Why your marketing automation isn’t delivering,

and what to do about it

The great marketing automation lie

This is a story about marketing automation.

Specifically,

your marketing automation.

You

bought a marketing automation system because

you

thought it would solve a lot of problems.

You thought it would bring you a flood of engaged prospects.

Who’d convert into a torrent of paying customers.

And that it would save you time.

After all, you just press a big green “go” button,

don’t you?

No more forensic lead analysis to join up investment to

actual results.

You weren’t alone:

25% of Fortune 500 B2B companies

have bought a marketing automation system. (In fact, 44% of those firms have actually got three!)

Over 50%

of technology firms have already got one.

And half of all B2B businesses are expected to have

at least one by 2015.

With all the hype, it’s no wonder expectations have been running sky-high.

But if you’re being honest, the reality hasn’t been that great so far, has it?

Marketing automation hasn’t really delivered

what you wanted.

The right people don’t engage.Your open rates are still rubbish.Leads still fall out of the funnel.

MQLs still don’t turn into customers.

And the worst thing is…

It’s starting to make you

look bad.

Sales want to know where all the hot leads are.

Finance wants to know when it’s going to pay for itself.

And you’re having to stand up in meetings and show off some frankly pretty unimpressive numbers.

(How embarrassing.)

If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone.

Nearly

1/3 of marketers

are unhappy with their current marketing

automation system.

And a massive

85% feel they’re not

using it to its full potential.

In fact, it looks like hundreds of companies are ditching the system they initially bought

– and probably switching to another one.(Which will almost certainly be equally disappointing,

for reasons we’re about to look at.)

So why is this happening?

If we’re being frank, it’s because you were told

a pack of lies.

Your vendor lied to you - about how simple and fast-to-implement

their system is.(Because they wanted you to buy their software.)

The media lied to you - about how marketing automation

would instantly transform your results(They were simply repeating vendors claims.)

That so-called ‘analyst’ firm lied to you- about how quickly your marketing automation would deliver

(Their survey was probably sponsored by a vendor anyway)

6

3

1

1

%200£ +

Here’s the actual,

painful truth.

Marketing automation isn’t easy.You don’t just push a button and make it work.

It doesn’t transform your results overnightIt’s not a silver bullet.

But on the upside... Depressing, isn’t it?

There were lots of things that weren’t lies.

Marketing automation really is incredibly powerful.

It can strip away costs from your sales and marketing processes (As long as you’ve established them in the first place.)

It really can generate more sales-ready leads. Way more, in fact.

And

transformyour lead-to-revenue ratio.

Establish, then lower, your cost of customer acquisition

(CoCA)

And keep Sales primed with a stream of hot-to-trot buyers.

And deliver a whacking great financial contribution to the business.

One that you can actually measure – and prove which marketing activity

delivered it.

All of which makes you look incredibly good

in front of the MD.

And will bring you glory, promotion, money, bling, hot dates…

(you get the idea.)

But it takes time,

thought, planning,

collaboration and effort

And there are

7things

you need to get absolutely right

1. Strategy Setting smart goals for your

marketing automation programmeAnd agreeing a plan with Sales on

how marketing will help reach your revenue goals.

2. TeamThe right people, doing the right

things, to make that happenWhether they’re in-house, in an

agency, or a mixture of both

3. ProcessAn agreed way of taking leads all the

way from Awareness to ActionIncluding the vital handoff from

Marketing to Sales(and back to Marketing again if they’re not yet ready to buy)

4. SystemsThe right marketing automation software.

Configured in the right way for your business.

And integrated with your website’s CMS and your sales

team’s CRM.

5. ContentUseful, informative and

entertaining content.That compels buyers

to do something(Like read another ebook, download a case study, complete an assessment

– or even pick up the phone)

6. PromotionA well-planned promotional programme of getting that

content out to peopleAnd a clear understanding of what action to take based on

what they do with it.

7. Measurement and reportingTracking how you’re doing,

reporting back, experimenting and improving – using data to drive

your decision-making.

It takes time to get these things right. But the sooner you start working on them,

the sooner you’ll start seeing the results you want:

More leadsMore engagementMore conversions

More qualified leads handed to SalesMore revenue

More kudos for you

What are you waiting for?

By the way…

If you’re not sure where to start, or need to focus if you’ve already started, then try

our Marketing Automation MOT.It’ll take you under the hood of your marketing automation programme to

diagnose what’s not working.

Or get some help from the no-nonsense marketing automation experts.

We’ve turned around more marketing automation programmes than we’ve had

hot dinners – and we can do it for you, too.

Get in touch with us today and a Tracepoint team member will be in contact shortly.

Thanks for reading – and please do pass it on!

marketing automation for the real world