The great marketing automation lie

The great
marketing
automation lie
Why your marketing
automation isn’t delivering,
and what to do about it

This is a story about marketing automation.
Specifically, your
marketing automation.

You bought
a marketing automation system because
you
thought
it would solve a lot of problems.

You thought it would bring you a
flood of engaged prospects.
Who’d convert into a torrent of
paying customers.

And that it would save you time.
After all, you just press
a big green “go” button,
don’t you?
No more forensic lead analysis to
join up investment to
actual results.

You weren’t alone:
25%
of Fortune 500 B2B companies
have bought a marketing automation system.
(In fact, 44% of those firms have actually got three!)

Over
50%
of technology firms have already got one.

And half
of all B2B businesses are expected to have
at least one by 2015.

With all the hype, it’s no wonder
expectations have been running sky-high.

But if you’re being honest, the reality
hasn’t been that great so far, has it?

Marketing automation
hasn’t really delivered
what you wanted.

The right people don’t engage.
Your open rates are still rubbish.
Leads still fall out of the funnel.
MQLs still don’t turn into customers.

It’s starting to make you look bad.
Sales want to know where all the hot leads are.
Finance wants to know when it’s going to pay for itself.
And you’re having to stand up in meetings and show off
some frankly pretty unimpressive numbers.
(How embarrassing.)

If it’s any consolation,
you’re not alone.

Nearly
1/3
of marketers
are unhappy with their
current marketing
automation system.
And a
massive
85%
feel they’re not
using it to its full
potential.

In fact, it looks like hundreds of companies
are ditching the system they initially bought
– and probably switching to another one.
(Which will almost certainly be equally disappointing,
for reasons we’re about to look at.)

If we’re being frank,
it’s because you were told
a pack of lies.

Your vendor lied to you
- about how simple and fast-to-implement
their system is.
(Because they wanted you to buy their software.)

The media lied to you
- about how marketing automation
would instantly transform your results
(They were simply repeating vendors claims.)

That so-called ‘analyst’ firm lied to you
- about how quickly your marketing automation would deliver
(Their survey was probably sponsored by a vendor anyway)
200 £+
3
1
1
%
6

Here’s the actual,
painful
truth.

Marketing automation isn’t easy.
You don’t just push a button and make it work.
It doesn’t transform your results overnight
It’s not a silver bullet.

Depressing, isn’t it?
But on the upside...

There were lots of things that weren’t lies.

Marketing automation
really is incredibly powerful.
It can strip away costs from your sales and marketing processes
(As long as you’ve established them in the first place.)

It really can generate more sales-ready leads.
Way more, in fact.

And transform
your lead-to-revenue ratio.
Establish, then lower, your cost
of customer acquisition
(CoCA)

And keep Sales primed
with a stream of hot-to-trot buyers.

And deliver a whacking great financial
contribution to the business.
One that you can actually measure
– and prove which marketing activity
delivered it.

All of which makes you
look incredibly good
in front of the MD.
And will bring you glory, promotion,
money, bling, hot dates…
(you get the idea.)

But it takes
time,
thought,
planning,
collaboration
and effort

And there are 7 things
you need to get absolutely right

1. Strategy
Setting smart goals for your
marketing automation programme
And agreeing a plan with Sales on
how marketing will help reach
your revenue goals.

2. Team
The right people, doing the right
things, to make that happen
Whether they’re in-house, in an
agency, or a mixture of both

3. Process
An agreed way of taking leads all the
way from Awareness to Action
Including the vital handoff from
Marketing to Sales
(and back to Marketing again if they’re not yet ready to buy)

4. Systems
The right marketing
automation software.
Configured in the right way
for your business.
And integrated with your
website’s CMS and your sales
team’s CRM.

5. Content
Useful, informative and
entertaining content.
That compels buyers
to do something
(Like read another ebook, download
a case study, complete an assessment
– or even pick up the phone)

6. Promotion
A well-planned promotional
programme of getting that
content out to people
And a clear understanding of
what action to take based on
what they do with it.

7. Measurement
and reporting
Tracking how you’re doing,
reporting back, experimenting and
improving – using data to drive
your decision-making.

It takes time to get these things right.
But the sooner you start working on them,
the sooner you’ll start seeing the results you want:

More leads
More engagement
More conversions
More qualified leads handed to Sales
More revenue

If you’re not sure where to start, or need to
focus if you’ve already started, then try
our Marketing Automation MOT.
It’ll take you under the hood of your
marketing automation programme to
diagnose what’s not working.

Or get some help from the no-nonsense
marketing automation experts.
We’ve turned around more marketing
automation programmes than we’ve had
hot dinners – and we can do it for you, too.
Get in touch with us today and a Tracepoint
team member will be in contact shortly.

Thanks for reading – and please do pass it on!
marketing automation for the real world

The great marketing automation lie

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