AVERTING A DISASTER - HOW TO STOP THE FAILURE OF YOUR MARKETING AUTOMATION IMPLEMENTATION

Someone has rightly said that by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. THE B2B marketing process has evolved a lot during the last few decades and with the advent of information technology, marketers seek the assistance of technology to achieve fast and accurate results. Marketing automation is one such process that needs thorough preparedness and meticulous planning to implement and perfect solution. Let us discuss some of the common errors marketers make while implementing automation which lead to disastrous results.

1. Ignoring business size and scalability?

Many marketers rush to implement marketing automation processes within the organization without looking at the size and scale of business operations. We need to understand that marketing automation is a complex process and needs a scalable business size so that its full potential can be extracted. We just cannot implement a marketing automation process in a small business that has a handful of customers and they do not need a highly automated service.

2. Investing without an objective?

Investment in a marketing automation solution is often huge and it's not advised to get into an expensive deal without setting our goals. we need to have a clear picture of what are we looking to achieve through the automation process. Once the goals are set, we can trust in our decision to move to marketing automation process.?

3. Working on the wrong customer persona and profile

Knowing the ideal customer and creating a user persona as close as a real customer is key to successful marketing automation. A user persona plays an important role in deciding how a potential lead will behave and what stimulus is required to nurture it.?Imagine what will happen if our marketing automation system is based on the wrong user persona.?The entire automation process and marketing function will misfire.?

4. Pressing the trigger at the wrong time

Sometimes marketing automation fails because it is implemented at the wrong time. We may find a clear objective and goals suited right for the automation process. But we must not forget that ultimately the market is the place where it will be tested. We should take a call to launch the automation process only after doing a market forecast and after matching industry standards across all functions.

5. No strategy leads to no success

Strategizing the automation process is the main pillar of the implementation part. The software vendors will create what we ask them to do but there is no guarantee that it will take us to desired results if the automation process is not strategized. We need to decide on various functions like marketing, sales etc. and the stages where marketing automation needs to be implemented. The strategy will make sure that the automation process covers all the required areas.

6. Faulty budget and resource allocation

Any marketing automation process starts with not just in terms of monetary investments, but it also attracts resource deployment to make it successful. Budgetary compliance and control are important so that the overall cost of the project can be recovered easily. Resources such as manpower and technology should be allocated properly so that the process can be implemented smoothly. These two factors need to be handled with a controlled and realistic approach so that no U-turns would be required once the automation is implemented.??

7. Lack of real analytics

The marketing automation process depends on real-time analytics which allows the marketer to find various gaps to be filled. These gaps are often found in each organization, but they are more critical when it comes to large B2B setups. Since B2B marketing involves retargeting existing clients, analytics comes in handy. Using analytics and various metrics, marketers can identify the areas which need focus. They can invest in a timely manner to cater to the focused areas easily.

8. When right-hand does not know what the left hand is doing

It is important that the implementation process integrates marketing, sales, after-sales, renewal, and all other functions properly. If the alignment of various departments is not done, the automation process will need manual interventions. Many times, we feel that sales and marketing are the most important functions. But in B2B marketing automation, aftersales and renewal teams play a decisive role by cross-selling products and services to existing clients. Only a perfectly aligned solution and help us realize the full potential of a lead or a customer. This also needs a common CRM software for all the functions which allows them to share customer insights with each other.

9. Trying to do too much at once?

Automation leads to smooth operational capability, but it can never take us to quick results if we rush things. Hastened-up efforts lead to improper implementation of automation. This brings down the overall efficiency of the newly implemented system. Marketers should analyze the automation process at each stage of each function and should give sufficient time to the software vendors to produce a seamless automation experience.?

10. Limited lead generation from inbound marketing?

As we have discussed above, data analytics plays an important role in the automation implementation process. But if we are not able to generate a decent no of leads, we will be running short of data to make analytical decisions. For a better analytical approach, sufficient leads need to be generated through inbound marketing so that the marketing automation process can operate properly.?

Marketing automation is a complex process. Reliable research based on meticulous planning and deep study of the overall marketing process is imperative for its success. It is a walk on the tightrope and a small mistake can lead to enterprise-level disaster.?