Purchasing marketing cloud technology is an exciting endeavor for any business. The technology is designed to simplify and streamline previously laborious processes and offer 360 degree insights on customers, prospects and leads. Marketing cloud technology has proven to enhance the customer journey through the creation of 1:1 web experiences in real time. When optimized to the fullest, it takes the grunt work out of lead generation by leveraging rich online visitor into powerful campaigns that resonate and convert.
On the flipside, marketing automation can be a real nightmare—look no further than Hubspot’s Marketing Automation Fails and you’ll see why. Left in the wrong hands marketing cloud technology can exacerbate the very problems you intended to solve. In essence, it is a system that demands expertise from a variety of angles: technological, strategic, and creative. As marketing cloud experts, we’ve seen firsthand how Marketing Automation (MA) can offer false hope for those unarmed to use it well. Marketing cloud technology is capable of transforming your marketing processes— but before you drink the Kool-Aid, let’s conquer 5 marketing automation myths and get you on the fast-track to success:
MYTH #1: “Implementation will be a breeze!”
MYTH DEBUNKED: Purchasing a robust marketing cloud platform is one thing, but implementation is quite another. From system migration and A/B testing through to data integration—the activation process is best left to the professionals. In addition to all the technical demands of implementation, you also need to start strategizing: define your buyer personas and establish a solid lead nurture campaign before you even consider putting your system to work.
MYTH #2: “Marketing automation does all the work for me!”
MYTH DEBUNKED: Over-automation is endemic amongst new, uninformed users of marketing cloud technology. Experiencing the platform for the first time leaves many users with stars in their eyes, dead-set on the belief that automation is the solution to their marketing woes. Marketing cloud technology is not a “set it and forget it” kind of operation. Far from a silo platform, it must work in tandem with the user in order to deliver the desired result. Human management and upkeep is crucial to keeping your marketing cloud platform on the right track— this batch and blast blunder from Domino’s demonstrates why:
Image Source: Hubspot
In the above photo, a customer thanks Domino’s on Facebook for what she calls the “best pizza ever.” The company responds to the compliment with an “I’m sorry” message, which Hubspot argues is “most likely a customer service bot prepared to do some damage control.” In this case, marketing automation actually hurts the customer relationship because it fails to live up to its purpose: to deliver relevant 1:1 experiences. Mindless automation is almost always guaranteed to drive away your customer base— why? The stats speak for themselves:
- 74% of customers become frustrated by irrelevant content on their favorite websites;
- Personalized content yields a 42% higher conversion rate than generic content.
Marketing cloud experts equip new users with the skills and knowledge to avoid automation abuse through their best practice solutions, designed to make the technology work with you in ways that yield impressive results.
MYTH #3: “Marketing cloud technology seems complicated— my marketing team will know what to do!”
MYTH DEBUNKED: While the decision to purchase a marketing cloud platform is usually made by the boardroom big-wigs, it’s the marketing team that will eventually bear the burden of putting the technology to work. The biggest mistake that a business owner can make is to assume that their marketing team or CMO has the necessary skills to optimize the features of the cloud—and you know what happens when you assume…
It is a common misconception that that marketing automation skills, knowledge and best practice are present in every marketer’s arsenal. Wrong. Marketing cloud technology is a fairly emergent innovation with advanced capabilities that not all marketers are equipped to handle. There are entire consultancies dedicated to the training and optimization of such platforms, speaking to the need for specialized expertise when it comes to getting the most out of the investment. They offer comprehensive training programs designed to get the marketing team up to speed as quickly as possible. From the fundamentals of account setup and data management to advanced scripting AMPscript for content automation, a consultancy is the quickest, most cost-effective route to ensuring that your marketing team is ready to take on the Cloud.
MYTH #4: Marketing Automation is just a glorified SPAM tool.
MYTH DEBUNKED: Marketing automation is a bit like science—it can be used for good or evil. Use it for devious purposes and you’ve got a pretty robust email blasting tool on your hands—but don’t come crying to us if you find yourself in legal hot water (spammers, we’re looking at you!). Use it for its intended purposes and you have a feature rich toolkit primed to deliver engaging 1:1 customer journeys. Marketing cloud best practice really comes down to how you leverage your online visitor data—research proves that businesses who use marketing automation as a lead nurture tool achieve a 451% increase in qualified leads. Now get that devil off your shoulder and start using the cloud for a noble cause!
MYTH #5: “My marketing cloud platform is a cross-channel content creation machine! Hold on while I fire my copywriter…”
MYTH DEBUNKED: Before you fire your copywriter, you may want to hear this: marketing cloud technology is NOT a content creation machine—it is a content vehicle, an enabler. As John Muehling of Digital PI so aptly notes: “a key oversight…for marketers who deploy [marketing cloud technology] is the lack of preparedness for the amount of content they will need…once you’ve set up your marketing automation platform, you will need to ‘feed the beast.’”
The increasing popularity of marketing cloud technology has ironically led to greater misconceptions about what the platform can and cannot do. A marketing cloud consultancy enables you to see your marketing automation technology in the best light, amplifying the features that facilitate exponential business growth and arming you with the intelligence to make the platform work for you.
Get in touch with those who know your marketing cloud technology from the inside out— we are Marketing Cloud Experts.
