Marketing automation without strategy is just technology

Every self-respecting marketer already has some advanced marketing technology platform in use – HubSpot, Salesforce, or Marketo, to name a few. Great! Often it's the vision of forward-thinking marketing leadership wanting to stay ahead of the curve. Sometimes the platform came recommended by peers, and occasionally the software vendor had a particularly convincing pitch.

But automation, in itself, does nothing more than execute predefined tasks triggered by predefined events.

If you're steering automation with the wrong rationale, you'll likely end up with unfulfilled ambitions and a clenched jaw. The tricks automation pulls might amount to sporadic newsletters or overly generic nurture sequences – aimed at the wrong audiences on top of everything. You might have a world-class orchestra with top musicians, but without a conductor, the band won't come close to its potential.

Goals first, technology second

What results are expected from marketing? Is the aim to shorten the sales cycle, increase customer lifetime value, grow the pipeline, or improve retention? Each of these demands something different from automation.

If you want to increase average customer value by 20%, you won't get there simply by sending more automated messages. You need to dig into the factors that build long-term value and work to remove obstacles in the way of effective value creation. In other words, you need to talk strategy. Only when the goals, the strategy for achieving them, and the messaging are clear is it time to think about which technology to use for implementing automation.

Automation built on a solid strategy is powerful. It reduces manual work, improves customer experience, and — above all – drives better marketing and sales results.

How do you recognise effective automation?

One essential factor is how well automation adapts to the visitor's buyer journey. Content must be in sync with the recipient's interests and their current stage in the buying process. So, at least in the early stages, don't lead with your product and its features. Instead, talk about the things that genuinely matter to the recipient when making a decision.

If you haven't yet defined your marketing personas and their buyer journeys, do it now – before you start the automation engine. Marketing personas are fictional characters that help you create relevant content for your real target audiences. They and their journeys give you a solid foundation when planning the content, content types, and cadence of your automation sequences.

Effective marketing automation is also a crucial support for sales – it gives sales reps visibility into hot contacts (as long as the CRM is in order and actually being used).

A good automation model also connects to your marketing and sales metrics. Beyond clicks, you can measure success by the number of deals closed, revenue growth, or other mutually agreed KPIs.

An example automation flow in B2B solution sales

Spark interest with LinkedIn advertising. The landing page offers a downloadable guide or other valuable content. Automation is triggered when the visitor submits their contact details.

Nurture leads with targeted content – segmented newsletters, articles, videos, webinar invitations, and so on.

Track intent – when a contact opens messages, visits specific pages, or takes any other action that signals purchase readiness, the sales rep receives an automatic alert.

Take care of the customer experience with automated onboarding messages, surveys, tips, and event invitations.

Quick check: Is your automation working on your business's terms?

• Do you know what you want to achieve with automation?
• Can the effectiveness of automation be measured?
• Is the content and cadence of your automation relevant to the target audience?
• Are you using feedback from sales to optimise your automation?
• Do you have a clear sense of where automation ends and human touch begins?

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