SMBs are considering moving from basic email marketing to more comprehensive marketing automation platforms. Marketing automation can help SMBs generate more leads, increase revenue, and improve marketing efficiency by automating customer engagement across multiple channels. While email is still an important channel, marketing automation provides additional benefits like lead scoring, campaign execution, and social media integration that help address the needs of today's digital customers. Adoption of marketing automation is driven by the ability to quickly respond to changes, generate more leads and revenue, and increase marketing efficiency.

1. SMBs: Crossing the Chasm with
Marketing Automation
Is it time to move from email marketing to marketing
automation?
Ian Michiels
Gleanster
@InsightFanatic
1

2. Agenda for Today…
• Emerging requirements for competitive
parity
• Email vs. Marketing Automation for SMB
• Key Considerations
• Recommendations
#AOWEB 2

3. About the Research Findings
REPORT STATS COMPANY SIZE INDUSTRIES
Total survey responses: 670
Qualified survey responses: 549 Small
>$1B <$1M Business
12% 6% (1-250
Emp.), 134
$100M- $1-10M
$1B 30%
39%
Email Marketing
Personalization Automation
Gleansight Gleansight $10-100M Everyone
(Q2’11) (Q4’11) 28% Else, 536
Top Performers: Respondents that achieved
REVENUE
Top Quartile performance in key KPI’s
AVG CLICK-THROUGH
AVG OPEN RATE
Everyone Else: Everyone Else LEAD-TO-SALES CONVERSION
#AOWEB 3

4. Challenges for Small Business Marketers
• Lack of resources to develop content
• Lack of skilled staff
• Fragmented sales and marketing processes
• Disparate data
• Poor marketing processes
Source: Q2’11 Email Personalization Survey, n= 367 Survey Respondents
#AOWEB 4

5. Crossing the Chasm with Marketing Automation
• Are there tradeoff’s between Email and Marketing Automation?
• How do we justify the investment?
• How will it impact the organization / performance?
#AOWEB 5

6. Top Two Most Profitable Channels are Digital
72%
Email 72%
65%
Webinars 54%
64%
Newsletters 30%
57%
Blogs 34%
54%
White Papers 27%
45%
Thought Leadership Studies 9%
40%
Telephone Calls 61%
34%
Product Information 6%
33%
Case Studies 16%
27%
Direct Mail 36%
14%
Industry News 3%
6%
Third-Party Articles 9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Top Performers Everyone Else
Source: Q2’11 Email Personalization Survey, n= 367 Survey Respondents
#AOWEB 6

7. Technology Adoption Trends
Currently Using Tool
100% 96%
85%
80% 76%
59%
60%
43%
40%
23%
20% 16%
3%
0%
Web Analytics Marketing Stand-Alone Email Landing Page Tool
Automation Tool Marketing Tool
Top Performers Small Business (1-250 Emp.)
Source: Q2’11 Email Personalization Survey, n= 367 Survey Respondents & Q4’11 Marketing Automation, n=
#AOWEB 7

8. Technology Adoption Trends for Top Performers
Top Performers Use and Planned Use of Technology
100%
10%
Shift from Email Tools to More
80%
Comprehensive Marketing Platforms
60% 41% 9%
40% 85% 9%
59% 16%
20% 43% 12%
36%
23%
15%
0%
Web Analytics Marketing Email Marketing Tool Open Source CMS Landing Page Tool Recommendation
Automation Tool Services
Currently Using Planning to Use
Source: Q2’11 Email Personalization Survey, n= 367 Survey Respondents
#AOWEB 8

9. Past - Present - Future
ONE TO MANY DIALOGUE
OFFLINE ONLINE
A FEW CHANNELS CHANNEL PROLIFERATION
INFORMATION CENTRALIZED 24X7 MOBILE ACCESS TO INFORMATION
MARKETERS HELD INFLUENCE CUSTOMERS HAVE INFLUENCE
#AOWEB 9

10. Today’s Buyer in a Nutshell Eggshell
If it’s not relevant, it’s
spam.
I expect to have a I do research online
consistent customer before I make purchases.
experience regardless of I pride myself in making
channel. informed decisions.
“I get hundreds of I’m vocal about the
emails in my inbox, why customer experience. I
should I care about use Twitter and
yours?” Facebook, and I have a
blog.
#AOWEB 10

11. Today’s Buyer in a Nutshell Eggshell
#AOWEB 11

12. Quick Definition
Marketing Automation
• Tools that automate customer engagement
across two or more channels.
– Same as: Lead Management, Automated Demand
Generation, Revenue Performance Management Platforms
• Features include: Email, Landing Page
Hosting, Web Analytics, Segmentation, CRM
Integration, Lead Scoring, Campaign
Execution, Social Media Integration
#AOWEB 12

13. What’s driving adoption? (according to Small Business)
Top 3 Reasons to Implement Email Marketing
Allows me to Our customers
It’s affordable / respond to want / like
fits my budget market changes email
quickly communication
Top 3 Reasons to Implement Marketing Automation
Increase
Generate Generate more
marketing
revenue leads
efficiency
#AOWEB 13

14. Critical to Understand the Buyers Journey
Customer Buying Cycle
Attention Interest Desire
• Known Problem? • Recognized need • Seek solution to Action
need
A purchase decision is a series of
interactions over one or more channels.
#AOWEB 14

15. Top Performing organizations are 4 times
more likely than Everyone Else to engage in
nurture marketing tactics.
#AOWEB 15

16. Personalization Demands Automation
Lead Nurturing is a set of interactions triggered by:
1. Time = Drip Marketing
2. Behavior / Action = Trigger Marketing
Lead Nurturing helps automate the right
message, at the right time, in the right
place.
#AOWEB 16

17. Use of Lead Nurturing Tactics
Tactics: Using Lead Nurturing
Percentage using Tactic
100%
80%
60%
40% Top Performer
20%
Everyone Else
0%
Drip Trigger Lead
Campaigns Campaigns Scoring
Everyone Else 89% 19% 5%
Top Performer 78% 43% 23%
#AOWEB 17

18. What’s the best vehicle for delivering
more timely and relevant customer
engagement?
#AOWEB 18

19. Let’s Get Ready to Ruuuummmmble!
MARKETING AUTOMATION
EMAIL MARKETING
#AOWEB 19

20. Email Marketing vs. Marketing Automation
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21. What’s the difference?
Email Marketing
Marketing Automation
Drip Marketing Email Communications
Event Based Email Communications
CRM Integration
Business Rules to Automate Engagement
Business Rules to Route Leads
Multi-channel Monitoring and Engagement
#AOWEB 21

22. Disparate Systems = Disparate Customer Experiences
Email Marketing
Web
Analytics Email Fragmented Customer Data
Email Social Media “8 out of 10 Small Business
Marketing Mobile marketers use 3 or more marketing
CRM List Mgmt. technologies.”
Marketing Automation
Web
Email Business CRM Marketing
Analytics &
Marketing Rules Integration Automation
Forms
• One system to manage multiple channels
• Automation personalized engagement
• Transparency into Marketing and Sales performance
#AOWEB 22

23. How do you create relationships with each prospect?
• Gordon
• Prospect for Anger
Management Software
Manual
• Doesn’t know it exists… interactions with
each prospect
isn’t realistic.
• Tina
• Needs project management
software and is comparing
A single channel
features and functions (Email) also isn’t
realistic.
#AOWEB 23

24. How do we create relationships with each prospect?
Use technology to automate and track multi-channel engagement
Email Clicks on Fills out Product
Campaign Link form. Information
Call with
Sales
Resources Fills out
on Website Form
#AOWEB 24

25. Marketing Automation Benefits
• What can you accomplish with Marketing Automation
that you can’t with Email Marketing?
– Multi-channel nurture – Centralize all prospect
marketing campaigns to activity for improved
keep in touch with marketing and forecasting
prospects that aren’t ready – CRM integration providing
to buy. sales visibility into
– Pre-qualify sales marketing activity and
opportunities for finite sales customer behavior.
resources- focus on short-
term opportunities.
#AOWEB 25

26. So…should you run out and adopt Marketing Automation?
Not necessarily…
#AOWEB 26

27. It take the right tools…
… but, it also takes an Artist with the skill to use
them appropriately.
#AOWEB 27

28. Considerations and Recommendations
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29. Four Major Considerations for a SMB
Resources Content
Considerations
Sales and
Divestiture
Marketing
Strategy
Alignment
#AOWEB 29

30. Resources
• Marketing Automation tools will require at the least a
part time resource:
– Responsibilities:
• Manage business rules on an ongoing basis
• Configure multi-channel campaigns
• Monitor performance and recommend changes
• This person will also be required to interface with sales
and will likely need to be somewhat analytical to hold
sales and marketing accountable for performance.
• Mix of Technical Resource & Business Resource
#AOWEB 30

31. Email Personalization Resources
Do you have dedicated resources that are accountable for
managing digital engagement?
Top Performers
44%
Yes
56% No
#AOWEB 31

32. Content
• Content is the fuel that powers Marketing Automation
• Don’t get caught up in the features and benefits, these
will be useless without quality content:
– You can repurpose content
– You can chop it up for targeted campaigns
• Content needs to map to the customer buying cycle
#AOWEB 32

33. Content
• Plan on automating at least 2 lead nurturing campaigns
– Set and forget – optimize over time
– Top Performing SMB Marketers tend to have fewer lead
nurturing campaigns
• Targeted content drives targeted leads
#AOWEB 33

34. Traditional Roles will Change
#AOWEB 34

35. How do Top Performers Justify Investments?
#AOWEB 35

36. Divestiture Strategy
• SMB’s tend to generate demonstrable return on
Marketing Automation because they are quick to adopt
and quick to adapt
• But, change is hard, so you don’t want to revert to old
processes. Force the change.
• Plan to divest of redundant systems- email, web
analytics, etc.
– Factor these licensing costs into the justification for the
Marketing Automation investment
#AOWEB 36

37. Final Thoughts
• Choosing between Email Marketing and Marketing
Automation is a risk/reward thought process.
– Time is not on your side
• Top Performers outperform Everyone Else by 2-3x in
revenue growth and lead-to-sales conversion.
– Relevance Drives Revenue
• The more you attempt to personalize the greater the
demand for automation.
#AOWEB 37

38. Additional Insights:
Deep Dive: Measuring the Impact of
Lead Nurturing on the Sales Pipeline
How Top Performers Justify
Lead Nurturing Initiatives
#AOWEB 38

39. Q& A
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