SUCCESSFUL MARKETING

AUTOMATION

“A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique”- Michael Porter

OVERVIEWMarketing Automation has gained steady traction in the priorities of Marketing Decision makers. While there are numerous facts and figures that extol the virtues and success of marketing turnarounds enabled through automation, this whitepaper brings to fore the importance of automation done right.

Marketing Automation can lead to successful turna-rounds if done right, and this whitepaper aims to highlight how Marketing Automation is subject to multiple points of vulnerability and what needs should be addressed when considering automation.

Typically, Marketing Automation is the last mile in any CRM implementation. The term Marketing Automa-tion itself has been misinterpreted to mean email automation. And the web is full of references on

Marketing Automation being synonymous with email automation; by definition this is too narrow and not correct.

Email automation may be considered as marketing automation for brands that do single outbound channel (i.e.) email. True marketing automation is about multi-channels and silos within single channels being automated. The term marketing automation as used in this whitepaper connotes such multi-channel automation initiatives.

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IT’S HARDLY SURPRIS-ING TO SEE THAT MARKETING AUTO-MATION HAS BECOME PIVOTAL TO THE SUCCESS OF CRM INITIATIVES.

01................................................. Marketing automation complements CRM initiatives

and helps mechanize the logistics for base marketing campaigns. It’s hardly surprising to see that marketing automation has become pivotal to the success of CRM initiatives.

A recent study by Merkle reveals that 63% of CRM initiatives fail and we believe a major reason for this is the inability of the brands to successfully automate the marketing function based on the CRM initiatives.

Marketing Automation done right is a continuous and overarching process that spans across the various customer life-stages from consideration to usage and beyond.

Given below are the key benefits that are expected from any marketing automation project:

● Ability to increase marketing velocity facilitated by multi-channel, multi-wave lights out campaigns

● Ability to segment audience and reach out to the right audience with right offer at the right time through the right channel

● Ability to understand customer responses and build predictive response systems to improve campaign efficiency

● Ability to enable the marketing resources to focus on strategic issues rather than concen-trating on operational challenges

Having embarked on marketing automation, market-ers face 3 broad phases:

● Identification

● Implementation and Configuration

● Stability and scale

HubSpot HubSpot

Action

Eloqua

Eloqua Eloq

ua Manticore Technology

Manticore Technology

Manticore Technology

Manticore TechnologySignal

SignalSignal

LeadLife

UnicaUnica

Unica

Unica

HubSpot

HubSpot

HubSpot

Action

Silverpop

Silverpop

Silverpop

Tera

Dat

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TeraData

Marketing Automation has gained steady traction in the priorities of Marketing Decision makers. While there are numerous facts and figures that extol the virtues and success of marketing turnarounds enabled through automation, this whitepaper brings to fore the importance of automation done right.

Marketing Automation can lead to successful turna-rounds if done right, and this whitepaper aims to highlight how Marketing Automation is subject to multiple points of vulnerability and what needs should be addressed when considering automation.

Typically, Marketing Automation is the last mile in any CRM implementation. The term Marketing Automa-tion itself has been misinterpreted to mean email automation. And the web is full of references on

Marketing Automation being synonymous with email automation; by definition this is too narrow and not correct.

Email automation may be considered as marketing automation for brands that do single outbound channel (i.e.) email. True marketing automation is about multi-channels and silos within single channels being automated. The term marketing automation as used in this whitepaper connotes such multi-channel automation initiatives.

Marketing automation complements CRM initiatives and helps mechanize the logistics for base marketing campaigns. It’s hardly surprising to see that marketing automation has become pivotal to the success of CRM initiatives.

A recent study by Merkle reveals that 63% of CRM initiatives fail and we believe a major reason for this is the inability of the brands to successfully automate the marketing function based on the CRM initiatives.

Marketing Automation done right is a continuous and overarching process that spans across the various customer life-stages from consideration to usage and beyond.

Given below are the key benefits that are expected from any marketing automation project:

● Ability to increase marketing velocity facilitated by multi-channel, multi-wave lights out campaigns

● Ability to segment audience and reach out to the right audience with right offer at the right time through the right channel

● Ability to understand customer responses and build predictive response systems to improve campaign efficiency

● Ability to enable the marketing resources to focus on strategic issues rather than concen-trating on operational challenges

Having embarked on marketing automation, market-ers face 3 broad phases:

● Identification

● Implementation and Configuration

● Stability and scale

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IDENTIFICATIONRegardless of the vertical, marketing goals and technologies being considered, an extensive due diligence and identification of the automation platform is critical. Choice of the marketing platform should take into consideration an understanding of the marketing goals to be achieved, understanding of existing systems in house, the type of data that is generated and the compatibility between the existing system and the new systems for a seamless integra-tion without any disruptions to business continuity.

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THE RIGHT PARTNER BRINGS NOT JUST A SINGLE PLATFORM EXPERIENCE BUT HAS THE COMPETENCE TO SPAN THE CATEGORY AND HAS DEMONSTRATED COMPETENCE WITH WORKAROUNDS IN THE PAST.

Drawing from Xerago’s experience, a major Internet brand in India had invested significantly in a leading enterprise level marketing automation suite after months of due diligence against the best of breed competing alternates. As part of the roadmap at the pre-implementation stage, database migration was identified. Given the business continuity and cost/-time sync the business case for automation was under threat owing to the database migration.

partner or vendor. The right partner brings not just a single platform experience but has the competence to span the category and has demonstrated compe-tence with workarounds in the past.

While organizations go above and beyond in identifying functions and mapping them to the business goals, but choices made solely on these capabilities fail to achieve the desired outcomes due to technology mismatches and the expensive downtimes that occur due to unforeseen upgrades and maintenance.

The inability of the Marketing Automation platform to integrate with the existing database led to the logjam. Thankfully, Xerago resolved the issue by tooling at the configuration level, rather than a database migration. The key takeout here for organizations is to acknowledge that a large enterprise wide marketing automa-tion project has the potential to spring surprises, and plan for mitigation of such surprises by working with the right

Drawing from Xerago’s experience, a major Internet brand in India had invested significantly in a leading enterprise level marketing automation suite after months of due diligence against the best of breed competing alternates. As part of the roadmap at the pre-implementation stage, database migration was identified. Given the business continuity and cost/-time sync the business case for automation was under threat owing to the database migration.

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partner or vendor. The right partner brings not just a single platform experience but has the competence to span the category and has demonstrated compe-tence with workarounds in the past.

The inability of the Marketing Automation platform to integrate with the existing database led to the logjam. Thankfully, Xerago resolved the issue by tooling at the configuration level, rather than a database migration. The key takeout here for organizations is to acknowledge that a large enterprise wide marketing automa-tion project has the potential to spring surprises, and plan for mitigation of such surprises by working with the right

IMPLEMENTATION AND CONFIGURATIONThe marketing automation implementation process itself requires a credible partner whose strong expertise in enterprise class implementations is a key determinant of project success. Organizations must choose implementation partners based on criteria that would justify their presence in projects of such scale.

A classic case of partner-client mismatch occurred at a major Asian bank which chose a vendor with little experience in enterprise wide implementation of complex automation tools. The result was a failed implementation with a test server instance of the marketing automation platform. For an extended amount of time, the marketing team at the bank was not able to use the marketing automation platform.

Xerago’s appointment as a marketing partner for the bank was primarily aimed at getting a Go Live status on the incurred marketing capex. The CxO team at the helm of the bank had almost written off the investment in the marketing automation platform and sought some recovery. Xerago not just got it to work

but also ensured a stable working model leveraging all the features of the marketing automation platform.

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ORGANIZATIONS MUST CHOOSE IM-PLEMENTATION PARTNERS BASED ON CRITERIA THAT WOULD JUSTIFY THEIR PRESENCE IN PROJECTS OF SUCH SCALE.

Hence, to make the marketing automation project a huge success, organizations must look out for the following while choosing marketing automation implementation partner.

● MARKETING KNOWLEDGEThough the implementation partner should be strong in technology, understanding of market-ing customer lifecycle is key for marketing automation success. An implementation partner with strong marketing background would be able to foresee various marketing campaigns that may be planned in the future and would ensure the marketing automation software is implemented properly to ensure everything is configured properly and integra-tion of various sources is complete to provide required inputs for future campaigns.

● Analytics Experience

A partner with extensive multi-channel campaign management experience and strong expertise in marketing analytics would help brands successfully continue the momentum post implementation.

● TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE

The partner should have a strong knowledge on tools, process, marketing automation technologies and project management. A partner with hands on experience in implementing and managing the marketing automation for several brands would be an indispensable guide during implementation.

● Domain Knowledge

The partner should possess a strong knowledge of the client’s vertical and understand the various intricacies and dynamics to ensure the investment on marketing automation is completely leveraged. A partner who understands the client’s vertical would be able to understand various sources where customer data gets generated, which could well be used for analytics post completing the implementation.

Hence, to make the marketing automation project a huge success, organizations must look out for the following while choosing marketing automation implementation partner.

● MARKETING KNOWLEDGEThough the implementation partner should be strong in technology, understanding of market-ing customer lifecycle is key for marketing automation success. An implementation partner with strong marketing background would be able to foresee various marketing campaigns that may be planned in the future and would ensure the marketing automation software is implemented properly to ensure everything is configured properly and integra-tion of various sources is complete to provide required inputs for future campaigns.

● Analytics Experience

A partner with extensive multi-channel campaign management experience and strong expertise in marketing analytics would help brands successfully continue the momentum post implementation.

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● TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE

The partner should have a strong knowledge on tools, process, marketing automation technologies and project management. A partner with hands on experience in implementing and managing the marketing automation for several brands would be an indispensable guide during implementation.

● Domain Knowledge

The partner should possess a strong knowledge of the client’s vertical and understand the various intricacies and dynamics to ensure the investment on marketing automation is completely leveraged. A partner who understands the client’s vertical would be able to understand various sources where customer data gets generated, which could well be used for analytics post completing the implementation.

STABILITY AND SCALEA common misconception among organizations consid-ering or even in the midst of an automation implementa-tion is that project success is defined by the go live or production state timelines. While the time to go live can be considered as an indicator of software implementa-tion phase success, it is not indicative of the marketing automation platform initiative success. It is not enough that the tools and technologies are in place but an ability to leverage the automation platform and derive maxi-mum value is the true hallmark of success.

A marketing automation initiative should be considered a failure if the intended marketing goals are not achieved. Typically improving marketing velocity by x% or an ability to execute closed loop automated campaigns is consid-ered as end state. Unfortunately most of such failures are contributed by factors outside actual implementation of the marketing automation solution.

In our experience spanning over a decade we have seen that every automation initiative brings about a change. At times the change is radical and sometimes it is not so radical, nevertheless change is imminent. Given below are the key aspects where one witness change

07................................................. A MARKETING

AUTOMATION INITIATIVE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A FAILURE IF THE INTENDED MARKET-ING GOALS ARE NOT ACHIEVED.

● Roles

As a logical offshoot of process change, the roles and responsibilities of people within the market-ing ecosystem undergo a change. Primarily this is essential to ensure a working automation platform.

● Chart / Structure

At an organization structure level changes are imminent as they provide the executive sanction for stable and continuing automation initiatives. Every line and staff function within the marketing ecosystem experiences change that brings about parity in authority and responsibility which is essential for the

Best practices on using the marketing automation solution should be communicated to the end users of the solution and this important asset would be possessed by vendors and consultants who have worked across generations of marketing automation solutions.

● Process

Right from planning to execution and moni-toring of marketing activities the process undergoes change. With the introduction of the automation platform the workflow, methodologies and activities need change. It is probably the best time for organizations to usher in global best practices and streamline the marketing process flows.

For example, a major Asian telco had successfully implemented a campaign automation platform to run multi-channel campaigns. Despite the campaign auto-mation platform being available, the client was not able to increase the velocity beyond a point. This was due to non-standardized campaign processes and ignorance to best practices. Post Xerago intervention, the client was able to scale up its marketing velocity by more than 2X. By re-engineering their processes and introducing best practices, Xerago helped the Telco major realize the untapped potential of its campaign automation platform.

● Roles

As a logical offshoot of process change, the roles and responsibilities of people within the market-ing ecosystem undergo a change. Primarily this is essential to ensure a working automation platform.

● Chart / Structure

At an organization structure level changes are imminent as they provide the executive sanction for stable and continuing automation initiatives. Every line and staff function within the marketing ecosystem experiences change that brings about parity in authority and responsibility which is essential for the

Best practices on using the marketing automation solution should be communicated to the end users of the solution and this important asset would be possessed by vendors and consultants who have worked across generations of marketing automation solutions.

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● Process

Right from planning to execution and moni-toring of marketing activities the process undergoes change. With the introduction of the automation platform the workflow, methodologies and activities need change. It is probably the best time for organizations to usher in global best practices and streamline the marketing process flows.

● Culture

Automation by definition improves the opera-tional efficiency quotient, and is ongoing and continuous. Organizations that embrace marketing automation are culturally oriented towards a change led improvement culture. Entities culturally resisting change find it hard to make marketing automation work, since poor adoption directly impacts the success or failure of marketing automation initiatives.

CONCLUSIONIn conclusion we believe that marketing automation is not about buying fancy software or tools. It’s an enterprise wide impacting revenue maximizer which done right leads to remarkable results. And at each phase Identification, Implementation and Configura-tion and Stability and Scale have their own set of challenges which needs to navigate for organizations to truly benefit.

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ABOUT XERAGO

Xerago is a Customer Value Maximization company that helps its customers maximizes the value they derive from their customers. We help marketers leverage investments in technology, creative and existing marketing assets. Xerago touches over 500 Million customers every day with its marketing interventions.

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