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Read moreMina Saleeb, Global Director of Marketing Automation
The majority of businesses now use marketing automation – 76%, according to recent research – but it can still offer a major point of difference against your competitors. According to our own report, only 11% believe they’re using marketing automation in an ‘extremely effective’ manner.
If that resonates and your Marketing Automation Platform (MAP) is being used as a glorified email outbound system, you’re missing out on a huge amount of value. And revenue. And growth.
Let’s get your marketing automation out of first gear by exploring four major MAP capabilities that you could be employing – but probably aren’t.
First impressions matter in the digital ecosystem. Your MAP should not only help send emails, but ensure that they land where and when they’re supposed to. With Custom IP and IP Warming strategies, your MAP can gradually build your reputation as a trusted email sender so that you can incrementally increase deliverability.
Building this sender reputation is crucial as it makes sure Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email platforms recognize your emails are legitimate, and more importantly, wanted by their recipients. It’ll reduce the risk of your outbound comms being flagged as spam, thereby increasing metrics across the board to improve your return on marketing investment. Alternatively, if getting content ready in the first place is your main challenge, we’ve got a Content Supply Chain solution for you.
The rift between sales and marketing might be cliché, but it’s a revenue risk if it’s inhibiting campaign production or lead management. When integrated correctly, your MAP can help to smooth things over.
Integrations between your MAP, such as Marketo Engage, and your CRM, such as Salesforce (SFDC) ensure that real-time insights and customer data transfer seamlessly between your two major digital platforms. That’s a unified ‘customer 360’ view common to both sales and marketing.
Moreover, automated lead management will establish a clear criteria for lead scoring and improve hand-off so that only qualified leads reach sales. By respecting their time and optimizing their respective efforts, you can achieve revenue-driving harmony between marketing and sales.
Building bespoke lead scoring systems and integrating core business platforms is an area of proven expertise for Bluprintx, so you can see this in action through key case studies including our tenfold MQL increase for Tiqets.
You should have a solid understanding of your audience and its personas – but when was that assumed wisdom last challenged?
Your MAP can provide an automated, objective segmentation of your audience based on behavior, demographics and buying signals. Many of these platforms now draw on AI models to support segmentation and can also provide a set of personas based on your customer data. So while you may already have an idea of audience profiles, leveraging this functionality you already have access to could open up new marketing and sales opportunities.
You can also set up automated triggers to support personalized marketing – built around your newly segmented lists, should you find value in them. With a relatively low time investment, you can enable personalized customer journeys that respond to leads in real time, delivering ‘always on’ marketing that outstrips your competitors.
Marketing Automation Platforms add value for businesses of all sizes. Not all teams have a dedicated email specialist, coding skillset, or graphic designer. But by setting up smart and accessible templates up front, you can make it easier for internal teams to roll out campaigns quickly. That can include new templates with bespoke plug-and-play modules, and a series of standardized processes to support them. Once automation processes are agreed, new content can be incorporated into tried-and-tested automation models.
With templates set up and dedicated training from your chosen partner, you can build self-serve capabilities in your team and reduce reliance on third parties for new campaigns.
So, is your Marketing Automation Platform filling all these roles? Because if you’re licensing popular platforms like Marketo Engage, HubSpot, Eloqua and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, chances are you’re already paying for the functionality.
Unlocking the potential of your marketing automation platform is one of the single most transformative projects you can undertake – and if you’re not sure where to start, we can help. Visit our dedicated hub for Marketing Automation or Marketo Engage specifically, and when you’re ready, simply tell us about your goals to get started.
