The goal in choosing an effective marketing automation technology is to help your organization determine the relevance, value and return of your marketing tactics – your web site, social media, SEO, SEM, mobile, e-mail, and other content – to ensure you are maximizing your conversion and revenue opportunities. When exploring marketing automation technologies, companies should choose an integration-ready technology that will be compatible with the organization's current installed infrastructure. This requires close scrutiny and would benefit from the services of an objective, highly experienced and knowledgeable marketing technology consultancy that is not tied to a single technology vendor. Marketing technology consultants who work with multiple technology partners are far less biased in their recommendations. Dr. Cedric Alford makes the case for Marketing Automation and what to look for when evaluating Marketing Automation technology.

1. White Paper
The Role and Value of Automation for
Integrated Marketing Success

2. 1
The Importance of Integrated Marketing
There has been an important shift over the past 25 years from traditional one-way marketing (such
as direct mail and catalogs) to a more sophisticated two-way approach. This is due largely to the
development of advanced technology which powers the internet and makes a number of interactive
digital media options available today, including email, banner ads, social media, mobile marketing,
and search engine marketing (SEM).
In response to this shift which started in the late 1980's, organizations have slowly but steadily been
striving to use integrated marketing techniques to facilitate this two-way, customer-focused
approach. With integrated marketing, organizations strive to share compelling messages with target
audiences across all marketing channels (such as direct sales agents, retailers, and distributors) in
hopes to “break through the clutter” and capture their target's attention and interest.
The further intent of multi-channel integrated marketing
as an organization tries to reach and influence target
customers is that every communication be consistent in
the messaging about the value and benefits of the
company's products and services, regardless of how the
information is communicated (online or offline) or by
whom (direct or indirect channels).
Remarkably, some
organizations do not
effectively or objectively
track the results of their
integrated marketing
outputs.
The net effect of this integrated approach by virtually all companies today is that it has created a
better educated customer at a time when there are more choices of products and services available
than ever before in an expanding global marketplace. Consequently, the competition grows fiercer
every year to capture sophisticated target customers from a growing field of competitors.
To be successful, today's companies must learn as much as possible about their target customers'
needs and preferences. This will allow them to respond appropriately with their product and service
offerings, to position themselves for greater success, and to differentiate themselves more effectively
from the competition.
To achieve greater success through integrated marketing, companies need marketing automation
technology to capture valuable customer data and gain insights from that data to make informed
strategic decisions about how best they can meet their customers' wants and needs. Through such
data and insights, companies are better able to develop relevant offerings and can utilize the
technology to deliver compelling relevant messaging in a timely manner to target audiences, thus
increasing their ability to successfully Acquire, Engage, Convert and Retain desired customers
across all channels.1
Numeric Analytics agrees with the tactics and principles of this marketing framework to strategically plan and execute
coordinated multi-channel marketing activities intended to build and nurture customer relationships.
1
© Copyright 2012

3. 2
Today there is little question or doubt as to the value and effectiveness of an integrated marketing
approach. Case in point, in 2010 Gartner renamed its Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM)
Magic Quadrant to Integrated Marketing Management (IMM) to shift its focus toward integrated
marketing processes. According to Gartner, IMM represents the marketing strategy, process
automation and technologies required to integrate people, processes and technologies across the
marketing ecosystem.2
The marketing ecosystem has changed in recent years as many organizations have seen their
marketing departments grow bigger and more specialized (e.g., staff solely responsible for product
marketing, field marketing, channel marketing, social media, public relations). Often, it seems their
roles blur as each attempts to reach the same pool of target audiences (typically pulled from
multiple, and sometimes disparate, databases) with their “message du jour” about an event or a
product offer, for instance. Frequently, there is little internal coordination between departments as to
the message, timing or delivery method (email, direct mail, Tweets, etc.). Without the automation of
the marketing operation to coordinate the people, processes and technology that drives campaigns,
the net result is target audiences (current, former and/or prospective customers) are being
bombarded with unrelated messages from the same organization. This can sometimes result in
unintended negative consequences, such as a target “opting out” of receiving future email
communications from the organization.
Remarkably, there are some organizations that do not make it a practice to effectively or objectively
track the results of their integrated marketing outputs. This is a significant missed opportunity,
particularly with regards to digital marketing communications (web site visits, email click-throughs,
social media responses, etc.) that can easily be tracked through marketing automation technology, in
particular campaign and lead management. No other component of the marketing mix can offer such
immediate and easily trackable insights as to customers' interests, wants and needs.
Using Marketing Automation to Uncover Market Intelligence
In tough economic conditions, marketing leaders face increasing pressure to bolster relationships
with target audiences to help increase sales. They also are frequently asked to show return on
marketing investment (ROMI).
In an uncertain economy, conducting “business as usual” is not an option. Companies are forced to
look inward and find opportunities for increasing process and organizational efficiencies. The
importance of utilizing corporate data effectively and more efficiently has become a critical strategy
among companies seeking to find new opportunities and to strengthen existing customer
relationships.3
2
3
Magic Quadrant for Integrated Marketing Management, Gartner, October 2011
From Data Discovery to Business Insight, Aberdeen Group, 2009
© Copyright 2012

4. 3
Organizations today want deeper insights on the buying behaviors of their target customers. They
want their sales and marketing efforts to be driven by objective rather than subjective data, such was
the case prior to the volumes of customer data available today through advanced marketing
automation technologies.
According to the Aberdeen Group, some companies are realizing significant gains via discovery of
revenue and risk management opportunities through the process of correlating data relationships
that may not have been considered within traditional reporting and analysis activities of the past.
Through a targeted discovery process, Aberdeen Group found that new data relationships can lead
to analysis of untapped business process efficiencies, market opportunities, customer relationship
knowledge and risk management controls.4
Not surprisingly, when it comes to integrated marketing,
the rate of utilization and growth of digital media (e.g.,
Organizations today want
email, video, social media) continues to grow at a faster
their sales and marketing
pace than traditional marketing tactics. According to a
efforts to be driven by
Forrester research report, investment in search
objective rather than
marketing, display advertising, email marketing, mobile
subjective data.
marketing and social media will represent 35% of all
advertising by 2016 as interactive channels gain
legitimacy in the marketing mix and as more marketers believe it will generate better and
measurable results over time.5
To create an effective integrated marketing approach, companies utilizing sophisticated marketing
automation technology can gain significant intelligence and competitive advantage by capturing and
leveraging customer data and the valuable insights it often reveals. But according to a 2009 study by
IBM, one in three executives said they frequently lacked information needed to make critical
decisions. One half said they didn't have access to information required to do their jobs or close
information gaps to reach business objectives.6
Acting without meaningful customer data that provides valuable insight and strategic direction is no
longer acceptable in today's fast-paced, highly competitive business world. There is growing
mainstream opinion today that chief marketing officers must define and lead a customer-focused,
integrated marketing strategy that crosses product, channel, geographic, even functional boundaries
or they risk losing the customer.7
From Data Discovery to Business Insight, Aberdeen Group, 2009
US Interactive Marketing Forecast 2011 to 2016, Forrester, August 2011
6
Breaking Away With Business Analytics and Optimization, IBM, 2009
7
Five Fundamentals of Integrated Marketing by Elana Anderson, 2008
4
5
© Copyright 2012

5. 4
Relevant, Trusted, Timely Data
While a growing number of organizations have some level of marketing automation infrastructure in
place, the question is whether it is coordinating the people, processes and technology to gather
useful data from multiple channels and deliver trusted information when it is needed. For many
organizations, this level of automation and optimization may be missing, leaving the company
without the data that can reveal discrepancies between what a company offers and what its
customers want and need.
Indeed, optimized marketing automation can be utilized to reveal valuable opportunities to create
competitive advantage through contact optimization and continued relevant engagement with target
customers to help nurture a prospective, former or current customer from the consideration phase to
purchase in order to gain more sales.
With more advanced marketing automation technologies being introduced by an expanding number
of companies every year, the challenge for most businesses is knowing how to choose the right
marketing automation technology for their organization to ensure high levels of data optimization.
With a variety of point solutions available, also critical is ensuring the chosen marketing automation
integrates properly and is compatible with the company's current installed infrastructure.
By making an investment in marketing automation technology, companies have the ability to gather,
organize and utilize pertinent customer data to better connect with target audiences through
integrated marketing efforts designed to help drive more sales.
The Need for Self-Service
In today's highly competitive marketplace that is evolving rapidly with the instantaneous nature of
digital media, it has become increasingly important over the past several years that any staff
members with integrated marketing responsibility have access to relevant target customer data -and in a timely manner.
Gone are the days when the marketing staff would request target customer data from the IT
department and would have to wait days or weeks to receive it. Today, marketing automation tools
are owned by the marketing department so their staff can make the necessary “train of thought”
decisions that impact the contact optimization and integrated marketing strategies that drive ROMI.
A recent report by the Aberdeen Group concurs that the increased need for near real-time, factbased decisioning puts a higher priority on the ability for non-technical users to source, transform,
integrate and stage large volumes of data to be able to answer business questions on the fly and
enable analysis to occur “at the speed of thought”.8
8
From Data Discovery to Business Insight, Aberdeen Group, 2009
© Copyright 2012

6. 5
Choosing the Right Marketing Automation Technology
The goal in choosing an effective marketing automation technology is to help your organization
determine the relevance, value and return of your marketing tactics – your web site, social media,
SEO, SEM, mobile, e-mail, and other content – to ensure you are maximizing your conversion and
revenue opportunities.
When exploring marketing automation technologies,
companies should choose an integration-ready
technology that will be compatible with the
organization's current installed infrastructure. This
requires close scrutiny and would benefit from the
services of an objective, highly experienced and
knowledgeable marketing technology consultancy that
is not tied to a single technology vendor. Marketing
technology consultants who work with multiple
technology partners are far less biased in their
recommendations.
Marketing automation can
reveal valuable
opportunities to create
competitive advantage
through contact
optimization and continued
relevant engagement with
target customers to gain
more sales.
Another key component to be addressed for most organizations is the need to embark on a cultural
shift to achieve the necessary behavioral change management needs to achieve data governance
and organizational alignment between different departments and external partners that interface with
a company's customers in different ways and at different times.
In summary, when it comes to evaluating marketing automation technologies, key questions and
factors to consider include:
 Interoperability — What are the existing systems the marketing automation must be
compatible with? Examples: CRM, BI, campaign management, digital asset management,
lead management, SFA
 Expectations — How aligned are users and leadership on what is expected from marketing
automation? Is there consensus on what is considered relevant data? Timely data? Trusted
data?
 Change Management — How ready, or near ready, are the users of marketing automation?
Is there enough pain in the organization to make the necessary changes?
© Copyright 2012

7. 6
Getting Objective Guidance and Counsel
While there is a growing number of marketing automation technology vendors in the market, savvy
organizations know there is value to receiving unbiased counsel in making such an important
business decision. Shrewd organizations understand the game-changing impact of adopting and
optimizing marketing automation.
While we pride ourselves on being technology agnostic, Numeric Analytics works with a select group
of companies well regarded for their proven, best of breed marketing automation solutions.
Combined with our extensive 'best practice' consulting expertise, we help our clients choose the right
technology to achieve success with their marketing automation needs and deliver desired
information and ROMI results
© Copyright 2012

8. 7
About Numeric Analytics
Numeric Analytics is unique in its holistic approach. We have the skills, experience and proven
methodologies to bridge the gap between building strategies and executing them. Since our founding
in 2007, we’ve completed over 600 successful client engagements, including many Fortune 1000
companies. Over 500 million web pages are tracked through our implementations. And 65% of our
clients re-engage us on other projects. No one else in the market provides the full spectrum of
services that Numeric Analytics provides.
We understand your challenges and the issues surrounding marketing automation, from
consideration to execution. Let us provide answers and direction to ensure all the variables are taken
into account and that the best and most robust marketing automation solution is selected to drive
your organization's integrated marketing efforts.
Numeric Analytics takes pride in our mission to turn “insight to action” for our clients. If you found this
white paper useful, check out our case studies www.numericanalytics.com/casestudies or call
Dr. Cedric Alford at 972-496-7033 to schedule a free consultation.
www.numericanalytics.com | 972-496-7033 | © Copyright 2012