Marketing automation. It’s one of those ideas that I disagree with on every level.
As with any trend in marketing, automation has become seen as something necessary simply because it’s there and everyone else is doing it, or at least they’re trying to.
But once you really look at it, automation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – not by a long shot.
1-2-1 Marketing Engagement
Firstly, marketing automation is completely out of touch with everything else that’s going on in marketing right now. Although it can be good to stand out, automation goes too far against the grain of widely accepted marketing practices.
Consider email. Or events. And social. Account-based marketing too. These all focus on 1-2-1 engagement, and that’s the key to success in modern marketing.
If buyers want to engage on a personalised, 1-2-1 basis, how on earth does it make sense to try and group them together – usually based on something trivial like an article they have downloaded from your website – and emailing them to death?
I mean, is anyone actually going to be interested in 4, 5 or even 6 emails from you about how great your product or service is? And do you really expect there to be a pot of sales-ready opportunities sitting there at the end?
Over-Extending the Sales Pipeline
Speaking of the end – when is that? Six months down the line? You don’t need me to tell you that’s far too long for effective marketing.
My bet is that all you’ll end up with is a pot of disgruntled prospects who have all bought elsewhere.
Not only will the business lose money in the planning and execution of automation, the leads that you could have generated have all disappeared, going to your competitors no less.
This leaves you, in the wake of a less-than-successful marketing campaign, looking at other ways to fill your sales pipeline, with a sense of dread and desperation, but not much hope.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way.
New Business Plus – Turn 1 in 5 Leads into a Meeting
Let me introduce what we do – New Business Plus.
Our unique approach blends email and telephony together, creating a powerful 1-2-1 style of marketing that generates high volumes of new business opportunities at speed, with a high engagement rate.
On average 20%, of the leads we generate go on to become qualified meetings. So for every 50 leads we create, we can deliver 10 high-value new business meetings.
Find Out More
To find out how we help our clients take a more personal approach to their marketing then drop me a line at falon@ideas-industry.com