Have You Believed These Marketing Automation Lies?

December 10, 2015 By Jeff Price No comments yet

Marketing Automation Myths

There’s a lot of information out there about online marketing. And, unfortunately, a lot of misinformation. Today I want to help separate the wheat from the chaff and help you start to spot the lies when they come your way.

First we will start with a couple of the top lies, then venture into some considerations to take into account before establishing your marketing automation system.

MYTH: MARKETING AUTOMATION IS TOO COSTLY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

Top-performing small businesses overwhelmingly validate that marketing automation is worth the budget, time, and effort. 79% say they will continue to use it, and companies that use marketing automation for over 2 years report the technology is ‘critical to future success.’
Yes, marketing automation is a significant investment, but, as the majority of top-performing small businesses affirmed, the returns more than justify the costs.

There’s a reason that 68% of top-performing small businesses are using marketing automation (Gleanster) — these companies understand that efficient and scalable lead management is crucial to business success. It’s important to stop looking at marketing automation as a significant cost that may be worthwhile after a certain amount of growth, and start looking at it as an investment that will make this growth possible.

MYTH: IMPLEMENTING MARKETING AUTOMATION WILL REQUIRE AN INCREASE IN HEADCOUNT.

90% of top-performing small businesses that use marketing automation report they did not increase headcount after investing in marketing automation.
Well, that stat pretty much says it all. Marketing automation should relieve marketing workload, not create more work.

Yes, initial set-up will require an investment of time to ensure that everything is customized to a business’ particular needs. However, once implemented, the platform can automate some of the more tedious aspects of marketing, freeing up marketing to focus on overall strategy.

The bottom line is, marketing automation isn’t about adding (or subtracting) head count, it’s about shifting marketing priorities and workload towards building a more efficient and effective sales cycle.
– via Pardot

Have You Asked Yourself These Questions?

Marketing automation could very well be the most powerful tool in your internet marketing efforts – but it does take some forethought and care to make sure that you choose the right service and process for your company. These questions are a few key things to keep in mind as you make marketing automation decisions.

Where will your business be in 2-3 years time?

One of the most common mistakes made when choosing marketing automation software is focusing only on what features you need in the near future. Most software vendors have tiered pricing, which can get very expensive as you require additional contacts and features.

Migrating between software vendors can be very difficult and expensive, so it’s important that you choose a tool that’ll allow you to grow over the years. Our advice is to map out the likely number of users, contacts, and likely features you’ll require in 1, 2, and 3 years time. With this information to hand you will be able to get a clear picture of probable monthly costs over time – and whether you’re likely to outgrow your automation tool in the near future.

Which features do you require?

Within the marketing automation industry, it’s widely known that all vendors offer 95% of the same features. While some do certain things better than others, you can be fairly certain that they all offer landing page builders, lead nurturing, lead scoring, time and action-based emails etc.

While it’s good to double check that the provider does have all the features you require, it’s even more important to check that they offer them at the price tier that you’re hoping for. A lot of vendors, such as Pardot and Hubspot only enable certain features, like A/B testing, to their higher-paying customers.

The last thing you want is to end up paying an extra $500 / month for one extra feature that you needed but didn’t realise wasn’t included in your package.

Platform usability

Marketing automation is an inherently complex idea. While most of the major software vendors do a good job of offering an intuitive platform, some are better designed than others.

How important this is will depend largely on who within your organization will be using the software, and how much of an issue user experience is going to be for those people. The best way to see whether you’re happy with a platform is to ask for a demo, or look at screenshots of the user interface.
– via Marketing Automation Insider