How Much Does a Marketing Automation Strategy Cost (And When It Pays for Itself)
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:20 am
Before we ask ourselves about the cost and return of a marketing automation strategy , let's ask ourselves why we need a strategic approach to automation. In other words, isn't it enough to automate everything possible?
The Need for a Marketing Automation Strategy
To implement their strategies, modern marketers adopt different tools, more or less synergistically integrated with each other. Each of them allows the use of automation : to publish posts on the company's social pages, for example, or to route requests for assistance, but also to score leads based on their behavior or to send follow-up emails.
Let's imagine the situation: we have five tools, or as many modules of a single platform, each with automation capabilities. Since the campaign must bring tangible results, it is clear that automating everything that can be automated is not the right approach and that instead there is a need for a strategic design that governs the user's path (through automated activities) towards the objectives that the company sets itself . Automating A/B tests, sending promotional emails to prospects based on their behavior, accelerating loyalty programs or managing abandoned (virtual) carts with specific communication flows requires strategic planning , which if well-architected and executed can lead to a positive ROI in a short time (one year for 76% of companies, according to Marketo - now Adobe).
Here, any automation, from a single social post to the entire chain of follow-ups within very complex funnels, must respond to a strategy whose purpose is to bring results, or, usually, conversions. Otherwise, you risk not being able to personalize the relationship, intervening inappropriately and not generating value for the interlocutor, who consequently interrupts the contact.
Software, Skills and Data: The Cost of Marketing Automation Strategy
Let’s now focus on the cost of marketing automation strategy. What does it depend on?
If we imagine being a company that wants to implement marketing canada telegram mobile Phone Number list automation from scratch, the most significant cost items are those related to software, personnel (skills), any integrations, content and analysis and monitoring tools. To simplify everything, outsourcing is always an option.
Let's start with the costs of the software . Here, two options open up to the company: you can opt for an all-encompassing marketing automation platform, which manages all the activities in a synergic way , but you can also use different specialized software to manage individual activities or phases of the funnel. Companies have long been using digital marketing tools with automation features (e.g. e-mail marketing), so the question is whether it is appropriate to maintain an unstructured approach or whether it is preferable to migrate to a platform capable of governing the entire customer journey . The evaluation is very complex since not only economic-financial factors come into play: how much does the inefficiency due to the unstructured process cost? How much does the integration of the various software cost? How much does it cost, in terms of training, to abandon the previous situation to move to a more modern one? And the whole issue of change management?
As for the content part, costs associated with their production and valorization will have to be taken into account . It almost goes without saying that, in an era characterized by an uncontrolled excess of content, the creation of valuable elements requires time, resources, collaboration between divisions (e.g., it is therefore necessary to involve sales, even if production is taken care of by marketing) and, often, the involvement of external professionals such as copywriters, designers and creators of visual content.
The Need for a Marketing Automation Strategy
To implement their strategies, modern marketers adopt different tools, more or less synergistically integrated with each other. Each of them allows the use of automation : to publish posts on the company's social pages, for example, or to route requests for assistance, but also to score leads based on their behavior or to send follow-up emails.
Let's imagine the situation: we have five tools, or as many modules of a single platform, each with automation capabilities. Since the campaign must bring tangible results, it is clear that automating everything that can be automated is not the right approach and that instead there is a need for a strategic design that governs the user's path (through automated activities) towards the objectives that the company sets itself . Automating A/B tests, sending promotional emails to prospects based on their behavior, accelerating loyalty programs or managing abandoned (virtual) carts with specific communication flows requires strategic planning , which if well-architected and executed can lead to a positive ROI in a short time (one year for 76% of companies, according to Marketo - now Adobe).
Here, any automation, from a single social post to the entire chain of follow-ups within very complex funnels, must respond to a strategy whose purpose is to bring results, or, usually, conversions. Otherwise, you risk not being able to personalize the relationship, intervening inappropriately and not generating value for the interlocutor, who consequently interrupts the contact.
Software, Skills and Data: The Cost of Marketing Automation Strategy
Let’s now focus on the cost of marketing automation strategy. What does it depend on?
If we imagine being a company that wants to implement marketing canada telegram mobile Phone Number list automation from scratch, the most significant cost items are those related to software, personnel (skills), any integrations, content and analysis and monitoring tools. To simplify everything, outsourcing is always an option.
Let's start with the costs of the software . Here, two options open up to the company: you can opt for an all-encompassing marketing automation platform, which manages all the activities in a synergic way , but you can also use different specialized software to manage individual activities or phases of the funnel. Companies have long been using digital marketing tools with automation features (e.g. e-mail marketing), so the question is whether it is appropriate to maintain an unstructured approach or whether it is preferable to migrate to a platform capable of governing the entire customer journey . The evaluation is very complex since not only economic-financial factors come into play: how much does the inefficiency due to the unstructured process cost? How much does the integration of the various software cost? How much does it cost, in terms of training, to abandon the previous situation to move to a more modern one? And the whole issue of change management?
As for the content part, costs associated with their production and valorization will have to be taken into account . It almost goes without saying that, in an era characterized by an uncontrolled excess of content, the creation of valuable elements requires time, resources, collaboration between divisions (e.g., it is therefore necessary to involve sales, even if production is taken care of by marketing) and, often, the involvement of external professionals such as copywriters, designers and creators of visual content.