top 10 tips for successful marketing automation
TRANSCRIPT
Have a plan. Poor project management can kill your project before it gets off the ground. Get a good strategy together, consider cost, quality, speed and risk – and breakdown your project into people, processes and systems. Use people who have rolled out similar projects before.
40% of IT projects fail because of poor planningsource: Watts S Humphrey, IBM 2005
Plan1
65% of management decisions are now based on data (not guesswork)source: MIT 2011
Evaluate the technologies that best fit your in-house resource and skillsets - and your existing systems. Let the experts help. Be sure to focus just as much on people and processes as well as the technologies. Remember – when it comes to IT, often fact trumps intuition.
Decide
Track3
In 2011, 80% of the top 1,000 websites used tracking technology source: Ensighten 2011.
Start capturing behavioural, online, and sales data. You need to get your data in good shape to make the most of behavioural triggers. Involve your IT team and digital agencies.
6SoLoMo
65m Americans use social, location based services on smartphonessource: CommerceInMotion 2011
Learn how SoLoMo can make an impact on your business. Social, Local, Mobile. A buzz word yes, but a proven crucial element to successful Demand Generation. B2B is using more localised targeted messages than ever before, often messages delivered on mobile devices.5 Develop a content plan. Understand the four types of
content you need (broadcast, sticky, trigger and community) to develop a marketing automation platform and plan accordingly. The way you approach messaging may start to change to a more 121 conversational style. Content is king and should be priority #1.
½ of all sales are lost because content is poor.source: KissMetrics 2011
Make the time to invest in the thinking, or use a partner to help accelerate the strategy/deployment process. Demand Generation programmes can deliver excellent ‘drip’ leads on a daily basis but you need the upfront thought and planning to make it work. Detail matters and can return handsome dividends.
Time8
x2 Twice as much time spent on ‘urgent’ rather than ‘important’ tasksSource: Stephen Covey, 7 Habits
‘important’ ‘urgent’
Harmony9
66% of sales teams don’t believe marketing ‘works’source: IBM – Breaking the Feud 2009
Goals10
#1 Cause of project failure – Lack of direction and goalssource: Pink elephant conference 2012
You won’t reach utopia instantly. Put your projects into phases with clear goals at each stage – and communicate it internally. Setting sensible goals helps manage expectations and ensures the project stays on track.
Doomed Project
Adjustment
280 hours (7 weeks) per year are lost by workers seeking clarification due to poor communicationsource: National Assoc. of Prof Organisers, 2012
280 hours (7 weeks) per year are lost by workers seeking clarification due to poor communicationsource: National Assoc. of Prof Organisers, 2012
Effective communication is key. This is exciting technology, but you need to get everyone engaged, on board and up to speed – especially senior stakeholders, contributers, partners and the channel. Communicate with people, talk and use lots of visuals. People absorb pictures better.
4 Communicate
Work with your sales teams and other stakeholders throughout the process. And your product teams too. Marketing Automation blurs the lines between departments and becomes much more collaborative in approach. Sometimes you will need to work hard to break down political and departmental barriers but the payoff is worth it. Show them what’s in it for them.
Journey7Understand your Prospect/Customer Journey. Look at every possible touchpoint and interaction – and maximise every touchpoint with a sales message. Upsells and Cross Sells can often be key to business growth. Remember – everyone in your organisation can help sell.
It is six times easier to sell to existing customers than prospectssource: Harvard Business School
Top 10 Tipsf o r S u c c e s s f u l M a r k e t i n g A u t o m at i o n
@HitFirstBase facebook.com/HitFirstBaselinkedin.com/company/first-base-communications
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STUFF
Research
Development
Direction
Goals
Resourcing
AsessmentConfusion
Forecasting
Communication