What are the top benefits of adopting marketing automation?

I agree with Howard's comment above regarding adoption versus implementation with one caveat. Companies implementing automation will automate what is currently established and in most companies this is not a defined lead management process - hence the many that struggle to get the most from their automation investment.

That being said here are what I view are the top benefits of implementing a marketing automation solution. It should be noted that without the first one benefit, it will be a struggle to realize the other four.

1. The enablement of process. This of course assumes that the organization has taken the time to define, develop and implement a solid lead management process consisting of:
- Data Management
- Lead Planning
- Lead Routing
- Lead Qualification (Including Definition and Scoring)
- Lead Routing
- Lead Nurturing
- Content Development
- Metrics

By marketing and sales working together to develop a process based approach to lead management, automation can enable these processes and the outcome is a positive impact to the bottom line, an alignment between marketing & sales and increased overall ROI from marketing and sales investments.

2. Better Engagement With Your Buyer - Through the use of dynamic content and the ability to have an automated, behavioral based relevant dialogue with your buyers, automation has made it possible to have a 1-1 engagement in a mass context. When this is done right through the development of relevant content and advanced segmentation and nurturing (which automation enables) your communications improve and provide your customers the engagement they desire.

3. Improved Measurement - Through the integration that can be developed with CRM technologies, marketing automation provides the ability to truly perform closed-loop tracking on demand generation campaigns. Marketers now have the ability to measure more effectively and show their contribution to sales pipeline and revenue.

4. Improved Lead Quality - Sales wants the sell, not qualify leads. Nothing will turn a sales person off more to receiving leads that are not truly leads. Once the qualification process is defined, automation will enable marketing to deliver a better quality i.e. more sales ready lead, to sales. Delivery of better quality leads has a ripple affect leading to increased close rates and in turn increases in revenue

5. Consistency - Automation allows marketers to get out of the ad hoc approach to marketing that has been commonplace in many organizations. Now marketers have the ability to plan out more tightly integrated campaigns for a better overall approach and better returns. By automating the tactics within the campaign, marketers can deliver a more consistent message and brand to their end users.

Of course many of the outcomes of the 5 listed above are realized through improvements in marketing's contribution to revenue (you could make this a 6th benefit) and once this is seen and promoted through an organization, all will see the biggest benefit of automation.

Carlos Hidalgo
The Annuitas Group
@cahidalgo

I would emphasize "Analytics and Reporting" or the ability to accurately report the relative contributions of marketing AND sales to revenue and closed business. The other benefits listed by Howard and are Carlos are spot on. So why the singular focus on Analytics?

Because in the past few months I have spoken to a number of CMOs and CEOs of software/tech companies and have heard a common theme: Their Board (investors) and/or CEO/CFO want to know how the investments in acquiring clients are actually performing. In one case the CEO told me that every time he meets/speaks to one particular BOD member, he gets asked the question.

I told him the only answer that makes sense is (as Howard says) "implementing" Marketing Automation. But it also means "adopting" a lead management approach with a focus on lead quality, NOT lead quantity. Unfortunately, here is where the rubber meets the brakes and come to a screeching halt. The analytics as well as most of the other benefits are not immediate. It usually takes 6-12 months before the numbers start to show a trend and provide answers to the Board members question.

It is thus very important for CMOs and Marketing teams to understand the bias and mindset of their management team and also of the BOD. Make sure that the stated benefits FOR MA are actually achieved and that the analytics point to the very positive contributions of the marketing org in pushing the revenue needle. Don't wait to be asked - just start generating the numbers and reports and start educating the skeptics in Sales and the board members.

I think both Carlos and Howard have covered the bases. Effective Follow-Up is the key benefit that leads to all of the others.d

I would say that without Marketing Automation, the follow-up for large quantities of leads in a personalized relevant way, is just NOT possible to accomplish effectively and efficiently.

And this gets at the ability to set up rules and triggers, so as leads interact with your marketing, they can be automatically triggered into nurturing sequences that align with their interests - building more trust and relationship with leads as they move through the buying process.

When we present to prospective clients, we usually break out the top benefits of marketing automation (MA) into those for Sales and those for Marketing:

Sales
* Improved productivity among reps due to higher lead quality
* Greater lead readiness for in-person follow-up
* Response-based lead ranking

Marketing
* Reduced cost per lead due to response rate increases from multi-touch contact series
* Results-based evaluation of lead sources, offers and content

Most of these have already been discussed or referenced by Howard and Carlos, and I just want to expand on what they’ve said.

Our particular approach to lead marketing (our catchall for lead gen and lead nurturing) is proactive, multi-touch contact series with escalating offers. As such, we’re able to increase response rates of raw lead audiences – simply by the multi-touch process alone – which reduces cost per lead, and makes that a big benefit for a client.

Also, a multi-touch approach enables us to adjust lead rankings so they’re based on landing page conversions – responses – in which leads “declare their interest” by providing identifying contact information. Opens and clicks are tracked, but not used in lead rankings since they don’t reflect a lead’s “declared interest.” This is also a big client benefit since it raises the quality of leads forwarded to Sales.

Finally, in addition to campaign-level ROI, a multi-touch approach to MA provides in-depth lead source performance and content performance. As key contributors to campaign performance, these are much more directly actionable by our clients’ marketers, and have a much more immediate impact on Marketing costs and contributions. Again, these have become big advantages for clients after they’ve implemented MA.

Who has used InfusionSoft? I am currently evaluating it and would like to hear from a current InfusionSoft customer.
Email my marketing person at kshoemaker@ecsellinstitute.com Thanks

There is one major way in which it helps - it focuses minds on the issues.

Most companies have a confused view of how to treat an expression of interest. Often it differs by salesperson. Form fills from particular campaigns may be treated as generic enquiries. Information such as case studies etc. are often used in a haphazard manner - almost as if it is a matter of what is front of mind when sending out an email.

If you choose a good consultant to implement your MA solution, rather than simply a software vendor, they will walk you through these issues. Assigning scoring to various indicators of interest really focuses the mind on the stages of the buying process. often this leads to some customer research which adds significantly to the knowledge base. It also focuses sales and marketing departments on the challenges facing eachother.

These indirect benefits can often be of more value than the product itself.

Once implemented, though, there is more. A good MA product will also give you feedback every day on how well you have set these parameters. it will show you how effective your content is. It will let you see if your scoring system matches the real world. it will show you in which segments the buying process matches your ideal - and in which segments it differs significantly. The constant improvement aspect and intelligence building is one of the most powerful aspects of god MA products - and it shows up some as much better than others.

We've heard a lot about the benefits. But what about the downside?
Here are 14 good reasons not to do it...
1. Marketing Automation is built on the old-fashioned push model of marketing.
2. MA is based on the discredited “Marketing makes leads for Sales” ideology.
3. MA is designed for enterprise corporations, not mid-market B2B companies.
4. Email is no longer a powerful prospecting tool.
5. MA doesn’t integrate social media.
6. Few web visitors fill out a form – and most form fillers are not the decision maker.
7. Most B2B deals have multiple decision makers – MA finds only one.
8. Lead nurturing relies on too rigid a decision making model.
9. Lead scoring is an inaccurate view of buyer intent.
10. MA doesn’t collect data from buyers, and wastes what it finds.
11. MA ends up running the marketing department, rather than being a tool for it.
12. MA doesn’t show you how to improve and integrate all of your marketing programmes.
13. MA doesn’t give you the reporting you require to show marketing ROI in the boardroom.
14. MA divides marketing from sales as they see different data.

For more details go here...
http://www.marketingpipeline.co.uk/downloads/LeadFormix_move_on_from_MA.pdf

You might also find this interesting as it questions the whole methodology of nurturing:
http://www.marketingpipeline.co.uk/when-is-a-lead-really-a-lead/

DGR is putting on a great webinar on this exact topic. Late notice but if you miss it check out the recording:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/967411995