This report provides an unbiased view of the rapidly growing marketing automation industry. The report is intentionally focused on the needs of a B2B marketer, but also addresses B2C marketing automation. While not endorsing any vendor or product, the report takes a comprehensive deep dive into the factors, issues, and capabilities that make marketing automation profitable.

Research conducted for the report includes interviewing marketing automation third-party service and software vendors, as well as an online focus group of marketers currently using marketing automation software/services.

The report discusses the main reasons for choosing marketing automation and explains the benefits of deploying marketing automation solutions. The reader will learn what to expect in a typical marketing automation system and understand how contemporary marketing automation software performs automated functions in real-time, using nearly infinite sources of data, across multiple digital and even analogue media formats.

Important factors to consider during the purchase and implementation of their marketing automation service are discussed in the report. Sales and marketing alignment is crucial in order to agree on definitions of an integrated sales and marketing funnel, and the systems used to support that funnel. The ideal MA ‘superuser’ might come from a marketing analytics background, direct marketing background, sales CRM background, or IT background.

Key MA concepts are explained and the specifics of marketing automation implementation and tactical effectiveness are discussed. Four main tactics are presented as key areas to focus on in a marketing automation program i.e. Listening tactics, Behavioral Profiling, data collection methods, and an integrated marketing database that can pull in data from any source.

Delivering personalized marketing is the objective of any marketing automation software and the report takes a detailed look at ways to enable individualized content. The goal is to deliver customized content and ensure the most relevant message possible, at a time and in a way that is appropriate. The main tactics used to achieve personalized marketing are presented in this report.

Dynamic segmentation based on transactional data is an extremely effective tactic among marketers. Behavioral data is often easier to collect and often more likely to be predictive of purchase than demographic data. Lead scoring combines the demographic and behavioral segments in order to come up with a more accurate prediction of how likely a prospect is to convert to a sale.

The report shows how a good automation program will enable ongoing decisions around the right marketing channels, timing tactics, and triggers for communicating with the customer. The report shows how MA systems allow marketers to nurture prospects along the journey, decide the frequency and cadence of marketing messages, and apply a combination of multiple marketing tactics working together.

The report ends with a look at some more important factors in MA success: the importance of continuous testing and optimization, workflow considerations, B2B vs B2C marketing, and concludes with a simple evaluation checklist for marketers to evaluate if they are ready to implement marketing automation.

A practical and informative guide to the what, why, and how of marketing automation. Recommendations on selecting, implementing, and optimizing marketing automation solutions, and advice on how organizations can make an investment in marketing automation successful.

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