Sharing Marketing Automation Best Practices

by / Sep 25, 2014

Last Thursday, The Mx Group had the pleasure of hosting the 2014 Chicago Silverpop User Group along with one of our marketing technology partners. It was great to discuss marketing automation best practices with marketers and technology pros while exploring real-world successes with day-to-day practitioners. Some of the key themes that emerged include:

1. Relevance

Everyone knows that marketing programs are more effective when your information is meaningful to the client. If you are blasting content that does not resonate with your audience, you are likely to see poor open rates on your email campaigns, which is an outcome that should not be taken lightly. The cost of poor open rates goes well beyond annoyed recipients and unsubscribes. Major email services, especially Google, will start automatically sending your company’s emails to spam if they find that the majority of these emails are left untouched.

2. Data hygiene

Quality data is the foundation of a successful marketing program, which is why master marketing automation users ruthlessly clean their databases. At The Mx Group, we preach the need for high quality data and continuous database maintenance. (Your data decays 10% every quarter.1) It is vital to establish an ongoing process for monitoring, cleaning and appending your data.

3. Testing and segmenting

Most email marketers do some form of subject line testing, however this often yields limited insight. Differences in the open rates and click-through rates will be a percentage or two at most. Go beyond subject line testing — segment your database and run tests that incorporate demographics such as geography, sector, title and management level.

4. Broaden your strategy

Get the most out of your marketing automation tools by expanding your strategy. Challenge yourself to look outside your vertical when developing ideas for campaigns. If you’re in the manufacturing industry, take a look at what’s happening in healthcare. Don’t get locked into doing the same thing; look at which approaches are working for others and work those into your strategy. Challenge your assumptions, too. Just because you think something is going to perform a certain way does not mean it actually will.

Marketing automation continues to gain momentum among B2B marketers: the adoption of marketing automation technology is expected to increase 50% by 2015.2 But this is no surprise, because these platforms offer enormous opportunities for marketers to become more efficient and effective. We’re excited to be working with our partners to help facilitate the ongoing development of best practices and fully activate the promises held forth by marketing technology.

1Netprospex
2Salesforce

The Mx Group

B2B Insights, Staff Writer

The Mx Group is the second-largest independent, integrated B2B marketing agency in the U.S., with a mission to impact the marketplace for companies that impact the world. For over 30 years, we’ve created meaningful end-to-end buying experiences for B2B brands. Our clients are leaders and innovators in automotive, financial services, food, health care, legal services, oil and gas, industrial, packaging, trade associations, technology and SaaS who rely on our expertise to influence and grow their businesses. Our relationships with our clients and people are why B2B Marketing recognized us as Agency of the Year. Our headquarters are in Chicago, but our reach is global. Whether a client is an established or startup B2B brand, we have the people and perspective to be a strong partner that makes a difference.