How To Guide

Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution

Executive Summary:

This report provides practical advice for designing a Marketing

Automation strategy, aligning Sales & Marketing processes, and
implementing a Marketing Automation solution.

Read this brief 8-page report to learn:

 Top Marketing Challenges in 2009

 Definition of Marketing Automation

 Marketing Automation Solution Benefits

 Marketing Automation System Components

 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution

Review this report to understand how to implement a Marketing

Automation infrastructure that will provide a consistent supply of
qualified leads to your sales organization.

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Table of Contents Page

Top Marketing Challenges in 2009 3

Definition of Marketing Automation 3

Marketing Automation Solution Benefits 4

Marketing Automation System Components 5

Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution 7

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Top Marketing Challenges

According to the CMO Council’s Marketing Outlook 2008 study that

polled over 820 senior marketing professionals, some of the top
challenges for marketing leaders in 2008 include:

1. Quantifying the Value of Marketing: measuring the impact of

marketing programs and investments continues to be the top
challenge for marketers.

2. Increasing Credibility of the Marketing Function: while 79%

of respondents are increasing the perceived value of marketing,
19% are losing credibility.

3. Improving Marketing Department Efficiency: many

organizations will be automating key marketing processes and
implementing marketing ROI systems.

4. Generating More Qualified Leads: emphasis on leveraging

analytics to score lead quality, and lead nurturing strategies to
incubate & develop prospects.

Definition of Marketing Automation

Marketing automation solutions incorporate business strategies,

marketing processes, and automation technologies to generate, qualify,
and develop leads along the entire sales cycle.

Key Marketing Automation concepts include: Lead Acquisition, Lead

Scoring, Lead Nurturing, and Lead Assignment.

Following are definitions for each concept:

 Lead Acquisition: leads are acquired when prospects inquire or

respond to marketing campaigns such as tradeshows, email
marketing, direct mail, cold-calling, search engine marketing,
online advertising, etc.

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 Lead Scoring: leads are scored for quality based on explicit

profile criteria (job title, company size, location, etc) and implicit
behaviors (website visits, downloads, event registrations, form
submissions, etc).

 Lead Nurturing: leads are incubated until they are ready for
follow-up by sales. Typically, nurturing involves a steady flow of
communications designed to educate the buyer and align
purchasing and sales cycles.

 Lead Assignment: once leads reach a specified quality score,

they are deemed sales-ready and are assigned to sales
representatives for immediate follow-up.

In the past, marketers were using disparate systems for email

marketing, website analytics, direct mail, online advertising, etc, making
it extremely difficult to accurately track the results of integrated
marketing efforts.

New advances in Marketing Automation technology are providing mid-

sized enterprises with systems that can automate manual marketing
processes and drive efficiency.

Most Marketing Automation solutions can be integrated directly with

CRM systems to track leads from initial inquiry to sale, providing a
closed loop reporting mechanism for marketing activities, enabling
campaign ROI measurement.

Marketing Automation Solution Benefits

Implementing an integrated Marketing Automation infrastructure

composed of skilled people, automated processes, and integrated
technology provides numerous benefits, including:

 Alignment of Sales & Marketing: alignment occurs when sales

and marketing can agree on the definition of a qualified lead;
systems are integrated to provide visibility into activities and
results; and the loop is closed between lead source and revenue
generated.

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 Increased Win Rates: leads that are scored and nurtured

before being handed off to sales close at higher win rates as
purchasing & sales cycles are more aligned.

 Reduced Cost per Lead: when key marketing processes such

as lead scoring, lead nurturing, and lead assignment are
automated, less resources are required to manage new
opportunities. Additionally, the use of a web/email-based
approach can drastically reduce acquisition costs for new
prospects and opportunities.

 Improved Accountability & Credibility: marketing leaders can

provide accountability for their spending once they are able to
quantify the impact of their investments. When deployed
properly, Marketing Automation solutions increase credibility by
providing a system of record that tracks and measures marketing
activities and associated business results.

 Better Allocation of Resources: having detailed analytics on

prospect behaviors and campaign ROI provides marketers with
the insight needed to optimize spending on the most profitable
marketing programs.

Marketing Automation System Components

At a high level, most marketing automation systems provide similar

functionality: campaign measurement & reporting; marketing
automation & lead management; individual web analytics & search
engine marketing; direct marketing & database management; lead
conversion & landing pages/forms; CRM/MS Outlook Integration.

If you are interested in marketing automation systems, consider

researching the following vendors: Eloqua, Manticore, Marketo,
Pardot, LoopFuse, and eTrigue.

For more information on key vendors, review Demand Metric’s

Marketing Automation Vendors Matrix.

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Marketing Automation System Components & Functionality:

 Marketing Automation & Lead Management: leads can be

automatically scored based on profile criteria and behaviors;
leads can be added to nurturing campaigns to align purchasing &
sales cycles; prospects can be routed to the appropriate sales
representative based on assignment rules; sales users can be
notified of prospect behavior such as website visits or document
downloads; auto-responder emails are sent when a prospect
interacts with the website (completes a form, etc); automation
rules can be configured to add/delete prospects from programs
based on their activities.

 Web Analytics & Search Engine Marketing: individual

website visitor activity can be tracked and provided to sales
users; paid search campaigns and online advertisement
programs can be integrated to track original lead source; website
search queries can be tracked and tied to prospects;
natural/organic search traffic can be tracked and keywords used
to find your website are identified; non-registered companies can
be identified based on their corporate IP address.

 Direct Marketing & Database Management: contact lists can

be imported, stored, and de-duplicated; email marketing
campaigns can be executed with tracked URLs to determine click-
through rates; prospects from all channels (events, cold-calling,
direct mail, etc) can be tracked by original lead source; variables
such as “first name” can be dynamically inserted into email/direct
mail collateral; bi-directional CRM system integration.

 Lead Conversion, Landing Pages/Forms, & PURLs: web

forms can be created by marketing without I/T support; unique
URLs can be used to track leads from advertising, direct mail, or
other offline campaigns; personalized URLs (PURLs) or landing
pages can be created to provide more customized interactions
with customers; data can be captured from web forms that were
not completed or submitted; forms can block invalid/free email
addresses (hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc) to ensure leads are
qualified; form fields can be customized and set up to capture
additional information during subsequent web visits.

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Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution

Developing an integrated Marketing automation strategy that is highly

automated and measures return on investment is not reserved for
Fortune 500 marketing organizations. In fact, there are many affordable
Marketing automation solutions that can be integrated and implemented
very rapidly.

If you are charged with generating measurable demand, follow these

best practices to optimize your processes and leverage advances in
Marketing Automation technology:

1. Learn Best Practices: attend webcasts such as Optimizing

Lead Generation or High Performance Demand Creation
with industry thought-leaders. Alternatively, read blog postings
from innovative marketing leaders in the Marketing Automation
industry: Best Practices in Demand Generation, Lead
Management, and Innovative Marketer.

2. Understand Strengths & Weaknesses: complete our

Marketing Automation Maturity Assessment to see how your
current processes & systems compare to best practices and other
mid-sized marketing organizations

3. Develop a Marketing automation Strategy: use our Lead

Generation Scorecard to set your strategic objectives,
initiatives, measures, and targets.

4. Agree on “Qualified Lead” Definition: use our Lead Scoring

Index and Lead Definition Tool to build alignment between
sales and marketing on the definition of a “qualified lead.”

5. Document Sales & Marketing Processes: define the stages in

your sales pipeline and clearly document key marketing
processes & campaigns for lead acquisition, lead nurturing, and
lead assignment. For assistance, use our Marketing
Automation Consulting RFP to hire a consultant to facilitate
this initiative.

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6. Benchmark Key Metrics: if you don’t have historical data,

establish benchmarks for the following metrics:

 Cost Per Lead = budget / total # leads

 Win Rate % = wins / closed opportunities
 Acquisition Cost = cost per lead / win rate
 Lead Conversion % = # opportunities / leads
 Lead Source % = # leads / # total leads
 Return on Marketing = pipeline value / spend

7. Research Marketing Automation Systems: review key

marketing automation vendors with our Marketing Automation
Vendors Matrix.

8. Select a Marketing Automation Vendor: use our Marketing

Automation System RFP to document your key business &
system requirements. Next, use our Marketing Automation
Vendor Evaluation Matrix to compare solutions based on your
key requirements.

9. Implement Marketing Automation System: import contact

lists; add tracking code to your corporate website; customize
landing pages & forms for lead conversion; create marketing
automation rules for sales alerts, lead scoring, lead nurturing,
and lead assignment; integrate with MS Outlook, CRM system,
and online advertising platforms; design HTML email templates
for campaigns and “drip” programs.

10. Post Value-Added Content on your Website: add content to

your website to provide an incentive for prospects to register
(complete form) and become leads. Some examples of great
value-added content include: Whitepapers & Data Sheets, Case
Studies, Business Cases & ROI Calculators, and Webcasts &
Podcasts.

11. Execute Integrated Multi-Channel Campaigns: leverage your

websites new tracking capability to measure prospect behavior
and buying signals. Add unique URLs to track ads & direct mail,
or place tracked URLs in your email marketing campaigns to
monitor response rates and individual website visitor activity.

12. Monitor Results and Refine Processes: evaluate your

programs to tweak lead acquisition, lead scoring, lead nurturing,
and lead assignment processes. Report on improvements to key
metrics and invest in programs that are providing a quantifiable
return on investment.
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