Marketing Automation is an evolutionary step that goes beyond simply providing email content to your contacts. Marketing Automation blends data, content, lead scoring and nurturing that requires active participation in order to realize real results. And the results can be staggering. The Annuitas Group sites the following statistic on Marketing Automation’s impact.
Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.
The promise of increased revenue and interaction with suspects, prospects and existing customers is certainly appealing. But, not every organization is ready for Marketing Automation. Agencies that provide MA as a service offering need to be acutely aware of the impact MA will have on an organization’s culture and processes as well as the impact the technology has long-term.
As a trusted advisor, you need to be ready for Demand Generation. Your objective is to create an environment that enables successful project execution, and proactively manages issues for your client to evolve from its current environment into the desired Marketing Automation process envisioned by your service goals.
At Net-Results, we encourage the application of a framework for MA implementation that’s based on industry best practices for our Agency Partners. We recognize that successful projects are realized by adhering to a few guidelines and that repeatability allows for optimization.
Before you even begin to consider a technology solution for your client, your goal as an Agency Partner is to establish rapport, credibility and advisory status with your client. It’s a process that occurs over time, but it can be strengthened by your vision and direction.
Marketing Automation Readiness Test
Determining client readiness and implementation of a solution involves the following activities: Discovery, Definition, Recommendation, Planning, Management, Implementation and Maintenance.
Discovery
- Remain neutral – Your goal is to assess readiness – not to retrofit your preconceived plan or solution.
- Communicate your purpose – You’re trying to improve the quality of the Sales Qualified Lead Generation process. It will impact multiple functional areas, operations and technology. You want to ensure the improvements you make are focused on improving productivity and profitability, timeliness, quality, and customer service levels.
- Ask the 5 Whys to get to the root of the original problem.
- Listen for “whales”. These are items that lead to bigger ideas, greater challenges or opportunities for which a particular solution may be needed.
- Obtain quantifiable information on volume, time, and cost from the interviewee for each work process discussed.
- Avoid floating Trial Balloons or testing ideas for your recommendation. Your goal is to find the best solution for your client, not to implement a solution you have already defined.
- Discovery specifics about the process, roles and existing technology interactions or interdependencies.
When you receive a lead, tell me what information you receive, where it comes from, and what you do with it.
…This is a great starter question to ask. There are plenty of opportunities for discovery, conversation and insights just in this exercise. Identifying the steps involved in this process including inputs, outputs, states and systems will help identify your landscape and plan your approach.
Recommendation
After you have performed your discovery, it’s time to craft your recommendation. Let’s be realistic, you may already have a process and solution in mind, but the benefit of the discovery process cannot be overstated. The most significant benefit of a formalized and solution neutral discovery approach with your clients is the sense of trust, ownership and buy-in that the client feels from being included in the discovery process. This buy-in is critical during implementation to ensure the project’s overall success. Craft your recommendation with clarity addressing the goal, the people, the process and the technology solution. Provide any quantifiable cost/benefit analysis or Marketing ROI information you may have as part of your proposal. Your final goal is a business decision. Make sure that you have selected a Marketing Automation solution partner that understands your goals, objectives and needs as an Agency. At Net-Results, we are Agency-Focused © by design with the tools, capabilities and resources to support you through your implementation journey.
Planning
- Plan thoroughly.
- Create clear goals for all aspects of the project.
- Define your team, the structure, the resources, the skills, the capabilities and the responsibilities.
- Establish a feedback loop or communication protocol.
- Detail team and individual work.
- Set clear expectations.
Management
- Manage Aggressively with weekly goals, progress check-ins and project reviews with the sponsor.
- Proactively communicate scope change, resource constraints and deliverable impacts.
- Resolve critical issues as they arise.
Implementation
- Do what you said you would do and mean what you say.
- Implement from a project plan and keep it updated.
- Proactively resolve critical issues. Don’t let them impact the project’s success.
- Create a simple list of project deliverables and share it often.
- Update your communication to show project objectives that are achieved.
Maintenance
There are not 5 easy steps for maintenance. This is your chance to shine. You are an Agency and maintenance means crafting new campaigns, analyzing lead scores, creating new relevant content, lists and Calls to Action. This is your bread and butter: and Marketing Automation is just one more tool in your toolkit for delivering your skill.
