Marketing automation has become a critical cornerstone to the success of businesses of any size. Here are some reasons why:

• Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at a 33% lower cost.
• Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in six to nine months.
• Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

Why Marketing Automation Software is Not a Solution on Its Own

While purchasing marketing automation software is an important part of a marketing program, it is only the first step. An automation platform is a tool—not a solution.

A robust marketing automation plan will make the difference between a lackluster effort and a better bottom line.

The 5 Steps to Automation Success

1. Focus on Content – Marketing automation platforms are sophisticated content distribution tools but not solutions in and of themselves. The results of an automation campaign are dependent on the quality of content being sent to potential customers. A simple trick for content budgeting: spend at least twice as much per month creating the content as you do on the marketing automation system that distributes it.
2. Leverage the buying cycle – Traditional marketing focuses largely on prospects that are ready to buy. Marketing automation software gives you the opportunity to influence prospects throughout the buying cycle. Communicating with leads, or “nurturing” potential customers, through every phase of the buying cycle is a powerful tool. Nurture marketing is proven to create more sales opportunities and larger purchases.
3. Successful marketing automation is a team sport – The performance of your marketing automation system depends on how well different departments in your organization understand the system and how well they work together. When your sales, marketing, and IT teams have a full understanding of the power and potential of marketing automation, they can work toward the same well-defined goals, and follow established rules about engaging with leads.
4. Create a documented plan – Most companies who own marketing automation software have no formal process for managing it. To obtain the best results from your system create and document a formal plan that allows you to capture and nurture sales leads throughout the buying cycle. In its simplest form a plan can consist of an editorial calendar to establish content requirements, email and landing page templates, and a process flow diagram that helps the team visualize strategy.
5. Constant improvement – The sophisticated reporting capabilities of marketing automation platforms make it easy to measure campaign performance. In particular, A/B and multivariate testing of creative, messaging, calls to action and communication flows, allow you to systematically optimize a campaign’s performance based on data rather than gut feelings or hunches. The most successful marketing automation programs use the available data to make informed improvements to campaigns and to constantly push performance to new heights.

Marketing automation software is a vital component in nurturing leads and increasing sales revenue. It provides capabilities that can dramatically increase the growth of your business. However, purchasing marketing automation software is not a solution in itself.

Realizing the full potential of marketing automation requires: creating quality content, nurturing sales leads, and coordinating your team around a solid plan. The robust and adaptable nature of marketing automation software allows you to continually improve your results.

Interested in marketing automation? Contact us to see how we can help.