1. connect@harveydavid.com
@HarveyDavid_
HarveyDavid.com
0117 214 0011
10 THINGS
TO CONSIDER BEFORE PURCHASING
A MARKETING AUTOMATION TOOL
Before you buy a marketing automation
tool there are some key considerations and
essential preparation that needs to happen
first. Use this document to help guide you
through the process of selecting a marketing
automation platform.
If you have any questions tweet us at
@HarveyDavid_ or call +44(0)117 2140011
1. What size is your business?
The size of a business, and more specifically the
size of its sales team, will largely determine what
automation tool you buy.
Enterprise businesses typically need a suite of
capabilities and flexibility to efficiently filter a high
volume of responses into ready-to-buy leads for a
sales team to convert. Only the top tools such as
Oracle Eloqua, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Marketo
can really deliver the automated filtering and
processing capabilities required.
SME businesses will often require similar levels of
automation functionality but are likely to have smaller
sales teams and budgets plus they tend to require
a quicker response to lead creation process. These
businesses lean toward mid-weight tools such as Par-
dot, Hubspot and Act-On.
SMB businesses will require a lighter, more cost
effective solution that offers basic automation
capabilities but in an easier to deploy tool. Simple
to set up and use solutions like Exact Target and
MailChimp work well here.
2. What is the nature of your business?
Businesses tend to fall into two broad camps, those
that attract customers and others that prospect
for customers.
Businesses that attract customers are operating
a natural inbound marketing strategy whereby
prospects are attracted to them. This could be due
to several reasons, either the strength of their brand,
a unique proposition, a free trial or because they have
a market leading product or service. These businesses
are ideally suited to use Marketing Automation.
Those businesses with an emphasis on outbound
marketing and aggressive sales activity are less likely
to be able to adopt marketing automation efficiently.
This will be due to a lack of appropriate content
driving high volumes of inbound enquiries. These
businesses will need time to re-focus their approach.
3. What is the quality of data in
your business?
Businesses with good quality data will find it easier
to migrate to Marketing Automation as they can
more easily segment and target different audience
personas. This will require data that is complete,
consistent and qualified.
Poor data that is incomplete, inconsistent and unqualified
will be harder to segment and target for nurture campaigns.
Businesses with poor data would be advised to undertake
a full data audit and review prior to engaging with a
Marketing Automation solution.
4. Does your business have a CRM tool?
If a business has an existing CRM tool this will
often determine which Marketing Automation tools
are most suitable to deploy. This is because most
Marketing Automation tools have pre-existing
integration capabilities with certain CRM solutions
that make deployment a lot easier.
If the business does not have an existing CRM
solution then this ideally needs to be considered
before implementing a Marketing Automation tool.
connect@harveydavid.com
@HarveyDavid_
HarveyDavid.com
0117 214 0011

2. connect@harveydavid.com
@HarveyDavid_
HarveyDavid.com
0117 214 0011
5. What do you want your marketing
to achieve?
If marketing’s sole purpose is to build a strong
brand presence then Marketing Automation isn’t
really a requirement.
If however marketing’s purpose is to find and secure
qualified marketing leads for sales to close then
Marketing Automation is the ideal tool for you.
6. What level of commitment do you
have from the leadership team of
your business?
In order for Marketing Automation to be successful in
your business you need the full commitment of your
leadership team both financially and organisationally.
To make Marketing Automation work effectively
it takes a lot of time, effort and investment by the
whole business, not just the marketing team.
Deployment and optimisation of Marketing
Automation will require the attention and
collaboration from all the key departments in a
business, from product marketing through to sales.
Without this commitment any Marketing Automation
deployment is unlikely to meet its full potential.
7. What resources and capabilities do
you have in-house?
Deploying and optimising Marketing Automation
requires expertise. If you don’t have knowledgeable
experts in place to lead and educate the wider
internal team you will need to either buy these in
from a consulting agency or recruit relevant resources.
This takes time and adds costs to the business so
needs to be part of your consideration. One solution
to minimise this investment into resources would be
to opt for an easier to deploy and use Marketing
Automation tool such as Act-On.
8. What marketing content do you have in
the business and what is its quality?
Marketing Automation requires good quality marketing
content to be truly effective. If you have none or
just a limited amount then it would be advisable to
create this first before trying to deploy a Marketing
Automation tool.
If you do have lots of content its advisable to audit
it thoroughly to make sure it marries well to your
typical customer journey. Ask yourself;
· Is it of the right quality?
· Where does it sit in the customer journey?
· Are you missing crucial pieces of content?
9. Timescales – How quickly do you
need to be operational with Marketing
Automation?
Generally the bigger and more complex the Marketing
Automation tool the longer it will take to set-up and
integrate into your business. Furthermore you need
to also allow time for your internal teams to become
educated and familiar in its use.
For smaller, less advanced Marketing Automation tool
you should allow for at least 2 – 3 months to become
active. For enterprise solutions allows anything from
3 – 6 months to be effective.
For businesses that have a mismatched CRM solution
and Marketing Automation tool the time to become
effective can be anything from 6 months to a year.
10. What’s your budget?
All Marketing Automation tools have pricing that is
determined by the volume of data held in the tool.
This data volume is one of the main cost implications
when considering the adoption of Marketing
Automation. More data means a higher cost.
So, if your business markets to significant volumes
of low value customers, or operates on the very low
margin, the potential fees for implementing this via
an advanced Marketing Automation tool might be
hard to justify.