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MARKETING AUTOMATION PROCESSES
AS A WAY TO IMPROVE CONTEMPORARY
MARKETING OF A COMPANY
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marketing of scientific
and research organizations
MARKETING AUTOMATION PROCESSES AS A WAY TO IMPROVE
CONTEMPORARY MARKETING OF A COMPANY
Witold Świeczak, M.Sc. Eng.
Institute of Aviation in Warsaw, Poland
The main aim of this article is to identify the possibilities which are given to contemporary companies
thanks to the usage of processes included in marketing automation system. This publication deals with
the key aspects of this issue. Its shows how the importance of the organization changes, how its value
increases, as a result of using the tools which are provided by the processes included in the concept of
marketing automation. This article defines the factors and processes which influence an effective course
of actions taken as a part of marketing automation. Because the concept of marketing automation is a
completely new reality; it is giving up the communication based on mass distribution of a uniform
contents for really personalized individual and fully automated communication. This is a completely new
idea, a kind of coexistence, in which both a sales department and a marketing department cooperate with
each other closely to achieve the best result. It is also a situation in which marketing can definitely confirm
its contribution to the income generated by the company. But marketing automation also means huge
analytical possibilities and a real increase of a company's value, its value added generated by the system
— the source of information about clients, about all processes both marketing and sales, taking place in
a company.
The introduction of marketing automation system alters not only the current functioning of a marketing
department, but also marketers themselves. In fact, everything that marketing automation system
provides, including primarily accumulated unique knowledge of the client, is also a critical marketing
value of every modern enterprise.
Abstract
Keywords: marketing automation, lead generation, lead nurtuning, index ROMI
Introduction
The main goal of this paper is to identify possibilities that marketing automation
systems offer to modern organizations. The paper shows that marketing automation
processes can enhance an organization's status and increase its equity. The author has
defined factors and processes that increase the efficiency of activities involved in
marketing automation. Marketing automation ushers in totally new reality where
communication based on mass distribution of a universal message has been
superseded by personalized and fully automated contact with the customer. The
marketing automation concept is centred on the fusion of sales and marketing
departments coupled to produce the best results. At the same time, marketing
automation systems validate the contribution of marketing efforts to profits generated
by the company. Marketing automation means greater analytical capabilities, growth of
a company's equity and added value of knowledge about customers and all
organizational processes.
The Essence, definition and concept of marketing automation
Every industry faces a number of challenges and tasks. One of the most important
is to build lasting customer relationships based on reciprocal communication. In the
time of slow economic growth customer acquisition is becoming an issue of ever
increasing importance. The effective process of customer acquisition involves the ability
to acquire new customers, to optimize customer acquisition costs and to encourage the
customer to make a purchase.
Universal access to the Internet, advancement of new technologies, expansion of
mobile gadgets and continuously changing marketing models all combine to emphasise
the need for integrated marketing automation systems in running effective promotion
campaigns.
This ever widening spectrum of possibilities was discovered ten years ago by US
marketers and led to the development of systems for monitoring the behaviour of e-mail
recipients in the scope considerably larger than measuring simple e-mail click-through
or open rates. This was how marketing automation systems originated. Marketing
automation software tracks the behaviour of e-mail recipients on a given site. The
information obtained allows for identifying recipients' needs and pinpointing the most
interesting elements of the company offer from the point of view of prospects. Thanks
to this information it is possible to tailor the marketing message to the needs of an
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Marketing Automation processes as a way to improve contemporary marketing of a company
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individual prospect and, additionally, to increase the message impact by choosing the
right time to send it.
“A marketing message should attract attention and be easily memorable. It should
also be bald and original and at the same time natural and rational. The most effective
messages are clear, simple and concise. The message should inform about product
features and at the same time sound true and trustworthy. It should express confidence,
respect the recipient and inspire positive sentiments. It mustn't be aggressive. As a result
it is supposed to comply with moral and social norms of behaviour, public opinion and
law.“[2]
Today the Internet has become an integral part of consumer experience, the place
where products and services are actively sought and directly bought. “Shopping
decisions of as many as 90 per cent of buyers are preceded by online research while 70
per cent of buyers track each successive stage of the sales process through dedicated
software or e-mails. Clearly, the Internet is today the central battle field where
companies fight for profits. Researchers at Gartner predict that by 2020 up to 85 per
cent of customer contacts will have been happening without the need for face-to-face
meetings.“[15]
A company's website is a major influence on brand personality, intensifying
consumer experience by means of integrated media that use the synergy of words,
image, colour, sound and movement. A company's website should be user-friendly,
have a clear structure and present information and in a comprehensible and accessible
way. The most effective websites understand their customers and know their needs.
Content is presented in an intuitive way rather than reflecting an institution's
organizational structure.[7]
Expressed in simple terms, marketing automation is a technology that allows
companies to streamline marketing processes, better organize marketing tasks, fully
automate marketing strategies and precisely measure their effectiveness, leading to
increased return on marketing investment (ROMI).[8]
The goal of the marketing automation system is to automate repetitive marketing
tasks. Company-generated content can be provided to prospects by a range of media
including e-mail, social networks, specially designed landing pages or webinars.
Messages reach prospects at an appropriate stage of the purchasing cycle.[16]
Marketing automation capabilities include:
zmaintaining databases of current and prospective customers and mailing lists,
zmonitoring and analysing customer behaviour in mobile applications and on given
websites,
zsegmentation of prospects by age, sex, place of living, interests, etc.,
ze-mail monitoring (measuring open rates),
zmanagement of B2B visits — identifying companies visiting the website,
zautomated management of marketing activities.[17]
Marketing automation systems offer companies a wide range of possibilities. It is
possible to reach out to prospects using multi-channel communication including e-
mails, text messages, audio and video messages, and, finally, through social media or
websites, which generate content in the most dynamic way.
A typical marketing automation system offers a number of functionalities with
reference to both monitoring and reacting to the behaviour of leads.
The most popular marketing automation
functionalities include:
11.. AAccqquuiirriinngg qquuaalliittyy ssaalleess lleeaaddss..Marketing automation software allows tracking
a prospect's behaviour on the net and makes it possible to say how the website was
reached by a given prospect, which content has generated the greatest interest and
what information, product or services are sought by the prospect. This information
enables constructing a relevant offer, whose goal is to attract a prospect's interest
and induce them to give their contact data.
22.. LLeeaadd sseeggmmeennttaattiioonn..Marketing automation processes analyse customer information
in terms of customer interests, demographics, or the readiness to close the
transaction, taking into account the individual character of customer needs and
expectations. This analysis yields personalized customer data used to design an
advertising message which is better tailored to an individual customer's needs and
expectations.
33.. RRuunnnniinngg eeffffeeccttiivvee aaddvveerrtti
issiinngg ccaammppaaiiggnnss cceennttrreedd aarroouunndd rreellaattiioonnsshhiipp mmaarrkkeettiinngg.. At
the heart of relationship marketing is creating and nourishing a reciprocal bond with
current and prospective customers. With high numbers of customers maintaining
individualised customer relationships may pose a real challenge. Marketing
automation tools enables marketers to precisely identify needs of individual
customer, eliminating the risk of mistake and bringing significant time and work
savings.
44.. EEffffeeccttiivvee ccrroossss--sseelllliinngg aanndd uupp--sseelllliinngg.
.Both cross- and up-selling processes can be
streamlined by using marketing automation software which provides quick access to
prospect databases and helps construct personalized offers.
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Marketing Automation processes as a way to improve contemporary marketing of a company
55.. PPrreecciissee mmeeaassuurreemmeenntt ooff tthhee eeffffeeccttiivveenneessss ooff mmaarrkkeettiinngg aaccttiivviittyy aanndd RROOMMII..
Marketing automation tools enable a more accurate measurement of an advertising
campaign's effectiveness and a better estimation of the return on the marketing
investment. Marketing automation software can be used for example to calculate
sales lead acquisition costs, number of prospects converted to leads and sales as
well as to measure the effectiveness of individual marketing channels and website
content attractiveness. Analysis of the data obtained helps optimize marketing
activity by modifying or terminating less effective campaigns and introducing
improved solutions.
The growing interest in marketing automation seems to be indicative
of the appearance of an entirely new area of marketing activities. The new
possibilities are shifting customer communication towards one-to-one contacts,
validating the contribution that the marketing department makes to a company's
value.
Changes in customer communication relate first and foremost to the possibility
of tracking customer behaviour on a website and creating personalized messages.
Marketing automation tools enable marketers to track a customer's journey to online
purchase from the first visit to a company's website to making a purchase. The
customer journey starts with a prospect clicking on an e-mail message, filling in
a registration form, or reacting to any other company-generated content, and ends
with closing the deal. Marketing automation systems can track the whole process
while data gathered is used to build a customer profile. Tracking the customer
journey enables marketers to determine the effectiveness of solutions used and
choose the best one.
Marketing automation systems make it possible for marketers to send personalized,
non-invasive messages at the right time. Marketing automation replaces mass
distribution of messages with one-to-one communication without compromising the
quality of the marketing process. Solutions provided by marketing automation can be
also employed by sales teams. Sales people can access information about a prospect's
needs and interests ahead of initiating direct contact by phone or in person. Information
made available by marketing automation systems enables sales people to prepare for
a conversation with a prospect.
According to a report conducted by eMarketer, Email Benchmarks: Key Metrics and
Trends for 2013, opening rates for marketing e-mails seem to be at a historical peak.
The most remarkable increase, by 8% compared to the analogical period in 2011, has
been noted for opening rates via mobile phones (smart phones).
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Picture 1. Growth of open rates for marketing e-mails for three types of devices
Source: Knotice, Mobile Email Opens Report, April 2012 and February 2013.
Moreover, the report points out that opening rates are higher for personalised
messages generated with marketing automation tools, reaching the rate of 50% in the
first quarter of 2013.[10]
The main components
of the marketing automation process
zLLeeaadd ggeenneerraattiioonn
The main area of activities relating to marketing are platforms offering complex
services for advertising campaigns designed with marketing automation tools. The
overall goal of these platforms is to facilitate lead generation, which is the most
important process of modern marketing.
Lead generation is a marketing tool used for acquiring new customers. In simple
terms, a lead is a person or a company interested in buying a product or service. So
a lead is a prospective customer or a new market for an organization.[19]
Leads are characterized by different levels of purchase intent. We distinguish three
types of leads correlated with the level of purchase intent:
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Marketing Automation processes as a way to improve contemporary marketing of a company
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
2012
2011
73%
59%
29%
12%
tablets
mobile
phones
stationary
computers
21%
7%
zHot or short leads have the highest level of purchase intent. A prospective
customer expects to buy outright while the transaction is closed in the shortest
possible time.
zWarm or lukewarm leads are prospects interested in specific products or services.
The transaction however may be delayed. Warm leads can be converted to hot
leads through the company's efforts to sustain communication with prospective
buyers.
zCold or long leads refer to prospects who at a given moment are not interested in
any product or service. However, they can be potentially converted into buyers since
they fit in with the target customer profile. Cold leads do not require the sales
department to take an immediate action. In the long-term perspective, cold leads
can be converted into sales by going all the way to lukewarm to hot leads.
Lead generation starts with obtaining contact data from a prospect interested in
a given industry, product or service. Until recently this process involved traditional
methods such as telemarketing, advertising, product presentation, word of mouth and
referrals.
The internet is becoming an increasingly popular source of information. In Poland,
nearly half the nation or about 17 million people are internet users. Some 80 per cent
of them rely on the Internet for obtaining information about products and services. Lead
generation tools have had to accommodate this expansion, leading to growing
popularity of web-based platforms such as services sourcing leads from multiple
channels, lead generation databases, SEO and SEM, and applications for sourcing
leads from the Internet.
The pressure to acquire an ever greater number of new customers in the shortest
possible time is increasingly causing organizations to outsource lead generation to
external companies. Companies specialising in lead generation may sell leads through
one-off transactions or on a continuous basis through lead generation platforms and
portals, which seems to be of greater value from the point of view of the continuity of
an organization's development.
The Internet has enhanced the efficacy of lead generation as a marketing tool. It is
also important to note that lead generation allows for an easy verification of both the
return on investment and the effectiveness of actions taken. The higher the quality of
leads, the higher the number of sales or closed transactions.[19]
Lead generation is closely related to inbound marketing. “Inbound marketing is
opposed to outbound marketing, a traditional form of communication based on
pushing the information or marketing message out to a potential customer. Inbound
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marketing focuses on web-based activities guiding customers towards the content of
interest. When seeking the content they are interested in, potential consumers are taken
to the message sender.“[14]
The adequate application of the lead generation process contributes to considerably
increased profits of an organization as well as to generating significant savings
compared to the classic outbound methods such as using banners or advertising spots
on television. “According to a study by HubSpot, the average inbound lead cost is $135
compared to $346 spent on an outbound lead — which represents a 60% difference.
In addition, inbound leads are converted into buyers eight times as often as those
generated by outbound sources. The main reason for this situation is consumers' being
bored with traditional forms of advertising. As many as 86 per cent of surveyed people
switch TV channels during advertising spots while 44 per cent treat e-mail offers as
spam. So it comes as no surprise that marketing resources spent on blogs and social
media have tripled in recent years.“[15]
Lead generation is largely achieved through contact forms on a company's web page,
affiliation programmes and telemarketing. A major issue with lead generation is that lead
quality isn't sometimes high enough to be turned into increased sales. As a result, trade and
sales departments receive contacts to underinformed prospects or, even worse, prospects
with no interest whatsoever in the product offered. In these circumstances marketers need
to be prepared to handle prospects in such a way that they are led down the sales funnel
by advancing them to higher levels of sales process. This can be achieved by offering
relevant information and eliminating poor quality leads interested in other products.
zLLeeaadd nnuurrttuurriinngg
Lead nurturing is a new approach to running marketing campaigns whose goal is
to qualify prospects to making a purchase.[18]
Lead nurturing (“clinging on to customers“, “beating customer paths“) consists in
acquiring a prospective customer (a lead) and consistently leading them through
a multi-stage process to making a purchase. The end result of effective lead nurturing
is a customer satisfied with the purchase made and fully aware of why and for what
purposes they made a purchase. [20]
Lead nurturing involves integrated marketing activities aimed at converting
a prospect into a buyer. Using previously acquired customer data, lead nurturing
involves providing leads with relevant information until they are qualified to be handed
down to sales team as prospective customers. Lead nurturing is essential for taking full
advantage of possibilities opened up by lead generation. Lead generation which is not
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Marketing Automation processes as a way to improve contemporary marketing of a company
followed by lead nurturing will not bring the desired results. It is not sufficient to obtain
a filled-in contact data form as a substantial proportion of leads generated at this stage
are not ready to make a purchase. The basic objective of efforts centred on lead
nurturing is to advance leads to the level where they are ready to be handed to the sales
team as prospective customers.
Objectives of lead nurturing:
MMaaiinnttaaiinniinngg ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn wwiitthh pprroossppeeccttss..It is commonly known that sustaining
communication with the customer is the only way to sell a product or service. In case
a prospective customer is not interested in starting a relationship and decides to take
him/herself off the subscribers' list or chooses not to click on the marketing message,
the marketing automation system will not classify him/her as a sales lead to be at a later
stage contacted by a sales team.
OOffffeerriinngg rreelleevvaanntt ccoonntteenntt ttoo aapprroossppeeccttiivvee bbuuyyeerr..Through offering non-invasive
content lead nurturing provides prospects with relevant information, factual data and
ideas helpful in leading prospects down the sales funnel to closing a deal.
GGa
auuggiinngg tthhee ooppttiimmaall ttiimmee ffoorr mmaakkiinngg aassaallee..Consumer bahaviour analysis based on
the data acquired through lead nurturing makes it possible to identify the trigger points
— the right times to approach a prospective customer. A decision to approach a prospect
may be informed by the overall customer engagement evaluation based on customer
behaviour observed on the web site or triggered by the customer's expression of special
interest in a particular component of the company offer, reflecting a prospect's rank in
the purchase readiness module of the marketing automation system.
The latest research conducted for US markets, where lead nurturing technologies
have been applied for years and continue to expand rapidly, has revealed that lead
nurturing brings measurable benefits. Marketing directors who use lead nurturing
achieve higher return on investment in customer acquisition.[20]
MarketingSherpa conducted a study into the most significant trends in top-quality
lead acquisition. The most extensive so far, the study involved data concerning 1, 915
organizations. The study describes a spectrum of different types of lead generation
technologies and database systems.
The study has concluded that:
zautomated e-mail marketing remains the most popular channel of communication
with the customer,
zinfographics and podcasts are the least effective,
zB2B communication has a preference for educational materials, articles and
webinars.
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Picture 2. Average ROI in percentage terms for companies running lead nurturing campaigns
Source: ©2012 MarketingSherpa Lead Generation Benchmark Survey Methodology: Fielded January 2012.
Picture 3. The most effective channels used in Lead Nurturing
Source: ©2012 MarketingSherpa Lead Generation Benchmark Survey, Methodology: Fielded January 2012.
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Yes
No
Podcasts
Infographics
Self-promotional content
Teleprospecting calla
Research-based content
Direct mail
Sales calla
Blogs
Webinars
Educational materials
White papers
Newsletters
A study into the effectiveness of lead nurturing programs conducted by Forrester
Research has found that “a well-designed lead nurturing program may raise lead
conversion rates by up to 50% while reducing lead acquisition costs by up to
70%.“[13]
The most important conclusions come however from the 2011 B2B Benchmark
Survey carried out by MarketingSherpa, which reveals that the top-priority challenges
faced by business companies today are those related to reducing customer acquisition
costs and continuous improvement of sales activities.
Performance indicators
and marketing automation systems
Marketing automation systems offer a range of tools increasing customer
acquisition and engagement levels. As well as facilitating customer communication,
marketing automation processes also lead to improved work efficiency.
The following parameters should be considered when defining the key performance
indicators with respect to marketing automation:
ze-mail marketing effectiveness: OR, CTR, conversion rates,
zROMI,
zsales conversion,
zMQL, SQL and SAL.
These metrics do matter and should be considered. This said, it is important to
note that marketing automation capabilities go far beyond the scope covered by the
key performance indicators. The role of the KPIs is to support strategic and
operational objectives of an organization. “As the tools for the objective work
efficiency evaluation, key performance indicators encourage a strong focus on the
results. KPIs can be effectively used by managers to control business performance.
These metrics facilitate the decision-making process, task prioritization and
troubleshooting. But the most important advantage of using KPIs is that they permit
continuous improvement and control of disparate processes within an
organization.“[23]
It is possible to define KPIs in terms of:
ztime needed to approach a lead,
znumber of tasks being completed over a given time frame,
ztime needed to proceed to the next stage of the process,
ztime needed to complete the whole process.
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Thus marketing automation systems are capable of streamlining marketing and sales
processes as well as lead management in after-sales operations. Moreover, marketing
automation facilitates control and continuous improvement of the whole business
process within an organization.
Conclusions
Marketing automation embraces the whole spectrum of marketing channels and
strategies ranging from e-mail marketing and telemarketing to the efforts that tap into
the potential of social media and content marketing. Marketing automation platforms
include systems for customer relationship management and sales lead management as
well as other analytical platforms for monitoring and evaluation of marketing
campaigns. As with any technology, marketing automation software can be exploited
for dishonest marketing practices, e.g. spamming. However, contrary to spam
messages, messages generated by marketing automation systems are based on the
idea of a two-way communication and are consequently more personalised and
beneficial for both sides of the communication process. Behavioural monitoring allows
for constructing an offer that meets a prospective customer's real needs.
The assumptions of the marketing automation process modernise advertising
campaigns run by companies, generating the return on investment that is significantly
higher than that obtained with classic marketing tools. However, to achieve improved
business results it is necessary to develop an appropriate strategy, to monitor
a company's performance and be able to draw constructive conclusions that are in turn
used for the development of the most advantageous modifications and new high-
efficiency solutions.
The implementation of a marketing automation system changes the operation
model of the marketing department and transforms the marketer him/herself. For the
capabilities of marketing automation including in particular the unique knowledge
about customers represent a critical marketing value for any modern organization.
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WWiittoolldd ŚŚwwiieecczzaakk,, MM..SScc.. EEnngg..— engineer, graduate of Environmental Protection at the Faculty of Energy
and Environmental Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology. He works for the Institute of
Aviation in the department of marketing as a project manager. He deals with analyzing research market
and the aerospace sector. He is specialized in inbound marketing. Moreover, he manages guerilla and
ambient marketing activities as well as charitable activities of the Institute of Aviation. He is responsible
for the activities of Corporate Social Responsibility.
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