At a time when executive teams are more ROI-focused than ever before, it’s easy for marketing automation to be erroneously dismissed as yet another expense. Consequently, time and effort must be spent presenting the full business case to senior management to secure support and capture the imaginations of the rest of the organization as a result. If someone is not on board or simply does not understand the concept, it’s crucial to address this in the planning stages and highlight the need for operational change in today’s era of the empowered customer.
Frankly, without a senior management mindset behind it, alignment will not succeed. Consider what you really need. As more vendors have entered the marketing automation arena, the temptation for small enterprises to progress with the first vendor they come into contact with (generally, those with the largest marketing budgets) can be easy to succumb to; this is always a risk. Rather than there being a one-sizefits- all solution, it’s crucial to remember that most platforms are designed with specific budgets, resources, and priorities in mind. At the selection stage, it’s important to consider areas like product complexity, market maturity, and sales cycle length.
Develop a demand generation strategy with both sales and marketing. Many small and medium enterprises