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

brian.rants@dmxengage.com