Keys to Successful Marketing Automation Implementation

Creating leads and maintaining customer loyalty are two major problems that organizations face. In addition to these goals, every business must gather a vast quantity of data and use it to develop systems that are centered on marketing. Marketing automation is used to address these problems since it essentially combines linear automation with sophisticated marketing systems.

By 2023, spending on automation technologies is anticipated to increase from $11.4 billion to $25.1 billion. Why? Because of its many outstanding advantages: For instance, 80% of users that use marketing automation see an increase in qualified prospects and a 451% improvement in lead production.

To get similar results, however, you need the right automation marketing tools to bridge the gaps in your marketing platforms and data stack. But choosing a marketing automation platform is never easy. The market is flooded with tools that offer a multitude of capabilities to suit different business needs. The journey from identifying the most suitable options to evaluating platform capabilities and arriving at a final decision is based on a complex process of approvals from key decision-makers and influencers.

While choosing a platform may be half the job done, the implementation is where the real challenge begins. In this article, we will talk about the keys to successfully implementing a marketing automation platform.

1. Specify your objectives.
   Setting reasonable targets is essential before launching your marketing automation approach. Goals must be precise, measurable, and pertinent. Marketing automation’s major objective is to take care of prospective customers with personalized content, turn them into quality leads, and turn leads into devoted clients.
   Examine the kind of leads that a client values, such as those obtained through the “Thank you” page; this is a wonderful place to start. Check the status of your leads to see if their numbers are rising or falling. Spend some time developing fresh suggestions for raising conversions.
2. Define the tools you’ll use to get there.
   There are thousands of marketing automation software options available, and it is rather challenging to choose the best for your company. Because the customer journey differs between different businesses, some platforms may lack the features and tools you need. Start research by studying marketing automation tools that have a specific solution.
3. Identify your ideal client.
   Every company wants to provide a product that is either happy-making or problem-solving for its clients. A perfect consumer is simple to draw in, keep, and win over.
   There is a list of qualities that are crucial when describing an ideal client:
   • Age, location, gender, and degree of education are examples of demographic variables.
   • Social characteristics like interests, wealth, and family circumstances
   • Methods of communication, including social media, the phone, and email
   Based on the state of your business at the moment, your ideal consumer is also the one you want to focus your marketing on. It will be beneficial to have in-depth knowledge of your brand and industry but from the perspective of the consumer. Past contact with clients will offer both positive and negative information.
4. Design a customer journey.
   A customer journey is the sum total of each customized interaction a customer has had or will have with your business. You may tailor each interaction using marketing automation based on data. Simply put, marketing automation enables you to distribute content and messages via different channels for each customer. How to proceed is as follows: Send emails with dynamic content; don’t limit yourself to only using the recipient’s first name in the email body. Build outreach based on their prior purchases and interests, then integrate that with tailored communication on the social media platforms they commonly use.
   Utilizing SMS or MMS, you may provide push notifications and incorporate mobile communications with social media and email marketing efforts. Keep those communications very specific. . Doing so will reward you with a very high open rate. Create ads and show them to the right person at the right time
5. Know your analytics.
   A crucial component of an online marketing plan is performance tracking. By offering information about the outcomes of their present campaigns, it benefits businesses. Additionally, you can use what you have learnt in the new campaign by automating marketing strategy and monitoring data. This will assist you in developing better-optimized campaigns that will increase conversion rates and, ultimately, bring in more revenue.
6. Include the appropriate parties in both the project planning and design phases.
   When choosing and installing any new enterprise system, it is becoming more typical to have business and IT users in the same space. But when it comes to marketing automation implementation, it’s crucial to go beyond and incorporate someone from each of the following areas:
   •representatives from both sales and marketing who know and understand the processes;
   •someone who knows the CRM system inside out;
   •someone from analytics who understands how to best use the data that automated marketing processes gather;
   •someone who knows the marketing content is created and the processes that use it;
   •someone who knows the products and services inside out; and
   •an executive C-suite leader.
7. Execute a pilot project.
   Running a pilot program prior to meeting with providers is a helpful step in choosing a marketing automation strategy and defining criteria. Even before creating the official business case, this is a good idea to accomplish. The plan is for the group to get together and come up with a rough draft of how a campaign may function on the new platform, as imagined by the players as a whole. The moving portions of the campaign that the marketing automation tool would manage would be handled manually, allowing testers to record how automation will assist and what the ancillary benefits would be — as well as what aspects of that automation might prove challenging. This not only produces a more thorough set of requirements, but it also makes for a stronger business case.
8. Adopt an iterative strategy.
   It’s crucial to remember that companies can’t merely set up a marketing automation solution and turn it on. With the help of these new instruments, many processes will alter, so it will be vital to advance gradually, introducing new processes — or eradicating outdated ones — with care and intention. It’s critical to evaluate the effectiveness of the new process at each stage while simultaneously monitoring the impact of the change on related processes.
   The Dynamic Systems Development Method, an Agile technique that reduces the time to full deployment while discovering bugs and difficulties early on, is a British import that can be helpful in this regard. It presupposes multiple iterations for the installation of new processes and emphasizes constant active user participation.
9. Don’t underestimate how much content the company will require.
   Content fuels marketing automation. The firm will continue to produce more content because a lot of it is required to begin the automated process. Business leaders will need to assess the content for currency and relevance before ever assembling it to introduce the new system, which is overwhelming. After that is finished, a plan for creating new content is needed to make sure the system has all the fresh material it will need in the future. Businesses must estimate their production volume and rate, and their analytics teams must track customer response to content to identify which content is most effective.
10. Be mindful of the whole cost of ownership.
    The entire point of implementing a marketing automation platform is to reduce the cost of sales and marketing operations while boosting sales. Business leaders can’t correctly anticipate ROI if the total cost of ownership is off, and it will be if businesses aren’t careful to anticipate external costs.

Are you looking to improve your marketing strategy and increase your qualified leads? DKLOUD is a Salesforce partner consulting company that can help you successfully implement a marketing automation platform.

With marketing automation, you can personalize content for your potential customers and turn them into devoted clients. With the right tools and a clear understanding of your ideal client, you can design a customer journey that effectively utilizes email, social media, and other channels to reach your target audience. Don’t miss out on the benefits of marketing automation – contact us at info@dkloudconsulting.com today to learn more and get started.

Written by Meshach Dimka