Ι recently read an article on Mashable on Marketing Automation
Providers. It clearly caught my attention since it started like this: “Here are
three things I wish someone in marketing had told me before we signed with our
first marketing automation provider.”
But first things first; you may wonder what a
Marketing Automation Provider is. I’ve come across this term sort of often the
last couple of months, but I won’t lie: I wasn’t sure what it is. Marketing
automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed
for marketing departments
and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such
as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks. Marketing
departments, consultants and part-time marketing employees benefit by
specifying criteria and outcomes for tasks and processes which are then
interpreted, stored and executed by software, which increases efficiency and
reduces human error. It is mostly used in inbound marketing and more
specifically in email marketing automation. The use of a marketing automation
platform is to streamline sales and marketing organizations by replacing
high-touch, repetitive manual processes with automated solutions. In other
words, it is a Marketer’s best friend since it saves a lot of time in an
effective way.
Companies are moving more and more towards this
trend as years go by; not to mention that Marketing Analytics departments
consider it a must.
The following tips are useful for marketers who
work with (or consider working with) Marketing Automation Providers.
1) Anticipate your future needs
In other words, knowing where you’ll be in six months or a year
is crucial. Many marketing automation contracts are based on the number of
people who will use the software. This implies that not every person at the
company will have access, so you have to think about your
needs/customers/growth etc. Imagine your pool of prospects grows super fast,
you will have to handle this before it is too late! So always think that the
usage of these providers may have a good and “quick” impact on your sales.
2) Determine the level of service that's right for you
There are various providers that a company can purchase. One may
have few features but comes with great service; another may have more features
but poor service. According to the article’s real case example, we can say that going
with less service works best when you have talented demand generation marketers
who can take advantage of all the great features in an advanced platform. If
your team is not up to speed, you'll have to pay as much as $400 an hour to
hire external resources to help out. For startup owners I suppose that it is
more important to go with a good service and friendly user interface even if
this implies fewer features.
3) Remove all the fluff from your buying decisions
Marketing automation has been a
sophisticated and hot topic the last couple of years. When it comes to your
company though, before signing a contract, be as much annoying as you can. What
this article taught me is to ask plenty of questions and to be prepared to
challenge your vendor. You should understand what this tool brings to your
company and train your salespeople to use it.
Hope these tips were useful for the
ones considering marketing automation, and for those who were not familiar with
the term, hope I made it clear fabulous marketers!
No comments:
Post a Comment