"Is my company ready for marketing automation?' Many of you would have grappled with this question before implementing marketing automation. If you are grappling with it, right now, then help is at hand. Before you consider implementing marketing automation in your organization, there are a few things that you should consider first. Your primary concern should be: Is your company ready for marketing automation? Now, when you ponder over this question there are two parts to it. The first part is whether your organization really needs it, and the second part is whether your company has the ability to support it or how your company can prepare for marketing automation.
So, let’s figure out the first part. The following are the tell-tale signs that indicate that your company NEEDS marketing automation.
#1: There has been a decrease in the number of conversions.
You are conducting marketing campaigns as required. But of late, the number of conversions from these campaigns have started decreasing. Not only that, your prospect base has been shrinking in size. You’re trying your best to keep your prospect base afloat. This might be a good time to shift to marketing automation. It will help you conduct relevant marketing campaigns based on triggers.
#2: Your organization is unable to scale manually.
Your company is growing and so is your prospect base. But that makes it more difficult to deliver relevant information to each and every client and prospect. Doing this manually takes up a lot of time. This process is also prone of errors.
#3: Constant worry about costly errors.
Doing things manually always come with the added baggage of errors. When sending high volume information to a large prospect base, you are constantly worried about sending incorrect emails to the wrong audience. Why not adopt marketing automation and lay these worries to rest?
#4: You are concerned about Privacy Laws.
You are genuinely concerned about new privacy laws regarding tracking opt-ins. Laws have become stricter and carry large consequences. With marketing automation, this becomes drastically simple.
#5: Competition is giving you a hard time.
Your competitors have already implemented marketing automation. They are getting more leads. Not only that, they are eating away your prospect base. There is no point in losing business in this fashion. If you have a good product or offer top-notch services, you should make the switch as soon as possible.
#6: You feel there is a need for lead scoring.
It has become extremely difficult for sales to distinguish between a good lead and a bad one. You feel that there needs to be some kind of way to gauge the quality of leads, for example a lead scoring module. Lead scoring will help you determine the quality of leads based on their actions. If you opt for marketing automation, you will get access to such a sophisticated process that scores leads according to their actions.
#7: Your marketing campaigns have become random of late.
Since your marketing campaigns are not yielding results, you are launching random campaigns to help your cause. But that is just a waste of time and energy. It is probably time for you to switch to a marketing automation system in order to conduct meaningful campaigns.
#8: Your credibility is decreasing on the marketing front.
With the recent decrease in the number of conversions, your credibility is decreasing. This is not good for either you or your company. Adopting marketing automation will not only boost your company’s profits but will also give your credibility a much-needed boost.
With that out of the way, this brings us to the second fold of our question. Does your company has the ability to support it? You might need marketing automation, because traditional marketing techniques aren’t working anymore. But can you support automation?
This is important, because marketing automation is an expensive solution to your marketing woes. But there is no point in spending so much on automation if your organization does not have the necessary resources to support it. In other words, is your organization truly ready for marketing automation?
Since your marketing efforts revolve around your prospect and their journey through the sales funnel, we should take a look at each part of the journey separately in order to determine whether you are actually ready for marketing automation.
Top of Funnel (ToFu)
Your first step to marketing automation is about creating a strong online presence. A few things to consider before you implement marketing automation,
- Do you have compelling content ready to hook in your audience?
- How much traffic do you generate on your blog on a regular basis?
ToFu content helps you build a subscriber base first so that you can nurture them till they qualify later for a purchase. It takes time to build a base so you have to be patient. Regarding the second point, you have to consider the traffic as well as the number of conversions that happen on a regular basis. If you are converting people to email subscribers, you should probably opt for marketing automation to take care of your needs.
Middle of Funnel (MoFu)
Once you have built a strong subscriber base, you will need to retain these new subscribers. You will have to think of them as prospects. You have to keep them engaged. Think of them as children who will get distracted the moment you take a break from engaging them. You will have to start considering yourself as a problem solver who will solve their problems and how your organization can be the solution that they are searching for. So, how do you do that?
You create enriching, deep content. You send personalized emails using marketing automation. These emails can contain anything from whitepapers, in-depth charts to invitations to webinars. So, before you implement marketing automation you need to start working on this. You will have to produce content that will serve as fodder for your marketing automation.
When you serve such compelling content that is relevant to your prospects, your subscribers will start noticing your brand. All you have to do after this is track which leads are engaging with your content. Take note of which leads open the mails, click on links in your emails to visit your website and download resources or even attend events.
You can further send more focused content depending on their level of engagement based on lead scores.
Bottom of Funnel (BoFu)
This is the point where your prospects take a decision regarding purchasing your products and services. They will only be ready for a sales call after carrying out their own research. They will seek more details like pricing, tech specs, testimonials, etc. So you will have to create more focused content, now focusing on your products and services so that you can help them with their research directly.
Your marketing team can provide testimonials and case studies for your leads to peruse through. You can share these details with Sales over your CRM so that they can follow up with these leads.
So, it all boils down to content. No wonder content is the fuel for marketing automation! In addition to all this, make sure that your CRM, email platform, and website are in order. You have to make sure that you are ready with all the ammunitions needed for marketing automation to be a success.
The thought of implementing marketing automation will force you to rethink the way your organization works, especially on the marketing front. If you are having a tough time figuring out if your company is ready for marketing automation, do not hesitate to schedule a FREE consultation with us. We will be glad to help you out!
