Five ways marketing automation won’t help your business

Marketing automation, as an industry, is growing phenomenally. In fact, the inaugural Marketing Automation Technology Forecast, 2017 to 2023 (Global), produced by Forrester at the end of April, predicts that annual spend on such martech will reach $25bn in five years’ time.

The reason for this is – in a large part – due to the fact that many brands are yet to adopt automation platforms. The technology is therefore in only an early stage of its product lifecycle so...

29 May 2018 | Automation

Five martech lessons from 2017 you need to take into 2018

It’s the time of year when marketers commonly reflect on the past year and gear themselves up for what’s to come in the 12 months.

As we emerge blinking and bleary-eyed from the holiday season into 2018, it’s not just a case of focusing on ‘what’s new’. Part of growing and developing as a business requires an honest analysis of your successes and failures in 2017.

You take forward with you what worked and discard what...

5 January 2018 | Best Practice

The DNA of the perfect nurture sequence

Whatever the specific objective of an email campaign, the overarching goal of any nurture sequence remains constant – to encourage an individual along a journey to the point of peak engagement. Only then will a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) stand the greatest chance of becoming a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL).

However, with so much ‘noise’ in this communication space, this process is easier said than done. So how do marketers achieve that all-important cut...

25 August 2017 | Email marketing

Budgeting for marketing automation software

Marketing budgets are rising across the UK, but increased spending power brings heightened expectations and a closer eye on ROI.

Determining exactly what budget is required for marketing automation software is therefore far from straightforward.

There is the initial ‘price tag’ to consider, of course, but the true ‘cost’ of marketing automation is not just the fee for the platform itself.

If the technology is clunky, difficult or time-consuming to...

10 May 2017 | Automation

Why email marketing isn’t at the heart of marketing automation

This may seem like an odd comment for an email marketing advocate to make; in fact, readers of my previous blog posts might wonder what I’m on about. After all, I’ve drafted post after post about segmentation best practice, the reactivation of dead leads and how to achieve true personalisation, and time after time I’ve hailed email as one of the incredible tools that can make the holy grail of ROI a reality.

But the important distinction is this.

Email...

22 March 2017 | Automation

What is cognitive marketing – and why does it matter to you?

It’s almost possible to hear the sigh from marketers around the country… as if there isn’t enough to fit into every day, they’re now expected to become a psychology expert too?!

Well, not exactly. But if marketers want to ensure their communications strategies thrive in 2017, they need to know a few things about cognitive biases. These mental tendencies have the potential to pose some of the biggest obstacles to ROI in the next 12 months, and the worse thing...

24 February 2017 | Advertising Technology

The 10 things you need to ask for in a marketing automation demo

(c)iStock.com/tioloco

Marketing budgets continued to rise in 2016, advancing to 12% of company revenue, on average, according to Gartner. This ongoing investment in the profession has left the majority of marketers optimistic about the year ahead. However, with increased spending power comes heightened scrutiny from those holding the purse strings, and an even greater focus on ROI.

So, whether marketers are considering investing in automation tech for the first time, or they...

18 January 2017 | Automation

2017 marketing predictions you wont have read elsewhere

Marketers have been frantically planning for 2017 for weeks, if not months, so it may seem a little late in the year to be thinking about what the next 12 months could hold in store.

But even a day is a long time in marketing, and with trends, tech and consumer tastes constantly changing, there are still plenty of opportunities to do things bigger, better and more intelligently, when January comes around.

The challenge, it seems, is knowing which hints and tips to hone in on....

12 December 2016 | Advertising

How to ensure leads don’t go cold this winter

Winter is a notoriously challenging period for marketers, for different reasons.

Yes, as we get closer to the Christmas holiday it can be a typically feel-good time for many people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a time when they make business decisions and/or buy.

Why is that the case?

Whilst there are of course sector variations, B2B markets generally risk a lull in trade from November through to January.

Pre-Christmas, people often ease away from their...

18 November 2016 | Best Practice

How to optimise the deliverability of a new email campaign

Sending a new email campaign, can be nerve-wracking, not least because there are increasing pressures on marketers to engage, convert, drive sales and achieve ROI (return on investment).

How will the data behave? How many bounces will be incurred? How many emails will end up in junk? There are these – and many more – obstacles to navigate, before the marketer can even reach the recipient.

After that there are further quandaries – will the subject line capture...

26 October 2016 | Email marketing