Going From Marketing To Marketing Automation

Transcription

1 CaptureTrackConvert Marketing Automation Software Going From Marketing To Marketing Automation A Guide For The Perplexed Marketer By D. Bruce Johnston President & COO CaptureTrackConvert

2 Table of Contents Introduction What is Marketing? What is Marketing Automation? Marketing or Marketing Automation Which One is Right For You?

3 Introduction Never have your contacts, contact databases and your ability to this audience played such an important role in your overall marketing strategy and marketing efforts. Never have buyers/users been so confounded by the solutions and options available to them. The source of this confusion lies in the terms that are so casually thrown around: marketing and marketing automation. Although many think so, these terms are not synonymous and stand for two distinct approaches. The only thing marketing and marketing automation have in common is they are joined together by . Each approach uses as the vehicle to communicate with their target audiences. In this white paper we will attempt to clear up the confusion that surrounds marketing and marketing automation. Our goal is to provide you with a data set that will allow you to make an informed and intelligent decision on what system is best for you and your firm. Today s sophisticated marketers know they need one or the other, as has to play a significant role in your marketing strategy. Introduction 1

4 The Research Favors Why? Because the data is positively overwhelming in favor of . According to one recent study, 77 percent of your audience wants to receive your marketing messages by . Direct mail is the second choice at 9% and text messaging further back at 5%. This data leads you to believe that there is no other option available to you! It doesn t really matter what you re communicating, is the preferred channel: Financial alerts: 52 percent prefer to receive via ; Travel alerts: 43 percent prefer ; General customer service communication: 76 percent prefer ; Order confirmations/receipts: 77 percent prefer ; Online ticket delivery: 60 percent prefer ; Introduction Yes, the demographics for the year old age group provides some challenges, as they would prefer to be marketed to via text messaging. But with 66% of the consumers reporting they ve made a purchase based upon receiving a promotional , drives more purchasing than any other channel. 2

5 Marketing Delivers Greater ROI As social media rises in popularity, still delivers significantly greater ROI. According to Message Systems, the industry leader in messaging technology solutions 2012 survey titled: Marketing Channel and Engagement Benchmark Survey, is the most successful and profitable marketing channel with 63% of respondents reporting that delivers the greatest ROI, compared to 10% for social media. The Direct Marketing Association s ( DMA ) Power of Direct economic study reports, is projected to bring in $39.40 for every dollar spent in 2012, and $35.02 for every dollar spent in The drop is due in part to a maturing channel where the easy opportunities are gone. There s a lot of buzz around mobile and social networks. How does the ROI on s compare to mobile and social networks? See for yourself: Mobile s return for every dollar spent is expected to be $11.37 in 2012 and $12.45 in 2016, the study said. Social networking s ROI is also expected to rise, according to the DMA. According to the study, social networking s current ROI is $ The study also reported that social networking will return $12.90 for every dollar spent on it in 2012 and $13.43 for every dollar spent in So, in the fiercely competitive and profitable world of marketing how does one go about choosing the best platform for their needs? The question contains part of the answer; this is about your needs. When all is said and done it will be your needs that determine whether you need the ability to track the entire chain of online interactions that prospects have with your firm. Then be able to make the appropriate decisions based on their behavior that marketing automation provides; or is the ability to only track interactions to an campaign that marketing provides sufficient for your needs. The following discussion was designed to assist you with that decision. Introduction 3

6 What is Marketing? If you feel like you re the only one asking that question, trust me your not alone. Carol Lynn Rivera, Editor, web.search.social, The Marketing Magazine for Smart Businesses, wrote an excellent blog on this subject. As part of that blog, she recently conducted a keyword search on Google to find out what people were actually looking for when they searched marketing. With her permission, I have borrowed liberally from her findings, and her blog because it was concise, factual and to the point. As it turned out, not a whole lot of people were looking for information on how to do marketing! On a monthly basis Carol s search uncovered only.. What is Marketing? 1,900 people were looking for effective marketing ; 14,800 were looking for best practices ; 390 were looking for good campaign ; 201,000 were looking for how to newsletter ; 673,000 were looking for what is marketing ; Wow, This means over 7,000,000 people per year are trying to define: What Is Marketing? 4

7 The Definition of Marketing Is: The promotion of products or services via marketing is about building a list, putting together valuable content for the people on that list, and sending it to them via with a marketing intent. That intent might be building your brand, selling your products or services, staying top-of-mind, offering deals, or some other purpose. Marketing is: Permission based. That means someone has signed up or agreed to receive your marketing s. Buying lists doesn t count, nor does scraping addresses from other websites or pilfering your Facebook friend list. This also means your subscribers have the option to unsubscribe, easily, at any time, without hassle. Targeted. Once you ve got a decent sized list, start thinking about how you can group your audience into subsets with different needs, interests or preferences. You can also try A/B testing. Changing one little word in an subject can make the difference between a 2% and a 20% open rate. Planned. Much like any marketing, s should be scheduled and regular. Whether that s once per week, month or quarter, set a goal and aim to hit it. Shooting off a bunch of s just because you realized you haven t done it in six months is not marketing. Action-based. Whether you re sending out a newsletter or sale announcement, get your readers into the habit of taking action. The problem with a lot of newsletters is that they may get your customers caught up on your latest undertakings but they re passive by nature. Next time you send out an asking your customers to buy something, it s going to end up in the same mental box as your newsletter unless you ve trained them to take action. It doesn t have to be a revenue-driving action; it can be as simple as requiring your reader to click to your site to finish reading a story, or providing a link to some other interesting content on your website. Specific. The needs a point. Is it a newsletter? An invitation? A request? An offer? It s best to stick to a single point. If you want to share your latest news with customers, do it in a separate from the one offering a 10% discount on their next purchase. What is Marketing? 5

8 Advantages of Marketing Somewhere along the line, someone has tried to convince us SEO/blogging/ marketing is dead. Here s when it s dead: when it stops working. To date marketing still returns one of the highest ROIs, as discussed above. That s arguably its biggest advantage, but it s also Inexpensive. You can start with any number of free and low-cost services that let you customize a template, schedule campaigns and track results. Unlike direct mail, which can cost a fortune once you re done designing, printing and mailing, is essentially free for the price of your time. Easy. Businesses can set up and send campaigns all by themselves without the need of a professional. This isn t true of print design, website development or advanced SEO and content marketing services. What is Marketing? Trackable. Your management software can show you how many s were opened, which links were clicked and other important statistics that will help you determine the effectiveness of your content. Action-based. It s relatively easy to do A/B testing with . You can test subject lines, layouts, headlines and content with essentially immediate results to help you improve your next . Specific. The needs a point. Is it a newsletter? An invitation? A request? An offer? It s best to stick to a single point. If you want to share your latest news with customers, do it in a separate than the one offering a 10% discount on their next purchase. 6

9 What is Marketing Automation? Although marketing has been around since the mid-nineties, marketing automation is a relatively new technology, having been introduced around 1999 but really becoming popular in the early 2000 s. Set-up fees, long-term contractual commitments and high monthly fees have combined to place marketing automation out of reach for most small and mid-sized businesses (SMB). Marketing automation is the use of software to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration, and campaign management. The use of marketing automation makes processes that would otherwise have been performed manually much more efficient, and makes some new processes possible. Marketing automation is an integral component of customer relationship management. While some may suggest marketing automation is best suited for complicated or long sales cycle products or services, it can be also used in the sale of less complex products. In its simplest terms marketing automation technology allows users to nurture leads through automated campaigns. Rather then rely solely on marketing automation uses as one of its methods for engaging customers. Marketing automation will allow your organization to centralize capabilities like marketing, web analytics, landing page creation, segmentation, list management, lead generation, lead management, lead nurturing, lead scoring and multi-channel campaign execution. What is Marketing Automation? 7

10 The Rules of Engagement Have Changed Prior to the self-service nature of the internet buyers who needed to become educated on your product or service had to reach out and contact you. Today, according to Marketing Sherpa, in 8 out of 10 B2B sales situations, the buyer found the seller. The new buyer sources information when, how and where they want too! Today s buyer have already done 70-80% of their research before they contact you. The days of ABC - always be closing - popularized in the Pulitzer Prize winning play and movie of the same name, Glengarry Glen Ross, have given way to ABH always be helping! The new buyer wants to be helped, when they want to be helped; communicated with, when they want to be communicated with; have their problems solved, not sit through a product pitch; and they value content that allows them to make an informed decision which will translate to cost savings for them. Gleanster reports that 50% of qualified leads are not ready to purchase immediately upon visiting your website. Some estimates run as high as 90 plus percent. What is Marketing Automation? 8

11 Advantages Of Marketing Automation Some of the most common ways small and mid-sized businesses use marketing automation: To develop and implement an marketing campaign To automate repetitive business tasks To create a database for present and potential customers To employ a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) campaign To develop an automated campaign to increase business sales Marketers use marketing automation to create new ways of appealing to customers by tracking and monitoring the progress of the marketing campaign. The software displays information statistically and graphically. It monitors the first time customers view a product and when those same customers convert and purchase the product. This data provides marketers with information on which marketing campaigns are the most effective. Marketers use marketing automation to create profiles and analyze customer-specific data. For example, with CRM web-based software, marketers analyze customer retention statistics, track potential clients, develop a transactions history, and monitor web performance and customer behavior. This type of software makes it easier for companies and marketers to reach a wider audience. Marketers use marketing automation software to measure the open rate. This allows them to track when customers open and/or delete an promotion. Marketers can also personalize -marketing campaigns with the software. They can place their names and company logos in the body of the message. Doing this typically increases the conversion rate. I asked Eric Albertson, President and CEO of Albertson Performance Group and also a marketing automation consultant, if he would explain what he views as marketing automation's advantages over marketing. In Eric s opinion done correctly, marketing automation will increase your revenue and reduce your cost of sales. Done poorly, marketing automation can sap your financial reserves and create an even greater rift between marketing and sales. What is Marketing Automation? 9

12 The Rules of Engagement Have Changed He believes marketing automation is a marketing AND sales tool. It effectively simulates a sales cycle and gives both marketing and sales a way to attract and target higher quality leads all online and without human intervention until the time is right. These are Eric's "Six Essential Marketing Automation Rules for Success": A firm commitment from management to invest in the system and everything that s needed to make the system work Close ties between sales and marketing, ensuring the system does what it s supposed to do A realistic plan for getting enough leads, driving enough traffic to the system to generate the desired results Content the fuel that makes the marketing automation engine go. This includes reports, Webinars, s, tips, assessments, and more Well-designed conversion strategies that turn leads into qualified prospects and drives these qualified prospects toward a sale What is Marketing Automation? Measurement systems and approaches that enable constant improvement of the system 10

13 The Language of Marketing Automation Marketing Automation, like any specific marketing or sales approach, has its own jargon. The ultimate goal of each component of a marketing system is to grow a business. If a system isn t generating enough revenue, then it should be scrapped or revamped. Marketing Automation s language consists of these important elements: Lead Generation In marketing automation s terms, lead generation includes different sub-components, all with the express purpose of driving traffic (leads) to the system. Your goal is to get these people to engage with the system by clicking on a link, downloading a report, or in some way acknowledging their interest in the topic at hand. You generate leads through what are called Inbound (SEO, Google Ads, etc.) and Outbound (Mailers, , post cards, etc.) approaches, with each lead generation approach having its positive and negative aspects. Lead Management Lead management is the process of maintaining the validity, integrity and accuracy of your lead database. Leads move, change their positions or addresses, and quite possibly their interests. Lead data must be constantly maintained and validated through a variety of methods to ensure that you re always getting the best possible leads entering your system. Lead Nurturing Lead nurturing is a broad term that loosely defines what you do to move a lead from anonymity to becoming a customer. The goal of a nurturing campaign is to move a prospect through their buying process until they are sales ready. That is, they are primed to either buy or talk to a sales person. This ensures that your sales department only speaks with highly qualified, ready-to-buy leads. Lead nurturing contains a variety of tactics, strategies, and principles all designed to gain a prospect s trust, remove their obstacles or roadblocks to buying, and turn them into an enthusiastic customer. What is Marketing Automation? 11

14 The Language of Marketing Automation Lead Segmentation As a lead answers your questions, reads your s, visits your website, and participates in your webinars, you will gain a better understanding of his or her specific needs, wants and desires. As you set these distinctions between prospects, you will funnel them through different lead nurturing campaigns. This way, they only get the information they want, when they want it. Segmentation involves separating leads into multiple segments by demographic, interest, expressed need, and desired outcome. You ll send highly targeted messages to each segment, moving them closer to a sale that s specific to their needs. Lead Scoring As your leads read your s, click on the links in those s, visit designated web pages, download your reports, use your calculators, and otherwise ACTIVELY interact with the content you create, you will add to their sales-readiness score. Lead scoring involves increasing a lead s score when they take a positive action, and decreasing their score upon a negative action (not opening an , for example). The lead scoring portion of a marketing automation system typically interacts with a sales management (SalesForce.com) or CRM system. The sales person assigned to an account will receive automated alerts about the actual actions taken by a prospect, and about their lead score. They know that when a lead attains a specified score, then that lead is ready to buy. What is Marketing Automation? Content is King Content is the fuel that makes the marketing automation machine run. Content consists of a variety of pieces, including (but not limited to): Direct mail sales letters Post cards Advertisements Trade show promotions Magazine articles Blog articles Special reports or white papers sales letters Google, LinkedIn or Facebook ads Follow-up s Webinars or seminars 12

15 The Benefits of Marketing Automation In a June 2010 study released by Aberdeen Group, Marketing Automation 101: Ensuring Early Success with the Basics; Maturing Your Deployment for long-term ROI, they found that companies with Marketing Automation experienced: 107% better lead conversion rate 40% greater average deal size 20% higher team attainment of quota 17% better forecast accuracy What is Marketing Automation? 13

16 Which One is Right For You? Now let s compare marketing and marketing automation. We ll do that by pulling together the information you ve learned in this white paper in such a way as to allow you to make an informed decision on which of the two is right for you and your business. Before we get into feature comparisons let s discuss five and marketing automation distinguishing or differentiating features: marketing or Marketing Automation Which One is Right For You? Is it Right For You If your customer base is stable and uniform then marketing maybe more suitable for your needs. Remember, marketing automation works best for companies and organizations that have a diverse customer base that may be more responsive to a more tailored marketing message. It works extremely well for companies and organizations with different product lineups, as marketing automation will allow you to serve their needs without a lot of manual involvement. 2. Behavioral Intelligence Marketing automation technology is designed to provide you information based on your prospects behaviors. They can tell you if a prospect opened your , clicked through to a website and what pages and for how long they stayed on your site. marketing systems generally don t have this degree of sophistication. 3. Seamless Integration As CRM systems and webinar systems become more mainstream you will find that marketing automation systems are capable of seamlessly integrating with these tools. This allows you to gather more data on your prospects behaviors while maintaining it all on one dashboard. marketing systems generally don t provide this level of sophistication. 4. Purpose Both approaches have the same purpose of staying in touch and delivering your message to your prospects. marketing accomplishes this by sending the same message to all prospects, regardless of their preferences. Marketing automation accomplishes this by sending more targeted messages to prospects based on thier interests, which inturn helps to pre qualify prospects as they moves through the sales funnel. 5. Customized Responses Marketing automation systems are designed to react to your prospects behavior. This feature allows you to build a campaign, set various responses to various prospect behaviors and evaluate results as the automated system scores each prospects behavior. Now you are able to call the prospect armed with information on what interest them and when the most opportune time is to make contact. marketing systems are not capable of this.

17 Feature Comparison There are many differences between an marketing system and a marketing automation application. In a nutshell, an Service Provider ( ESP ) will be limited to only allowing you to send mass blasts and track open rates. With marketing automation, you have access to powerful features like multi-step campaigns, lead scoring, and analytics, which will make your tactics much more strategic. The feature comparison chart below will help you compare their respective capabilities: Service Provider Marketing Automation Sends Mass YES YES Tracks Open Rates and Clicks YES YES Visitor Identification NO YES Lead Scoring NO YES Lead Nurturing NO YES Advanced Segmentation NO YES Instant Sales Alerts NO YES Prospect Profiling NO YES Individual Analytics NO YES Ensures only Qualified Leads go to Sales NO YES Monitors Website Actions NO YES Helps Develop and Measure ROI NO YES marketing or Marketing Automation Which One is Right For You? 15

18 Making A Decision If you, like most people rely on just marketing, you are probably coming up against a few challenges, especially as you grow. Again, Carol Lynne Rivera was kind enough to provide me some guidance here and suggests anyone evaluating the two systems answer the following questions: marketing or Marketing Automation Which One is Right For You? Why are you engaging in marketing? This is all about defining goals. Some companies never try to sell a product or service in an . Some companies only send out product-centric promotions. Decide on the purpose of your campaigns, and because someone told me I should is not a good reason. What type of campaign is it? Now that you know why, you can decide what. Newsletters? Promotions? Some combination of? Encourage subscriptions to your newsletter and RSS feed. If you have a blog or a site where you update product information regularly, you can also set up an RSS campaign to keep customers and readers informed, too. How often will you send s? The million-dollar question is How often should you send s? There s no right answer so you may want to do what the rest of us do: pick a schedule. With an RSS campaign that question is answered by default. It fires whenever there is new content. With a newsletter or other type of campaign, you could opt for weekly, monthly, or whatever seems reasonable for your niche. You can always adjust as you learn more about what your subscribers want. Where and how will you get content for your s? The answer to this question may well answer the one above. Newsletters can be the most challenging because they re the most open-ended. It s easier to fire off an RSS campaign knowing that the content is coming from your blog, or a product special if you know you offer monthly sales. However, the dreaded newsletter means you need to get creative, so decide ahead of time what type of content you want it to contain, the source of the content, and finally, whether it s reasonable to fit that level of content, creation, or acquisition into your schedule. 16

19 Conclusion marketing and marketing automation tools are designed to help you achieve your marketing and sales goals. My recommendation is that you take advantage of the firms that will provide you with a free demo. Many will also provide you a free 30-day trial so you can really look under the hood. D. Bruce Johnston is President & COO of CaptureTrackConvert a leading enterprise level marketing automation tool available to small and mid-size businesses at entry level pricing. D. Bruce Johnston was named FundMarketer of the Year by Institutional Investor for his outstanding work in building value-added programs for advisors. Now, this visionary, high-energy and results-driven senior sales executive has turned his attention to the free bandwidth advisors have at their disposal through digital, automated marketing programs. Attuned to both short-and long-term opportunities in wealth management, Bruce is expert at recognizing, analyzing and applying current trends to successful Internet-driven distribution strategies. Special thanks to: Carol Lynn Rivera, Editor, web.search.social., The Marketing Magazine for Smart Businesses Carol's website is: Eric Albertson, President and CEO of Albertson Performance Group and marketing automation consultant Eric's website is: To Learn More About CaptureTrackConvert Marketing Automation and for a Free Trial please visit marketing or Marketing Automation Which One is Right For You? 17