Marketing Automation key driver for CMOs

close up on two hands holding a tablet in an office setting
James T Fletcher
CEO, Principal Consultant

19/9/2018

“The main reason banks are downsizing is to save costs in an era of lower profitability. Moves planned include cutting headcount due to rolling out digital automation, relocating operations to the UK regions or outsourcing back-office functions overseas.”

I came across an interesting article in Yahoo! Finance not too long ago titled, “City banks downsizing – and it has little to do with the Brexit outcome.” When Brexit hit, seemingly the whole world was anxious to see how this decision would affect international businesses, especially those in London. Many believed that Brexit would spark a mass exodus of businesses out of the UK to nearby European cities like Dublin or Amsterdam.

Thus, why I found it intriguing to read that the driving factor behind banks downsizing and abandoning millions of square meters in commercial property in London is not Brexit. Though it does come forth on the list.

If it’s not about Brexit, then what could it be?

According to the article, these banks, in particular, we’re looking to cut costs in a time of lower profitability. One of the tactics implemented – yes, you guessed it – automation! Now, automation can refer to many different types and processes. Being experts in Marketing Automation at JTF Marketing, we’re more interested in how M.A. is allowing for big savings (and Revenue growth) for companies.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the Pareto principle, also known as the 80-20 principle. It states that 80% of your rewards come from 20% of your efforts. This is also how I like to think of Marketing Automation. Less effort, more everything – qualified leads, conversion of leads to sales, Return on investment.

Better qualified leads and conversion

Marketing Automation allows marketers to spend less time trying to figure out where a lead is in the buyer’s journey. It also allows for Sales teams to spend less time chasing down cold leads. One of the best ways to generate qualified leads? Lead nurturing. And yes – you can automate that process! Marketing Automation platforms like Marketo make it possible, dare I even say easy, to do so. With this technology, you can create a Lead Nurturing Program that is tailored for your business. Just some of the things you can do:

  • Define your sales funnel and communicate appropriately with your lead at every stage
  • Create a Lead Scoring system based on fit, interest, and behaviour to pinpoint exactly where a lead is within your sales funnel
  • Nurture your leads with valuable and relevant content, helping them move through your sales funnel

It’s shown that businesses who nurture leads make 50% more sales at a cost 33% less than non-nurtured prospects. (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics) What’s not to love about that statistic?

Boosting ROI through Marketing Automation

In our experience, one of the things that many marketers struggle with is being able to calculate the ROI of marketing activities. There are so many factors to take into account – especially when utilising cross-channel marketing. This is another plus of Marketing Automation. It allows for a monetary value to be applied to marketing efforts and an easy calculation of your ROI. Now, not all Marketing Automation is created equal. Just because you implement M.A. into your strategy doesn’t mean that you’ll suddenly experience an exponential increase in Revenue. However, the evidence does suggest that nearly all companies using M.A. experience gains in Revenue, even if modest.

So, what are the two major factors that can affect ROI?

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