THE EVOLUTION OF SHOPPER MARKETING B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 1

B2B MARKETING
AUTOMATION

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

 B2B MARKETING Best Practices Guide
AUTOMATION
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3

What Is B2B Marketing Automation? 4

Core Functions 6
Specialty Functions 10
Key Considerations 13
Vendor Landscape 15

Analyst Bottom Line 18

Action Plan 19

About Demand Metric 28

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 3

Executive Summary
Business-to-business (B2B) marketing automation systems are among the
hottest sectors of the technology industry. This Best Practices Guide will help to ensure
that you are among the successful majority
Leading vendors including Eloqua, Marketo, and Pardot have been
of B2B marketing automation buyers, not
acquired or gone public at tremendous valuations. Major software
the unhappy remnant.
companies including IBM, Oracle, Salesforce.com, Adobe, and Teradata
have purchased B2B or business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing automa-
tion products.

Venture capitalists have invested several hundred million dollars in start-ups FIGURE 1: B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION VENDOR REVENUE
and existing firms. Yet, despite this growth, fewer than 20% of B2B
marketers have purchased an integrated marketing automation system 2013 $100 million
(although many more use email, Web analytics, and other component
technologies).1 Even more alarming, many past buyers do not use their 2012 $225 million
systems fully, and a significant portion report little benefit from their
investment.2 2011 $325 million

The lesson of these statistics is not that marketing automation doesn’t

2010 $500 million
work. The same studies show that the majority of users are satisfied and
productive. Rather, the point is that marketing automation works only
2009 $750 million
when marketers deploy their systems effectively.

1 http://customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-is-marketing-automation-growing-so.html
2 http://customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com/2013/10/marketing-automation-user-satisfaction.html
WHAT IS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION? B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 4

What Is B2B Marketing Automation?

The label “marketing automation” might apply to any type of computer
system used by marketers: email, ad buying, search engine optimization,
Web site personalization, Web analytics, budgeting, planning, predictive
modeling, segmentation, Webinars, mobile messaging, lead manage-
ment, social media, and much more.

But over the past few years the term has increasingly taken on a narrower
meaning of products that offer B2B marketers an integrated combina-
tion of email, Web behavior tracking, landing pages, multi-step nurture
campaigns, lead scoring, integration with sales automation software, and But those organizations gain greater benefits from the shared customer data-
related analytics. base, easier coordination across channels, better planning and budgeting,
In fact, a major selling point for marketing automation has been its and tighter control over user access to specific functions and data.
ability to replace multiple single-purpose systems (often called “point The scope of many marketing automation systems has recently expanded
solutions”). to incorporate social media publishing and, somewhat less common,
The price of marketing automation is not always less than the combined social monitoring and social promotions.
fees of the point solutions it replaces. But the savings in training and time Some systems have also added “inbound marketing” functions
spent moving data between the systems are substantial. These savings designed to attract Web traffic, including blogging, Webinars, search
are especially important to small businesses where the same person engine optimization, and paid Web advertising. However, most
would operate several of the point solutions herself. marketers still use separate systems for the “inbound” functions.
Using the same system for different marketing tasks matters less at Instead of trying to replace those systems, most marketing automation
larger organizations, where different people manage email, advertising, vendors have made it easier for those systems to integrate with the
Web pages, and analytics. primary marketing automation database.
WHAT IS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION? B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 5

As already noted, most systems now described as “marketing auto- Most B2C marketing automation products were originally designed
mation” are designed for business marketers. This wasn’t always the as “on premise” software, which was purchased outright by the client,
case. The phrase “marketing automation” was originally applied to B2C installed on the client’s servers, and managed by the client’s staff.
systems such as Unica and Aprimo. Like the B2B systems, those earlier
Many large B2C deployments are still handled this way. Today’s B2C
B2C marketing automation products offered an integrated solution
systems usually offer some type of SaaS option, which may or may not
that supported several channels with a shared customer database and
have a true multi-tenant architecture underneath.
shared analytics.
B2B marketing automation systems were specifically designed to
The specific channels and features differed because different marketing
provide marketers with features that were missing from sales automa-
methods were important when those systems were originally developed
tion systems. Yet there is always a question of whether marketing auto-
during the 1990’s.
mation should be part of sales automation or sales automation’s parent
The more important distinction, which still remains, is that the B2C category of customer relationship management (CRM) software.
systems attach to an external marketing database with nearly any design.
Some marketing automation features are now more common in CRM,
B2B systems maintain their own customer database, with core structures
including landing pages, lead scoring, some analytics, and some social
that mirror sales automation databases so the two can easily exchange
marketing. But others remain mostly missing, including advanced
data. Early B2B marketing automation systems were extremely limited in
segmentation, multi-step nurture campaigns, and Web behavior tracking.
the deviations they allowed from this core data structure.
This is largely due to technical constraints that make it difficult for CRM
Some of today’s systems are considerably more flexible, but this is still
systems to support all marketing automation functions. These constraints
an area that requires close examination by prospective buyers.
will probably be overcome in the long run but, for the immediate future,
Another important difference between B2B and B2C marketing automa- the categories will probably stay distinct.
tion is that nearly all B2B systems are designed as “cloud” (Software as a
The one exception is “all in one” systems for very small businesses,
Service, or SaaS) systems, meaning the client only purchases a subscrip-
such as Infusionsoft and Ontraport, which already combine CRM and
tion to software that is actually run by the vendor.
marketing automation features. They can do this because their relatively
It also typically implies a “multi-tenant” architecture, meaning many small data volumes make it easier to support CRM and marketing auto-
clients run on the same instance of the software and security procedures mation requirements on the same architecture.
ensure each client’s information remains separate and private.
CORE FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 6

Core Functions
B2B marketing automation systems all provide the following core functions.
However, they differ considerably in the details of their implementations.

Email Landing Pages

Users can compose and send mass emails to lists of Users can build Web forms that post information to the
prospects and customers. This is a critical difference underlying marketing database. These forms are typically
from CRM systems, which let salespeople send emails hosted by the marketing automation system, freeing the
to individuals but often have very limited mass mailing marketers from dependence on their company Web site.
capabilities.
Some systems can generate forms to add to the company
Nearly all marketing automation systems support Website and/or provide code that lets external forms post
personalization (inserting data values such as the recip- to the marketing database.
ient’s name) and some allow dynamic content (inserting
Advanced features include pre-filling forms with known
different messages based on variables such as the recip-
data, automatically replacing answered questions with
ient’s industry).
new ones (“progressive profiling”), and asking different
Other differences involve the creation and use of stan- questions based on previous answers or other customer
dard templates, formatting and previewing for different data (“branching”).
devices (smartphone, tablet, desktop), spam scoring,
Some systems let users build surveys and multipage
and support for large message volumes.
microsites in addition to simple forms. All systems make it
easy to embed links to forms in system-generated emails.
CORE FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 7

Behavior Tracking Lead Scoring

The system keeps a record of email and Web behaviors Users can define formulas that attach a category label or
such as email opens, link clicks, and page views. Indi- numeric score to each lead. The formulas draw on behav-
viduals are tracked by dropping browser cookies that iors and profile data stored in the marketing database.
identify repeat visitors; when a visitor explicitly identifies
Many systems create two scores, one reflecting the lead’s
herself by filling out a form or logging in, the identity is
similarity to the company’s target customers and the other
connected to the cookie.
reflecting the lead’s apparent level of interest.
Tracking is sometimes limited to emails and landing
Systems vary considerably in the types of data available
pages created by the marketing automation system but
for scoring, the sophistication of the scoring formulas, how
can usually be extended to other webpages by embed-
often scores are recalculated, whether scores are influ-
ding a vendor-provided bit of Javascript.
enced by all leads from the same company, and whether
Different technologies are needed to track behaviors on one lead can have multiple scores.
mobile devices; some vendors do this better than others.
Lead scores may be exposed to sales people through the
Systems also differ in how much behavior detail they CRM integration; some marketing automation vendors
store, which data is accessible to external systems, and offer special modules to let sales people view and under-
how it can be used for segmentation, event triggers, stand this information.
analyses, and other purposes.
CORE FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 8

Nurture Campaigns CRM Integration

Names in the database can be sent a sequence of At a minimum, the marketing automation system must
messages. These are typically aimed at people who are be able to pass new leads to CRM. In practice, nearly
not yet ready for direct sales contact, but the campaigns all marketing automation systems can both send and
might also have other purposes, such as encouraging receive CRM data, and have synchronization features,
renewal or use of new system features. to ensure that changes made in one system are later
copied into the other.
Some systems send everyone the same set of messages
at fixed intervals (“drip campaign”). Others keep the same Systems vary in the types of data that are shared, the
intervals but vary the messages based on user attributes. control users have over which changes are accepted, how
Some can deliver entirely different experiences based processes such as campaign assignments are coordi-
on responses to previous messages (“branching”). nated, how new leads are added to the CRM system, and
whether marketing automation can send alerts or assign
Systems vary in how users enter a campaign, how the
tasks to sales people.
campaign flows are defined, how treatments can vary
within a flow, what data is available to guide treatments, Typically, only some marketing automation data is copied
what actions can be triggered by a campaign, what to the CRM database. Other information, such as detailed
messaging channels are supported, and what informa- behavior histories, is displayed on CRM screens but read
tion is available for reporting. from marketing automation files. Most CRM integration
works through vendor-published Application Program
Nurture campaigns are a very powerful part of marketing
Interfaces (APIs) that are open to all systems.
automation, but complex campaigns can be difficult to
design and execute. Campaign features probably differ Access to special features or to CRM systems without a
more between systems than any other marketing auto- published API may still require custom programming.
mation function. Users need to look carefully to find a
system that matches their requirements and skills.
CORE FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 9

Analytics
Marketing automation systems provide basic statistics
on email performance (messages sent, opened, clicked,
bounced, etc.), landing pages (views, unique visitors,
form fills, etc.), and campaign events (leads added, leads
removed, active leads, leads per stage, etc.).

Some provide more detailed information, better visual-

izations, drill-down into segments, and custom reports.

Automated predictive modeling is occasionally available,

but usually relies on external software. Some systems
create return on investment reports based on revenue
data from CRM or other systems.

One key challenge with such reports is that CRM

systems often don’t attach the revenue to the contacts
or accounts that exist in marketing automation.
SPECIALTY FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10

Specialty Functions
As the core marketing automation features have become established, vendors have expanded in several directions.
These include social marketing, marketing administration, and Web traffic generation. Each category has its own functions.

Social Marketing Feature Social Marketing Feature

Social Monitoring Social Publishing and Sharing

This is listening for public mentions of a client’s product It is now fairly common for B2B marketing automation to
or other keywords on social media such Twitter, Face- let users add sharing buttons to system-generated content
book, LinkedIn, and blogs. Advanced monitoring might such as email and webpages.
use artificial intelligence to classify the mentions and
These buttons let recipients repost the content to their
direct them to appropriate individuals for response.
own social networks. Many systems also can now publish
Some systems also identify influencers or import influ- content directly to major social networks through the
ence measurements from external sources such as client’s own accounts.
Klout, PeerIndex, and Kred.
These systems also providing tracking reports to show
readership and traffic generation.
SPECIALTY FUNCTIONS B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 11

Social Marketing Feature Marketing Administration Feature

Social Promotions Revenue Forecasts

Some systems support specialized promotions through Some systems assign leads to funnel stages and forecast the
Facebook and other networks, or run general promo- timing and amount of revenue they will produce, based on
tions such as contests and games. historical data.

Some can also produce landing pages, surveys, and This is similar to the sales pipeline forecasts in CRM systems
similar contents that is tailored to specific social networks. except that the leads are at an earlier stage in their lifecycle.
The stages may be a simple sequential funnel or more elabo-
rate flows that move customers in specified patterns among
alternate states.

Marketing Administration Feature

Marketing Administration Feature

Budgeting and Planning

Project Management and Workflow
Basic features are attaching expected costs and revenue
to campaigns and comparing these with actual results. These features let marketers define the tasks required to
create a promotion, assign those tasks to individuals, and
More advanced features include: assigning campaigns track progress. Some B2C marketing automation products
to hierarchies related to product, regions, strategies, or offer very sophisticated project scheduling features, but
customer segments; estimating costs based on volumes; these are rare among B2B systems.
and associating costs with revenues for return on invest-
ment reporting. More B2B systems have basic workflow to manage content
development, such as tracking approvals and revisions.
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