Congratulations! You took the plunge and you’re the proud new owner of marketing automation software. Spirits are high, you’re making money moves—but where to begin? How can you ensure your marketing automation software is working for you right off the bat?
Surely, when you decided to purchase marketing automation software, you promised significant ROI to several key players within your company and team. The pressure is on to prove you made the right choice.
Speaking of ROI, have you downloaded our free whitepaper, “ROI of Marketing Automation for CEOs”? If not, give it a shot—it’s worth the read!
Not to worry! We have assembled a comprehensive list of tips and tricks to ensure marketing automation success ASAP.
1. Rally the troops (AKA, collaborate outside of your department)
Newsflash: Marketing automation isn’t just for the marketing department.
You probably had buy-in from others before purchasing marketing automation software, but collaboration should not stop there. It’s important to communicate and share expectations and strategy with other teams so they can also reap the benefits of your new software.
To achieve success with your new software, you must collaborate with the entire organization (to the best of your ability, of course). Start scheduling meetings to discuss strategy for segmentation, lead definitions, and sales handoff as soon as you can. Having (at minimum) sales, marketing, and senior leadership on board will help drive your marketing automation efforts and initiative.
Don’t sleep on this step.
Reach across the department aisles and collaborate on your marketing automation strategy.
One of the best ways to initiate collaboration? Send your Sales team our recent blog post all about how marketing automation software helps Sales departments!
2. Map out your Customer Journey
It’s vital to understand the journey your leads take during purchasing decisions. Marketing automation is a huge help when it comes to tracking leads and lead scoring; however, to make the most out of these key features, you’ll want to fully understand your customer’s journey.
Where to start? Take a look at our free Customer Journey Worksheets. These worksheets will help you and your team gain a better understanding of what your leads are looking for in each step of their interaction with your organization.
When you understand their journey, you’ll be able to better implement your marketing automation software and all of the features it allows.
While you’re at it, be sure to use the persona worksheets (attached to the Customer Journey Worksheets) to hone in on your brand voice and strategy. When implementing new software, it’s important to take a step back and make sure your marketing strategy is consistent and strong every step of the way. After all, marketing automation software without a solid strategy is just…an expensive monthly invoice.
Yikes.
3. “Marie Kondo” your marketing automation activity
Marie Kondo is “so 2019,” but we’re still trying to do our best to live by her organizational tips for success. And organization doesn’t end at home!
With your new marketing automation software, it’s important to instill organization and tidiness to reap the rewards.
Start with organizing all of your marketing automation activity in folders and be sure to follow a standard naming convention. Enforce organized, consistent behavior on your software platform right from the get-go. Sure, it may be boring now, but your life will be much easier once your marketing efforts begin to take off. Promise!
Best of all, organization will help allow others to understand your marketing automation reports and practices, allowing you more time to do your job and less time explaining how to find something in the marketing automation platform.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
If you’re new to marketing automation it can be a little overwhelming upon implementation. Don’t panic!
While it depends on which software you bought, Net-Results offers unlimited access to our fantastic Customer Success team. They’re with you every step of the way throughout your marketing automation journey. Unsure of how a certain feature works? Schedule some time on your dedicated Account Manager’s calendar. Not clear on the difference between “segments” and “lists”? Send an email and hear back within 24 hours
No question is too big or too small for our team—we take pride in being to help our marketing automation users.
So don’t go it alone, reach out to your Net-Results Customer Success representative any time!
5. Share your success!
In the beginning, it can be hard to see progress; however, it’s important to share even the tiniest successes with the rest of the organization.
Be sure to share reports with your senior leadership and finance teams. By demonstrating the value of your marketing activities, you’re sure to improve the approval process and budget allowance for future projects/purchases.
This also references our mention of ROI—reporting marketing wins or gains helps increase the ROI of your new marketing automation software.
Before you share these reports with other departments, be sure to understand how they work, what the numbers are showing, and be prepared to explain all movements—positive or otherwise. This will also help increase your confidence with the work you’re doing alongside marketing automation software. Everyone wins!
Should you have any questions about the reporting (and you’re a Net-Results user), re-read tip #4. We’re here to help!
Purchasing marketing automation software is a huge step for any marketing team. Understandably, huge steps are often associated with nervousness and a sort of “what do I do now?” feeling. We’ve all been there.
These tips and tricks are sure to help get the ball rolling, but remember, Net-Results is just a click away and we’re happy to help with any sort of growing pains or snags you find along the way.
But just remember: you got this.
P.S. If you purchased marketing automation software without downloading our whitepaper of ROI of Marketing Automation for CEOs, it’s not too late!
Happy Marketing!
Lexie Robbins
Digital Marketing Specialist
