Buyer personas, smart content, lead scoring: we hear these words, we talk about these words, we struggle to understand why our time spent learning about these words hasn’t generated any revenue. In this presentation, we cut the fluff and exploring, in-detail, what it takes to build an advanced marketing automation strategy that generates leads and nurtures them into loyal customers. Specifically, we focus on the two most neglected elements of marketing automation, audience research and user data, and why investing in these elements is the single greatest step your organization can take to maximize your marketing automation efforts.

1. HOW TO SUPERCHARGE YOUR
MARKETING AUTOMATION
USING AUDIENCE RESEARCH
AND USER DATA
DUSTIN CLARK

2. How to Supercharge Your
Marketing Automation
Using Audience Research
and User Data
DUSTIN CLARK

3. Life is a journey,
not a destination.
- RALPH WALDO EMERSON

4. DUSTIN CLARK
DIGITAL MARKETING DIRECTOR
@ElementThree

5. 1. What information
should I be learning, from
whom, and where?
2. What to do with this
new information—where
is it useful?
3. Beyond my marketing
automation platforms,
where can I use these
insights?
WHAT WE’LL TALK
ABOUT TODAY
WALK AWAY WITH THESE TAKEAWAYS

6. WHAT YOU HAVE TODAY

7. 7
“IDEAL PATH” Modern marketing organizations don’t rely on one “ideal
path” to reach customers. There are several—and
should be, with consumers often taking hundreds of
“micro-interactions” in their exploration of a brand and its
products or services.

8. 5 AUTO SHOPPING
MOMENTS EVERY
BRAND MUST OWN
GOOGLE CASE STUDY
Google discovered 5 key searches that
categorized users’ patterns during the car
buying process. In a related case study, they
detailed 900+ digital interactions one user
took, from discovery to purchase. 71% were
on mobile.
What “moments” are your prospective
customers searching for?
How can you find them?

9. RESEARCH
EVERYTHING
BLUEPRINT AND
DOCUMENT
SET UP AND
IMPLEMENT
THE 4 R’s: RUN, REVIEW,
REACT, REPORT
KEY STEPS IN ANY MARKETING
(AUTOMATION) PLAN

10. RESEARCH
EVERYTHING
1
Research and data should drive
everything you do, leading to deep
insights and your best intuitive gut calls.
Focus on two distinct areas: Audience
Research and User Data.

11. ●Contextual language cues
●Topics of interest
●Content type preferences (video, blogs, ebooks, social, etc.)
●New opportunities
●Questions YOU can answer
AUDIENCE RESEARCH
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

12. ●User Interviews
●Department Interviews
●Conferences
●Occupational Outlook
Handbook
●Search
●Social Profiles
●Industry Forums
●Clickstream Data
●Content Research
●Competitive Research
AUDIENCE RESEARCH
UNDERSTAND PEOPLE FIRST

13. Case Study 1:
Bitdefender

14. PERSONAS PROFILES ROWS
DATA POINTS CRASHES
636
BITDEFENDER PERSONAS
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
16.8MM
213.6 MM 20+
6

16. ●Traffic generation
●User engagement
●Conversion opportunities
●Patterns you can take advantage of
USER DATA
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

17. ●Web Analytics
●Web Forms
●Automation Tools
●CRM and Sales
Databases
●Webmaster Tools
●Keyword Trackers
●UX Tools
●User Testing
USER DATA
WEB, AUTOMATION & CRM ANALYTICS

18. Case Study 2:
Airstream

19. 83% 95%
INCREASE IN LEADS
INCREASE IN LANDING
PAGE CONVERSION RATE
107%
DECREASE IN COST
PER LEAD
AIRSTREAM
PROMOTION
USER ENGAGEMENT DRIVING RESULTS

21. BLUEPRINT &
DOCUMENT
CREATE CLARITY FOR EVERY ACTIVITY
2
Write it all down. Map it out. Make
sure you and your team know where
all of the activities are happening,
from promotion to conversion.

22. CONTENT
● Promotional Ads
● Promotional Emails
● Social Posts
● Landing Pages
● Supporting Content (videos,
downloadable content)
● Offers and Deals
● Remarketing Ads
● Thank You Emails
● Re-Engagement Emails
● Offline Activities
DETAILS
● Purpose of EACH Touchpoint
● Relevant Audience Information
● Targeting Information
● Triggering Events
● Calls to Action
● Specifics Around Offers
● Triggered Activities (including internal
sales and marketing activities)
WHAT SHOULD I DOCUMENT?
EVERYTHING. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

23. Thor Evergreen
“Best RV Parks”
Campaign
BLUEPRINT EXAMPLE
Paid media campaign with examples
of specific ads as “levers” promoting
a landing page, with desired
subsequent activities noted.

24. BraunAbility
“Live Wide Open”
Campaign
BLUEPRINT EXAMPLE
This blueprint is more generic, but shows
where the LP/activity fulcrum sits in
relation to other website content, while
still showcasing promotional activity.

25. SET UP &
IMPLEMENT
RESEARCH AND PLAN…THEN EXECUTE.
3
After it’s all researched and mapped
out, you have to execute. You’ll set up
timing and connect your touchpoints so
you can run your campaigns.

26. ● User Interviews Persona Development, Product Development, Web Content
● Department Interviews Persona Development, Product Development, Web Content
● Conferences Persona Development, Product Development, Web Content
● Occupational Outlook Handbook Persona Development (gut checks and reflections)
● Search Persona Development, Web Content, Traffic Generation
AUDIENCE RESEARCH
IMPLEMENTATION

27. ● Social Profiles Persona Research, Web Content, Traffic Generation
● Industry Forums Persona Development, Traffic Generation, Advertising
● Clickstream Data Traffic Generation, Advertising
● Content Research Persona Research, Web Content
● Competitive Research Persona Research, Web Content, Traffic Generation, Advertising
AUDIENCE RESEARCH
IMPLEMENTATION

28. ● Web Analytics UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Traffic Generation,
Automation
● Web Forms UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Automation, Offers
● Automation Tools UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Automation, Offers
● CRM and Sales Databases Automation, Offers
USER DATA
IMPLEMENTATION

29. ● Webmaster Tools UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Traffic Generation
● Keyword Trackers UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Traffic Generation,
Web Content
● UX Tools UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization
● User Testing UX Optimization, Conversion Rate Optimization, Web Content
USER DATA
IMPLEMENTATION

30. RUN. REVIEW.
REACT. REPORT.
THE FOUR R’s OF POST-LAUNCH SUCCESS
4
You’re ready—it’s born to run. React to
opportunities—good and bad—as they
come up. Test what you can. And
always, ALWAYS report on the results
of the campaign.

31. Why do all the work to write out and document your marketing campaigns? Well, if you don’t,
how is everyone on your team going to know the purpose of every touchpoint and activity?
Why implement marketing touchpoints with as much simplicity as possible? How else will you
know what to monitor at each touchpoint, and what to react to in order to adjust or improve
the campaign?
Why is reporting such a big deal if the campaign is set up and running? What are you going to
test and how will you know if such experiments improve or diminish results?
WHY DO ALL THIS WORK?
DOCUMENTATION MATTERS. TRUST ME.

32. Supercharging your automation is
about knowing where things are,
what’s performing, and what to adjust.

33. RESEARCH
STARTS TODAY
KNOW THE KEY
STEPS
DOCUMENT
EVERYTHING. TRUST
ME.
THE 4 R’s: RUN, REVIEW,
REACT, REPORT
THE FOUR THINGS I WANT
YOU TO REMEMBER

34. THANK
YOU!
CONTACT ME:
dustin.clark@elementthree.com
linkedin.com/in/dustinaclark