but is it really solving your problem?
I’ll admit it I love technology. Having worked in technology companies from start-ups in San Fran in the first dot-com boom to global multi-nationals you can’t help having some geekyness rub off on you…I know, I know I already was a geek… but that’s another story.
Marketing technology has come a long way with opinion pieces today quoting that CMOs spend more on technology than CIOs. It’s true you can’t execute or measure modern marketing campaigns without technology, but what marketing technology do you need?
Marketing automation is a technology platform not a strategy
Jeff Bullas recently posted an article about 10 digital marketing automation tools that can transform your business and yes I agree that marketing automation can be transformative, but these solutions are only as good as the strategy behind them and the execution of that strategy. Which means going back to the heart of the issue and deciding what is the problem that you are trying to solve, who are you hoping to solve that problem for and how will you measure it? What is your marketing problem? Do you need to generate more leads? Do you need to nurture leads? Do you need to automate social media posting & listening? Do need to measure traffic and conversion rates across all channels?
Marketing automation is not lead generation
Marketing automation in and of itself doesn’t generate leads. And in some cases it can actually speed up the attrition rate of your lead database. If all you are sending is multiple, “me-focused” messages then your hard-won leads will be unsubscribing quick smart, and what you’ve built is an automated spamming machine not a lead generation program.
If lead generation is your goal then you also need an inbound content strategy that will have visitors coming back to your site again and again for the relevant, engaging and useful content that you provide.
As Hubspot COO, JD Sherman recently said in CMO magazine
“Marketing automation is great – it solves the problem that 5% companies have of a great list of prospects that they need to turn into leads for the sales team. The problem that HubSpot solves is that that problem, plus the problem that 95% of companies have, that they need a bigger ‘top’ of the funnel.”
Marketing automation wont fix a sales & marketing disconnect
In many organisations the relationship between marketing and sales can range from bewilderment, “just what do you do all day?” to outright hostility. And the purchase of a marketing automation system is not going to fix that. In many cases it may even make it worse, particularly if you start sending every single lead through to the sales team – it’s no wonder that sales thinks that marketing generated leads are no good.
True marketing and sales alignment needs human agreement and participation in the process and an SLA drawn up that clearly articulates who will be doing what and the goals that you are jointly working towards, as really they should be the same goals… shouldn’t they?
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
Marketing automation systems are able to automate all types of marketing tasks, from sending automated emails to publishing on social media. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Firstly think about the goal of your lead nurturing sequence. If it something that requires a human touch like further qualifying a lead, then that task is probably best left to a human. I’ve yet to see a system that magically turns unqualified leads into customers without any form of human interaction.
The same goes for posting in social media. I know that some tools enable you to automatically post blog articles to LinkedIn Groups. Please don’t do this; it’s like showing up to a networking event and just blurting out what you want to say, without listening to the conversation. This type of spammy interaction gives marketing automation a bad name.
Marketing automation is awesome
There are a lot of great marketing tools around. If you are looking at solution comparisons, I’d head over to G2crowd, where the current crop are ranked by customer reviews, a surer indicator of success than some analyst reports.
As amazing as marketing technology is, it can’t do everything, and doesn’t make up for a well-considered, customer-focused strategy and execution, only the human touch can do that.
