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The Big
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1 2012
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A free guide comprised of LeadMD best practices to assist you
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Table of Contents
Automation Basics
1. Why isn’t Marketing Automation More Automatic? .........................................................
2. First Have Something to Say
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3. How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation Tools .........................................................
4
6
8
Understanding your Leads
4. Ways to Improve Your Lead Scoring Process
5. The New Lead Score all Hail Change
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12
14
Becoming a Content Ninja
6. Communicating your Brand’s Story
7. Content Tips for Better Performance
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ROI & Learning from Results
8. How Chasing Metrics Has You Chasing Your Tail
9. Marketing Automation and True ROI
10. Marketing Automation ROI: Myths and Facts
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Marketing Automation and Social Media
11.Marketing Automation and Social Integration
12.3 Ways to Insert Lead Nurturing into Social Media
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29
31
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35
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Never Fail Tips and Tricks
13.Fear Factor: Stop Avoiding Key Features
14.Around the Content in 30 Days
The Future of Marketing Automation
15.The 4th Ingredient to Marketing Automation — People .........................................................
16.Marketing Unicorns: How to Spot a Rainmaker
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17.4 New Ways To Leverage Marketing Automation
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Automation
Basics
Marketing automation is everything but automatic. In this section we’ll
explore the baselines you need to know to succeed with a cutting edge
marketing platform.
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Why isn’t marketing automation
more automatic?
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Adotas – Aug. 12, 2011
http://www.adotas.com/2011/08/why-isn%E2%80%99t-marketing-automation-more-automatic/
What’s in a name? If you are talking about Marketing Automation (MA), the name equates to a lot of
confusion. MA indicates a technology solution that’s as easy as ‘set it and forget it.’ But, the industry is still
finding itself and the term “revenue performance management” might be better suited to take over the
category.
The truth is that MA represents an opportunity and the technology is simply the vehicle. It lets you use
customer data to systematically deliver messages in a way that is meaningful, and will help drive customers to
respond and act on marketing campaigns. But, is it truly automatic? Not entirely. Here’s a look at how to make
your company’s MA as automatic as possible and how to get the most out of your platform.
Customize Content for Specific Customers
Your buyers are unique and want different things. If you’re cranking out content and delivering the same stuff
to every single prospect, you’re missing the boat. Buyers don’t want to be piled with more content that doesn’t
matter to their interests.
If you are willing to put in some up-front time, your MA software can help you automate the delivery of unique
content to each of your unique buyers. What’s up-front time look like? Segregating your buyers into categories
and properly devise a plan and best practices so your software purchase doesn’t turn out to be a waste of
money, or worse, a black eye on your brands’ reputation by way of inappropriate usage.
It sounds elementary, but in order to get more out of your MA system, you have to collect data and prepare.
Start by knowing campaign details such as lead scoring and nurturing, what your funnel looks like (including
main point of entry, calls to action, follow up), as well as specifics of your revenue cycle. To get your MA
platform to drive without getting lost, you have to give it a map, which only the right people with the right skill
set can do. If your marketing team doesn’t already posses this knowledge base, or is spread too thin to learn,
consider outsourcing as you would other pieces of marketing.
Educate and Embrace Community
A “must” when it comes to making MA more automatic is to continually learn about your platform. With a
solid education about MA, you’re not “guessing” anymore – you know what you need to leverage the system.
Without understanding the best practices, you may find yourself with another tool that’s causing you more
pain than anything.
Make sure everyone who touches MA in your organization has the baseline knowledge to make it work. Take
advantage of the significant amount of educational information available, hold internal workshops and share
information on best practices as you find it. Most importantly, embrace the community that your MA vendor
has created. There’s no better way to advance your MA programs than to learn from those who have already
done it.
This educational piece will also shed light on program holes that may exist. For instance, you may learn that
you need more content to make the MA campaigns effective, causing you to hire someone or outsource to
a firm that can take this piece. You may discover that your CRM hasn’t integrated properly with your MA
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software or you could find that the bridge between your sales and marketing could use some fixing.
Let Go of the Baggage
It may not sound like a tangible “to do” but it’s true – when you are implementing a technology, particularly
one that that’s still in the early adopter phase – you have to let go of the ego. You must be willing to consider
that what you’ve done in the past isn’t what you should do in the future.
Start by looking at your most important conversion point. How do things like lead scoring and lead nurturing
impact your business? Figure out what’s truly significant, map out what you have done to date and what the
pitfalls have been, so that you can figure out how to go forward successfully.
It’s Not Automatic, But It’s Getting Closer
Marketing isn’t meant to be a “set it and forget it” business. It’s got to be nimble and considerate. But, there
are steps you can take to help your MA investment do as much as possible. Start with a solid plan. Get the right
resources to support that plan, including the right people. Make sure they are educated and that your vendor
has a community of experts that can help guide you. And, last, but not least, leave the ego at the door so you
are open to finding a new path. Do so and your marketing won’t be wholly automatic, but it will boost your
bottom line and become an integral part of your growth.
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First Have Something to Say: Simple Marketing
for Complex Marketing Automation
By Justin Gray
Originally published in the LeadMD blog – Dec. 8, 2011
http://www.leadmd.com/blog/article/first-have-something-to-say-simple-marketing-for-complex-marketingautomation-marketing-automation-times/
Psst… want to know a secret? Marketing is simple. Any marketer should be forced to explain their company’s
value proposition in less than five words, and have it be compelling. Because that’s all marketing is: being
concise and compelling, but recognizing that not everyone reacts to the same message. The tough part is
determining who will react to which message. When companies see low “returns” out of the gate (as most do
in early stages of marketing or with new product lines) they tend to get a little paranoid. Instead of focusing
in on that message and whom it’s being delivered to they instead take out the super soaker. They start buying
lists, advertising anywhere they can get a deal, sponsoring everything, and otherwise become a checkbook for
the marketing vendors.
How can marketers avoid this pothole of costly despair? How can they make sure the buying decisions are
based on something meaningful? If you are a marketer asking yourself these questions, take a step back and
start with this one: If tomorrow every lead in your database was standing outside your door and they were all
waiting for you to tell them about how great your solution or product or elixir is – would you be able to do it
in a way that meant something to each and every one of them? That’s the most important question. And the
answer makes your marketing far simpler and easier to manage.
The Content Game -- How to Play
There seems to be some big debate around content. Companies aren’t always quite on terms as to what
exactly qualifies as marketing content and at what stage of the funnel each lead should receive a specific piece
of content. I think this debate actually jumps the gun a bit.
Before discussing what goes into an email newsletter or an ad campaign, turn your attention back to home
base for a minute. I’m talking about your website. That old thing? Yes. The content on your company website
will pay off 100X before anything else.
If your website doesn’t immediately tell each and every target buyer what you do and why they need you
– stop fussing with all other content. Go back. Do not collect 200 leads. This step is called buyer persona
establishment. It’s critical before you can start any marketing campaigns and especially before you implement
a marketing automation program.
The fact is too many websites are designed by people who SELL something – not by people who BUY
something. Buyer persona establishment allows you to get into the minds of your buyer and target them
specifically with words, actions and channels that speak directly to them.
Focus in with Focus Groups
It helps tremendously to have a sounding board during the buyer persona establishment process. A group of
customers is great. Assemble the best customers you have and start to pick apart their differences. If you’re
like me you will find that customer attitudes, psychology and desire highly determines the type of buyer they
are, and ultimately the type of customer they become.
We all have clients we enjoy dealing with, and we have some we don’t. So if we can target the ones that we
want we can create better customers and reduce headaches on the backend. Likewise, during this process you
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will discover the messaging you are using that is hurting your business or that no one understands or simply
isn’t compelling. That’s expected too. You many be tempted to try to hold onto that content. Stop (hand slap),
get rid of it. All the time spent in the world doesn’t justify content that doesn’t speak to a buyer.
And what about those startups that don’t have customers? The persona process can become an experiment in
how understood your business is. Take professionals that you know and explain the business to them. Do they
get it? What don’t they get? And don’t worry about not knowing your exact personas for new businesses right
off the bat.
Successful buyer profiling never stops. And it keeps you grounded. The next time you are tempted by a sixmonth ad buy pitch that happens to come in when leads are slow, you’ll refer to your personas to know for
certain if it’s worth the spend. You no longer have to make decisions out of fear, but rather out of data.
Bla, Bla, Bla
Now that you know who these people are, formulate a message. In fact formulate a ton of messages. This
is where a lot of marketers start throwing slime on a wall because they are convinced the wall has to be
decorated. Buyers can tell if they’re looking at slime or a piece of art and most would rather look at a blank
wall than one with slime on it. In fact, if they see too much of it they’ll stop even looking at your business. So
choose your content wisely.
Every piece of content should contain specific elements that speak to the buyer intended to receive it. For
instance, do you have a buyer who is apprehensive about online purchases? Make sure your pricing page has
links to testimonials or case studies that speak to how secure your site is. Nurture those leads with content
about PCI compliance and how to have a safe online shopping experience.
Again, this all starts with the website. It’s the first thing your buyer sees, and the place where you will continue
to funnel them back to. Often times it’s the place they will spend the most time after they become a client or
loyal customer. It’s where you’ll collect most of your data on customers and the health of your campaigns.
Your website content stems from the persona exercise and all of your outbound content stems from the
website. That’s the formula for marketing simplicity and your marketing automation system will support this
formula. And all of this ends (and your success starts) with the simplicity of having something to say.
Ask your team, or yourself if you’re a one man marketing show, if you have relevant messaging that’s
distinguishable and actionable for every target. If the answer is no, its time to postpone that Marketing
Automation software purchase, hold off on that campaign that just can’t wait, and cancel that third-party
demand gen initiative. Without something to say, it’s simply a waste of money.
7
How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation
Tools
By Justin Gray
Originally published in VentureBeat – Aug. 22, 2011
http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/22/how-to-choose-the-right-marketing-automation-tools/
Marketing automation software -- software that lets you build content (landing pages, emails, deliverables,
etc) and then present it at the right time to your potential buyers -- is growing up fast. It’s now in that awkward
stage where it’s no longer the cool, new fad but enough people have heard the buzz to know (sort of) what it is
and why their company needs it.
Many companies, large and small, were employing marketing automation in some capacity before the category
had a name. But thanks to a growing number of new technologies, marketing automation is becoming a
defined part of every marketing budget, and corporate marketers are testing for the best solutions just like
they did for CRM technologies back in the 90s.
Reputable analyst firms have reported on the various tools available, but they often focus only on the
technology aspect and don’t include the ancillary pieces that put some MA vendors ahead of others. The
most important of those “intangibles” is a strong community where MA newcomers and pros, alike, can gain
expertise and best practices.
Enterprise-level marketing automation solutions handle the heaviest-duty cross-platform marketing programs
needed by about 20 percent of businesses. The other 80 percent of companies will turn to MA vendors that
focus on the mid-market. Let’s take a look at those pros and cons of those mid-market players and what your
company needs to know about them before making a choice.
Eloqua
Eloqua does a great job for companies blurring the line between the mid-market and the enterprise – those
businesses that aren’t a traditional enterprise in size, but that want to operate like one. Eloqua offers savvy
marketers the opportunity to bring different messaging points into their MA programs, provides deep
integration into CRM platforms, including Salesforce.com, and can tie in more advanced programs like SMS
marketing.
The company struggles, though, by not offering a turnkey solution. The advanced functionality that it offers
means that to use it well, a business really needs a team of people, such as a designer and a campaign
strategist, overseeing the process. Additionally, functionality from an Eloqua system is limited off the shelf, but
the platform’s robust API solves that problem for businesses that have development capabilities in house.
Bottom Line: Businesses that have a savvy marketing staff, a development staff available, and a need for mobile
programs should look at Eloqua. But the platform might require too much development work to the API and
too much high-end marketing functionality for businesses that don’t have extra hands on deck in these areas.
Genius
For businesses that are on the small end of small and medium businesses, Genius makes marketing
automation systems that focus on the most simple aspects of MA and that do a good job of educating the
market. The company realized early on that sales departments are what drive change in an organization. So
this technology does an excellent job of “playing nice” with sales. In addition to being specific about its focus –
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on the basics – Genius also makes it easy for small businesses to adopt a simple MA platform on a manageable
budget.
Once these small businesses want to scale, however, Genius has a hard time keeping up. It’s seen massive
customer attrition as customer needs have matured beyond the functionality a Genius system can offer.
[Editor’s note: Genius’ customer retention appears to be much stronger than stated here. The company reports
a monthly renewal rate of over 97%.]
Bottom Line: Genius is a good choice for business that are new to marketing automation, that want to
educate the sales staff and need to quickly wrap their arms around MA. But businesses should be advised that
transferring to a different MA platform when you scale is like trying to leave your banking institution – difficult,
painful and not a great idea unless you have to.
Marketo
[Disclosure: My company, LeadMD, is a services company that works closely with Marketo clients and resells
the platform.] Marketo doesn’t try to be everything to everyone. It knows its marketplace and has purposefully
focused on integration with Salesforce.com. Like Genius, Marketo puts an emphasis on education, and its
technology offers robust functionality, but is not so complex that you need a team of experts to run the
platform. Marketo also has a strong user community, which customers can use for best practices and help.
The company’s most prominent weakness is actually by design – it does not have a footprint into other CRM
platforms because it made the decision to focus only on Salesforce.com. Additionally, Marketo tends to be
fairly reactive, making it later to market than other vendors with new advancements. There is a positive to this
strategy, however; Marketo tends to get it right when it introduces something new, since it has learned from
other vendors’ mistakes.
Business-to-business marketers tend to look past the platform because they want things like SMS, social or
telephony integrations that Marketo currently doesn’t offer but has roadmap plans to. Additional emphasis
should be put on Marketo’s ancillary products – such as Sales Insight – that are highly innovative and bring
significant value.
Bottom Line: Marketo is a good match for businesses that are squarely in the mid-market, are using Salesforce.
com, are already doing email marketing, and have a need for predictive marketing data in the future. A
Marketo customer generally is an early technology adopter, is open to on-demand software purchases, is apt
to have an ongoing relationship with a vendor, and will participate in a community.
Pardot
Pardot is known for its price positioning, which offers marketing automation functionality that is easy to use for
about 40 percent less than other solutions. It is another vendor that is comfortable in its own skin.
For the cost, however, Pardot offers limited technical functionality. It does not extend as far into sales as some
other vendors, so it’s not a great plug into platforms such as Salesforce.com. The company’s customer service
will help you get going on the platform and helps customers resolve issues, but the lack of a community means
that best practices are not available.
Bottom Line: If you are a US-based business looking for an affordable MA platform that offers basic
functionality, keep your eye on Pardot. Like Genius, however, if you anticipate that you will need more
sophisticated MA functionality in the future, Pardot doesn’t scale well for deeper functionality.
Silverpop
Silverpop did a great job of acquiring its way into the MA space by purchasing Vtrenz. The company does
advanced batch and blast email very well, meaning that it can effectively serve an important and growing
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market segment. The platform has grown to include more sophisticated functionality such as landing page
creation tracking, lead landing functionality for the sales team and even lead nurturing. Silverpop integrates
well into different platforms, making its reach even broader.
After acquiring Vtrenz, Silverpop really disguised itself as a MA player when it is really a top of funnel email
marketer. For businesses that need to identify better prospects, score them and deeply analyze which
campaigns are doing well, Silverpop simply doesn’t support those functions.
Bottom Line: It’s not a true, comprehensive MA technology, but for customers that want superior, high-level
email marketing functionality, Silverpop is hard to beat.
End Note
The MA space continues to grow, but vendors that can offer community and best practices are the ones that
will help it thrive. People don’t feel lukewarm about MA the way they do about CRM. They either love it or
hate it, and these vendors are shaping how the industry will play out.
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Understanding
your Leads
It’s time to get in touch with your buyer. You may think you know them,
but that assumption kills more marketing conversations than any other
marketing mistake. It’s time to see the forest for the trees.
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Three Ways to Improve Your Lead Scoring
Process
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Marketing Profs – Feb. 28, 2011
http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/7227/three-ways-to-improve-your-lead-scoring-process
The advent of marketing automation software has meant countless advantages to the marketing process for
companies that use it. One of the biggest benefits? Lead scoring. Now we have a much more precise way to
measure the warmth of leads before they are passed from marketing to sales, making the conversion rate
ultimately higher. But this is still one area of marketing automation implementation that has a lot of marketers
stuck. Here are three ways to smooth out the scoring process and ultimately make it equate to a higher
conversion rate.
1. Decipher between “interest” and “need”
So let’s step back and ask, what is the purpose of scoring leads exactly? It’s designed to judge interest of
prospects and prioritize the leads. But what does it mean to be “interested?” That’s a harder question to
answer and one that every person in an organization could have a different answer for. “Interest” is simply
something that cannot be judged by a one-dimensional look at demographics. Interest is a combination of
many elements built around another dimension that seems to get left out of the mix – the notion of need.
Need is the hardest element to measure and requires that marketers look deeper than the outer, demographic
layer of their buyers. For this reason it’s important to start any lead scoring exercise with the buyer persona
establishment process.
At the end of the day people are just people, and they buy on the same basic needs as we exhibit in our own
personal lives. Those basic needs are supported by our personalities as individuals. The absolute best way to
build customer personas is to survey the people who have previously purchased your products and services,
and ask them questions about their decision making process. For instance, did they choose to purchase
because the decision could mean time saved or better performance on the job? Are they motivated by
advancement in their companies? Are they looking for a vendor to make them look good or to follow their
direction implicitly? Are they skeptical in nature? Do they tend to follow trends or be early adopters?
Once you’ve worked through the persona process, don’t let that info slip away for more traditional targeting.
That’ll get you right back to the old scoring process.
When we push through those basic indicators of potential buyers (location, job title) and get into their needs
(how they make buying decisions), we can begin to score better to determine interest. This process does not
happen overnight and it should be re-evaluated multiple times throughout the year.
2. Take it Down a Notch
Marketers get very excited about their elaborate scoring metrics that have quadrants and acronyms that
correspond to combinations of titles and behaviors. These scoring models don’t necessarily scale, their
confusing to those outside of marketing, and if there’s turnover in the marketing department (remember, avg.
two years per employee), it could get ditched due to sheer lack of translation year to year.
Simplify it. Just start with a small baseline of demographic elements that correspond with the few personas
you developed. Every new prospect gets categorized in a “likely” persona and then moves up or down (or
into a new persona track) based on their behaviors with the content. For instance, lets say the prospect is
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categorized as a person who follows trends and is apprehensive to try something new. If this person were
to download a case study, this action would move up their score. Or let’s say you have a prospect who buys
strictly based on cost. You would heavily score their completion of an ROI calculator or an RFP template.
Ultimately, your different types of buyers achieve certain scores based on their persona and engagement with
certain types of content assigned to that persona. You’ll start to identify certain “tells” of each persona, and
will know when a prospect is showing you intense buying signals. That is when you pass them over to sales.
The goal is to make scoring easy to understand so anyone who becomes part of the process can jump right in.
It also will help in scaling as your company grows and can be flexible to accommodate changed and even new
personas.
3. Extend the Lead Scoring Beyond The Sales Cycle and into the Customer Cycle
Calling it “Lead Scoring” is somewhat misleading. After sales are made, those customers should move into
a “post conversion” activity bucket where you can focus on continually nurturing the customers. You can
boost revenue here two ways: keeping customers longer and getting them to buy additional products and
services. The conventional method has been to reduce or even zero out a lead score once the lead has been
converted. Instead, assign them as new score as a warm prospect and push them into a new pipeline that’s all
about continual customer engagement. As they conduct more activity their score will begin to rise again and
eventually they will re-qualify to be handed over to sales.
This is one of the most important aspects of marketing automation that is often overlooked. The ability to
know when current customers are interested in buying additional products and services is extremely powerful.
Extending lead scoring into the customer cycle is how to capitalize on that.
Once these three steps are implemented you’ll notice that fewer leads are sent immediately over to sales.
This is a hard thing for both marketers and sales professionals to embrace, but it’s an important shift to get
comfortable with. Just because someone downloads a white paper doesn’t mean they’re a lead for sales to
contact. They’re just someone who downloaded a white paper, and should be scored and nurtured based on
that behavior and what you do (and do not) know about them.
Every marketer worth their salt is playing the content game right now. If you create good content, the right
buyers will want it. Through better lead scoring you can pinpoint those that actually need it, and get them to
sales at the peak of interest. A stronger lead scoring process will not only improve your conversion rate, it will
also help you get to know your buyer better, and you’ll organically develop a system that scales easily as your
business grows. Your marketing and sales departments will cohesively become revenue driven, not numbers
driven. You may not see a rise in actual leads, but you’ll definitely see a rise on your bottom line.
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The New Lead Score: All Hail Change
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Website Magazine – Aug. 2012
http://digital.websitemagazine.com/nxtbooks/websitemagazine/issue55_0812/index.php?startid=41
In the land of marketing automation, lead scoring is often approached as the easily overlooked underling.
Marketers are aware of its presence and its significance in the overall processes, but tend to feel that taking
the time to interact with it is either beneath them, confusing, or altogether unappealing. Lead scoring of the
past could absolutely be viewed through this lens, but lead scoring of the here and now is significantly and
constructively different than it used to be. The differences between the two methods are found in the details:
From One-Dimensional to Dynamic
The way in which leads used to be scored was through a one-dimensional process, which essentially placed
the bulk of significance on demographics alone. The mistake with this is that demographics are indeed
important, but drastically fail to paint a picture in entirety. The key piece that traditional lead scoring lacked
is the focus on psychographics, which hone in on behaviors that can be missed completely in a worksheet
that covers demographics alone. Through the new method of lead scoring, marketers are made privy to both
demographics and psychographics, allowing a more honest and complete snapshot of the prospect.
From Disconnected to Directed
As a result of applying more intentionally comprehensive factors into the lead scoring process, the leads are
assessed with extreme precision. This smooth, scalable process treats leads differently based on the “bucket”
they seem to belong to, allowing a custom-tailored approach to the lead. A better understanding of the
prospect’s needs breeds trust, whereas the old method bred skepticism due to being panoptic in nature. A
repeatable process like this gives the marketer laser-focused leads that will be converted far more rapidly into
customers than would be the case with the prior lead scoring method.
The path to this is take the time to deeply develop personas. For instance, by aligning psychographic
characteristics to behavioral actions, scoring models can begin to assess combinations of behaviors and allow
us to assume certain elements about the buyer. If our target buyer tends to express interest in ROI data and
looks at high level materials and channels, we can then score those movements with greater emphasis.
Decide to Develop
Learning to set up the newer lead scoring method can really be boiled down to making a decision. A marketer
needs to decide to develop this system, and recognize there will be a learning curve. The most powerful
paths for implementing this are either asking for help and being walked through the process, or willingly and
purposefully embracing a chance to try and fail, recognizing the insight that can spring from that.
Growth and an understanding of the new lead scoring process can come from both of these methods. No
matter which is chosen, the ultimate evolution within the marketing automation system will show its face
through faster customer conversions and ultimately more revenue. Pretty much every marketing automation
platform on the market enables a more advanced lead scoring process, and the communities that support
these platforms provide ample insight as to how to approach and implement.
As with anything, it is easy to be resistant to change within the lead scoring process. Despite the initial
discomfort or lack of understanding, the eventual output of implementing the new lead scoring system is
worth the growing pains tenfold.
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Becoming a
Content
Ninja
Master your marketing content. Marketers are relying on content, more
than ever before, to engage the buyer. Master this craft and you become
a master revenue marketer.
15
Communicating your Brand’s Story through
Marketing Automation
By Justin Gray
Originally published in the Marketo blog – Oct. 3, 2012
http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2012/10/communicating-your-brands-story-through-marketing-automation.
html
You can use the fanciest of tools marketing automation has to offer (and most of you do), but if your brand
isn’t being trumpeted as the star of the show, you’re missing the mark. The question then becomes, how do
you tell a story that speaks to what your brand really is through this powerful software? Here are some tips for
keeping the brand alive through marketing automation.
Gain trust: make customers part of your story
At the start of conveying your brand’s story is one little word that packs a powerful punch – trust. Painting your
company’s picture to your customers is key to winning more business and retaining the business you already
have, and the only way your customers will buy the story you tell is if they trust you. In order to get your
message securely in the hearts (or at least the minds) of your customers, you must gain their trust – the oldfashioned way.
Do this by giving your buyers something they want, regardless of what they will or will not do in return. In
marketing, we label this simply as “education” but it’s actually critical to espousing your brand. Once they
see a repeated effort from you with no strings attached, trust will be planted. And with each outbound
communication in this bucket, trust will grow. One way you could use marketing automation to establish
trust through education is by creating a webinar series all about culture that is delivered in installments along
the lead nurturing path. As an example, one webinar could include a brief glimpse into the history of your
company and product, followed by a quick demo. This would allow for your prospects to glean an important
piece of your brand’s story – its history – as well as begin the process of giving you their trust.
The more you use your marketing automation outreach in this way, the more your prospects will feel part of
your story and connected to your brand.
Share your best story
As with any good story, your brand’s biography probably has an exciting moment or a turning point that, when
told, elicits an emotional response. You’re probably great at sharing this in a sales pitch or even on the website,
but have you thought about using your MA software to share the story? For that matter, using it to share every
major milestone you reach?
These rah-rah moments give your company yet another chance to use marketing automation to help
perpetuate the essence of your brand. Here’s an example. If you’re up to date with your buyer personas and
you have customers or prospects interested in philanthropic endeavors, shine a spotlight on your annual
charity event and use Marketo to weave that story into communications with those individuals.
If you’re one of the many marketers who aren’t totally familiar with building buyer personas you’re in luck.
Marketo created a worksheet to guide you through setting these up. Start with this, and then begin customtailoring the story you tell through automation channels to resonate with these customers.
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Envision the end
When sharing your brand’s story, you don’t necessarily want to come to the end. Ideally, your company or
products will be living on for many more successful years to come. Envisioning the end, though, is key to
telling your story through marketing automation and making it count. Just like you forecast with financials,
try forecasting your story. Ask yourself some of those cheesy job interview questions, but in relation to your
business. Where do you see your company in five years? Ten or twenty years? Shaping your brand’s story
through the long-term vision will allow you to mold that into engaging content for your marketing automation
channels. For instance, if you’re developing a new version of your product, start a marketing campaign with
sneak peeks of new features given out to garner excitement from your prospects. Then, utilize campaign
analytics to gauge the marketplace interest in those blips and track prospects. Beginning with the end in mind
will allow you to target your ultimate goals, be clear in where your story is headed, and adequately pass that
on through marketing automation to the people it needs to get to.
How you package and present your company is nearly as important as the product or service you offer. Hand
in hand with the brand itself – logo, brand guidelines, messaging – is your brand’s story. This is what got you
to where you are, why you do what you do, and where you’re going. This story is essential to your brand’s
success, and can be delivered through carefully selected marketing automation channels to ensure your
audience consumes it exactly how you want them to. You are sure to maximize your marketing automation
strategy this way and create more loyal customers by bringing them along the journey of your brand’s story –
and there’s no better time than while it’s still being written.
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Content Tips to get Better Performance from
Your Marketing Automation Software
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Content Marketing Institute – Aug. 2, 2012
http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/08/get-better-performance-from-your-marketingautomation-software/
To most businesses, marketing automation software and content marketing make a powerful pair, but they
will never reach their full potential until the content being used matches up specifically with what customers
actually want to receive. Software alone can’t rejuvenate your marketing efforts, but neither can content. Here
are three keys to making your content and your marketing automation software work together to help you get
the best results for your campaigns.
Ditch the shackles
With the hubbub surrounding content marketing, you may believe that you need to continually create as much
content as you can in every medium imaginable. And because the high cost of marketing automation software,
management may think the only way to maximize it is to pump a huge amount of content through it. These
notions are both wrong.
Tip: It’s time to break free from the content restrictions and pressures that have cropped up for most
marketers and start fresh with only one goal in mind: be interesting. Don’t even begin to consider sending
meaningless filler to prospects because you feel the pressure to deliver something – anything -- to get the ROI
on that expensive software. It’s better to deliver two really exceptional pieces of content per month through
your marketing automation, than content twice a week that doesn’t hold any real value.
Start with Light Conversation
When you are put into a situation where new people surround you, it can either be natural or uncomfortable
to begin conversations, depending on your personality type. Either way, the best way to break the ice is to start
slowly. Begin with casual small talk and build a relationship from there. Person-to-person dynamics almost
always begins this way (as we see with sales). Marketing automation software allows you bring this same
methodology into content marketing. Most platforms were built to nurture the light, getting-to-know-you
engagements just as well as the big meaty stuff.
Tip: Make your first thee pieces of content to new prospects short, causal, and wholly educational (no selling
allowed yet). Once the channel of communication gradually opens, you can begin to nurture with more hearty
pieces of education, then get into the promotional content. Examples of “light” content include a short video
teaser about an upcoming product release, an infographic, or blog post that’s no more than 400 words. Just
as what occurs with a developing friendship, sharing a range of information in new and interesting ways builds
the foundation of the relationship.
Remember that a lead not nurtured is almost always a lead lost. Just like an in-person conversation, start with
small talk and build up. You just need to plan the conversation and your software will take care of the rest.
Go fishing
Even if you are immensely proud of a new video, resist the urge to send this to everyone; only some of your
prospects are ready for it. Your content at each stage of the funnel needs to reflect the relationship you have
built with your prospect up until that point. Your marketing automation takes on the tedious work out of
partitioning off different content for different prospects (hey, there is something automatic to this), so you
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don’t have to.
Tip: Create content for various stages in the sales funnel:
• Early in the funnel: Your goal is to simply bait the hook. Don’t deliver a piece of content that could be seen
as a sales pitch. Instead, send a brief email welcoming them warmly to your brand.
• Mid stage of the funnel: This is analogous to setting the hook. You can make offers here, but be sure there
is very little risk involved. For example, offer a free download that provides an immediate reward..
• Late stage of the funnel: This is similar to reeling in the catch. At this point, a good foundation of trust
should be established between you and the customer so you can craft a sales offer that is fair and packaged
in a way that highlights the benefits in it for them. After your leads are converted, be sure to make the
most of the metrics and analysis tools your marketing automation software offers so you can learn what
content worked optimally and what content still needs tweaking.
When in doubt of how best to maximize your content through marketing automation, remember that above
all else it should be meaningful rather than abundant. Being interesting will always win over death by content,
especially when that content is singing with software.
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ROI &
Learning
from
Results
It’s not about what you know - it’s about what you can measure. For
years marketers have been the arts & crafts team, the backlash from that
era has resulted in the demand for real metrics.
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How Chasing Your Metrics Has You Chasing
Your Tail
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Destination CRM – Jan. 20, 2012
http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Web-Exclusives/Viewpoints/How-Chasing-Your-Metrics-Has-YouChasing-Your-Tail-79745.aspx
Metrics. It just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? Analytics. That sounds good too. At the end of the day, it really
doesn’t matter what you call it. Marketers and sales professionals are facing a constant ROI battle, and this has
trained us to rely on numbers like junkies.
While reviewing the metrics at every facet of a campaign is important to justify spend, this process isn’t one
that has to send us into the tizzy of graphs and charts where we seem to end up. Furthermore, meaningful
metrics don’t have to be the result of costly email campaigns or a list-buying extravaganza. Here’s how to stop
chasing mythical ROI, and start delivering metrics that matter.
A Sea of Formulas
Why is measurement still a touchy subject, what with this abundance of ROI calculators built into nearly every
technology we deploy?
On the most basic level, marketers usually come from creative disciplines and have been put into technical
roles in recent years. That’s just the state of the marketing world -- most of us went to bed as brand builders
and woke up number crunchers. Wait a minute, isn’t that the role of sales? It used to be, however, because of
the software that businesses use now for lead gen, marketing and sales have to come to terms and share this
responsibility. This is why most marketing automation software is designed to integrate with CRM systems. But
it’s still an uncomfortable place for many marketers because it takes their focus off of brand management and
onto numbers management.
On the whole, this isn’t such a bad thing. The mix of marketing automation software with CRM has connected
two departments that have not always communicated well in a cohesive way. It’s only troublesome when all
of that great software pumps out a lot of different “results.” How is anyone to know which ones are really
depicting a healthy campaign? This is where sales and marketing usually don’t see eye to eye on what metrics
constitute success. And it’s in this sea of numbers and definitions of success where so many organizations get
stuck.
Start be Redefining Leads
Organizations that have been tracking marketing performance (and yes there are still some that don’t) often
do so by counting leads. Using the number of leads as a measurement of success can be faulty, however, if the
definition of a “lead” is different from one department to another.
Rarely do sales and marketing agree upon that definition off the bat. This is beginning to change because
successful marketing automation depends on qualifying a lead. Smart organizations are bringing sales and
marketing together to agree upon what makes a lead sales worthy.
Before handing a leads report over to the CEO to show the success of a campaign, dig into those leads a bit
more. A well-defined lead scoring process that’s been agreed upon by both marketing and sales can really shift
this measurement in a positive way. The good news? Both your marketing automation and CRM are built to
support lead scoring.
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Ditch the Sticks and Carrots
Executives are becoming hyper focused on specific marketing numbers, and with that, are using the age-old
tactic of offering incentives (or punishments) to hit those numbers. It behooves the executives to turn that
hyper focus onto the value of the numbers they’re so anxious to achieve.
Here’s why: If you tell me to get 5000 new unique visitors to the website per month to hit a bonus or just to
keep my job, guess what? You’re going to get 5000 new unique visitors per month. You have now taken away
my responsibility for what happens with those visitors (thank you). You’ve made it easier for me to achieve my
goal, and done nothing to actually help the bottom line.
The above scenario is largely responsible for the way marketers and sales professionals look at “results” and
share those results with CEOs. They are being incented, or punished, based entirely on the volume of specific
metrics and not on the bottom line itself.
This may have happened simply because we now have access to these metrics when we didn’t before. We
have taken the “volume” game to a new level, one that doesn’t serve the end result. Before we had lead
generation and PPC and CPA and every other number we could fit into a deck to confuse the intended
audience – we had customers and revenue.
We need to revert a little.
So What To Do with All Those Metrics?
Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. The reason your marketing automation and CRM are providing
you with those metrics is to help you find a path to the ones that matter – customers and revenue. Next time
you generate a report with all of your metrics – leads, CPC, conversions, visitors, etc. – don’t stop when the
numbers are on a graph. That’s not your report, that’s your path.
Your next step is to look at your goals, the revenue, and the customers and see if all those metrics you just
collected line up accordingly.
Let’s say your goal is to get more Fortune 500 customers. Your see that the number of leads in the last 30 days
has doubled from the previous month. The old you gets excited and ships the report to the CEO just before
he heads into the board meeting. The new you digs into the leads. How many of those leads are Fortune 500
companies? How many in the previous month? What’s THAT percentage increase? There’s your meaningful
metric. That might be a smaller and tougher number to sell to some CEOs, but it’s honest and it’s what’s going
to have the most impact.
Here’s another example, this one with a little math. Let’s say you have a webinar coming up and the goal is to
have leads in the mid-stage funnel convert to opportunities for the sales team. From those leads, you’d like to
close $300,000 in new revenue.
Perhaps there are 10,000 leads at this stage. Your company’s average deal size is $50,000 and you know from
sales that the average closing ratio is 50 percent. That’s 12 opportunities total that need to close from this
webinar. The old you is drooling over the 10,000 people that will be invited to the webinar, and being able to
tell the CEO that 500 showed up. The new you is just thinking about the best 12. Just .0006 percent.
Simply moving your focus away from the volume of leads and onto the end goal, you’re able to find the metrics
that will get you there. Your attention now goes from over-blasting your lists to drilling down to the individuals
who have a lead score (agreed upon by marketing and sales) within a very specific range.
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Here are a few other meaningful metrics to keep your focus on:
•
•
•
•
Revenue By Campaign
Opportunities by Campaign
Average Revenue per New Lead
Cost per Lead Acquisition
As a marketer or sales professional you are probably faced with 50 different metrics per every campaign you
implement. Retrain yourself, your team and even your boss to stop seeing those numbers as the end point and
start seeing them as part of the path to achieving goals. In other words, work backwards. In the end, there’s
really only one number that matters – the one on the bottom line.
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Marketing Automation and True ROI
By Justin Gray
Originally posted on the Frost & Sullivan site – 2012
http://img.en25.com/Web/FrostSullivan/MS2%20-%20Marketing%20Automation%20and%20True%20ROI1.
html?gcn1206=MS2
The once unattainable of marketing – tangible return on investment – is slowly becoming commonplace.
Marketers rejoice! A bevy of online marketing tools have allowed us to better determine what kind of ROI
we’re able to glean from our campaigns. Enter marketing automation software. It’s closely tied to CRM, and
it’s designed to put processes around something we used to do without much aim. ROI should be a no brainer
here, right? Wrong. For most marketers, figuring out the ROI of marketing automation is still the Chupracabra.
But not because it doesn’t exist. Marketers are just looking for the wrong ROI.
Usually, companies seek the following ROI from marketing campaigns:
• Email Opens
• Form Submissions
• New Leads Per Month
These are “old school” metrics and are often the first indicators that marketers are setting themselves up
for failure. In fact, before chasing after any metrics, it’s important to understand what exactly marketing
automation can actually deliver. The point of MA software is to bring consistency of process. The marketer
must bring the art and the process and then let software drive the process over and over again. Fortunately,
most marketing automation software also provides one unified platform for reporting, and when the right
process is implemented, can show the right ROI.
So Where to Look?
Most marketing organizations (or even marketing individuals) are too heavily focused on cost per lead or cost
per MQL. This is where a good CMO or VP is essential. If you allow executional marketers to judge their own
success they will find a way to increase lead numbers. This leads to marketers that judge open rates, click
throughs and other completely worthless metrics as success. Simply looking at a billboard does not equal
a purchase. Unfortunately that’s the mentality many marketers have when they focus of opens and clicks.
Those metrics should simply contribute to score and a more comprehensive process must be adopted. A
successful revenue-driven organization must extend their gaze into the sales process and focus on SAL, SQL
and opportunity success. Most marketing automation platforms are built to show this.
A list of more important marketing metrics looks like:
• Cost Per New Name
• Cost per MQL
• Cost per SAL
• Cost Per SQL (opportunity)
• Cost per closed opportunity
• Program (channel) ROI
• Total campaign ROI
The other metric marketers should focus on is total Lifetime Value of Customer. When we focus on creating
more profitable customers, we reach marketing nirvana. This is the next generation of marketing. In order to
make this kind of ROI happen, strategy is key. Companies have to have RPM marketers driving this cultural
change. We have to move beyond “leads” mentality all the way to LTV (Lifetime total value) mentality where
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we focus on creating systems to track costs of customer service, integrate those into CRM and marketing
platforms and then create content to capture those target buyers and create better customers. Marketing
is the most comprehensive department in the company as its job extends into all elements of the customer
lifecycle.
Marketers also need to get the technology more – really leverage it and don’t just dabble in email marketing.
When you stick to the basics, you get basic results. Get or train the right staff to run the process and make sure
you are revealing the right metrics to the executive team, rather than keeping things a secret. The science to
marketing will allow you to play with the art in manners previously thought as too risky – just ensure you give
everyone the metrics to back it up.
Finally – give it time. To implement a true marketing automation process you will need at least a year and a
well planned and supported budget. If your CEO wants results in the next 30 days or everyone is fired – quit
and start your own company or find one with the foresight to support real revenue driven marketing.
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Marketing Automation ROI: Myths and Facts
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Software Advice – Mar. 14, 2012
http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/crm/marketing-automation-roi-myths-and-facts-1031412/
Marketing Automation is perceived as a solution to marketing problems - marketers believe it will take them
where they need to go and allow them to better communicate with buyers and stimulate interest. Marketing
Automation is not a solution, it is a software platform. Day one out of the box it will do absolutely nothing.
Everything about Marketing Automation is what you put into it. If you have been struggling to better manage
leads because manual processes are in your way – marketing automation is for you. If you are struggling due
to lack of process Marketing Automation will compound your issue.
Myth 1: Marketing Automation will automate my Marketing efforts
The magic bullet of Marketing Automation does not exist. Marketing automation provides insight into
buyer behavior, provides workflow type rules to lead scoring, and activities to that behavior. But the truly
“automated” portion of that equation is the equivalent of saying that a nail gun automates building a house –
it may make some key processes easier and much faster, but the PLAN is what built the house.
Fact 1:
Marketing Automation is one big IF/THEN statement. The real problem for most marketers is having the
knowledge of what to do IF… and what content to provide on THEN. Marketing Automation does surprisingly
little if you don’t have the insight into your buyer and content to support the process. The average marketer
has almost no relevant content at their disposal and the little that they do have they often use MA to force it
down the throats of the buyers they know about. Things like content, buyer personas, scoring methodology,
progressive nurture paths are HARD to assemble. They take time and cost money – Marketing Automation is
such a small piece of that puzzle yet it is treated like the entire pie.
Myth 2: Marketing Automation will save us money.
Often marketing automation is justified as a way to cut out employees or more expensive marketing initiatives.
The price tag of Marketing Automation comes with a fair amount of sticker shock and in response marketers
justify it within the organization by touting its ability to cut staff or drive all interaction online.
Fact 2:
The price tag around marketing automation is in no way limited to the software itself. Normally it takes
about 3 months for marketers to realize that from a content perspective they are completely unprepared
for a Marketing Automation system. Everyone around them is telling them that they need to assemble
nurture tracks, segment content through out the pipeline and use a variety of mediums to stimulate interest.
Meanwhile they don’t even have enough content to complete even a basic 20-week nurture. So what’s the
answer – for most marketers its having to assemble a lot of content on a very tight budget – they themselves
are not writers, they have no way to produce video, their execs don’t blog, the internal buy in isn’t there to
embrace the edgier forms of content like games, surveys, etc. – they are stuck. Now they are forced to either
go back to MGMT and ask for additional budget when they claimed that they would be cutting it by buying
software OR start batch and blasting based on the limited content they have, effectively kill their house list
which is now upset at the barrage of emails and present the dismal results at the next quarterly meeting
where execs are expecting big results because MA was going to save them big money and generate big leads.
Guess what – there is no shortcut. The beauty though about MA is that after that first year you should be able
to report on ROI down to the penny and actually begin to predict what spending a dollar will result in.
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Myth 3:
We should start seeing results of Marketing Automation immediately after implementation. Once we get the
system integrated into our CRM and start sending out messaging we will see leads start rolling in and they will
close faster than ever before.
Fact 3:
The results that organizations see with Marketing Automation within the first 6 months are most often
overlooked or passed over and in the vast majority of cases are not assigned value. The immediate values
of MA – if it’s implemented correctly – is the revision of process. I say revision because if you are using MA
to FORM a process for the first time then you are doing it backward. You have to have something worth
automating before buying MA – plain and simple. The benefits of this early time should be taking that process
that your team has already agreed upon and streamlining it as a result of better technology. Also, at this time
it’s a great time to re-align sales and marketing and make sure they agree on lead management, the definitions
of a qualified lead, how that plays into scoring and the different touch points along the lead success and detour
paths. We will also use this initial time to see where holes in our content pipeline reside and make sure we
have a development plan around them. We need to look at our buyer personas again and make sure they are
still relevant and if so are we prepared to speak to all of them throughout the nurture process.
None of the items above are benefits that most marketers consider as a result of MA. Most marketers will list
goals like:
1. More Leads
2. Better Leads
3. Better Reporting
None of those benefits will be realized within the first 6 months of MA. MA will not make your message
better, it will not create content, it will not make sales have more trust in you – these are all items that will
come in time as we become more relevant as a result of MA’s execution of our plan. Success with Marketing
Automation takes time. I always tell customers that if you have all of your content in place and have a solid
plan you will start seeing different (better) leads around the six month mark as nurturing starts to precipitate
leads out of the funnel and into sales. The big issue is that very few organizations have solid content or a solid
plan so that timeline is a bit utopian for many marketers and very misaligned from their initial goals.
Summary:
Good marketing is hard. Nothing will change that. Marketing Automation provides the much-needed platform
for marketers to carry out their lead generation and management plans, but their own expectations are getting
in the way of results. The more preparation marketers do prior to purchase, the better prepared they will
be for the timeframes ahead of them in terms of actual returns on the sizable MA investment. Marketing
Automation doesn’t represent a short cut; it represents a change in the marketplace. Buyers want to learn in a
trusted setting, and in order for marketers to respond with relevance they need a system that will assist them
in measuring interest and responding according to the organizations lead management plan. What MA will
never do is assemble that plan for us, and without it the value of an automation system is little more than that
of email platform that marketers could have purchased for 49/mo.
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Marketing
Automation
and Social
Media
Buyers want to participate in the conversation. Social media gives us the
chance to meet them where they are most comfortable.
Marketing Automation and Social Integration:
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Hand-in-Hand or Hand-to-Hand Combat?
By Justin Gray
Originally published in the Marketo blog – Aug. 27, 2012
http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2012/08/marketing-automation-and-social-integration-hand-in-hand-or-handto-hand-combat.html
When it comes to social media, questions about its usefulness surprisingly rage on. Some say that not having
a social presence is no big deal – social doesn’t really fit their business. The opposite side of that coin is that
social media is big time and big names are talking about it so everyone better run out and get a facebook
business page. What’s for certain is that either one of those strategies is a recipe for disaster. As with anything,
something worth doing is worth doing right (can’t you just hear your mother now?). Once you get off the
fence and are ready to dive in, or you’ve finally convinced the powers that be that social is a part of any good
marketing mix, you want to hit the ground running. If there’s one thing that marketers want, it’s best practices
– so I figured I would outline a few points that helped us, back when we were social media virgins (if I can say
that on the Marketo blog).
First and foremost, start with what you already have. Find out where your customers congregate, take some
time, and talk to them. Our goal here is to find out what channels are trusted among our buyers, and not
for their next running shoe – for business intelligence, friend! We’re all spending more of our personal lives
working. Case in point: I’m typing this on vacation (shame on me). Why? We want to get ahead, we want to
shine, and what’s the best way to get ahead? That’s right, do something impactful. What do people do when
they do something impactful? Right again, they brag about it. With social media as the number one area
through which we spend and share our digital lives, it’s also a great place to consume information about how
people are innovating and growing within their (business) lives. That is ultimately what we want to tap into
– the circle of social trust. I recommend the following guidelines for kickstarting the process of climbing the
trust tree:
1. Evaluate and strengthen current marketing strategies. Social integration will not thrive as its own entity
(or upgrade your entire marketing strategy) unless the overall strategic direction and fundamentals are
in place. If you currently operate your brand’s website, landing page, and email campaigns – start there.
Figure out how to best optimize those three pieces cohesively before you entertain the idea of integrating
social into the blend.
2. Shift your content from its place on the sidelines to a place in the starting line-up. Content has become
the center of successful marketing strategies. Beef up the content you have by making it succinct,
interesting, and valuable. Do yourself and your customers a favor by actually giving them something –
tangible or intangible – each time they interact with your brand. Once your content is meaningful and takes
its rightful place in the spotlight of your marketing efforts, make it easy to share. Provide hyperlinks in your
web copy, use easily copy-and-pasted infographics in your emails, and interesting or cute tweets that will
be feverishly retweeted because they’re just that good. Use your social media as a way to direct interested
eyes to your website, and to entice your potential buyers to want to learn more about your products or
services.
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3. Integrate social… where it actually makes an impact. If your marketing automation is queued up to pump
content through social channels simply because you think you should, STOP now. What I mean is that you
shouldn’t spend your time and resources on a guessing game. Instead, start utilizing social attribution tools
that reveal exactly how your target audience is consuming the social efforts you’re sending their way. If you
can use social as a way to improve lead scoring, pounce on the opportunity. If it can help measure buyer
interaction, take advantage of it. These are the real (and dare I say only) useful reasons for jumping on the
social integration train.
Done with these three steps? Pat yourself on the back. You are one of the few who sees social integration
for precisely what it is – another tool in the tool belt of marketing outreach, and nothing more. Marketo
added basic social integration into its marketing assets about a year ago, allowing for easy sharing of content
by customers via social channels. As mentioned above, content distribution is one of the most prime and
worthwhile uses for social integration so Marketo once again has shown a pioneering spirit. The company is
also strong in social attribution, especially due to the recent acquisition of Crowdfactory, making it another
complement to social integration when handled the right way. Social sharing attribution, coupled with
Marketo’s ability to track and record items like UTM parameters from organic and paid search, make Marketo
extremely well rounded.
So you know, Marketo refers to social outreach as Social Promotions, which allow you to send outbound social
messages directly through the Marketo platform. This is an especially handy and notable way to effortlessly
take charge of social integration, once the first steps listed above have been followed.
So, what’s the moral of the story? Don’t be afraid of social integration or its often-vague part in your marketing
automation strategy. If you use it as prescribed above, and allow for a learning curve to see how it fits precisely
into your brand’s marketing efforts, you’re bound to see social integration and marketing automation pack a
powerful 1-2-punch.
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Three Ways to Bring Lead Nurturing into Your
Social Media Plan
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Customer Think – Jan. 11, 2012
http://www.customerthink.com/article/three_ways_to_bring_lead_nurturing_into_your_social_media_plan
We are well passed the assumptive phase that the majority of businesses choose to include a social media
strategy as part of their overall marketing. According to a study released this year by EConsultancy, 64 percent
of businesses now see social as a major part of their programs and consider themselves past the “experimental
phase.” A large percentage of these businesses, especially ones that have bigger marketing budgets and people
to support each individual marketing initiative, will actually hire someone(s) just to manage the social aspects
of each campaign. Yet few businesses have mastered turning their social channels into a tool for their lead
funnels. In fact 41 percent of those surveyed for the same study said they still don’t have definitive ROI for
their social programs. Evidently, social feels good, but there are still too many question marks as to how to turn
that Google+ business page into a starting point for new leads.
Now, with marketing automation becoming the buzz phrase de jour, everyone is asking – how to tie this back
to social or vice versa? The good news is this isn’t another layer in an already confusing landscape. It’s actually
doable, and, it’ll help propel your entire social strategy.
Create a roadmap to interest: Don’t be desperate
How often have you been asked to “follow” or “like” a business? Sometimes you’re actually given a reason
to hit the like button. Perhaps there’s a coupon, or a chance to win a prize. Sometimes you’re just asked to
follow for no reason other than to be connected to a brand you allegedly love (based of course on your online
behavior that’s been aptly targeted). It’s hit or miss, isn’t it? Much like email marketing. You probably receive
about 100 or more email marketing pieces delivered to your inbox each week, but you only open a select few.
Social media isn’t very different, so when facing your own social media plan, consider that connecting with an
interest base needs to be planned out and not something you just do for the fun of it – or rather, because you
think you have to.
There are different reasons why people will come to your social media sites. The Society for New
Communications Research did a study earlier this year of how professionals use social media and found that
“access to thought leadership content is now the number one reason why professionals visit networks and
communities.” How about consumers? Well, they are starting to become a tougher crowed. A Gartner report
on social media shows that consumers are becoming a little disenchanted with social media. “Branded
content needs to be kept fresh and must be able to capture people’s attention instantly. The new generation
of consumers is restless and short on attention span, and a lot of creativity is needed to make a meaningful
impact.”
So using this knowledge, start with the basics: what makes your product or service cool? If you had an open
forum to talk with your customers casually, what would that conversation look like? Consider how you can
convert that initial interest into pipeline. For instance, if you’re a BtoB company, your most likely prospects
in the social sphere are probably not coming to your LinkedIn page for a coupon or to hear about your latest
press release. They want content that’s going to make it easier for them to do their job, preferably using
your product or service. They want to be presented with conversations they can sink their teeth into, and
information that they can put to use. Start with that content base before worrying about the leads that will
come of it.
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Make the Technology Your Friend
Most Marketing Automation platforms have some form of integration into popular social media channels such
as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages so you can use them to share content across those mediums. There is
no excuse anymore to not make the connection. This means that once your organization has collected critical
information about a prospect you can actually “mash-up” demographic and firmographic info through popular
data sources.
The next step is to mine your growing base of followers and pull the most relevant into your funnel. Don’t just
grab everyone who “likes” your page, that’s misleading, lazy, and will have your sales team chasing down leads
that aren’t meant to be. Instead, have someone take the time to research new followers every week and slot
them into the funnel accordingly. It’s more than okay to leave many of them out or peg them to revisit at a
later date.
Use mediums that work
When thinking beyond engagement and into lead acquisition, the content being offered should be designed
to drive fans and followers directly into your funnel automatically whenever possible. The question then
becomes, what kind of content is going to act as the best bait in a social setting? Hint: not a whitepaper. The
whitepaper hook is great on a trade website where prospects are looking for education. Or even in an email
campaign. If you’re a BtoC company try surveys, games, videos – you know, fun stuff. Then tie in a link to a
piece of content that expands on the messaging, preferably a piece you can track for usage.
For BtoB, one example of social success is the communication of trends and breaking news. Salesforce.com
pulled off probably the best-calculated social PR campaign following Benioff’s exclusion from Oracle World a
few months ago. They were able to lead their social followers back to a video talk they put on and provided a
great channel to allow a video of that event to live forever.
Follow Them Too
Understanding the social behavior of your newfound prospects is key to making this form of lead nurturing
successful. Use your marketing automation and CRM systems to keep track the types of social media content
that interest these particular prospects and respond with similar messaging both inside and outside of the
social sites.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you identify a group of prospects on your company’s LinkedIn page who tend to
favor video content. They view it when you post it (and you know this because you’re using trackable video
tools like Vimeo or NextSlide), they share and re-tweet yours and/or other video content, and perhaps they’re
even posting their own video content on their sites. This should be noted in your lead funnel. Now you can
schedule video content to be delivered to them through your other marketing channels.
Define success
We always talk about working backwards – here we are again. Too many organizations feel they aren’t seeing
ROI around social. 60 percent of businesses measure the success of their social strategy by the number of
fans, followers, and likes. Getting people to follow your Twitter page isn’t very hard, and if you task your CMO
with achieving this feat, he or she will easily go out and do it. If instead you tell them to boost leads by 15
percent through social channels, that’s a whole different ballgame, and one that doesn’t have a lot to do with
how many people “like” you.
It may be a while before you can directly tie leads back to tweets. And you shouldn’t be watching that pot
waiting for it to boil anyway. Lead acquisition and nurturing is about letting your brand be a magnet for
prospects, getting them into your pipeline, and using their social behavior to drive how you nurture them. If
you are already adding every person who follows you on Twitter into your lead funnel, try this exercise: tally
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the total number of net new leads brought into your funnel through a social channel. Now see how many of
those leads actually score high enough to qualify as a lead worthy to pass over to sales (be honest). That’s
a metric that shows social media value and it’s very easy to do with just about any marketing automation
software.
Just like any other kind of marketing, there’s no magic bullet here. Using social channels to acquire leads will
take time and it will take thought. Those willing to invest the minimal amount of both will reap the benefits,
and they’ll be able to say they count more than just likes as proof of success.
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Never Fail
Tips and
Tricks
The best marketers still love a leg up on the competition, that’s what
LeadMD looks to provide. We’ve done over 750 marketing automation
projects. We’ve picked up quite a bit along the way.
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Fear Factor: Stop Avoiding These Three
Marketing Automation Features
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Marketing Automation Times – Jun. 13, 2012
http://marketingautomationtimes.com/2012/06/13/fear-factor-stop-avoiding-these-three-marketingautomation-features/
Marketing automation, when used properly and fully, is intended to be the best friend a company’s marketing
team could have. All too often though, the individuals who support the marketing automation efforts become
intimidated by the array of tools available and end up viewing the entire system as a foe. As with most things in
life that scare us, the best plan of attack is almost always to confront the fear head-on. In order to slay the fear
of marketing automation software, embrace the fact that some time spent learning will be involved initially,
but that the results will be worth it in spades. Here are some concrete ways to nix the fear and open your arms
to the three marketing automation features most commonly avoided.
Lead Scoring
If you told your sales team that from now on they would only be making calls to a select group of hot prospects
who are most likely to buy, they would be ecstatic. It makes sense to everyone that the more targeted your
prospects are, the more time you will save in converting them into customers. However, lead scoring remains
one of the most under-utilized features of marketing automation. It could be that most marketers just don’t
know where to begin when it comes to going from beginner to advanced with lead scoring. HINT: scoring by
demographic, title, and job function falls into the “beginner bucket.” Scoring by behavior and needs falls into
advanced.
All marketing automation platforms have automatic data collection systems in place that will assign scores
based on everything from basic information about the lead to how they engage with your website. Setting
up the lead scoring system can be: tedious, sometimes hard, and be a point of contention among sales and
marketing pros. Don’t let this be a reason to walk away from one of the most critical pieces of your marketing
automation investment.
If you’ve properly set up personas (and you shouldn’t even be using marketing automation software if you’ve
skipped this step), then you have everything else you need to score leads more deeply. Use those personas as
the roadmap to determine additional scores beyond the basics. Some personas will instantly start with a higher
lead score than others, based solely on what you already know about their needs. Then you add behaviors on
top of that. For example, if a lead downloads a white paper they move up a couple points. That’s it. They do
not pass “go” to sales, they simply move along the nurture bucket. It’s not until they also spend time on your
blog, sign up for your emails, and join a webinar that they get passed off to sales. HINT: If your lead scoring
system is rating leads on a scale of one to ten, it’s not deep enough to make this system truly work. Get in
there, learn how to use this tool, and give it some depth.
Campaign ROI Reporting
Another feature of marketing automation that is drastically overlooked is the tool of campaign ROI reporting.
Spanning almost every industry, execs desire a way to track the success of their marketing efforts and seek
metrics to reveal the answer to them. This feature handles that smoothly and accurately, and yet companies
are missing out on it. The main reason more people are not jumping on board with this feature is because
what is necessary foundationally to make this tool successful is daunting. For operative campaign ROI reporting
to fall into place, it is key to have assimilation between your CRM and your web analytics. It is not enough to
just know how many new hits you have on your website as a result of a marketing campaign – you need to
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know who those people are and be able to track if they end up as leads or customers. This is referred to as
closed loop reporting, and is crucial to make this feature work. Once you get this securely functioning, you will
be on your way to easily determining which campaigns are thriving and which are not. And consequently, you
will know undoubtedly where to spend more money and where to tighten the belt.
Lead Nurturing Through Diversified Content
A surprising feature of marketing automation systems that is not used as prevalently as it should be is lead
nurturing by way of content other than emails. This element seems to be the simplest to incorporate and
capitalize upon because it is almost entirely automated, so it is unexpected that so many are failing to take
advantage of it. The primary hang-up that paralyzes most companies is that they are unsure of what content
to use or unable to produce enough content to make it worthwhile. A simple fix to either of these roadblocks
is to face the fear of making your content perfect. You should always strive for excellence, but there is not one
perfect formula for content that must be attained before successful lead nurturing can occur. Decide to front
load the work and devote some time right away to generating a stockpile of different kinds of content – video,
blogs, landing pages -- that will be pumped out at each stage of the funnel. Then work to create new content
at scheduled intervals. If you can’t handle this internally, there is a world of content marketers out there who
can help. Then leave the rest to the automation – isn’t that the point?
Fear of getting something wrong or being imperfect with marketing automation features freezes even the most
competent marketers into inactivity. It is far more worthwhile to tackle the tools and learn through doing than
sit in fear and miss out. Take some time to grasp features like lead scoring, campaign ROI reporting, and lead
nurturing, and give yourself some patience along the learning curve. If you get past the fear and just hang in
there, you are guaranteed to see an upsurge in customers and ultimately ROI.
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Around the Content in 30 Days
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Conversion Conference blog – Sep. 13, 2012
http://blog.conversionconference.com/content/30-days-of-content-madness-get-more-leads-from-yourcontent-in-just-a-month/
Content marketing is something that has garnered a ton of accidental attention as of late. I say accidental
because I feel like many of those that have latched onto the need for content marketing, have done so as
a response to the painful realization that they were lacking content to power other initiatives. Marketing
automation, for example, has been one area that has given many marketers pause on their journey as they
recognize that they are grossly un-prepared, from a content perspective. The fuel to the fire of software like
marketing automation (MA) is good, multi-channel content. MA has many benefits, however the one that
most executives seem to latch onto is lead generation. Some marketers buy MA to create a scalable process,
some buy it to better segment data, others make a purchase to up their lead scoring IQ – however if you
survey most executives they will still say that lead generation is at the top of their list. Frankly, that’s a terrible
expectation, and somewhat akin to buying a car with the goal of building roads. MA can be very effectively
used to create interest in your prospect universe – problem being that you have to have that content universe
– that house list – for MA to market to.
In an attempt to meet lead generation goals, marketers are latching on to content marketing as a way to create
interest and therefore a house list to market to. Lead nurturing works, but on the path to get there they swiftly
encounter the catch 22, the chicken and the egg conundrum – content. If we are serving up messaging to a
prospect over a long period of time, we better have something to say. Before we dive into lead nurturing we
first have to garner those names and build that house list. This is the question we are asked probably 99 times
out of 100 – can you help us build a database of names, some call them leads – I call them names. I realized
that I was literally turning blue in the face trying to explain this to our clients and prospects so I decided
to evoke an old proverb – if you want something done, do it yourself. This is where the idea for 30 days of
Content was born. I wanted to focus on creating enough content to disseminate a new piece out into the
world – my small world of B2B marketers – one new piece everyday, for the purposes of new name acquisition.
I should put a disclaimer out there that there is no one area of marketing that will mean success. Long before
30 days of content, long before we employed MA, and long before LeadMD began – we formulated a fishnet.
A system in which we could catch interest and route it properly. To do this we built a website from the ground
up based on persuasion architecture, conversion points driven by a short/long form methodology, integrated
those entry points with our sales process and then finally tied it all together with Marketo. As a disclaimer, you
can use any MA tool, hell, you can attempt to do it manually – but you need to find your hedgehog and stick to
it. We, like our clients, had to feel confident that we had a lead process. Now, the fun part begins.
When I began formulating 30 days of content I took a look at our early stage content funnel and evaluated the
types of content that had been most effective. I’m not a fan of doing things that don’t work – so I stuck with a
plan that had been proven. My goal was to add new names so I knew early stage content would support that
goal. Short, concise, compelling – this was going to be fun to create. After briefly putting some structure and a
schedule behind this (I say briefly because I have ADD and despise analysis paralysis and dove in head first.
About mid-July I started creating new content and also searching for new ways to re-purpose parts of old
content that still had self-life left on the expiration date. I dove into the high production items like video first.
We have a sister company that performs our SEO – and you guessed it – films videos. Those were cranked
out in about 2 days. Next I went through our article pipeline and placed articles strategically according to
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topic – we use our PR agency to get article placements and have developed a good degree of success with
B2B marketing outlets. Next I started putting together a few presentations to host on Slideshare, also a few
blog posts – quick and dirty, but effective. Next I knew I was speaking at a few of the Marketo roadshows so I
transformed that topic into a social media guide. I topped the whole thing off with a few new case studies we
had developed that I had waiting in the wings and finally I assembled a few MEMEs for fun and boom(!) I had
my content.
The first day of content came while I was still assembling content but no worries, I knew I had time. So what
now? Well, the goal was new name acquisition and the call to action was our Pigs Fly Marketing Automation
best practices series, so I chose to disseminate these content pieces only through social paths – twitter mainly,
also LinkedIn and Facebook. Fortunately during this process I was approached by the CEO of a company called
GaggleAMP – strange name, but a awesome product. GaggleAMP allows me to create a group, or Gaggle, as
they call it, and the system then makes it easy for those who belong to the Gaggle to share content that we
as a company put out. Of course I started with our own employees, then I branched out to colleagues and
friends. Each time I put out a content piece socially, those members, and their friends, and their friends of
friends amplified the message.
As I mentioned earlier I have ADD and an intense need to know, right now – about everything. Long ago I set
up an alert that notifies me when a new name enters the marketing database. Of course I also have reporting
that shows me this data in a bit more consolidated manner. Point being, it was awesome. With each content
piece I was able to add between ten and forty-five new names to our database. Our best practices series also
grew substantially at a slightly higher rate as some of the responders were already in our database. I was really
shocked, not at the success, but at the consistency. I was also interested in the time frames, like weekends
where many of our new name acquisitions were taking place.
When the 30 days was over, I was exhausted but we had added 532 new names to our database and grown
our Pigs Fly series by 9% for a total increase of 1041 subscribers. Keep in mind I spent almost nothing on the
content assembly other than my time and sunk costs I was already spending. I consider it a very successful
experiment and I’m considering turning this whole ordeal into an eBook – ok, maybe just an eBrief – I’m kind
of burnt out.
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The Future
of
Marketing
Automation
The next generation of features and focuses are already being impemented at cutting edge organizations. Here’s what we’ve seen
as the largest areas of focus.
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The Fourth Ingredient to Marketing Automation
Success — People
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Software Advice – Jun. 25, 2012
http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/crm/the-fourth-ingredient-to-marketing-automation-successpeople-106251/
By now we know that marketing automation doesn’t mean you flip a switch and the software does you’re
bidding. We know that there is still work involved, and marketing automation software is there to improve the
process. Now that a common thread of best practices is emerging, we know there are three key ingredients to
marketing automation success: process, content and technology. I’d like to add a four ingredient to this sales
and marketing cake: people. Marketing automation software won’t replace people. Here are six reasons why.
Vision
The old adage “It takes a village” holds true in the world of marketing. It really does take a team of individuals
with unique skill sets to create a comprehensive and holistic marketing campaign. And it also takes a tribal
leader to make sure the village is running smoothly. Marketing automation software is smart but it’s not that
smart. It can’t predict what your company goals are and it can’t think of a creative campaign. It can’t tell
you if the marketing program is staying truly aligned to the overall company goals, and it can’t come up with
a fantastic new way to go after a hard-to-reach demographic. Without vision, no marketing campaign can
succeed.
Content Creation
The software can’t create engaging content for your organization — that takes knowledge of the buyer and
talent to create the funnel. It takes good writers (if you can find a MA system that can write, please let us
know). Your marketing automation program is useless without mass amounts of content. In fact, you may need
to hire an extra person JUST for the purpose of content development.
Targeting
Marketing automation software doesn’t know who your target demographic is and who they are as PEOPLE,
at least not until a human feeds it this information. This goes back to the level of intelligence your software
has vs. the warm-blooded human being with the capacity to think critically. Your employees can get into
the behaviors and minds of the customers and appropriately tell the software how to approach them in an
automated way.
Definition
In order for any marketing automation program to work, the marketing & sales departments have to come to
agreements on what defines a lead and how those leads are nurtured and passed along. This is always evolving
and it takes a human to manage. It’s also extremely difficult in some cases, especially in organizations that have
been doing the same thing for a loooong time. Your marketing automation software can’t provide guidance
here, it’s looking to you to do that.
Initiative
Marketing is ever evolving. The latest ideas around social demand generation, the management of those leads
over time and the further monetization of the customer base all comes from the initiatives of your team, not
your software.
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Results
Generating reports and analyzing results are two different competencies. Until a marketer knows what their
benchmarks will be, what their target is and how to extrapolate that data into ongoing strategy, those numbers
will remain only numbers.
The defining factor between success and failure is people – 100 percent of the time. You can build the BEST
marketing automation system in the world, but managing that system over time is the devil in the details.
Marketing will never be 100 percent automated because of one key factor – change. The world changes at a
pace that would have been scoffed at even a decade ago. Technology empowers us to react to that change
quickly and with precision but the ability to see change, and work within it, still begins and ends with the
human component.
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How to Spot a Rainmaking Demand Generation
Marketer
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Adotas – 2012
http://www.adotas.com/2012/07/how-to-spot-a-rainmaking-demand-generation-marketer/
A driving force in any department is easy to spot, but there are also those rare individuals who drive the entire
organization. Everyone looks to them for guidance, they know how a tweak in customer service will affect
sales, they have a vision for how the moving parts of the company interact and how to lubricate the right joint
to make everything run more smoothly.
Often these individuals reside in marketing as this department has the potential to touch so many other
departments through its initiatives. A really good revenue-driven marketer – some in our space call this a
unicorn -- knows that success never lies in one element of the marketing mix. They know it takes a good
strategy, combined with great content, funneled through really good technology. This is perhaps the most left
brain/ right brain job description ever. Talk about a rare individual.
Most SMBs have at least one of these individuals just waiting to be discovered. However, the bigger the
organization, the harder they are to find. They are rare, they are powerful and when you get one, you do
everything you can to hold onto them – at least you should. Here’s how to spot the demand gen rainmaker in
your company, and what to do once you’ve struck gold.
Create a New Playing Field
The surprising thing about these individuals is that they usually aren’t at the executive level, and often times
they end up being overshadowed by executives within their department. They work late, put in the extra
effort, go the extra mile, and someone else takes the credit. Marketing automation technology and processes
have a funny way of blowing the lid off of this charade.
Because marketing automation requires a number of key components to execute and track campaign success,
hands-off marketers get stuck almost immediately. Who’s going to segment and cleanse the data? Who is
responsible for setting up lead scores, and copywriting, and nurture programs? Who on the team will parse
through all of the analytics that marketing automation provides to benchmark and define success? A demand
gen rainmaker, that’s who. Not their boss.
For many individuals this is a frightening gust of wind through the pillars of their carefully constructed house
of cards, but a rainmaker has been waiting for this climate change. Now there is a unified platform on which
to exercise their diverse range of talents and show results that will finally validate the work they have been
doing in the background for years. From strategy to message development and copywriting to campaigning
to sales alignment and ultimately analytics – rainmakers now have an even playing field thanks to marketing
automation.
Root Them Out
The first step in finding those magical individuals is defining the skill set that the position must contain. In the
past that has been much of the problem. Rather than looking for rainmaking marketers, we saved this role
for sales and filled the marketing department with creative types. The output of marketing, in terms of actual
revenue, was not well defined until recently. Therefore, how could we possibly search for the right input?
Now that marketing has a technology platform behind it and is far more metrics-driven, this core business
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competency requires a definitive skill set at minimum and unicorn like magic for best results.
What should the skill set include?
• Strong analytical mind
• An aggressive learner
• Someone with graphic design and copywriting chops
• Creativity and organizational skills
• Sales experience
As I said, most companies already have one of these super stars under their roof, they just haven’t been
discovered. Or they have, but a greedy CMO enjoys the rewards of their labor. If you’ve leveled the playing
field with marketing automation, defined the skill set, and you still can’t claim one already exists in the
company, then start hunting. In the next few years, when every organization has some type of marketing
automation in place, these unique individuals will be almost impossible to recruit.
Get out of Their Way
You’ve found your unicorn (either smoked them out or hired them). Now what? Get out of their way. Demand
gen rainmakers are highly self-driven people, so there is no need to force productivity, only to let it flourish.
They know what the motivators are, they typically set their own goals, and are masters at holding themselves
accountable. Remember, as creative as they are, they’re all about the metrics. They’re going to create, tweak,
execute and measure until they can’t see straight if you’ll just give them the platform and the freedom to do it.
Finally, make sure they have the tools to do their job. To find a self-motivated, highly productive individual
who knows how to dive revenue and force them into a corner with outdated software, process or hierarchy is
insane. Let these rare individuals surprise you.
A loyal employee whose mission is to increase revenue through pure demand generation initiatives – what
could be better? Not much. Stating it this simply, you can see why these folks are diamonds in the rough. Start
rooting out your rainmaker now, before all of the good ones are picked off.
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Four New Ways To Leverage Your Marketing
Automation Investment
By Justin Gray
Originally published in Marketing Profs – May 31, 2012
http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/8032/four-new-ways-your-marketing-automation-investmentwill-pay-off
Marketing automation companies are rolling out new versions, and new features en masse. Every vendor has
their distinct benefits and target user, but all are going in the same direction in terms of what’s important
to now offer customers. No matter which system you’re using, you’re probably hearing about some cool
new tricks coming out. In some cases, you may already see them in your updates. Here are four cool ways
marketing automation tools are evolving.
True Social Integration
Early versions of marketing automation software made an attempt to harness social. Now, they’re really doing
it, as most platforms are bringing in social integration tools. What this means is we’ll have the ability to:
• Share content directly on social media sites by way of the marketing automation software. This is a natural
extension of the content strategy, and new features will help reduce the amount of time it takes to share
content through social media sites.
• Gather information from social media. Marketing automation platforms will have the intelligence to mine
certain data found on social sites, and mash that up with your own data to help nurture leads in a really
well defined way.
• Message leads directly on their social sites. If you have prospects that live on LinkedIn and you find yourself
manually nurturing them in that environment, your marketing automation can now help you do this.
Complete Content Platforms
You have a lot of marketing assets that you’re pushing out through your software. How you house this content
and manage it is likely getting a little out of hand. In reality, you probably have your videos on one platform,
your white papers in another, your decks in another, and so on. Marketing automation companies want you
to comfortably house ALL of your content with them. Watch for your marketing automation software to start
coming with things like, CMS, embedded media players, and video storage and sharing tools.
Dynamic Content
Taking a cue from online advertising, your marketing automation software will bring contextual relevancy
to your content based on who’s viewing it. For instance, a CFO and a CMO may be sent to the same exact
landing page. The content seen by the CFO is about money savings and the content seen by the CMO is about
conversions. Your marketing automation software did this automatically (imagine that?) based on tags you
created within the system. Why is this significant? You’ll be saving a lot of time – eventually – and it makes the
entire system far more scalable and more efficient. Warning: you may have more work at the onset as you’re
setting up those tags. But I promise, you’ll be happy later.
Additionally, it makes the whole process of setting up campaigns much easier, much more “drag & drop.” This
type of feature is definitely still in the early iterations and vendors are struggling, but we’ll see some great
innovation here in the next few years.
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Community
CRM has this to an enviable degree and marketing automation companies are finally catching up. Most
major companies in this space are building out really fantastic ecosystems of users, thought leaders, service
providers, and API developers. They are building right into their platforms a variety of mechanisms for their
communities to interact, learn from each other, buy from each other, and innovate. Even right now, you
can go to the websites of most marketing automation developers and find forums, marketplaces, wiki’s, API
documentation, and guest thought leaders blogging. I think this is probably the most exciting thing happening
in the marketing automation space, as this is the point when industries start to take on a life of their own.
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It doesn’t
have to end.
leadmd.com/pigsfly
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