creating an implementation plan for successful marketing automation

Building a foundation for success21st June 2016

A (very) brief intro

ABM Consultancy & ServicesOur end-to-end workflow for Customer Lifecycle ABM ensures actionable insight is at the heart of everything we do:

Account identification and prioritization

Stakeholder mapping

Propensity-to- buy modelling

Sales & marketing alignment workshops

Account Value Proposition (AVP) messaging

Campaign structure

Content strategy

Engagement channels consultancy

Personalized digital assets

Sales enablement content

Social and IP-based advertising

Marketing automation

ROI measurement

Marketing attribution

Audience and Account Profiling

ABM Strategy ABM Engagement Planning Campaign Execution Impact Measurement

Insight at the heart of everything

What are people trying to achieve

We need to up-sell/cross-sell more to our key accounts…

...by understanding our target audience’s pain points

...through engaging in a more personal way

...as well as defending against competitive propositions

We need to win new target accounts…

...through initiating relationships with decision makers

...by driving and shaping buying cycles (pre-RFP)

...by engaging target accounts as part of bids

Our customers’ common drivers

Four barriers stopping organisations achieving these goals

Only 33% of the buyer journey consists of a direct engagement with a brand

And so, the challenge is simple. When a buyer does engage, how do you manage an-insight driven, timely engagement using the right content and channel?

Dealing with a self-guided buying cycle

Acquire Engage Pitch Win Retain Upsell Evangelise

‘Visi

ble’

inte

ract

ion

‘Invi

sible

’ res

earc

h

67%*SiriusDecisions

33%

Struggling to personalise at scale

Not enough time

Personalisation of engagement efforts is rated as the number one priority by 33% of CMOs*, the highest of any factor. However, a number of barriers stand in the way of this:

*Adobe

The wrong insight

Lacking skills Not utilising technology

A lack of Sales / Marketing alignment

Issue #1: 50% of sales time is

wasted on unproductive prospecting — but sales

reps ignore 50% of marketing leads

(The B2B Lead)

Issue #2: Across the board, 87% of the terms used by sales

and marketing to describe each other are negative

(CEB)

Issue #3: 90% of marketers can’t

calculate the ROI of their digital marketing spend

(Fournaise)

Silo-based thinking, preventing a joined-up approach

Salespick target accounts based on assumptions and generalisations

Research/ analyticsseek to understand accounts with limited context and often at single point in time, meaning output is bland and high-level

Marketinglack time, resource or

understanding to interpret insight, so

resort to generic campaign briefs and

activity

Creativebuilds a campaign based on overarching messages and non-specific personas

Campaign executionresort to tired mass-marketing tactics hoping to reach leads with generic messaging and content

Marketing opsinvested in a range of

technologies but struggle to track success of

campaigns through to the impact on sales

CMO/CFOstruggle to see value of programme and cut budgets

How does Marketing Automation address these problems?

How Marketing Automation helps

Problem faced by Marketing team How Marketing Automation helps

Self-guided buying cycle Web tracking and web personalisation

Personalising at scale Automation of nurture tracks, web experience and access to objective data

Lack of sales/marketing alignment Objective scoring, integration with CRM

Silo-based thinking Objective data to provide evidence for future activity

How best to implement?

Have a plan● What are you trying to solve?● Why are you trying to solve it?● Which other stakeholders do you need to

explain your thinking to - CFO, IT director, sales director

● Have they bought in to your vision?● What other resources/tools/skills do you

need?● Are your current sales/marketing processes

set up for this?● What will success look like and how will you

know if you’ve succeeded?

● Don’t be swayed by shiny lights and promises

● What is the functionality you really need versus the nice to have

● Are you planning on integrating with your CRM?

● Are there any data compliance issues unique to your business/industry sector?

● What is the business case behind your answer to each of the previous questions?

Achieving your plan

“Don’t count the people that you reach, reach the people who count”

David Ogilvy

Understand your audience

● Relevant● Tailored● Personalised● Multi-channel● On their terms

The journey

● Education, education, education● Seek feedback● What does good look like● How will you communicate this back

Sales / Marketing alignment

● Be clear on timescales● Evolve, experiment, test● Pilot vs full deployment

Expectation setting

In summary

● Be clear on what you’re trying to achieve

● Understand your audience○ What journeys○ What content○ What channels○ What message

● Set expectations● Experiment!!!● Start small and celebrate

success

Things to remember

Liam Jacklin, Partner, agent3liam.jacklin@agent3.com+44 (0)757 265 6342