9 Marketing Automation Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
By sbernazzani@hubspot.com (Sophia Bernazzani)
According to a 2021 HubSpot Blog Marketing Trends Report, 69% of marketers surveyed say they use automation in their marketing role.
Whether automation is a new or standard practice in your company, we want to help you avoid common traps marketers often fall into.
In this post, we’ll discuss them and alternatives that solve these challenges.
1. You have dirty data.
In a 2021 state of marketing automation report, 58% of B2B professionals say the number one tactic that most amplifies the success of their marketing automation tool is quality data.
Dirty data can cost brands not only money but also time, as they take actions based on inaccurate information.
This can be anything from duplicate records and naming inconsistencies to outdated contact information and incorrect attribution.
A simple example of dirty data is an email list that’s never been cleaned. Your list likely has disengaged users, spam addresses, and duplicate emails that threaten the integrity of your data.
This will lead to low engagement numbers, damage to your IP reputation, high email marketing costs, and a loss of leads.
For your automation to function properly, it’s essential that you work with clean data to ensure your work will be worth the effort you’re putting in.
2. You picked the wrong automation tool.
A HubSpot Blog research report on media and content planning revealed that finding the right tool is a roadblock for many marketers.
In fact, 45.9% of those surveyed who don’t rely on marketing automation say the biggest obstacle they face is that they can’t find platforms with the capabilities they need.
In addition, 59% of B2B professionals say they don’t feel they’re utilizing their marketing automation tools to their fullest potential, according to the state of marketing automation report.
So, not only are marketers struggling with picking tools, they also struggle to use them.
Picking the right marketing automation tool is essential, as it will determine how successful your strategy is. Here are the top features to look for in marketing automation software:
- User-friendly, intuitive interface
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- Knowledge base and customer support tools
- Integrations
- Scalable options
Check out this article on the top marketing automation tools available on the market.
3. Your marketing and sales teams aren’t aligned.
The worst thing you can do with marketing automation is operating in a silo. At the end of the day, marketing is a function designed to support sales, products, and other business sectors.
As such, it’s imperative that your marketing team bring in all necessary stakeholders to build workflows that align with teams beyond your own.
This is particularly important with marketing and sales teams who work hand-in-hand to turn leads into marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) then sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and finally customers.
Have you thought about what processes would benefit your sales team? This could look like an automated email from a sales rep once a lead has completed a high-intent behavior.
Source:: HubSpot Blog
