Have you felt like you have the best marketing automation tool, but the leads are not anywhere insight? Read more to find out why!

1. Managed Marketing
Series
Marketing Automation – The Modern Day Gold Rush?

2. IT’S NOT AS SIMPLE
AS PRESSING
‘GO’

3. Let’s Get One Thing Straight – Marketing
Automation Is Awesome Technology.
As a tool to support the development and progression
of leads; as an enabler between marketing and sales
functions; and as a rallying point for results-focused
marketing activity, MA is where it’s at – and no buts.
But… Let’s not forget that much of the buzz in
the market is generated by the platform vendors
themselves. Clever, innovative, persuasive software
specialists they most certainly are; marketing
professionals with the job of making it work under
the pressure of today’s KPIs?
Er, no.
So while the vendors are pouring honey in our ears
and whispering sweet nothings about SQLs and
nurture flows, pause for a second to consider some all
important Marketing Automation factors the vendors
rarely discuss.
The ten truths that follow may be mildly
uncomfortable for some, but together they should
offer busy marketers a more pragmatic perspective
on how to make a success of this powerful platform.

4. It’s A Platform,
Not A Strategy

5. It’s Software. Pure And Simple.
Marketing Automation can help define your approach to
marketing and provide an activity framework of sorts, but it’s
no substitute for having a robust plan.
Your marketing can survive without an MA platform.
The platform is next to useless without strategy.

6. Sorry, It
Doesn’t Generate Leads

7. Campaigns Generate Leads.
Marketing Automation brings methodology and science to a
process that still requires full strategic, creative and planning
legwork.
The more experience you accumulate running campaigns on your
MA platform, the more you can template successful activity which
in turn makes the job of lead generation easier.
However there are no shortcuts to effective
lead gen, as every good marketer knows!

8. It Doesn’t Connect
MARKETING
And Sales
DEPARTMENTS

9. MA Is A Great Enabler, Just Don’t Forget The Humans!
Whatever your existing relationship with the sales department (uneasy
truce, general bewilderment, outright hostility?), rapprochement will not
be accomplished with the acquisition of Marketing Automation software.
It takes actual people, committed to an effective sales and marketing
partnership, to sit down and plan a new, results-driven vision.

10. Global Is A Big Ask

11. The Global Automation Option Can Work, But It Takes Time, Patience And
(Ideally) Local Support From Agencies That Know Their Stuff.
If you’re reading this sitting in a regional marketing office, with a ‘global
instance’ of your shiny new Marketing Automation platform winking
menacingly on your
desktop, and wondering what the hell you are going to do next, you are
not alone.
Directives from the CMO’s office to ‘make it happen’ often underestimate
the role of data, process, training and regional implementation.

12. Reporting Must Come First…
…Not Last

13. …begin your new Automation-enabled strategy by defining exactly what
you want to be able to report, and work backwards to build your lead
nurture programme.
The entire point of MA is to deliver measurable results to both sales and
marketing – so it’s vital for the departments to align objectives upfront
and work towards common goals.
In Other Words...
Don’t just jump into Marketing Automation and assume ‘good things’ will come
out the other end.

14. If It’s Non – Digital
It’s a Non - Starter

15. Convergence, Aggregation, Consolidation...
These favourite terms among Marketing Automation vendors suggest it has the
power to bring together and amplify every element of the marketing process.
But the truth here is that you face much more of a challenge if those elements
are not digital. MA isn’t magic.
The Only Way To Incorporate Touches From Direct Mail, Events Or Telemarketing Is Through
A Digital Link Or By Human Input.

16. Bad Content Can Kill You

17. We All Know Marketing Automation Is A Content-hungry Beast, But It’s An
Animal With A Refined Palette, Not Just A Big Belly.
Too many MA projects crawl along on a diet of mediocre, all-about-me content which
might look OK but is deeply unsatisfying to consume, sending your prospects off to
find tastier morsels elsewhere.
Do not underestimate the time, budget and expertise needed to deliver a winning content
portfolio.

18. “Best Practice”:

19. OK, we shouldn’t get too sniffy about best practice guides. (This is one, after all….).
But we do need to be very careful about swallowing the line that Marketing
Automation is a straightforward DIY job if you just follow the manual.
An MA-enabled strategy is a multi-faceted project
unique to your business.
You Will Almost Certainly Require Expert Support With Selection, Implementation
And Activation.
Approach With Caution

20. This Is Only
The First Step

21. You Have A Dream, A Pipeline Dream, Where You Wind Up Your
Automation Engine, Let It Go, Sit Back And The Leads Come
Flooding In.
Wakey, wakey!
The brilliance of the software is the ability it gives you to experiment,
adapt, test, push what works and learn what doesn’t. Don’t be reticent,
and don’t be frightened of diving in and exploring.
The knowledge your MA platform provides will lead you to the nirvana of predictive
forecasting – that’s the real dream, isn’t it?

22. IT Might Not Even
Be The Answer

23. Do You Really Need That Level Of Sophistication?
The term ‘Marketing Automation’ refers strictly to platforms that support end-
to-end lead management, enable nurture flows based on behaviour, and can
integrate other digital channels such as social media.
There are plenty of automated email broadcasting tools (often cheekily defining
themselves as Marketing Automation) that offer simple lead scoring plus a few
other bolt-on goodies.
You may not need to go the whole MA shebang to get the solution that’s right for your
business.

24. Take A Holistic Approach

25. There It Is – The Unvarnished Truth About Marketing Automation.
Not Too Scary, But Hopefully Fairly Useful As You Move Forward
Into This Brave New World.
We know the pressure of working with stretched budgets, limited resources and
pressure from the C-suite to deliver. We also know your MA platform and lead
nurture strategy can be up and running cost-effectively (and hitting your KPIs) if
you take a marketing-led, holistic approach.
Yes, an MA project has multiple moving parts (strategic, technical, creative,
editorial, analytical), but ultimately it’s a just a big marketing programme with all
the usual dependencies and interactions.
Find the right agency to support you (preferably one with an end to end MA capability), and
together you can make measurably magnificent marketing. Now that’s the truth.

26. “Ascesis is a media, design and marketing agency where classical brand-building
and marketing campaign design meets cutting-edge digital thinking and perfect
execution.
Here at Ascesis, we believe in collaboration, flexibility and reliability, which
means for our clients, increased efficiency, reduced costs and ultimately
increased profits.”
• Marketing Consultancy
• Brand
• Digital
• Marketing Automation
• Lead Generation
• Social Media
• Website Design
• Mobile App Development
• Graphic Design
• Print
• Content Marketing
• Creative Services
That’s Where We Come In!

27. All About Results

28. Our Marketing Automation Expertise
Ascesis uses a four-stage methodology. So wherever you are on your journey to Marketing Automation mastery, we
can help.
1. Consulting – We help you short-cut to the flavour of Marketing Automation that matches your needs, keeping
you focused on objectives
2. Strategy – We define your lead nurture strategy, with scoring policy and nurture flows, creating an optimised
model for lead management
3. Activation – We can create and deploy your MA-enabled nurture campaign – messaging, sticky content, digital
assets, social media, SEM, the lot!
4. Management – We look after your whole nurture programme, including review, analysis and optimisation of
campaign performance to meet your marketing and business objectives.
Ascesis works with platforms such as Eloqua, Pardot, Marketo, Silverpop, Act-On and Aprimo. We take a strategic approach
and we don’t play favourites, we recommend on merit and suitability. And because we’re a B2B & B2C marketing agency,
working on campaigns week-in and week-out with our clients, we see things from your perspective.

29. If you wish to know how we can, increase your
efficiency, reduce your costs and increase your
profits
Get in touch and lets create your future!

30. Unit 4, 262 Ringwood Road, Poole, BH14 0RS
Telephone - 01202 978 222
Email – info@ascesismedia.com
Website: www.ascesismedia.com