Marketing automation adoption has grown over the years. It is growing at a remarkable pace, for around 55% of B2B companies have started implementing marketing automation this year which sees an 11x rise from the number of marketing automation users back in 2011. However, according to a research done in 2015, 57% marketers felt that marketing automation was beneficial for them.
Now, considering the rise in adoption rate, doesn’t there seem to be a disparity when it comes to the rate of success?
Marketing automation is seldom misunderstood. Many marketers who resorted to implementing marketing automation in their organizations are not satisfied with the outcome and their marketing automation investment starts failing, largely because not much thought went into implementation.
Moreover, some misconceptions about marketing automation lead marketers to commit marketing automation rookie mistakes that cost their company resources as well as profits. So, we decided to put down a list of 10 rookie marketing automation mistakes for marketers to avoid at all costs. Once you know what these mistakes are, you will be clearer as to how to manage your marketing automation platform. Hopefully, it will help you improve your organizations profits along the way as well.
Not only that, but if you are a marketer who is looking for a viable marketing automation solution to implement, this list might prove to be beneficial to you.
Mistake #1: Assuming that Marketing Automation is a Piece of Cake Marketing automation is a complex tool, with a lot of intricate detailing. To unlock its true potential, you and your team needs to work hard and enjoy working within its parameters. Its success depends primarily on how well it has been implemented. If the implementation process is not satisfactory due to some reason, your success will be difficult to achieve. Marketing automation is not a robot that works on its own. It’s not that easy. You will have to put in a lot of effort so that it works smoothly, but the results are breathtaking to say the least.
Mistake #2: Using Marketing Automation as a Glorified Email Marketing Tool Another rookie mistake and a very common one. A lot of marketers adopt marketing automation not knowing how to unlock its true potential. They end up using it for one thing only, email marketing. It’s like buying a Lamborghini and then using it to go to your supermarket for grocery shopping. With so many features included in a marketing automation platform, why will you use it only for email marketing? There’s a reason why some marketers are not satisfied with marketing automation platforms, and this is one of those rookie mistakes that lead to this.
Mistake #3: Not Setting Goals First of all, adopting a marketing automation platform is a pretty ambitious move for any organization. Hence, to live up to that ambition the marketing team needs to set clear goals. Once these goals have been set, marketers can implement their marketing automation and then follow them accordingly. However, most marketers fail to set down goals and have no idea what they want to achieve from marketing automation.
Mistake #4: Improper CRM Integration Most marketing automation platforms offer CRM integration nowadays. However many marketers unknowingly conduct improper CRM integrations that result in hot leads being left behind in their marketing automation platform. This way the leads never land up with sales and the closed-loop is compromised. The end result is your marketing team loses their credibility.
Mistake #5: Implementing Marketing Automation in a Silo If you are part of a large organization that has more than 20 marketing teams and around a 100 marketers, implementing automation in a silo will result in utter failure. Many marketers fall prey to this mistake, so it is better that you avoid it beforehand. Make sure Sales buy in to your shared vision too. Automation has a number of sales tools depending on the vendor you select. Your ultimate goal to avoid this mistake should be to help align Sales and Marketing by providing them useful tools.
Mistake #6: Improper Marketing Automation Implementation If you want your marketing strategy to succeed, you need to implement your automation tool correctly. A top rookie mistake that some marketers end up committing is incorrect implementation. As a result it becomes genuinely difficult to achieve any positive result with the automation tool. Not only that, a marketing team needs to have some kind of strategy and vision in place. If you do not develop your strategy accordingly during implementation, you are not going to achieve the results that you want.
Mistake #7: Not Building a Team of Experts Marketing automation requires a different kind of expertise. It is essential that you build a team of experts for proper implementation. A lot of adopters ignore this fact and that results in incorrect implementation. It also hinders you from unlocking the full potential of an automation platform. Hiring people who have prior marketing automation experience will go a long way for your organization. However, if you do not want to stretch your marketing budget by hiring people, you can always train your existing team by reading marketing automation literature extensively.
Mistake #8: Automating What You Don’t Have You should understand that marketing automation is a tool. It is not a magic tool either. It helps you automate inbound marketing with rich content so that prospects can move through the sales funnel easily. However, you cannot automate what you do not have. Neither can you nurture leads that you do not have. Relevant content is the key when it comes to capturing attention. If you still resort to blast emails then you will not achieve any results even with marketing automation. Marketing automation platforms’ lead segmentation feature lets you map and segment leads according to their tastes and preferences.
Mistake #9: Not Taking Advantage of the Marketing Automation Community It has been quite some time since marketing automation has come into existence. With that, innumerable marketing automation literature have been made available on the internet in the form of blog articles, whitepapers, PDFs, etc. Every marketing automation vendor has their own forum, community as well as blog, that will help you guide you through marketing automation. However, sometimes vendors are more biased towards their own products so it is better to subscribe to some vendor-neutral marketing automation blogs that will help you guide you better. Many marketers do not take advantage of this depository of literature that is freely available to them, do not make the same mistake and use this to your advantage.
Mistake #10: Picking the Wrong Tool Before you opt for a certain marketing automation tool, try to figure out what you need first. Then proceed to shortlisting the tools based on their features and what suits you the most. You should cut your cloth according to your requirement. The primary reason is marketing automation is expensive. Choosing the wrong platform will tend to become more expensive as you will have to switch platforms later on. Switching marketing automation platforms is not an easy task, so it is better to get it right the first time. Remember, the most popular tool might not be the tool for your company. So, choose wisely. Many marketers do not achieve desired results from their automation platform simply because they chose the most popular platform or did not take into account what their company needs. Always put your organization’s needs first and then choose the tool depending upon those needs.
Marketing automation is a powerful tool. How you use it depends on you. If you cannot use it properly, chances are your strategies will fail. You will have to test the waters by trial and error so do not lose hope. If you want any guidance regarding marketing automation, do not hesitate to schedule a FREE consultation with us. We would be glad to help you out whenever you want!
