2. About Marketing Automation
Marketing automation has found its way into the average marketer’s life.
Whether it is in the form of sales platforms or e -mail marketing tools,
marketing automation has become an integral part of the business. A study by
Aberdeen Gro up revealed that 88% o f companies that performed better than
others in the research were the ones that employed closed loo p marketing.
While automation can exist separately for each functio n of the business such
as sales, marketing and customer service, research found that a unification of
all the three works best. This article elaborates on the importance of
marketing automation, and the advantages of adopting a holistic view towards
marketing automation.
Marketing Automation—Its Importance
Marketing automation has assumed increased importance in recent times.
Some of the reasons for this are:
Growing businesses : Today, a
business is not limited to its
physical area of existence.
Markets extend beyond borders
and bo undaries . With the
growth of technolo gy , a whole
new marketplace has developed
on the worldwide web. With the
collapse of geographic
limitatio ns, there is a need for a
tool that can bring uniformity to businesses operations
across the globe.
Better-informed consumers: Consumers are more
informed than a decade ago. Previously, the customer’s
interaction with a business would start from the
moment the business approached the consumer or the
consumer got in touch with the vendor lo oking for a
solution. Thanks to the internet, often the customer
doesn’t interact with the business until the last few
stages of the buying cycle. For businesses to be able to
know who is checking them out and why, marketing
automation tools are a necessity.
Competition: The market is filled with competitors. The
customer has no dearth of choice s. In these conditions ,
businesses need to be able to track their customers’
moves and make the right offerings so that they are
able to close deals. Businesses have to know their
3. target audience and present the most appropriate
product/solutio n. This isn’t possible without leveraging
technology and autom ation.
Diversification: With businesses diversifying to various
spheres to bring more than one product/solution to the
customer, there’s a need to know the customer
preferences. Identifying customer preferences enables
a business to cross -sell and up-sell its
products/solutions. Marketing automation can track
customer behavior and help the business understand
the pattern of custo mer purchases and market their
products accordingly.
Advantages of Deploying a Marketing Automation Software
Successful implementation of marketing automation solutions helps a business
earn better returns on its marketing inv estments. A n effective marketing
automation software program offers the followi ng benefits
Customer analytics : Marketing
automation solutions have the
ability to capture consumer
preferences. This data can then be
parsed to devise the most
appropriate marketing and sales
strategies.
Proactive approach: Marketing
automation solutions help business become more
proactive. Marketing automation enables a business to
track consumer behavior and calculate the customer’s
next move. As a result the business can adopt a
proactive approach towards its customers, anticipating
their requ irements and providing solution s even before
they ask for it.
Better customer r elations
Personalization of communication:
Marketing automatio n systems enable
the business to personalize its
communication with its prospects.
Personalization of solution/p roduct
offering: Marketing automation
systems provide the company with
4. detailed customer/prospect informatio n
about the customer, thus allowing the
business to personalize its offering as
much as possible.
Marketing collateral creation: For businesses with
salespersons spread over the country, o r even the
world, maintaining consistency
across all marketing collateral can
be a challenge. Marketing
automation tools enable easy
creation of perso nalized and
consistent marketing collateral ,
ensuring that branding is never
compromised.
Empowers sales: Marketing and Sales have never been
best friends. While sales blames marketing for
providing poor leads, marketing accuses sales of not
trying hard enough. Marketing automation solutions ,
when implemented holistically, can put an end to this
incessant bickering. When marketing automation is
integrated with sales and CRM platforms, the sales
persons gain access to critical data about their
prospects/clients. This puts the salespersons in a better
position as they are aware of the customer’s
requirements and place in the buying cycle.
A Holistic Approach to Marketing Automation Systems
A business can employ automation in 3 key areas
Marketing: Marketing automation software programs
are available to handle e -mail blasts, demand
generation, lead nurturing , and marketing collateral
creation.
Sales: Sales a utomation software programs include
platforms that enable lead tracking and lead status.
CRM: Automation programs at the customer level
include customer relationship management software
programs. These programs are basically involved in
tracking and collecting customer data.
A business can choose automation for any of all of these area s. However,
results are best when a unified automatio n tool is used across all three areas.
Marketing is a key function that acts as the bridge between the customers and
5. the sales functio n of the business. Hence it is essential that marketing
automation adopts a holistic view of the business and its various c omponents.
A narrower tool using only lead generation and nurturing is inherently limited .
A well -integrated marketing automation software program can help unify the
core functions of sales, marketing and customer service.
Getting the Sales team on your s ide
As discussed above, marketing automatio n is not exclusively related to the
marketing team. Success of a marketing automation
software implementation rests heavily on cooperation
received from Sales. But, oftentimes, it’s noticed the
salespersons don’t think too highly of marketing
automation. The reasons for this are vast and range
from the salespersons believing that marketing team
doesn’t know their problems, to thinking that a new
system will make the sales process more complicated
and time-co nsumi ng. If you want the sales team to join
you in champio ning the implementation of marketing
automation software program, then these are the sales
challenges your new marketing automation software
should solve:
Increased efficiency : Everyone in your company
is looking to improve their efficiency and your sales team is not
different. So, if your new marketing automation software does that,
then it’s sure to win o ver the sales team. So , when you are signing up a
new marketing automation software vendor, be sure to look for areas in
which they can boost the efficiency of your sales team. It could be in
areas of sales materials creation, sales follow up or sales prospecting.
Time spent: No salesperson would like to spend their time putting data
into new software programs or trying to get it to work, when they’d
rather be selling. So, if you want your sales guys to actually approve of
your choice of marketing automation software, make sure it is easy -to-
learn and apply. Drag -and-dro p technology, user -friendly sales interface
— are all areas to consider when you are looking for a good marketing
automation software.
Increase revenue: The main area of focus for sales is revenue and deal
closures. How does your new marketing automation software help the
sales team in this area? Does it make the salesperson’s job truly easy?
Does it make closing deals a faster affair? Anything that makes a
salesperson’s job easier will be truly appreci ated by your friends in the
sales team.
Lead follow-up: Another core challenge faced by salespersons is
following up on leads. Does you marketing automation software make
6. lead-follow up as sim ple as clicking a butto n? Then you can be sure that
your sales team is going to give you kudos for picking the new marketing
automation tool.
Personal touch: Sales people thrive on personal interactions with their
prospects. But, this personal interaction comes at a cost —time. Can
your new marketing automation software change that? What if it could
allow your sales people to stay co nnected with their prospects —at a
personal level? Well, then it wo uld just be perfect for your sales team.
Sales prospecting and lead quality : As a marketing person, you
would have often heard your sales counterparts complaining about the
quality of leads you send . What if your new m arketing automation
software could end it? Look for a marketing automation solution that
has smart sales prospecting tools —which allow your salesperso ns to see
where the prospects are in different stages of the sales cycle and
connect to them; tools that h elp your salesperso ns determine which
lead is actually ready to make a purchase and which ones need to be
groomed a little further. In short, give them some power in deciding the
lead type and taking appropriate action.
Picking a Truly Next-Generation Marketing Automation
Software
Here are a few critical areas you should consider before investing into a
Marketing Automation Software -
Ease-of-use: Most Marketing Automation System
vendors will talk of their system’s “ ease-of-use.”
Take the time to use and evaluate the system to
judge if that is true. D on’t rely solely on their
claims.
Sales integration: Find out the extent to which
your new Marketing Automation Software can integrate with your sales
processes. How m uch a utonomy does it provide to your sales team? A
truly next -generation Marketing Automatio n Software should integrate
seamlessly with your sales processes , making them more efficient.
Next-generation marketing avenues: New marketing and sales
channels are evolving rapidly. First it was Blogs, now it's Facebook and
Twitter. Find out if y our new Marketing Automation Software caters to
7. the next-generation marketing channels, and whether your Marketing
Automation Software provider keeps track of new trends and
technologies in marketing and offers upgrades.
Search engine optimization: More than 90% of people research online
before making a purchase. So, it is important to ensure that all relevant
marketing and sales materials are search engine optimized. But, you
can't expect your marketing/sales people to spend precious time putting
in the right HTML codes. A truly Next -Generation Marketing Auto mation
Software should automatically search engine optimize its sales and
marketing outputs.
Lead tracking & marke ting analytics across multiple platforms:
Your new Marketing Automation Software should be able to provide
updates to identify which campaigns are yielding results and which ones
are eliciting lukewarm response, which leads are ready to buy , and
which ones need to be nurtured. More im portantly, it should be able to
retrieve this data fro m every type of marketing media or lead so urce.
Advanced lead nurturing - Does the Marketing Automatio n So ftware
that you are considering have advanced lead nurturing capabilities? The
8. buyer today has too many distractions and too many choices. A Next -
Generation Marketing Automation Software is dynamic, understands
buyer behavio r and responds appropriately .
Accessibility - How accessible is your new Marketing Auto mation
Software Platform? When considering a new platform, you need to
remember that it will be also used by a sales staff that m ay be
constantly on the move. How doe s the new platform cater to their
needs? Does it have a mobile application? Or perhaps a notification
system that would alert your salespersons when they have to respond to
leads?
To put it simply, a truly Next -Generation Marketing Automation program is one
that increases the efficiency and effectiv eness of the sales and marketing
processes and brings about total integratio n of the two key functions --across
multiple channels, giving the business a holistic view of its prospects,
customers and sales an d marketing efforts.
9. For the past 14 years, MindMatrix, Inc. has focused on alignment
of sales and marketing functions for over 34,000 sales and
marketing professionals worldwide. Unique to the industry,
MindMatrix offers Next-Generation Marketing Automation software
on a single unified platform for Sales and Marketing. Our solutions
bring about a seamless integration of the two key functions helping
our clients derive the maximum benefit from their investment in
sales and marketing.
Our product offerings for sales include on-demand sales materials
creation, lead prospecting, and smart lead management. On the
marketing front, our solutions cover demand generation , brand
management, quality lead generation , lead nurturing, social media
automation, lead scoring, and marketing ma terials creation across
print and digital media.
