In the world of marketing automation, it has become an over-used tool, with 70% of marketers incorporating it into their strategies, as shown in a recent HubSpot Blog Marketing Trends Report from 2024. However, many marketers face challenges when using automation in their efforts to be more efficient. To help navigate these obstacles, let’s explore the mistakes often made in marketing automation and discuss solutions to address them.
1. Dealing with data
Based on a 2024 report on marketing automation, most B2B professionals understand the importance of having high quality data to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing automation tools.
Unclean data not only leads to losses for brands but also wastes valuable time and can result in decisions based on incorrect information.
Examples of data include records, inconsistencies in naming conventions, outdated contact details, and wrong attributions.
For example, an unorganized email list may contain spam addresses and repeated emails that can jeopardize the accuracy of your data.
Using data can lead to low engagement rates, harm your IP reputation, increase email marketing costs, and reduce potential leads.
To make sure your automation processes run smoothly, it’s important to use precise data to ensure that your hard work produces outcomes.
2. You picked the wrong automation tool
A recent report, from HubSpot Blog highlighted the challenges many marketers encounter when selecting the tools for media and content planning. Nearly half of those not involved in marketing struggle to find platforms with these features. Additionally, a significant 59% of B2B professionals feel they are not fully utilizing their marketing automation tool potential.
3. Your marketing and sales teams aren’t aligned
Choosing the right marketing automation tool is crucial for the success of your strategy. Important features to look for in marketing automation software include user interfaces, advanced analytics, robust support resources, seamless integrations and options for scalability.
Lack of alignment between your marketing and sales teams is a pitfall when it comes to leveraging marketing automation. Marketing should go hand in hand with sales, products, and other facets of a company.
It’s essential for the marketing team to engage all parties in developing workflows that align with departments.
Collaboration between marketing and sales is particularly important, as they collaborate to convert leads into prospects and ultimately customers.
Have you thought about how your sales team could benefit from procedures? For instance, implement an automated email sent to a sales representative once a lead displays interest.
Identifying which behaviors indicate high intent necessitates input and teamwork with the sales team.
4. You don’t train your team
As per findings from the marketing automation report, 31% of B2B professionals consider a lack of training as an obstacle to leveraging marketing automation tools, ranking behind insufficient resources.
The efficacy of automation tools hinges on the expertise and capabilities of your team in their utilization.
Holding training sessions is essential to ensuring that key team members are proficient in using the tool, comprehend existing workflows, and can develop processes.
Here are some suggestions for training your team:
Customize your training to fit needs – Avoid overwhelming them with extraneous information by concentrating on what is most pertinent to their roles.
Engage with representatives from service providers. They possess knowledge of the software and can provide valuable insights. Consider involving them in training sessions.
Adopt a phased approach to training; a single session may not suffice. Plan sessions utilizing learning methods to improve comprehension and retention.
5. You establish and then leave it be
Although automation may give the impression of being a hands off approach, the reality is quite different. It demands involvement.
After continuously monitoring the output, the focus shifts to assessing performance and fine tuning outcomes.
6. You rely on one automation strategy
Frequently, marketers fall into the trap of sticking to tasks when utilizing marketing automation, missing out on the software’s full potential. It’s crucial to explore all features to enhance your brand effectively.
Throughout your routine, there are small tasks that may not appear time consuming individually but collectively consume a significant portion of your time. By automating processes like social media posting and contact updates, you can free up time for strategic activities.
Take some time to delve into your marketing automation platform and pinpoint areas where you can streamline processes. For example, in HubSpot, users have the ability to update lead contact information without adjusting each record.
By automating tasks, you’ll have time to collaborate with your team, on content strategies, lead generation, and nurturing approaches to continue attracting high quality leads to your website.
To improve your marketing efforts, you might want to explore using automation tools, like chatbots, task management systems, lead scoring mechanisms, nurturing programs, contract automation software, lead rotation solutions, and drip campaigns.
7. Your automation software doesn’t integrate with your CRM
When you’re looking into marketing automation and CRM platforms, it’s crucial to check if they can work together seamlessly. If they don’t integrate well, it could create more work for you. Be prepared to allocate the funds for this integration process. The aim is to simplify your marketing activities and efficiently handle your leads and customers without facing challenges.