Are your buyers early adopters or do you focus on converting those that are dissatisfied with their current solution and searching for a better alternative?
Either way, marketing automation software helps attract buyers that are searching and then capture and convert prospects into repeat buyers.
The business case for marketing automation software includes:
#1. Inbound marketing is a more cost effective source of lead generation.
The shift towards inbound marketing versus outbound marketing is largely based on the cost effectiveness and ROI of attracting, capturing and converting sales opportunities that are “ready to buy” using marketing automation software.
#2. Increase in Sales Effectiveness via tools provided by marketing automation software.
Marketing automation software empowers every sales rep and account manager to have the resources and capabilities of a marketing department at their fingertips.
- Aberdeen Group found that companies saw double their proposal-to-win ratio, plus a 47% higher average total contract value.
- Forrester Research Group found that salespeople follow up on >75% of leads using lead scoring and workflow from marketing automation software.
Marketing automation software also provides competitive intelligence, social media, and other sales support and sales enablement tools that enables salespeople to be more efficient.
#3. Lower cost of client acquisition via Multi-Tier Distribution. Marketing automation software enables capture, lead scoring, and workflow to route leads to direct sales, inside sales, partners, or other 3rd parties as it best fits the needs of the company.
#4. Target “ready to buy” high probability opportunities based on event driven triggers such as new personnel. a company change event, or social triggers.
Typically, the breakeven ROI is only two months for marketing automation software that includes:
- Lead Generation
- Lead Capture, Scoring, Qualification, Workflow, Alerts
- Intelligence – competitive, client and sales
- Sales Enablement tools
In an age where detailed product comparisons can be found online, and customers can easily connect to peers online; it’s no longer enough to have the best product as being found online and “making it easy to buy” is paramount.
Leveraging marketing automation software can help companies see significant bottom-line impact by creating dialogues between providers and buyers directly and via online communities which reduce sales cycle time.
Because marketing tactics have changed dramatically over the past few years, what drives marketing ROI in 2012 and beyond will be heavily skewed towards programs that drive referrals, channel sales, and inbound sales opportunities that are “ready to buy.”
| Marketing 2010 | Marketing 2012 |
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| Advertising and lead generation supports Direct Sales “Feet on the Street.” | > Capital efficient revenue models utilize referrals from Alternative Distribution as well as inbound marketing to generate leads for direct personnel and partners. |
Are you evaluating adopting marketing automation software?
SaaS Adoption of marketing automation software:
Contact us for our “Getting Started Playbook” which includes an evaluation and selection checklist, scorecard, and short-list of vendors, providers, and implementation firms.
| Getting Started Playbook | Vendor Evaluation Scorecard | Marketing ROI Calculator |
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