The Savvy Marketer's Guide to Marketing Automation

79% of topperforming companies have been using marketing automation for more than 2 years Gleanster Research

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The only thing constant in life is change

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Marketing automation has seen the fastest growth of any CRM-related segment in the last ďŹ ve years, and its B2B vendor revenue now tops out at more than one billion dollars per year. It’s no wonder so many marketing professionals are trying to get a piece of that revenue pie.

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In This Issue 6

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An Introduction to Marketing Automation

With the right use of marketing automation, you can spend time creating, engaging and measuring your success.

The 6 Steps to Marketing Automation

Get your brand started with these six steps to marketing automation.

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The New Kid on the Block

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New Technology Champions Brand Building

Taking marketing automation to the next level with On Behalf Of Social Media technology

What is your brand’s story, and how are you going to tell it?

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From Brands to Bands

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#Tweet4DisasterRelief

Brands and bands alike are now using marketing automation to tell their stories.

We have come a long way from smoke signals and riding horseback through the night, and now we can make certain when a disaster hits, the warning will reach the right people faster than the storm.

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Turning Followers into Voters

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Food For Thought

Throughout the election season, political camps can now use new social media technology to quickly get candidate-approved content out to not only their supporters, but their supporters' networks of friends and followers.

Powerful stats you can bring to your board room.

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An introduction to

Marketing Automation

Did you know?

Gmail now has category tabs that automatically separate messages out of your primary mailbox. The days without junk email are long gone, but this new step makes marketing that much harder to reach your audience. If you are like many marketers, you probably don’t have enough hours in the day to promote your brand’s message. So how do you steer clear of marketing fatigue while working hard to avoid ending up in the spam folder?

Done incorrectly, marketing automation can add clutter to your campaign, turning away potential customers.

But, if you successfully integrate and establish marketing automation as a tool to complement your overall strategy, you will reach the right audience without wearing out the message.

With the right use of marketing automation, you can spend time creating, engaging and measuring your success.

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Savvy Marketer's Guide 7

GETTING STARTED

Marketing

Automation

6 STEPS

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1. Right Place - Right Time

The first thing you need to accept: you can't be everywhere at once. As a marketer, it's easy to get overwhelmed trying to promote your product in all the available marketing outlets.

That's where marketing automation comes in.

2. Set It & Forget It Marketers can create personalized messages and posts in advance to engage and

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nurture their prospects so they can focus on other initiatives and strategies.

3. Customer Interaction

With your message created and scheduled, you can get back to marketing your product in other ways. That's less time worrying about your presence online and in inboxes, and more time interacting with potential and existing customers. These personalized interactions will result in better relationships

with loyal customers, driving brand loyalty and sales success.

4. Staying Relevant Remember though, you still have the freedom to post whenever you need. Setting up a powerful automated marketing campaign is important, but don't forget that you should still be promoting your brand LIVE when the situation demands instant interaction. Now you have peace of mind that the right message is reaching your customers while still having the luxury of real-time engagement when it's most important.

5. Triggered Drip Campaigns Once you get the hang of basic marketing automation, start implementing triggered drip campaigns for greater results.

The best marketing automation software uses variable tags for any number of elements, including names, phone numbers, addresses, URLs, and links to dynamically generated materials. This designs a more

personalized audience experience while creating an opportunity for marketers to automate messages based on customer interest and interaction.

6. Measure & Optimize If you’re not tracking the performance of your marketing efforts, then you will have zero insight into what’s working and what isn’t. You need to have goals set up and key performance indicators in mind before starting any campaign.

Start A|B testing different marketing materials to see which messages your audience is responding to. Don't be surprised if some of your initiatives drive more interaction during different times of day or in various digital outlets.

Learn from your data to make informed decisions, and then incorporate your findings into future campaigns.

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By the year 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without human interaction Gartner Research

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The new kid on the block

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Taking marketing automation to the next level with On Behalf Of Social Media Marketing

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An introduction to

On Behalf Of Social Media

Marketing

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The closer a brand influencer is to a customer, the more powerful the message will be.

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and if you are like other savvy marketers, you value the importance of a referral. On Behalf Of Social Media Marketing software automates corporate-created content from your brand’s social media campaigns and distributes your message on behalf of your employees, field agents, local sales reps and/or franchisees. What your prospective audience will see is a colleague, friend or even family member as a spokesperson championing your brand. Think of the incredible value of your audience becoming your biggest brand advocates, and in turn, reaching customers you would have never been able to attract.

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Savvy Marketing Guide 13

New Technology

Champions Brand Building ................................................................................................................................................................

Branding a story Any truly successful marketing campaign tells a story. It captivates the audience and appeals to their universal values. It is no wonder that developing a strong brand message can be as complex as writing a good book.

Bestselling authors know how to set a mood and create an experience. Marketers should take a page from the writer's handbook to cultivate a sustainable message and brand consistency. A brand’s identity and voice should all be consistent with its values, customer experience and core messaging.

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Many marketers and their design teams choose to start campaign planning with mood boards. Designing a mood board helps streamline planning to ensure visual consistency and unified messaging across all marketing channels.

Spread the message Marketing automation allows for a brand to maintain this consistent identity throughout the customer cycle. Being able to organize the campaign and schedule posts in advance creates a seamless journey for every customer from initial discovery to repeat purchases.

In industries like franchising (continued on page 16)

Savvy Marketer's Guide 15

and insurance where local, independent agents, networks or franchisees represent large corporations, a consistent story is not just important, it’s mandatory. Corporate compliance policies are nothing new, but now there’s software that provides these local agents and franchisees with corporateapproved marketing campaigns with automatic personalization for consistent messaging across corporate and local channels.

Even better, top brands are using cutting-edge technology that lets corporations post On Behalf Of the local agent or franchisee, protecting brand consistency, leveraging personalized messaging and staying top of mind across every marketing channel. For any corporate marketer struggling with local platform adoption, the On Behalf Of capabilities can be the ultimate solution to overcoming obstacles with consistency, compliance and reach.

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Pizza guys get it right Think about it. Is there any reason why a Domino’s franchisee would choose to go against the grain and market itself in any way other than within the corporate template?

For one, brand compliance guidelines for most major franchises are quite strict. Two, the local pizza joint wouldn’t be benefiting from all the successful branding Domino’s has established over the past 55 years if they strayed from the brand.

According to a recent report by Mintel, 61% of consumers prefer ordering online or through an app because it’s easier than calling a restaurant. That’s where Domino’s has excelled, with consistent branding through emailing coupons, a strong online ordering experience and its newest feat in technology – the smart watch app that lets customers order, pay and track progress from their wrist.

Can’t make it into the restaurant?

Well that’s just fine. Domino’s will bring its style to you: from its light-up delivery car toppers to the “delivery experts” proudly sporting uniforms complete with red, white and blue brand colors. Their message inevitably makes it to you with branded pepper and parmesan packets, and the pizza boxes themselves – and you welcome the brand into your home with open arms.

Customers expect a consistent brand experience, regardless of whether they’re ordering a pizza, buying a pair of shoes or investing their life savings.

It builds trust, loyalty and engagement, and automation is the key to ensuring the brand experience is consistent across all marketing channels.

After all, you don’t want your audience to be confused by your brand; instead, the goal should be for your audience to understand and engage with your story (and in Domino’s case, buy pizzas).

So what is your story, and how are you going to tell it? mood board inspiration ----->

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"The message needs to be about the artist and how we as marketers can help bring value to the fans."

Justin Lefkovitch

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From Brands to Bands

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Brands and bands alike now using marketing automation to tell their stories.

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From Brands to Bands

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Branded content hits center stage

hat do rooftop concerts, see-saws, and

incredible food give you? South by Southwest

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Year after year, the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival has been on the cusp of groundbreaking ideas inspiring creative thinking in the realms of music, film and technology.

SXSW’s creative mold has driven thousands of people to the city of Austin, which has become a melting pot of fresh philosophies and has gained the attention of brands seeking to reach consumers in a new way. Although some artists are reluctant to share the stage with branded content, the opportunity for brand activation at live music events like SXSW is too influential to overlook.

Momentum Worldwide recently surveyed over 6,500 people 20

across the globe to compare the impact live events have on the whole brand experience. Not only do fans remember the event, they love to talk about it online and share with friends.

The survey showed that after attending a live event, 68% of respondents searched for more information about the brand online and 93% of respondents discussed their live brand experiences with others. With so much chatter in these days of constant sharing, brands can take control and achieve greater success when a strong social media engagement plan is in place surrounding live events.

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"The industry is an exciting place that allows brands and artists to share a common message."

Justin Lefkovitch

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Social media and music: a friendly relationship In the week during the festival, #SXSW soared in popularity on Twitter into the 77th percentile of all hashtags. One of the biggest contributors in the brand space came from @esurance, who offered fans who missed the festival the opportunity to catch up on keynote speakers and bands from the show on the esurance.com website.

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Twitter wasn’t the only social media outlet that saw a spike in traffic during the week-long event. The SXSW YouTube channel boasts almost 90,000 subscribers, and its Facebook page has an impressive 440,000 likes.

From the viral videos to photos on Instagram, it’s become second nature for people to share experiences. And as a photo album was in the past, hashtags are the newest way for people to share the same experience in a new light.

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Avoiding negative connotations Globally, recorded music sales totaled $15 billion in 2013, and a primary factor to the success of the music industry has come from the $4.5 billion annual investment in research and marketing.

Justin Lefkovitch, CEO and founder of experiential music marketing firm Mirrored Media, describes the industry as “an exciting place that allows brands and artists to share a common message.”

It is the message that Lefkovitch later expresses “needs to be about the artist and how we as marketers can help bring value to the fans.”

Mirrored Media has helped clients such as Coach and Acura find an authentic message that is organic to both the brand and the musicians. If a message feels inauthentic, fans see right through the campaign and can foster a negative image of not just the brand, but also the band by association. The fans are going to the show to hear the band play, not to be sold by the promoter or brand sponsoring the event. Only after the consumer chooses to interact with the brand can the

message be tweaked more toward patronizing the product or service.

Remember, the relationship with the band is tantamount so that the fans are listening – and will share when the time comes.

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X-channeling @ sXsw It was easy to see by the number of show flyers littered across streets that bands and brands alike were trying to capture the attention of SXSW show-goers.

Sometimes called 360 degree marketing, cross-channel marketing is key to achieving a greater customer reach. A well-rounded campaign effort gives brands a greater likelihood of grabbing that attention and guiding these music lovers to the brand.

Traditional posters and flyers have been the standard, but the adoption of email and social media has become an integral part of promoting a brand in the music marketing space. Marketing before, during, and after the event must be accounted for so that the brand covers as much of the customer buying cycle as possible. Again, nurturing is crucial so

that the fan finds supporting materials if and when they are ready for more information.

While the artists will (and should) always have the most influence on fans, brands have been able to reach more consumers with the help of marketing automation. It is very common for brands to integrate the capabilities of scheduling posts to be sent out automatically at an event. What most people don’t know is that email blasts to subscriber lists, artist outreach websites, and social media posts can all be scheduled before the show even starts!

While at an event, brands can still post to social networks, but now the worry about getting the word out is gone – set it and forget it.

Planning allows brand reps to be present, spend more time selling and engaging with show-goers, and have peace of mind that the social brand message is already built and maintained. After all, it’s always going to be about customer interaction so that the brand can reach more potential purchasers.

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Red Cross provided essential supplies such as water containers, tarps and kitchen sets to those aected by the 2015 Nepal earthquake from their funds that totaled more than $9.2 million.

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#Tweet4 Disaster Relief

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We have come a long way from smoke signals and riding horseback through the night, and now with the use of marketing automation technology we can make certain when a disaster hits, the warning will reach the right people faster than the storm.

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#Tweet4DisasterRelief

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Old concept, new technology Communication in times of trouble has long been an obstacle for mankind, but it’s one puzzle that seems to become clearer as technology evolves.

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Over 2,000 years ago, under the rule of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Great Wall was built to keep out Mongolian raiders, but it wasn’t until the Han Dynasty when we saw effective strides in communication.

The Chinese military had this incredible wall that reached far and wide, but no way for watchmen to warn troops of invaders. Beacon towers were constructed for instant communication from one area of the wall to the next when intruders arrived – using smoke signals during the day and fire during the night.

Years later Paul Revere and the Continental Army took a cue from the Chinese and used a series of candlelit lanterns to warn Minutemen of the British invasion.

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A step in the right direction September 11, 2001 is a day that we will never forget, but it is also a tragedy we can learn from. Due to incompatibilities in the radio network, communication between the New York Fire and Police Departments came to a standstill, making it nearly impossible to respond to the disaster in lower Manhattan.

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Communication between first responders and officials have since been addressed by Congress who has allocated $2 billion toward new technology. But Edward Wyatt of the New York Times reports that the new system will require up to $10 billion more before completion.

While there is no method to ensure 100% effective communication before, during and after any disaster, we should utilize any technology available today. In a recent report from Fandom Marketing, 74% of adults online use social networks and 91% say they use social media during a live event.

An impressive 50% of Facebook users report sharing and re-sharing

news stories. And three out of ten adults access news while on Facebook. With such a large footprint online, it makes sense to use social media platforms to help disaster communications when they arise.

The future is clear News outlets now have access to social media On Behalf Of technology to quickly broadcast important and urgent news to an exponential number of ears and eyes. National and local news stations can send out social media posts about weather warnings and crisis alerts on behalf of their news reporters who have a large online following and have opted to participate in the digital emergency service network.

The same process can be established after the disaster to help raise awareness and money for relief funds. And these alerts don’t have to be limited to reporters and employees; anyone could sign up to have these posts go out over their social networks on their behalf.

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In the days following the 2015 Nepal earthquake, The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon shared a number of ways to help the affected people by asking his viewers to text 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Red Cross was able to provide essential supplies such as water containers, tarps and kitchen sets from their funds that totaled more than $9.2 million.

Every act of generosity makes a difference in disasters like Nepal, and now there’s a way to share news quickly with not only Fallon’s TV viewers, but his audience online. With On Behalf Of marketing, Fallon’s team and audience could all be advocates for change, knowing the right message is being shared at the most critical moment.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

Technology improvements happen daily as the tech industry and Congress work to pave the way for a safer future. We have come a long way from smoke signals and riding horseback through the night, and now with the use of current technology we can make certain when a disaster hits, the warning will reach the right people faster than the storm.

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Save 15% on creative production budget when using a marketing automation platform Gartner Research

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Fun Fact @BarackObama now has more than 100M social media connections

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Turning Followers into Voters

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New software will undoubtedly impact your social newsfeed. Throughout the election season, political camps can now use social media On Behalf Of technology to quickly get candidateapproved content out to not only their supporters, but their supporters' networks of friends and followers.

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TURNING FOLLOWERS INTO VOTERS VOTERS Just around the corner The presidential race of 2012 seems so long ago now, but we are right back in the political mix complete with lawn signs and TV ads from opposing candidates. As the political climate heats up, 32

camps will look to maximize their online reach with personalized social media messages and email campaigns. The political presence on the web is already palpable, with more than a year from Election Day – and it will only accelerate from here.

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Social media trends “Elect in 2016” campaigns will be dominating social networks for good reason. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center highlights a major change in social media audience demographics from 2012 to 2014. The percentage of voting-age adults who use Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and/or Twitter rose more than 34% in the past two years.

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Popular POTUS To put the online presence into perspective in the political realm, President @BarackObama has 58.6 million followers on Twitter and almost 43 million likes on Facebook. That means that the President’s impressive audience reach in just these two social networks is a whopping 100 million potential supporters.

Tumultuous newsfeeds ahead New software will undoubtedly impact your social newsfeed.

Throughout the election season,

political camps can now use On Behalf Of Social Media Marketing to quickly get candidate-approved content out to not only their supporters, but their supporters' networks of friends and followers.

On Behalf Of software allows a candidate’s camp to send out social media posts like rally information or views on legislation on behalf of any supporter who opts-in as a member of this digital sharing network.

Now imagine the current President’s campaign utilizing OBO technology to leverage the 100 million people who have either liked or follow his pages online.

Just imagine if 10% of the President’s followers opt-in, and each one has just 50 unique followers. With one message, the President would grow his audience from the impressive 100 million to an incredible 500 million.

Now do the math with your candidate before Election Day and calculate their reach.

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Savvy Marketer's Guide 34

Food For

Thought

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Correctly implemented, marketing automation will bring an increase of revenue and lead generation. In fact, prospect nurturing through marketing automation has seen a 451% increase in qualified leads and 78% of users report marketing automation as the source of improved revenue. So it's no wonder 63% of companies outgrowing their competitors are using marketing automation.

Marketing automation can be used as more than a fancy tool to send out 300 tweets a day. That's why we are seeing an escalation in the realworld application of marketing automation across many industries.

To all of you Savvy Marketers: Remember...before you can defeat your competition, you should have a strategy in place that you are prepared to implement. Once your brand starts to utilize a marketing automation, platform you will attract more leads and, in turn, generate an increase in revenue.

WRITTEN BY ALEX NAVARRO PUBLISHED BY DISTRIBION, INC.

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88% of B2B brands will adopt marketing automation technology by 2018 B2B Marketing

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