Marketing Clique

Marketing automation software continues to gain momentum. The reason marketing automation has become so appealing is because it allows businesses to do more with less—more marketing and sales with fewer marketers and salespeople. And one of the helpful side effects of the software implementation process is that it encourages a much-needed alignment of marketing and sales.

But the real value of anything a business implements is how it will help to attract and retain customers. A company's decision about which marketing automation software to purchase and how to implement it once they have committed to it are paramount. And the purchase decision can have a profound impact on marketing, sales, and IT.

Use marketing automation for lead nurturing

The most appealing aspect of marketing automation is the ability to automatically manage a lead—managing the buyer who has decided to begin evaluating your product but who is not quite ready to pull the trigger and sign on the dotted line. Traditionally, salespeople have managed this process. But salespeople get antsy, call the prospect too much, and if the prospect doesn't buy in a "reasonable" amount of time the salesperson moves on too soon. But what if that buyer is on one of those long and winding roads to purchase? What if there are little nuggets of value you can spoon feed the buyer during that long-and-drawn-out buying process? Lead management software helps salespeople spend more time with fewer prospects.

Use marketing automation to deliver the right value to the right prospect at the right time

The beauty of being able to automatically score a lead and begin the whole nurturing process is that you can begin to segment your marketing efforts. Naturally, there are some prospects for whom you want to roll out the red carpet. And while you certainly don't want to dismiss the other prospects, perhaps you know that they can be effectively developed without as much attention.

Demand generation is most effective when you're delivering something of value during the research phase before a buyer purchases.

Traditional pamphlets and brochures filled with marketing jargon just don’t cut it anymore. Buyers are looking for informative and interesting content that provides actual value and education. They expect vendors to provide them the content they need throughout the sales cycle. Increasingly, the first two-thirds of that cycle is spent researching the market and vendors, without regular contact with a sales rep. To remain top of mind with the buyer and claim the "thought leadership" position, marketers are deploying marketing automation to provide a steady stream of educational content for buyers.
—Lauren Carlson, Tailwinds for Marketing Automation Software

I think Lauren has a strong point. But what is that pearl of value that we should be giving away to our prospect? This is where the collaboration between marketing and sales can really pay off. Sales will reveal what the buyers are asking for, and marketing can help to develop the types of valuable devlierables that can be used during the lead nurturing process. These deliverables are apt to be different for different types of buyers.

Beware of the overuse of email

A recent Forrester Research report points out that marketers are overusing the email feature in marketing automation. Just because you've got a marketing automation tool that can deliver a customized email every week doesn't mean that will be the most effective deliverable for the prospect.

• If you can imagine that your qualified prospects are simply customers that haven't yet officially signed on, what would you be providing them? Is there anything you can provide that will be valuable for them and not incrementally cost you and your team substantially more time and money to deliver?

I think marketing automation is here to stay and it's an exciting new development in the whole world of customer relationship management (CRM). But like many other evolutions at the crossroads of IT and business there is due diligence that needs to happen before the purchase, and cogent analysis of the planning process once you're ready to go live.

I look forward to your feedback!