How to Implement Marketing Automation in 5 Easy Steps

You’ve won over your stakeholders and got budgets signed off. Welcome to the world of Marketing Automation! But where to start? As powerful, intelligent and time-saving as these tools are, you cannot just switch them on and go.

Implementing any new system requires planning, thought and good management to make sure the whole business reaps all the possible benefits, both short-term and long-term.

With over 60 Account Engagement implementations under our belts, we’ve devised the perfect recipe for making sure everyone in your business sees results from Day 1.

1. Get the right team together

Involving the right people in your implementation is crucial to keep everything moving and preventing key decisions from being held up. Everyone should know why you are using Marketing Automation, what their role in the project will be now and in the future, and what the benefits are for them and their team.

Key contacts to include are:

• Marketing Team – anyone who’ll be using the system day-to-day
• IT/Technical Team – someone who can manage the technical setup
• CRM Administrator – make sure someone in the project knows how your CRM is set up
• Sales Managers – keeping sales involved allows them input on the lead management process and improves adoption

Collaboration and input from all teams will really help in getting Marketing Automation to work for your whole business, not just for Marketing.

2. Define your goals and priorities

When starting out with Marketing Automation, it’s critical to identify what is really important to get done immediately and what is a long term goal. There is so much functionality, that it would be impossible to do it all at once. It is far better to get a few things done excellently and then progress into other areas, than to try and do everything half-baked.

So have the discussion and make the decision. Maybe you want to get webinar forms up and running ASAP, but social campaigns are a long-term goal. Perhaps you have an onboarding nurture program you’re itching to get out the door and would rather spend time on PPC landing pages when you’re more confident. Whatever your priorities, make sure everyone is on board and you’ve considered short, medium and long term goals.

3. Training

If you have worked with Nebula before, this may begin to sound a bit like a broken record, but we can’t tell you enough just how important training is. People won’t use a tool they don’t understand and you’ll never get the most out of it if no-one is quite sure what they’re doing.

Identify what the system is capable of and how each team can use Marketing Automation properly to achieve their business goals and support the whole company. This includes things like naming conventions and internal processes.

Different teams will require a different approach to training. Sell the benefits, ensure all teams know what they should be using it for, and you’ll have a productive, engaged workforce in no time.

4. Find a piece of paper!

Or whiteboard, flipchart, glass wall – whatever’s handy really. In a digital world, do not underestimate the power of putting pen to paper. Before you start building your emails, forms, lists etc., you need to know what the overall aim is. What’s your customer journey? When do leads get passed to sales? Which messaging should prospects receive and when?

Sit down as a project team and map out the customer journey and lead processes. This will help you to visualise what you need and make sure everyone is working towards the same goal. It’ll also help to identify any possible problem points.

Once the journey is mapped, you can plan the required assets – lists, email templates, content etc. – and the operations that need to be set up – lead assignments, nurture programs etc.. Now, all teams understand the customer journey and their role in it.

5. Iteration and constant improvement

You can’t do everything all at once, so it’s important to keep reviewing and evolving to make sure you are always improving and expanding your use of Marketing Automation.

Book a recurring monthly or quarterly meeting to review your marketing strategy and plan actions for the next month/quarter. Use up-to-date reports to suggest achievable improvements and select one or two bigger goals for the longer term. A mixture of quantitative data and anecdotal evidence/best practice materials will allow you to focus your efforts on areas that will have the most impact on your performance.

By constantly thinking about what you can do better and learning from your interactions, you can continue to develop an excellent marketing strategy and find new, innovative ways to leverage Marketing Automation.

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Although implementation requires some hard work, collaboration and dedication, it doesn’t have to be a headache. By taking time to plan properly and involve the right people at the right times, you can make Marketing Automation start working for you very quickly.