There is no question that the proper use of marketing automation software makes marketers more efficient. MA platforms such as Marketo and Eloqua streamline and scale lead management and other marketing tasks to generate more revenue. Marketers use this software to help nurture leads, integrate data between their CRM and CDP platforms, and automate and personalize marketing messages and content.
Studies show that marketing automation can cut marketing overheads by 12.2% and boost sales productivity by 14.5%. Also, approximately 80% of marketing automation platform users have noticed an increase in their leads.
Further, 91% of marketers using marketing automation state that marketing automation is essential for their overall online success.
While marketing automation is essential for online success, it can only be effective if the marketing personnel are knowledgeable about the use of the software. Depending on the features included in your platform and the complexity of your database, it will take staff training, research, and a learning curve before it is up and running smoothly.
That said, business owners and marketers should consider contracting with a marketing automation consulting firm to help them implement, integrate, and operate their marketing automation platform more efficiently and effectively. A marketing automation expert will make sure that your business starts with the right strategy, select the appropriate tools to go with the business ecosystem and execute campaigns with those tools. With these tools optimized, businesses’ staffing costs and time will reduce. Furthermore, a marketing automation specialist increases the accountability of marketing and sales teams.
A marketing automation consultant should have marketing expertise in a wide range of areas (database marketing, email marketing, social media, content, SEO, lead generation, PPC, etc.) Based on the services you contract through them, a reputable marketing automation consultant can do any of the following and more:
- Integrate marketing tools into your CRM platform, or if you do not currently have one, suggest the right solution for your business.
- Develop automation strategies with you based on your sales and marketing process.
- Set up forms and landing pages.
- Set up web tracking.
- Set up data reporting systems and analytics.
- Provide advice on best practices.
- Recommend any additional software or third-party tools as needed.
- Train your staff on how to use the platform.
- Manage your email campaigns.
- Set up your workflows.
- Set up social media channel integration.
- Maintain and monitor client instances and all integrations with other systems.
- Carry out in-campaign and post-campaign analysis, provide insights and recommendations on how to optimize and improve effectiveness.
- Troubleshoot any issues that arise.
Various Benefits of Hiring A Marketing Automation Consultant
Help in Selecting a Marketing Automation Platform
If you have not yet shifted to a marketing automation plan, a marketing consultant can help you start. They will analyze your business goals and use their experience to select the marketing automation platform with the most appropriate features to fit your business.
The consultant will also train your marketing personnel to utilize the platform for the business’s success. Having a platform that works seamlessly with your other business tools operated by an expert will take your sales revenue to the next level.
Identify and Correct Errors in Automation
An automated marketing consultant can streamline your automated marketing if the current campaigns are not rewarding. The primary areas that the consultant may consider are:
Content Quality
- Content is the primary driver of digital marketing. It allows you to introduce your products to your target audience and nurture them until they convert to your business. Your content across channels must be relevant and valuable to the audience it serves. Content that does not meet this criterion can be a huge barrier to your marketing efforts regardless of how powerful your automated marketing platform is. A consultant will advise you on the best content strategy.
Email Quality
- Another possible reason for the poor performance of your automated marketing campaigns is not segmenting and personalizing your email campaigns. For instance, sending an identical email to your entire audience with information that is not relevant to everyone can cause a lot of opt-outs. A qualified consultant will guide you on how to nurture customers with personalized emails that add value and result in higher conversions.
Help with Cross-Channel Integration
While using multiple digital marketing channels can increase your customer reach, this requires a lot of time to manage these individual marketing channels.
For instance, you need time to manage your Twitter account, Instagram, email, podcasts, and so on. A qualified automation consultant will help you automate functions across all marketing channels. Cross-channel integration will allow you to reach customers with multiple touches.
Maximize Your Opens And Click-Throughs
As earlier mentioned, email marketing can be an uphill battle if you do not have the necessary marketing skills. While automating it with marketing software can help improve the number of emails you send, it cannot design and create email HTML and draft email content on its own.
A marketing automation consultant with email expertise can help you:
- identify issues with your current email program.
- make suggestions to help increase deliverability.
- create personalized email campaigns that will ensure that every recipient gets relevant email content, increasing the chances of email opens and click-throughs.
- analyze campaign results and make recommendations for improvements.
Help You Regain Your Competitive Edge
Qualified and reputable marketing automation consultants are highly skilled individuals with expertise across various marketing channels. They can help you in the following scenarios, for example:
- When your competitor is much more visible to your market than you are
- When you are experiencing inadequate lead generation and high bounce rates due to the departure of a critical automated marketing team member
- When your marketing campaigns are not performing well
- When you want to upgrade to a more sophisticated platform to achieve more goals
- When top-level managers are pushing you to reach the lead target, and you are unable to achieve them even after investing in automated marketing software
Help in Reviewing and Improving Marketing Campaigns
Typically, you need to review your marketing campaigns regularly to identify poorly performing marketing channels for improvement. However, you may find the review process difficult, as you have to interpret different metrics.
A qualified consultant will interpret metrics like bounce rates, customer referrals, and conversion rates for you and suggest improvement strategies for non-performing campaigns.
Continual campaign reviews will ensure a healthy customer relationship and hence continued profits. Moreover it will be easier to establish your online brand authority.
What to Look for When You Hire a Marketing Automation Consultant
How Much and What Kind of Experience Do They Have
Your marketing automation consultant should demonstrate experience in solving the type of challenges your company faces. Ideal candidates will have experience working in your industry or your target-market sectors and with your organization size. If you already have a MAP, they should have experience working with that MAP.
What Skills Do They Have
Your marketing automation specialist:
- Should understand digital marketing.
- Be data-driven.
- Be proactive and knowledgeable.
- Have expertise in various marketing technologies.
How Do They Manage Their Working Relationship with Clients
It is important to establish a good working relationship between your company and the marketing automation consultant. Be upfront about your goals and expectations and candid about your weaknesses. Ask your consultant how they perform their discovery and what their business approach is to the project. Ask about the results they expect to deliver, timelines for achieving goals and discuss fees and payment. Above all, it is always best to get recommendations from other companies they have worked with.
Conclusion
A marketing automation consultant can help you take your sales to the next level. They can train your marketing personnel on using automation software, handle your campaign management, and aid with the generation and conversion of leads leading to a better ROI.
