marketers can stage prospects.
prospects, and track and report on deliveries, significantly improve their conversion rates. That’s
opens, and clicks. It gives you a complete view why many marketing automation systems include Mobile Optimized
of email performance. the ability to build WYSIWYG pages with a As mobile devices become increasingly popular
graphical interface, without help from IT or the in business, the marketing system must support
Email Deliverability and Web department. mobile-optimized emails and landing pages.
Reputation Management
Simply sending emails cannot impact revenue if Forms Sales Emails
the emails do not make it to the recipients’ Registration forms can be placed on landing This is the ability to personalize “from addresses”
inboxes. Since marketing automation typically pages, microsites, and corporate websites. When and signatures on behalf of individual sales reps,
replaces a stand-alone email service provider a prospect or customer fills out the form, it so that automated emails appear to come from
(ESP), your vendor should offer functionality and captures the activity and adds the lead to the the specific sales owner.
services to ensure inbox delivery. This can include database (if new). Some systems have
opt-in management, bounce handling, “progressive profiling,” which are smart forms that
unsubscribe processing, and suppression lists, recognize known visitors and ask different
as well as higher-end services such as dedicated questions to build out the profile over time. Some
IP addresses and capabilities like email preview, systems also allow for “social sign-on,” letting
spam checking, link validation, and users register on landing pages using their
delivery monitoring. social credentials.

38


Lead management
COMMON VARIANCE SOMETIMES
The bread and butter of marketing
Marketing Database Multi-touch Campaigns / Lead Nurturing
automation, most vendors provide at least
A marketing database is the system of record for This is the ability to automate “drip marketing”
some level of lead management functionality. your most important marketing assets: your campaigns that send relevant messages over
leads and contacts. It should include more than time, based on prospect behaviors and pre-
the data in your CRM system, providing a rich defined campaign steps. This can include
view of all marketing interactions between each automated email marketing flows, but can also
person and your company, including website include other channels as well. Often, this
visits, email clicks, scoring changes, data capability is used to run lead nurturing workflows
updates/history, and so on. that are designed to maintain and deepen
relationships with prospects over the long term.
Single View of the Customer
The more powerful marketing automation Online Behavior Tracking
solutions extend the marketing database to This is the ability to track which emails prospects
include data from third-party systems, social open and click, what webpages they visit, what
networks, in-house applications, and more. They keywords they use, even what they say on social
provide a true single view of your customer and networks – all with the goal of understanding
prospect. This enables the platform to trigger who they are, what they are interested in, and
“right-time, right-message” interactions and where they are in the buying process with
extend beyond marketing into broad customer your company.
lifecycle management.
Lead Scoring and Grading
Segmentation With lead scoring, you automatically qualify leads
The ability to precisely micro-segment your based on demographics and BANT criteria as
database and target the exact right list of leads well as specific prospect behaviors, including
and contacts is essential to the success of all recency and frequency. By tracking each of
marketing activities. These filters should include these factors and assigning appropriate weights
a combination of demographic, household, and to each, you get a comprehensive view of
firmographic attributes (title, company size, prospect interest and engagement. More
location), as well as behavioral filters and CRM advanced capabilities include reducing scores
information. Here are some example lists: based on inactivity, and supporting multiple
high-score leads in a particular region who scoring models that separate demographic fit
visited your website in the last seven days; from behavioral interest, as well as scores for
contacts at active opportunities who registered different products, divisions, etc.
for an upcoming webinar; or prospects who
received an email offer and did not click through
but visited your website anyway.

39

The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation

The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation

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