ADOTAS – Feeling anxious about reaching your marketing goals? You’re not alone. A recent report published by the analyst firm Accenture revealed that 40 percent of CMOs said they are unprepared to meet their marketing objectives. That’s a five-percent increase from 2011’s survey. Stating that inefficient business practices were the greatest contributor to their negative outlook, the CMOs listed organizational problems, lack of resources, and the rapid spread of multichannel communication as top factors for their lack of confidence.
That’s a lot of doubt. Is today’s marketing outlook really that dire? Have our practices gotten too convoluted? Or do these CMOs simply need to learn a few new tricks and best practices to start carrying their goals across the finish line?
One truth is inarguable: In a very short period of time, the marketing industry has evolved rapidly. It’s not surprising that many marketers might feel uncertain about these changes and their ability to evolve along with them, whether it’s their deployment strategies or their data analysis tools.
Take, for instance, marketing automation metrics. These have only been around for five years or so and adoption rates have been on the low side. There’s no doubt that the industry still has a lot to learn about how to best implement and utilize these new technologies. And that’s exactly the kind of dilemma many of today’s marketers face. Those who don’t understand how to use automation won’t collect the data they need to demonstrate campaign performance to executives. Decision-makers who can’t see the benefits of intelligent marketing are less likely to devote staff and funding resources to projects.
The good news is that marketers have the power to turn this dynamic around and kick off a new era of successful, high-return marketing. How? By learning to use marketing automation – and enjoying its many rewards.
The first step: embracing the technology. Marketing automation is becoming the industry standard and if you haven’t climbed on board yet, now is the time to start. Remember that your competitors will be using automation to collect and use data to refine their campaigns; if you don’t do the same, you’ll be operating at a disadvantage. Now is the time to begin using marketing automation to track project activity from blast emails to sales demos – the results of which can help you illustrate project victories to the people who matter.
The next step involves patience. This can be a tough one for both marketers and their executive teams to remember, but the fact is that even the best marketing automation implementation takes some time to bear fruit. Your efforts can indeed turn a website click into a signed contract, but it won’t happen overnight. Also consider your organization’s product: How long is your traditional sales cycle? How has the cycle time changed since your marketing automation deployment? You might have already made progress without even noticing it.
Remember also that there are factors beyond your marketing control. If your product typically has a long sales or opportunity cycle, take that into account when setting your goals. That includes benchmarking the time it takes to complete a customer lifecycle, and giving your marketing team credit for every step towards the sale. Unrealistic expectations can make even a successful initiative look like a failure.
On that note, it’s a good idea to adopt a realistic eye toward measurements in general. Marketers accustomed to measuring traditional channels like trade shows, event marketing and content marketing often come to expect a clear ratio of cost to conversion. Yet marketing automation costs per lead can be more vague. The best way to measure success in this case is to look at the data. Rather than going by your perception of a campaign’s performance, look at actual conversion rates. Measure which customer email activity led to webinar registration or whitepaper downloads; make a few tweaks, try again and compare the new data. One of the benefits of marketing automation is that the data tells a much more useful and accurate story than your assumptions.
On that note, be sure to utilize all of the data possible with your new platform. Instead of only looking at the volume of leads to measure your success, try looking at the cost per lead, cost per opportunity, and cost per customer acquisition. With old-school marketing models, you might have tracked your success by recording how many people stopped by your tradeshow booth and filled out a comment card. But the leads generated through cost per lead are much more qualified when they’re further along in the sales cycle compared to someone who stops by a booth.
The message is clear: Marketing automation data tells a story smart marketers won’t ignore. From crafting content that drives demand to demonstrating campaign success to leadership teams, marketing automation platforms provide the perfect data-driven tools every marketer needs to hit their goals and build a successful future.