Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success
Table of Contents. 3: Introduction 4: Success breeds success 5: Cross-channel success 6: Important objectives 7: Extent of use 8: Challenging obstacles 9: Strategy planning 10: Budgets changing 11: Useful metrics 12: Valuable features 13: Research partners 14: This document 2
Sustaining a very successful marketing automation strategy. Introduction 91% of the most successful users say marketing automation is very important to the overall success of their marketing programs. But how do companies with very successful marketing automation strategies plan to sustain their success? To find out, Marketo in partnership with Ascend2 fielded the Marketing Automation Strategy Survey and completed online interviews with 317 marketing and business professionals from around the world. The data in this edition of the study titled Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success represent the opinions of 25% of survey respondents that rated their marketing automation strategy very successful. We thank them for sharing their valuable insights. This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy planning and presentation materials. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post them on social media. Please share this research credited as published. Methodology Ascend2 benchmarks the performance of popular digital marketing strategies and practices using a standardized questionnaire, research methodology and proprietary 3-Minute Survey format. Findings are examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts and reported objectively. This survey was conducted online from a panel of more than 50,000 US and international marketing, sales and business professionals. 3
25% of survey respondents rated marketing automation very successful at achieving important objectives. Success breeds success Time has shown that the most practical way to achieve success is to study and emulate the practices of top performers. To determine how to achieve and sustain marketing automation success, we first needed to identify and segment the top performers responding to this survey. The research data and insights that follow will show you how the most successful 25% of marketers plan to sustain marketing automation success in the year ahead. 4
91% of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is very important to the overall success of their marketing across channels. Cross-channel success The value of marketing automation has advanced from a useful tool for digital marketers, to an important necessity that allows companies to create, execute and succeed with more campaigns across more channels. 5
Extending the impact of marketing automation beyond the marketing team to increase sales revenue is the most important objective. Important objectives Increasing sales revenue is an ambitious but achievable goal for marketing automation that requires companies to align their marketing and sales strategies. Therefore, achieving other objectives like improving lead nurturing, customer engagement and lead generation requires collaborative alignment between departments. Aligning marketing and sales is a common practice for the most successful users and, subsequently, not a high priority for continued improvement. 6
54% of the most successful companies use marketing automation extensively. Increasing the use of marketing automation increases success. Extent of use The use of marketing automation goes beyond the frequency of campaigns. The meaning extends to the utilization of available capabilities. On average, marketers use only a small percentage of system capabilities. It s analogous to buying a high-performance motorcycle and riding it like a bicycle. 7
The most challenging obstacles to success are lack of quality content, budget constraints and the lack of an effective marketing automation strategy. Challenging obstacles Overcoming obstacles is a strategic challenge. Whether your company lacks the quality content required to drive demand or is constrained by budget limitations, the planning and documentation of a strategy will help overcome the most challenging obstacles and improve the overall effectiveness of marketing automation initiatives. 8
75% of very successful users outsource all or part of their marketing automation strategy planning to benefit from specialized expertise. Strategy planning The combination of business, marketing, sales and technical expertise required to plan an effective marketing automation strategy is not often found entirely inhouse. 65% of very successful users combine in-house with external resources for the planning and documentation of a strategy. Another 10% outsource the planning process completely. 9
Companies with very successful marketing automation programs are willing to invest in further success. In fact, 63% plan to increase their budget. Budgets changing Selling your marketing automation budget to decision makers is a common problem, and looking at marketing spend as a percent of revenue (i.e. the Marketing Budget Ratio) is the most common way to set and justify spend. It is an easy approach, and certainly better than just taking last year's budget and subjectively adding or cutting based on what you think worked. 10
The most useful measure of marketing automation performance is conversion rate, say 70% of very successful users. Useful metrics The number of leads marketing campaigns generate is important. But more essential to achieving the top objective for marketing automation increasing sales revenue is the rate at which those leads are converted to customers. 11
Marketing automation systems integrate a broad set of features. Lead nurturing and analytics and reporting are considered the most valuable. Valuable features Email marketing is a primary online marketing channel and is even more powerful when combined in a single platform with landing pages and forms. Marketing automation systems can usually replace a dedicated email solution or email service provider (ESP), though the depth of functionality does vary across vendors. 12
About The Research Partners Helping Marketers Master the Art and Science of Digital Marketing. Marketo provides easy and powerful marketing automation software and everything a marketer needs: email, social, analytics, lead management, and more. Marketo allows marketers to interact seamlessly with their customers across channels and supplies the data and analytic insights to understand where and how to allocate their budgets for maximum return. Learn more at www.marketo.com Research-Based Demand Generation for Marketing Solution Providers If marketing professionals are your ideal prospects, we help you find more of them. Marketing software, data and media companies, and digital marketing agencies partner with Ascend2 to reliably generate demand and supplement marketing content for their firms. Our Research Partner Programs are transparent spotlighting your brand and the interests of your market. Learn more at www.ascend2.com 13
About This Document Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success Ascend2 Research Conducted and Published in Partnership with Marketo. 2015 Marketo, Inc. Allrights reserved. More About Marketo: Marketing Software. Easy, Powerful, Complete. Marketo (NASDAQ: MKTO) provides the leading cloud-based marketing software platform for companies of all sizes to build and sustain engaging customer relationships. Spanning today s digital, social, mobile and offline channels, the Marketo solution includes a complete suite of applications that help organizations acquire new customers more efficiently, maximize customer loyalty and lifetime value, improve sales effectiveness, and provide analytical insight into marketing s contribution to revenue growth. Marketo s applications are known for their breakthrough ease-of-use, and are complemented by the Marketing Nation, a thriving network of more than 150 LaunchPoint ecosystem partners and over 30,000 marketers who share and learn from each other to grow their collective marketing expertise. The result for modern marketers is unprecedented agility and superior results. Headquartered in San Mateo, CA, with offices in Europe and Australia, Marketo serves as a strategic marketing partner to more than 2,500 large enterprises and fast-growing small companies across a wide variety of industries. For more information, visit: www.marketo.com info@marketo.com www.marketo.com 14
Fin Thank You