What's the right Marketing Automation platform for my business? Brian Rants Director of Marketing & Business Development
What is Marketing Automation?
Self-activating communications triggered by user behaviors and built on integrated
sales and marketing platforms
PDF Download Website Visit Automated email offers demo
Lead Alert!
Why Marketing Automation? 50% of leads are qualified,
but not ready to buy.
Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should proceed to sales. GLEANSTER RESEARCH
Get more for less Companies that excel at nurturing leads generate more leads at a lower cost
50% More Leads
33% Lower Cost
AT
FORRESTER RESEARCH
Go big Nurtured leads
make 47% larger purchases than
non-nurtured leads
Nurtured Non-nurtured
THE ANNUITAS GROUP
Despite the data… Jeff Ernst of Forrester estimates
ONLY ABOUT 5% OF MARKETERS
utilize full-featured Marketing Automation
Looking for a leg up?
This is your lucky day.
In the comments section… • Do you have any experience with sending or
receiving automated emails? Examples: • Airline inviting you to upgrade seat • After you’ve downloaded a white paper, you
are offered another one you might like
How do I choose a platform?
The answer lies in asking 3 questions!
3 Key Questions 1. What are you going to automate? 2. Who is going to do the work? 3. How much will you spend?
Marketing Automation Iron Triangle
These three are connected.
Each one affects the other.
WHAT
WHO HOW
WHAT are you going to automate?
Examples of WHAT to automate • B2B: Web landing pages, Email, Direct mail,
Social media, Lead scoring, Lead alerts • B2C: Ecommerce, Cart abandon, Email, Social
media, Mobile app, SMS, Point of sale
WHAT you automate affects: • WHO you will need to integrate and automate • HOW much you’ll spend to get the features
you need
WHO is going to do the work?
WHO is going to do the work? Many companies aspire to doing it themselves. While admirable, stop and ask yourself: • Do we have the training to architect, setup and
deploy MA campaigns? • Do we have the bandwidth to take this on, or
is it just another entry on a full to-do list?
WHO is going to do the work? Who you choose to do the work affects:
• WHAT you will have the capability and practical capacity to automate
• HOW much you’ll spend for a platform that matches your abilities and capacity
WHO will fuel "the machine? Marketing Automation creates a powerful multi-channel machine that needs fuel to run
Great content is the fuel WHO will create the content for your marketing automation campaigns?
Now back to you! • Has your company or agency struggled with
content creation? How have you overcome that obstacle?
HOW much will you spend?
HOW much will you spend? Notice I ended with this question! • WHAT you want to automate drives how
powerful a platform you need, and WHO is needed to run it.
• Those are your primary cost drivers.
HOW much will you spend? • A car can sit out front and drip oil for free! • To make the machine go, plan to spend 2-3
times the platform cost (and often more). • This includes content, reporting and analysis,
new campaigns, integrations and more.
So which platform is right for me?
It’s rarely “good vs. bad,” but about looking for a “good fit vs. a bad fit.”
“MAP” – Marketing Automation Platform
Criteria for choosing platforms • Silverpop, Hubspot, Eloqua, Marketo, & Pardot
are the platforms I encounter most • Up and coming “local favorites” • Net-Results up and coming SMB challenger
from Colorado, where my firm has HQ • Act-On a leader in technology industry and
based locally here in Beaverton
Platform snapshot: Act-On • Mid-market B2B platform • Early innovator for mobile • Renowned support • A younger company/ecosystem
Platform snapshot: Eloqua • Enterprise B2B platform • Tight integration with Oracle • Best of class feature set • Requires a skilled user • Hefty price tag, and obviously
caters to Oracle products
Platform snapshot: HubSpot • Streamlined SMB platform;
also has a native CMS • Does what it does well: simple
B2B marketing automation • Truly tiered pricing, but entry
level is feature-limited
Platform snapshot: Marketo • Mature B2B platform • Excellent user and expert
community • Strong analytics and reporting • Mobile: no SMS or location
based marketing
Platform snapshot: Net-Results • B2B platform for SMB • Rated highly by its users • Strong value • No professional services; utilize
partner agencies for support
Platform snapshot: Pardot • Excellent integrations with
AdWords and Webinar tools • Solid ROI reporting • Changes coming: In the
process of natively integration with Salesforce
Platform snapshot: Silverpop • Integrates and tracks across
web, email, mobile & social • Strength: universal behaviors • Excellent feature set vs cost • UI getting needed updates • Requires advanced marketer
Snapshot: Cost vs Target Client
SMB Mid-Market
$
$$$
Enterprise
If you’re worried about a platform being: Too complex to operate, go with:
Enterprise level in its feature set, go with:
If you are focused on: B2B Marketing B2C Marketing
Why so few options? • CRM driven MAPs struggle to
adapt to B2C data structures • Ecommerce platforms provide
some tracking & automation • The line is blurring (B2B/B2C)
Brian’s Champions SMB
Mid-Market
B2C B2B
Resources for comparing • It’s challenging to get “apples to apples”
comparisons, but these two reports will help: • InfoTech Research Group: Vendor Landscape:
Lead Management Automation • Digital Marketing Depot: B2B Marketing
Automation Platforms 2014: A Buyer’s Guide • SiriusDecisions: 2014 Marketing Automation
Report
In the comments… • What marketing automation platforms do you
have experience with? What was one positive and one negative about the platform?
Obstacles to Marketing Automation Success
These are drawn from experience, and from Digital Marketing Depot’s “B2B Marketing Automation Platforms 2014: A Buyer’s Guide”
Capable vs Available • IF your IT department is capable, but are they
aren’t available for timely marketing support… • THEN you must either choose a very basic
platform you can learn, or hire an agency for integration and setup.
Hope isn’t a strategy • IF you hope to be involved in content creation,
but cannot quickly and consistently produce… • THEN you should hire or contract content
planning and producing. It’s too important.
Data matters • IF you have poor
quality data, and/or it is in silos…
• THEN you will struggle to automate relevant, timely, personalized responses to clients
RESEARCH 32% limited by lack of data infrastructure to
collect/analyze Digital Marketing Depot
Get aligned • IF your sales and
marketing teams are at odds…
• THEN marketing automation is an opportunity (but not a silver bullet) for getting aligned
RESEARCH 32% limited by lack of
sales & marketing integration
Digital Marketing Depot
How quickly things change
By the time you read this an acquisition has probably happened, or a new dynamic feature released
Try before you buy
Before you have pressing deadlines, setup demos and spend some time
test-driving 2-3 platforms
I work for coffee and donuts
I’m happy to present this deck to your marketing team and be available for Q&A
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