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THE CMO’S GUIDETO MARKETINGAUTOMATIONBy harnessing the capabilities of technology for intelligentanalysis and decision-making, marketing automation will bethe foundation for lasting successTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COM
THE CMO’S GUIDE TOMARKETING AUTOMATIONAutomation has the potential to make marketing more flexible,personalised and efficient - but marketers need to use the technologyin the right way to harness its potentialFOREWORD:2As Head of Digital at Tomorrow People,technology is central to everything Ido and I’d bet it’s central to everythingyou do. But for us marketers, whereis the real value? For me, it’s customerexperience, engagement, and retention.But to do all those things, we have tobe relevant. One of the core pieces oftechnology that allows us to drive bothrelevant and personalised campaigns ismarketing automation.Marketing automation promises tomake things much simpler, yet formany marketers it’s one of the biggestsources of frustration.I’ve written this guide to cut throughthe fluff and get to bottom of whatTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMmarketing automation is, the differentplatforms that are available, and theskills that you should be looking forwithin your own company to manageand operate a platform so you canquickly see ROI on the investment.Those who are looking to invest in amarketing automation platform forthe first time will come away from thisguide with a better understanding ofthe options and requirements thatare on the table, and for those whocurrently have a marketing automationplatform in place I ask you thisquestion: are you confident that youare getting the most out of it?INSUFFICIENTTECHNICALKNOWLEDGEOR ANALYTICALCAPACITY S3And some marketers expect too muchfrom automation. While it is certainly apowerful tool, it does not remove theneed for strong lead generation andcontent strategies.So marketing automation arguablyhasn’t yet fulfilled its potential. Manymarketers use only a small amountof the functionality of its software.And sometimes automation canseem more hassle than it is worth.A survey in 2014 by marketing guruDavid Raab found that a third ofA LACK OF CLEARCOMMUNICATIONBETWEENMARKETING, SALESAND IT.marketers who used automation wereeither disappointed or only marginallysatisfied.But it doesn’t have to be like this. Withthe right approach and by harnessingthe capabilities of the technology forintelligent analysis and decision-making,marketing automation can provide afoundation for lasting success. In thisguide, we assess the current marketingautomation landscape, and take a lookat how future developments may helprealise the technology’s potential.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
THIRDOF MARKETERS WHO USED AUTOMATIONWERE EITHER DISAPPOINTED OR ONLYMARGINALLY SATISFIED
INTRODUCTIONThe growth of mobile internetbrowsing, the attitudes of themillennial generation, and thepower of big data analytics haveall contributed to create newexpectations among consumers.Digital companies like Amazon andGoogle lead the way in providingservices that are personalised,user-friendly and flexible.6In order to be effective, modernmarketing needs to meet theseexpectations, demonstratingspeed and agility to engage withinformed, self-directed buyers.It may seem a daunting standardto strive for, but there are realrewards for businesses that canadapt.large numbers of leads throughthe buying cycle in an efficient,flexible and personalised way. Thisprovides customers with the userexperience that they now expect.It also frees up more time forstrategic thinking, and makes iteasier to measure ROI – bothuseful for the next bigmeeting with the CEO.“MANY MARKETERS ARE NOTYET MAKING THE MOST OFAUTOMATION. BUT A GROWINGUNDERSTANDING OF BESTPRACTICES, TOGETHER WITHNEW DEVELOPMENTS IN KEYTECHNOLOGY AREAS, MEANTHAT ITS POTENTIAL LOOKS SETTO BE INCREASINGLY REALISEDOVER THE COMING YEARS.”DAVID SMITH, TOMORROW PEOPLEAutomation can helpmarketers developthe capacityto nurtureTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMTHE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION7
89AT ITSMOSTBASICLEVEL,automation can meansending out a follow-upTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMemail to people who havefilled in a form on yourwebsite to downloadcontent, or who haveadded items to an onlineshopping basket withoutchecking out.But it also involves muchmore sophisticatedcapabilities, including leadscoring and personalisedcontent based on datasuch as demographicinformation, browsinghistory and previouspurchases. It’s possible toautomate engagement withleads on social media aswell as through email, andapps enable marketers tosend push notifications andmessages to customersthrough their devices.The capabilities ofmarketing automationsoftware will developfurther in future. Butmarketing leaders don’tneed to be told thatautomation can do a lotof things. It’s in realisingthe business value ofthese where many run intodifficulties.A common problem is staffwho are not comfortableusing the technology.And even when theyare, managing a complexautomation system maytake up as much timeas it saves. Differentdepartmental processesand priorities, togetherwith poor communication,can be another factor thatholds back automation.Another and perhaps morefundamental issue is thateven advanced marketingautomation software, if itis based on manually-setrules, is simply not ableto adapt fast enough tothe rapid pace at whichbusiness is done today.So while the currentsituation is one ofunfulfilled promise,there is real hope forthe future. David Smith,client services director atTomorrow People says:“Many marketers are notyet making the most ofautomation. But a growingunderstanding of bestpractices, together withnew developments in keytechnology areas, meanthat its potential looks setto be increasingly realisedover the coming years.”THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
MARKETING AUTOMATIONPLATFORMS AND BEST PRACTICESThere are lots of marketing automation platforms out there and they all havedifferent capacities. Let’s take a closer look at what some of the market leadersoffer, and what best practices the companies recommend to get the most out ofthe software:HUBSPOT1011HubSpot is the marketleader in automation,with a market share of36% in 2015, accordingto research by MarketingAutomation Insider.The company describesWorkflows, its marketingautomation software,as “automation beyondemail”. Its featuresinclude allowing usersto grow and replenishdatabases, score leads,and track them throughthe funnel.TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMHubSpot defines aworkflow as “a series ofautomated actions thatyou can trigger to occurbased on a person’sbehaviours or contactinformation”.The software allowsusers to createworkflows through thebuying cycle that canbe tied to clear goals,so marketers can assesswhat is working best.It enables leads to betracked at every stage ofthe cycle, and providesanalytics so you can seewhich approaches aremost successful.Other features ofthe software includesegmentation logic fordetermining how andwhen customers will beenrolled into workflows(for example, if they havedownloaded a particularpiece of content orviewed a certainweb page).ONE CUSTOMER REDUCED ITSAVERAGE SALES CYCLE BY66%THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
And branching logicallows you to refineworkflows furtherdepending on theparticular actions leadstake (like which optionthey choose in an email).12Workflows also offersthe ability to automatecontent personalisationon your website as wellas in emails. It can sendalerts and notifications toyour internal team whena contact reaches animportant threshold, andcan be combined withSalesforce to alert yourteam to contacts theyshould follow up.Hubspot says thatWorkflows helped onecustomer, Skura, reduceits average sales cycle by66% through nurturingcontacts to salesreadiness. Previously,Skura had needed adeveloper to createcustom landing pagesTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMand forms for campaigns,which sometimesinvolved outsourcingwork. The team manuallymaintained socialmedia accounts, whichwas time-consuming.And they used GoogleAnalytics to monitor webusage, which they foundlacked sufficient detail.Using HubSpot’ssoftware, the Skura teamwas able to implementbetter practices,including creating buyerpersonas and customlead scoring. When leadsreached a score wherethey were consideredvery close to buying,sales reps received anautomatically triggeredemail prompting themto follow up by phone.“This automated processhelped drop the averagelead reaction time from20 minutes to 8 minutes.”says HubSpot.But Hubspot warnsthat while marketingautomation canbe powerful, manycompanies fall intothe trap of believingthat it alone containsall the tools necessaryfor growth, and don’tinvest enough in othercrucial areas like leadgeneration.The company says: “At its best, marketingautomation meanssoftware andtactics that allowcompanies to buyand sell like Amazon-- that is, to nurtureprospects with highlypersonalized, usefulcontent that helpsconvert prospectsto customers andturn customers intodelighted customers”.13“THIS AUTOMATED PROCESS HELPED DROPTHE AVERAGE LEAD REACTION TIME FROM20 MINUTES TO 8 MINUTES”HUBSPOTTHE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
28%INCREASE IN LEADGENERATION1418%INCREASE INSALESMARKETOMarketo, which had an11% market share in2015, defines marketingautomation as a categoryof software that“streamlines, automates,and measures marketingtasks and workflows”,enabling companies toincrease their operationalefficiency and grow theirrevenues.Marketo’s softwareoffers a range offeatures including leadscoring, A/B testing,and CRM integration,as well as more basicfunctionality such asemail, landing pages andforms. They believe thatautomation can be usedby a company of anysize, and that the keyto implementing it is to“think big, start small, andmove quickly”.TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMAmong the organisationsto have used Marketo toboost its performanceis Algonquin College inOttawa, which improvedits lead generation by28% year-on-year andincreased sales by 18%.Previously, Algonquinused batch emails togenerate leads, meaningit had little insight intohow effective its contentwas. With Marketosoftware, the collegewas able to measurethe effectiveness of itscampaigns precisely, andunderstand what contenthad the best impact onlead generation, openrates, conversion ratesand closed sales.Marketo’s advice isto appreciate thatautomation needs to beimplemented alongsidea clear strategy andusing defined processes.It highlights the issuesof aligning sales andmarketing, metrics anddata quality, as beingimportant.Content and lead flow arealso crucial, in Marketo’sview. They recommendthat businesses have adefined content calendar,and create contentfor each stage of thebuying process – foreach buyer persona. Andeven the best marketingautomation software isno good without a steadysupply of leads comingin. Marketo advisesbusinesses withoutenough leads to create aplan to generate more –whether that is throughcontent marketing, socialmedia, attending tradeshows or promotions.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION15
1617As Marketo points out: “Marketingautomation can help leads flow throughthe funnel more efficiently, and doneright, it can nurture leads to make themsales-ready. But if you have nothingcoming into the top of your funnel, youwill have nothing to nurture.”Having the people on your team whoTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMare comfortable with technology,analytics and process design is alsoimportant, in the company’s opinion.Marketo sums up its approach toautomation by saying: “Marketingautomation is not a panacea by itself.To deliver, it requires the supportof a comprehensive strategy thatintegrates the right processes, people,content, data, and more.” They alsowarn that marketers may need tomake the case internally for investingin automation, because executivesmay not immediately see its value.The company says that you shouldexplain the benefits of automationin relation to the problems that thebusiness is currently facing. They goon to explain: “Your ability to deliver acompelling business case for marketingautomation hinges on how well youstructure your argument to resolve thechief challenges and priorities of youraudience.”THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
ORACLE, WHO ACQUIRED THE ELOQUA MARKETINGAUTOMATION PLATFORM IN 2012, SAYS THAT AUTOMATION“EMPOWERS MARKETERS TO IMPROVETHEIR KNOWLEDGE OF BUYERBEHAVIOR AND UNDERSTAND HOW ITPLAYS OUT IN CAMPAIGNS”.
ORACLE ELOQUA20Oracle, who acquiredthe Eloqua marketingautomation platformin 2012, says thatautomation “empowersmarketers to improvetheir knowledge of buyerbehavior and understandhow it plays out incampaigns”. In 2015the software had a 30%market share amonglarge businesses.Eloqua’s features includesales notifications andalerts, segmentation,and data cleansing, aswell as lead scoring andreal-time reporting. Thishelped The Economisthalve the cost ofacquisition for 8 millioncontacts, increase brandawareness in the USby 64% and increaseconsideration in the USand UK by 22%.TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMOracle advises marketersthat maximising the valueof their data is crucial,saying “the foundationalelement of successfulmarketing automationis your database”.They recommend thatmarketers integrate theirautomation platform withtheir databases, allowingthem to provide leadswith relevant informationat appropriate phases inthe buying cycle.In the company’sview, some of the keybenefits of effective datamanagement, supportedby marketing automation,are improved targeting,better alignment,reduced inaccuracies andincreased engagementwith campaigns.Oracle also recommendsthat marketers establisha lead qualificationprocess to make themost of automation’sability to streamlinelead management. Thisinvolves defining thedifferent stages of thebuying cycle, determiningthe criteria used forthose definitions, andcreating a lead scoringmodel, using lead qualitymeasures like BANT(Budget, Authority, Needand Timeline), as wellas leads’ activity andbehaviour.THE ECONOMISTINCREASED BRAND AWARENESS BY64%Oracle advises sales repsto make sure that theyare providing today’sinformed buyers with thecontent and tools theyneed to make a purchasedecision.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION21
2223Automation can help with this, byproviding a “library of tested content”for use in the different situations theyencounter, and helping sales teamsoptimise their communications.Jeff Cohen, the director of contentand social media strategy at OracleMarketing Cloud, writes that a morenuanced approach to marketingautomation can pay dividends. He saysTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMthat collecting data that goes beyondjob titles can enable marketers tobetter segment and target prospects,and likewise, that engagement shouldbe measured not just in downloads ofgated assets, but also other sources likeweb and social media activity.And elsewhere on the Oracle blog,the certified Eloqua Luminary AlpMiramoglu advises that building upexpertise within an organisation iscrucial for success, saying that “trainingyour team on modern marketing bestpractices is the real key to success withmarketing automation”.Alongside recruiting staff withautomation skills, Miramoglurecommends using the marketingtraining programmes provided byvendors, as well as phone, chat andemail support services, to make sureyour team is on top of the technology.And he believes that the “biggestmistake of all” is not tapping into theexperience of the wider marketingcommunity through vendor forums andin-house groups.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
2. AGENCY TAKEON CURRENT ANDFUTURE LANDSCAPE24The current landscape forour client is one of mixedoutcomes. Typically ournew larger (Enterprise)clients come onboardwith mature marketingautomation systemsin place, however forearly adopters time hasnot delivered maturityand success butmore complexity andconfusion. Integrationinto CRM remainsinconsistent and thevalue provided tomarketers and specificallysales teams remainsblurred.As for our SME audience,a lot are still fairly new toMA and have set up thebasics but do not have aclear defined strategy toleverage the technologyfor its true capability,TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMwhether that’s retentionand advocacy or net newlead acquisition theyhave the tools but littledirection.With the ever evolvingtechnological landscapeof MA, the volumeof tools and pluginspromoting mobile,real-time, personal,behavioural capabilities this can be very complexfor clients and agenciesalike. In one of ourlatest blogs ‘The MACrystal Ball’ we explorethe next three hottopics of MA includingPersonalisation, Opensource platformanceand predictive analyticsbut in conclusion thefuture of marketingautomation is all aboutsimplicity, understandingthe objective, strategyand implementing cleardefined solution toachieve the end goal.Marketing automationis not the silver bulletit is simply the tool tobring the strategy andengagements to life moreeffectively and efficientlythan ever before. Thisstreamlined approachprovides you and yourbusiness the opportunityto channel your talentand resources onactivities of value not themundane repetitive tasksof a legacy marketing andsales teams.For the marketermarketing automationwill connect userjourneys and personalisebrand engagementdelivering consistentomnichannel experiencesof value to youraudience.For the sales leader - theROI of specific tacticsand TCA (total cost ofacquisition) becomesobtainable, technologybecomes an enabler nota barrier.25To deliver true valuethrough marketingautomation for ourclients it’s about acontinual developmentmodel. Business andcompetitive landscapeschange and with theconsumerisation andpace of technology onlyaccelerating your tacticsneed to evolve inlinewith your business andmarketing strategy.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
263. THE AUTOMATION SPECIALISTAutomation software is beingincreasingly widely adopted bymarketers. But Aviva Walsh, a channelconsultant at HubSpot, says that inmany cases, businesses are not makingthe most of it. She believes that onekey reason for this is a failure to alignthe goals of sales and marketing teams.“It’s being utilised by marketing, butit’s not necessarily being utilised in theright way. I think it needs to be morealigned with sales, and some of it needsto be more sales-led,” says Walsh.TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMCurrently, she says, marketing andsales teams often do not communicateclosely enough about leads, whichcreates inefficiency. “There are leadsare slipping through cracks, and thequality of leads is not good enough,”says Walsh.For example, she says, there is notenough emphasis on creating bottomof the funnel content, focused onpeople who are getting ready topurchase – and this is an area wherethe input of sales teams would be really27valuable. The answer, in her view, isfor sales and marketing teams to worktogether to get clear on personas,lead scoring, and aligning goals beforecampaigns begin – as well as learningfrom experiences to make changes tothe system. “It starts with alignmentfrom the very start,” says Walsh.Looking ahead to the future, Walshbelieves that automation softwarewill become increasingly pinpointedtowards individuals. “I think it’s goingto get more and more targeted.The segmentation of automation isgoing to be based on more and moreunique interactions,” she says. Shealso predicts that automation will seewider use among sales teams as theysee the benefits of knowing a lead’sinteractions throughout the buyingcycle. She believes the software willbecome easier to use, more automated,and encompass many more channels.“Overall it’s going to become a lot moreagile, a lot more analytical, and tied intothe different channels that people areusing,” she says.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
CONCLUSIONALMOST284000MARKETING TECHNOLOGIESON THE MARKETSometimes problemswith marketingautomation arise froma misunderstanding ofwhat it is and what it cando. Automation does notget rid of the need toinvest time and resourcesinto other crucial areaslike lead generation,content, and aligninggoals across teams.When workflows arebased on manuallydefined rules, they canbecome unmanageablycomplex, negating thetime-saving benefits ofautomation and requiringsignificant expertiseto manage. Marketingautomation can end upbeing undone by its ownsophistication.And a lot of the problemswith implementingautomation are to dowith people. They can beaddressed by recruitingstaff with the right skills,and providing existingteam members with theright training.But there is a possiblesolution to this, in theform of predictiveanalytics. This uses data(from forms, browsinghistory, social mediaand so on) to updateworkflows withoutmanual intervention,and in real time. Mostcompanies have farmore data than anyone individual is ableto process. Predictiveanalytics can handleBeyond this, though,there is also a morefundamental problemwith marketingautomation as it stands.TOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMthis – and constantlyrefine its processes,incorporating real salesdata into its algorithms tomodel promising leads.There is now a hugearray of marketingtechnologies on themarket – almost4,000 in fact. And asincreasingly powerfulspecialist solutions aredeveloped, many expertsbelieve that we will alsosee marketers movingaway from using allencompassing softwarefor automation, towardscombining a range ofdifferent tools to suitspecific purposes.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION29
TAKEAWAYSNick Edwards, the co-founder andCEO of Boomtrain, believes that in thefuture, “smart executives will focus ontheir brands’ primary needs—and thenfind specific technologies that addresseach of them”.30And Vic Singh, the CEO of Infer,predicts that “the prevailingmarketing platform of 2018 will bepredictive-first, will deliver full-circlerecommendations and will embraceopen platforms”.Together, these developmentspromise to enable marketers to reapTOMORROW-PEOPLE.COMthe benefits of automation softwaremore effectively, leading to moresales, happier customers and betterROI. Crucially, they are also likely tomake marketing automation easier toimplement, addressing some of thecurrent difficulties related to peopleand organisations.A more rewarding experience for bothcustomers and marketers? It soundslike a win-win situation. We may nothave got there yet, but watch thisspace. Automation could be deliveringon its promise sooner than you think. Automation can help marketersdevelop the capacity to nurturelarge numbers of leads throughthe buying cycle, in an efficient,flexible and personalised way. Many marketers are not makingthe most of their automationsoftware: a survey in 2014found that a third of marketerswho used automation wereeither disappointed or onlymarginally satisfied. Marketo advises that to makethe case internally for investingin automation, marketers shouldexplain the benefits in relationto the problems that thebusiness is currently facing. Many experts believe thatpredictive analytics will helpto make marketing automationsimpler and more responsive infuture. HubSpot warns that manycompanies fall into the trap ofbelieving that automation alonecontains all the tools necessaryfor growth, and don’t investenough in other crucial areaslike lead generation.THE AUTOMATED CMO’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION31
THE CMO’SDEFINITIVE GUIDEThis guide is part of a series ofresources on modern marketingfor CMO’s. To find out more, joinour community:COUNT ME IN!TOMORROW PEOPLE, FAZELEY STUDIOS, 191 FAZELEY ST B IRMINGHAM, B5 5SE, UK
to have used Marketo to boost its performance is Algonquin College in Ottawa, which improved its lead generation by 28% year-on-year and increased sales by 18%. Previously, Algonquin used batch emails to generate leads, meaning it had little insight into how effective its content was. With Marketo software, the college was able to measure
