IMPLEMENTING

A MARKETING
AUTOMATION
SOLUTION

HOW-TO GUIDE
 Implementing a Marketing
Automation Solution
HOW-TO GUIDE

This report provides practical advice for designing a Marketing Automation strategy, aligning
Sales & Marketing processes, and implementing a Marketing Automation solution.

Read this brief 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.

Top Marketing Challenges

According to the CMO Council’s Marketing Outlook 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 invest-
ments 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.

2 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

Definition of Marketing Automation
Marketing automation solutions incorporate business strategies, marketing processes, and auto-
mation 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.

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 submis-
sions, 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 inte-
grated 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.

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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.

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. Addi-
tionally, 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 meas-
urement & 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.

4 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

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 inte-
grated 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-dupli-
cated; 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 collat-
eral; 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 infor-
mation during subsequent web visits.

5 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 1 - Learn

1 Learn
Learn Best Practices

2 Understand Developing an integrated

Marketing automation strategy
that is highly automated and
3 Strategize measures return on investment
is not reserved for Fortune 500
marketing organizations. In
fact, there are many affordable
4 Qualify
Marketing automation solutions
that can be integrated and
implemented very rapidly.
5 Document If you are charged with
generating measurable demand,
follow these best practices to
6 Benchmark optimize your processes and
leverage advances in Marketing
Automation technology.

7 Research Attend webcasts such as

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

6 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 2 - Understand

1 Learn
Understand Strengths &
Weaknesses
2 Understand
Complete our Marketing
Automation Maturity
3 Strategize Assessment to see how your
current processes & systems
compare to best practices and

4 Qualify other mid-sized marketing

organizations.

5 Document

6 Benchmark
Marketing Automation
Maturity Assessment
7 Research
VIEW RESOURCE

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

7 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 3 - Strategize

1 Learn
Develop a Marketing
Automation Strategy
2 Understand
Use our Lead Generation
Scorecard to set your

3 Strategize strategic objectives, initiatives,

measures, and targets.

4 Qualify

5 Document

Lead Generation Scorecard

6 Benchmark
VIEW RESOURCE

7 Research

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

8 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 4 - Qualify

1 Learn
Agree on “Qualified Lead”
Definition
2 Understand
Use our Lead Scoring Index
and Lead Definition Tool
3 Strategize to build alignment between
sales and marketing on the
definition of a “qualified lead.”

4 Qualify

5 Document

Lead Scoring Index

6 Benchmark

VIEW RESOURCE

7 Research

8 Select

9 Implement
Lead Definition Tool

VIEW RESOURCE
10 Monitor

9 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 5 - Document

1 Learn
Document Sales &
Marketing Processes
2 Understand
Define the stages in your sales
pipeline and clearly document
3 Strategize key marketing processes
& campaigns for lead
acquisition, lead nurturing,

4 Qualify and lead assignment. For

assistance, use our Marketing
Automation Consulting RFP

5
to hire a consultant to facilitate
Document this initiative.

6 Benchmark

7 Research
Marketing Automation Consulting RFP

8 Select VIEW RESOURCE

9 Implement

10 Monitor

10 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 6 - Benchmark

1 Learn
Benchmark Key Metrics

2 Understand If you don’t have historical data,

establish benchmarks for the
following metrics:
3 Strategize
Cost Per Lead = budget /
total # leads

Win Rate % = wins / closed

4 Qualify
opportunities

Acquisition Cost = cost per

5 Document lead / win rate

Lead Conversion % = #
opportunities / leads

6 Benchmark Lead Source % = # leads / #

total leads

Return on Marketing =
7 Research
pipeline value / spend

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

11 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 7 - Research

1 Learn
Research Marketing
Automation Systems
2 Understand
Review key marketing automation
vendors with our Marketing
3 Strategize Automation Vendors Matrix.

4 Qualify

5 Document
Marketing Automation Vendors Matrix

6 Benchmark VIEW RESOURCE

7 Research

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

12 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 8 - Select

1 Learn
Select a Marketing
Automation Vendor
2 Understand
Use our Marketing Automation
System RFP to document your key
3 Strategize business & system requirements.
Next, use our Marketing
Automation Vendor Evaluation
4 Qualify Matrix to compare solutions based
on your key requirements.

5 Document

6 Benchmark

Marketing Automation System RFP

7 Research
VIEW RESOURCE

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

13 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 9 - Implement

1 Learn
Implement Marketing
Automation System
2 Understand
Import contact lists; add tracking
code to your corporate website;
3 Strategize customize landing pages &
forms for lead conversion; create
marketing automation rules for

4 Qualify sales alerts, lead scoring, lead

nurturing, and lead assignment;
integrate with MS Outlook, CRM
system, and online advertising
5 Document platforms; design HTML email
templates for campaigns and
“drip” programs.
6 Benchmark Leverage your websites new
tracking capability to measure
prospect behavior and buying
signals. Add unique URLs to
7 Research
track ads & direct mail, or place
tracked URLs in your email
marketing campaigns to monitor
8 Select response rates and individual
website visitor activity.

9 Implement

10 Monitor

14 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

 Action Plan
STEP 10 - Monitor

1 Learn
Monitor Results and
Refine Processes
2 Understand
Evaluate your programs to
tweak lead acquisition, lead
3 Strategize scoring, lead nurturing, and lead
assignment processes. Report
on improvements to key metrics
and invest in programs that are
4 Qualify
providing a quantifiable return on
investment.

5 Document

6 Benchmark

7 Research

8 Select

9 Implement

10 Monitor

15 Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution How-to Guide

About Demand Metric
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community
of over 100,000 marketing professionals and consultants in 75 countries.

Offering consulting playbooks, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and
templates, Demand Metric resources and expertise help the marketing community plan
more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about their work with authority
and conviction, and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence
— thus boosting the respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources
the team needs to succeed.

To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit www.demandmetric.com

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