Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Implementing A New Marketing Automation Platform

Research shows that the adoption of marketing automation has increased by over 50% in the last year and is expected to grow exponentially within the next year. 

However, just like with any marketing platform, there are pitfalls that you can avoid when implementing a new marketing automation platform. These include: 

1.    Failure to align your marketing and sales

Research shows that businesses that fail to align their marketing and sales when adopting marketing automation often realise lower or even negative return on investment. This is tragic since marketing automation platforms are intended to help increase sales and ultimately profits for the company. 
Your sales and marketing teams should agree on lead definitions. The team leading your Marketing Automation implementation should be in constant communication with members from both Sales and Marketing. They should work through what constitutes a quality lead, expectations on lead volume and velocity and the type of leads Sales has the capacity and incentive to serve. The marketing team should also rely on constant feedback from sales, so as to use this information to create the ideal nurturing campaigns.

A good marketing automation software is not enough on its own. You will need the right sales and marketing teams working together for successful implementation.

2.    Assuming that a new platform will sort out all your issues

No matter how excellent a marketing automation platform is, it cannot make up for deficient internal processes. It’s an automated platform, not magic. A lot of effort has to be put into the marketing strategy and planning so that your implementation can be a success. 
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Since a marketing automation platform is a tool used by a long chain of individuals in a business, it is important that every individual in the chain does their job well so that overall success can be achieved. If any team member or groups of teams are slacking, irrespective of how sound the automation platform is, your business will not yield the desired results.

3.    Failure to produce up to date content that is relevant

Do not be deceived, content is a major component of marketing automation. The marketing content is what fuels your marketing automation platform so that it keeps going. Ensure that your automation platform is smoothly running by creating content that provides balanced information about the business and products and services offered. Including white papers, informative eBooks, research reports, infographics and other content is extremely valuable as well.

Watching out for this pitfalls is one step towards realising the successful implementation of marketing automation tools. However, let’s face it, it’s not as easy as black and white. That is why Collagis is dedicated to bringing your workforce effectiveness tools to the marketing automation transformation. Collagis will help make your marketing automation journey seamless and successful by bringing to your best practice change, program management toolkits, approaches, and processes, which they then customise to suit the needs of your business and to address the marketing automation challenges

Want to know more about how to effectively manage Marketing Automation change? For more information on Collagis and our services, email sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au. We'd love to hear from you.