Prepare to select a marketing automation system by first defining your objectives, deriving requirements, and assessing gaps in technology, processes and skills. Includes specific checklists and maturity model from industry analyst David Raab of Raab Associates.
4. What are my business goals? goal current more new leads higher % to sales lower acquisition cost data source program tailored email copy nurture campaign optimize keyword buys # new leads 10,000 +1,000 10,000 2,000 marketing automation % to sales 20% 20% +5% no change marketing automation # to sales 2,000 200 500 no change % close 25% 25% 25% no change CRM # close 500 50 125 no change $ margin / close $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 no change CRM $ margin $2,500,000 $250,000 $625,000 no change $ cost / lead $100 $100 $10 ($10) marketing automation $ cost ($1,000,000) ($100,000) ($100,000) ($20,000) $ value $1,500,000 $150,000 $525,000 $20,000
5.
6. What do I need to run those programs? Program Requirements program flow: content / treatment segments logic rules data required external integration receive email outbound email - outside list - registrants - known interest select on lead source, previous Web behaviors, form contents profile data (email address, lead source, etc.), Web behaviors, form contents import outside lists click to landing page landing page - outside list - registrants - known interest none (link is embedded in email) email opens, clicks, etc. Web analytics (if not internal to system) fill out form form - outside list - registrants - known interest identify visitor via PURL; dynamically select form questions form completion, answers to questions 3 rd party data enhancement & validation receive download white paper none none capture download history new lead call phone script - target accounts - outside list identify target accounts via IP address; identify outside list via URL profile data (name, company, phone number, etc.) company identification via IP address; 3 rd party data enrichment; import phone results from CRM receive followup treatment send to sales high lead score calculate lead score, send to CRM based on score profile data, behaviors CRM synch to send leads alert sales target account identify target accounts, alert CRM if visit profile data, target accounts from CRM company identification via IP address; CRM synch for alerts topic-specific campaign known topic interest infer interest from Web forms & behaviors; assign to campaign, check entry rules profile data, Web behaviors, interest scores general newsletter campaign unknown interest assign to campaigns based on profile data, campaign history, campaign entry rules profile data, campaign history system requirements deliver content via email, landing page, form, download; identify dupes on new & imported leads segment based on source, Web behaviors, answers to forms, lead scores, profile data assign to campaigns based on segments, previous contactsl capture & select on profile data , Web behaviors, contact history, campaign rules, etc. import lists, Web analytics inc. anonymous visitor tracking, cookie placement, etc.; call outside services for IP identification and data enrichment, sych with CRM
7.
8.
9. How do I fill the gaps? gap program impact cost to fill priority tailored email copy nurture campaign optimize keyword buys … web analytics x mid low high profile data x x high mid high identify anonymous visitors x low low mid segmentation rules x x high low high program planning x x mid high low content version control x x low high low measurement training x x mid high mid …
13. Requirements: Secondary Applications Web analytics lead scoring multi-step campaigns Webinars marketing planning & budgeting master campaign list - cross-campaign flow management integrated calendar project mgt & deployment marketing / Web team coordination - project-level task management project-level task management campaign design, segmentation, rule creation - lead scoring rules, lead transfer rules campaign flow rules campaign flow rules content creation & maintenance simple tagging master content library (for behavior analysis) coordinated content planning coordinated content planning sales alignment - agreed lead scoring rules agreed lead transfer rules agreed lead transfer rules reporting & measurement conversion measurement, traffic analysis opportunity results reporting stage-to-stage conversion measurements opportunity result tracking, stage-to-stage conversion measurement staff levels, training & skills Web analytics skills results analysis results analysis results analysis organization & incentives - incent on lead quality, on sales cooperation incent to cooperate within marketing incent to cooperate within marketing technology Web site tagging, anonymous to identified tracking via cookies lead score creation, behavior tracking, opportunity data import from CRM multi-step campaign flows, cross-channel data sharing multi-step campaign flows, cross-channel data sharing
14. Marketing Process Maturity Model trailing typical mature advanced program planning & budgeting none informal methods, applied to some projects standard methods applied to all projects individually all projects are related to an integrated plan project mgt & deployment no standard methods methods chosen by department heads standard processes, run separately by department standard processes, run by central department campaign design, segmentation, rule creation no experience beyond simple campaigns some people have experience with multi-step campaigns central campaign repository and library of segments, etc., but reuse is optional marketing operations group responsible for campaign design; experienced with cross-channel campaigns content creation & maintenance content is created as needed; no repository or design standards content is managed in a central repository content is mapped to stages in the buyer life cycle content is mapped to the buyer life cycle and assessed based on life cycle performance sales alignment sales and marketing work separately sales and marketing agree on lead quantity goals sales and marketing agree on lead quantity and quality goals and processing rules sales and marketing jointly set goals for lead quantity, quality and processing rules, and performance is regularly compared against goals reporting & measurement marketing is judged on its ability to stay within budget marketing is judged on the volume of leads and cost per lead marketing is judged on the volume and quality of leads, cost per lead, and its ability to forecast future production marketing is judged on agreed-upon measures for the value of marketing results staff levels, training & skills current staff has only the skills needed for current activities; there is no training budget the company pays for random training requested by staff when funds permit department heads are responsible for selecting specific new skills for their staff to acquire the company regularly assess current and future skill requirements and invests in appropriate training and recruitment organization & incentives performance of each department and each worker is measured separately cross-department coordinating teams are in place but have no real authority department managers are rewarded for cross-department coordination the company has financial and other incentives in place to encourage cross-departmental cooperation technology each department within marketing is responsible for selecting its own systems marketing systems are selected with input from the CMO and IT department some department-wide marketing systems are in place for planning and customer management, but customer interactions are not coordinated all marketing systems are integrated within the department and connected as necessary to the rest of the company
20. Thank you. David M. Raab, Raab Associates Inc. [email_address] www.raabguide.com
Notas del editor
- MA is now widely accepted…so people purchase without knowing why - danger is they expect a miracle – like joining a gym without exercising - exercise is a good example because you have to work at this to get any value - …so…what kind of prep do you need to ensure you don’t waste your time and money
How to Plan – overview know what you want (business goals, value of those goals, how you’ll measure) know how you’ll get it (programs to reach the goals) know what you need (requirements for the programs: design, content, process, technology) program design: envision customer movement from step to step, then the contents and logic rules to execute those movements, then system requirements to do those supporting/admin processes to create and deploy those; then maintenance and improvement; then system requirements to do those know how it will happen (who will do the work, how they’ll know what to do and how to do it: training and skill requirements, organization and incentive requirements, information requirements) inventory existing capabilities vs requirements [worksheet] 6. identify gaps and build plan to remediate
- know what you want (business goals, value of those goals, how you’ll measure) - business goals - define program value - start with current (base case), since all value is incremental - this highlights the need for a business model, so can do value calculations - value calculation: = # leads x value per lead (=close rate x value/close) – cost per lead - further define by stages within funnel - further define by cost categories - how to measure: item - source system # leads – initial (MA) # leads – to sales (MA) sales close rate (CRM) value per close (CRM) marketing cost per lead: program cost + prorated overhead cost (MA)
- specific programs (in each category: acquire, nurture, sales support, internal cost) e.g. - acquire: SEO, PPC, social, email, trade show, Web optimization, lead qual calls - nurture: behavior tracking, 3 rd party data, forms, segmentation, content streams - sales support: CRM integration, lead scoring, lead transfer, alerts & access, sales email or campaigns - internal cost: media buying, data acquisition, campaign set-up, landing page creation, content creation, printing, social media, (staff costs and/or agency costs), analytics/measurement
- program design: - define steps (from customer perspective) - for each step, define: segments; content per segment; logic rules per segment; data for rules, external system integration - define system requirements for segmentation, rules, data, content delivery, integration
- supporting processes: - program planning & budgeting, project mgt & deployment, content creation & maintenance, system support, reporting & evaluation - who will do the work, how they’ll know what to do and how to do it: training and skill requirements, organization and incentive requirements, information requirements, system requirements for each)
inventory existing capabilities vs requirements; identify gaps - some gaps are absolute (currently impossible, e.g. missing data) - some gaps are relative (could do, but are inefficient) [sample of above matrix with some items highlighted as gaps]
build plan to remediate: assess cost and value of filling gaps - identify absolute gaps - prioritize relative gaps - consider gaps for multiple programs use above matrix w/ prioriites, costs
That’s all great in theory, but nobody really starts with a totally blank slate. In practice, everybody is different but not THAT different. If you don’t have marketing automation in place, there are a few places you’re likely to start
That’s all great in theory, but nobody really starts with a totally blank slate. In practice, everybody is different but not THAT different. If you don’t have marketing automation in place, there are a few places you’re likely to start: (outbound email, landing pages response reporting, lead transfer to CRM, CRM integration)
- if you look at the very first level of those, what you need is really basic. The only thing that’s even slightly new might be the sales alignment, campaign rules and CRM integration needed for lead transfer
It’s really when you get into that second group, of Web analytics, lead scoring and multi-step campaigns, that you begin to need some new skills...
If you want to look a little more formally, here’s a maturity model – although what matters is to map the capabilities to specific marketing projects. This leads us back to where we started, about knowing what you want to do and why.
Overwhelmed by all this? Well, you should be – this isn’t easy if you want to do more than pump out some emails. On the other hand, you shouldn’t walk away with the idea that marketing automation only works if you’re willing to totally reengineer your entire marketing organization. As with most changes, the best approach is to plan big but start small. Then, as you document your initial successes, you’ll have the confidence and proof to justify additional, larger changes. Specifically, you want projects that: - require just a minimum of change in your current processes - require only a small extension beyond your existing capabilities - don’t require much cooperation from outside your span of control - provide easily-measured value, either in terms of lead quantity or cost savings - are highly likely to succeed
We’ve already seen the most common starting points: - email, - response reporting, - lead transfer, - landing pages. These are all likely to fit the criteria I just mentioned. But your business may have different current capabilities and current pain points. So you’ll need to pick the starting points that make sense for you. A couple other good candidates not on that list were: - better segmentation for outbound emails and landing pages: makes sense because are fully in your control, results are easily measured (on click rates), you can add complexity over time - auto-response: easy to add, almost any gain is an improvement if were previously doing nothing (but a little harder and slower to measure) (note: vs. lead nurturing, which takes more planning) - content mapping: identify flow, existing content, and gaps; no technology involved
But starting is just the start. So you also want to be sure that your initial projects lay a foundation for future growth. That’s the point of this picture: you can’t tell whether it’s the foundation of something that will grow, or an abandoned construction site. That’s part of the reason that things like response reporting and CRM integration are good to do first: not only are the quick wins, but they’ll make future gains easier. So...the original topic of this session was what to consider before purchasing marketing automation. You may think I’ve wandered away from that subject by talking about your starting projects. But au contraire. My point is the starting place for your consideration is what you want to do. So you do want to think about your starting projects. THEN you can look at how your capabilities match up against those projects to see where you should begin. If you start with capabilities, you could easily select something that’s easy but useless – and that’s as sure a way to kill your project as by starting with something you can’t do at all. And to step back just a bit further, the even more fundamental point is you DON’T want to start by worrying about technology: that’s the result of your requirements definition, not the starting place.
Now, you don’t have to take my word for that, although you certainly should. But just in case you want some reinforcement, here’s the result of a very small survey – 15 senior marketers – from Forrester. There’s no real statistical significance to this, but they did make exactly the same point about key lessons: the most important considerations are planning and executive support; matching the technology was tied for third place.
– MA as a journey (horrible cliché, but still true….) - first, pick a worthwhile destination - then, identify what you need to get there: it’s not just equipment, but also training and planning - a guidebook helps; a guide is even better - technology is an enabler: getting it right matters, but planning, training and team-building are more important - your work doesn’t end when you set out – it’s just beginning unlike most journeys, this one never ends
