How to Choose the Best Marketing Automation Software for Your Business
When it comes to business internet marketing, automation has become a commonplace element of success. Businesses that excel at digital marketing know that standardized processes are essential to both operations and the growth scale of a business. As technology continues to move forward, those who lack marketing automation software will be lost in the world wide web.
Unfortunately, implementing marketing automation tools into your business isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Whether it’s a lack of time, money, or resources, businesses tend to forget that sales and marketing automation go hand-in-hand. It’s important to remember that, despite standardization, automation can still fail.
As a business, you can only get out what you put into the process. Taking the time to choose the right software, the right marketing automation counseling, and the right strategy for implementation will increase your revenue and empower your team at the core.
That being said, which marketing automation software vendor fits your needs as a business?
What to Look for in Marketing Automation Software Vendors
Identifying the right software for your business is a difficult task, especially if you’re no tech expert yourself. Use these questions to identify your needs and whether or not the software vendor can fulfill them.
Finding the right vendor begins by asking yourself a few key questions.
1 ) What size is my business?
Knowing the size of your business seems like a no-brainer, but it’s critical for choosing the right marketing automation software. Different vendors tend to specialize in certain sizes and types of business, so having a steady grasp about your own business’ situation financially, market position, and manpower when hunting for the right software.
2) What size business does the marketing automation software vendor specialize in?
As we just stated, different vendors tend to specialize in certain sizes and types of business. Make sure to pay attention to the market to find the right CRM that falls in line with your business size.
3) What industry is my business in?
Knowing your industry is a key factor in business because the industry can help you make decisions on how to proceed into the future to gain and maintain customers. Having this information allows you to look for marketing automation software that aligns with your business and industry, so you can get the most out of your leads.
4) What industry does the marketing automation software vendor specialize in?
Knowing the marketing automation software vendor’s industry specialization can always help you make decisions too. Look at where they already show success, and weigh your options against each other according to how they will work with your business. Many times niche marketing automation software can out-shine generalized software, but many times they can also leave out key features that are available through other marketing automation software.
5) What can the marketing automation software vendor provide for my business?
Looking into what each marketing automation software vendor can provide to your business is key. This is a complex question that has many sides, so make sure you pay attention to everything you are getting with your services. Know what kind of support you get from the vendor, the features available to your business through the software, what you will need to run the software, and how each software can help nurture your leads into becoming customers.
6) What help can the marketing automation software vendor provide for my business?
Knowing what help is offered to your sales and marketing teams should be a key factor in your search. If your employees are having difficulty with a certain aspect of your marketing automation software, who can they turn to? Does your marketing automation software vendor offer online resources? A sales team to teach your employees? A dedicated representative to answer and teach your team the process? Having the right support is the key to having your marketing automation software carry your team to success.
7) How many people will I need to use this software?
Manpower. It seems simple enough, how many people do I need to run this marketing automation software? Do I need a full team, or can I realistically have one person run this whole system? Don’t add more stress to your business by getting marketing automation software from a vendor that doesn’t fit with your team. Make sure that you have the right resources to run the systems provided from the marketing automation software vendors, or that can you afford to hire more people to make it run smoothly alongside your business.
8) If my business grows, can it grow with my business?
This is a major factor because finding the right marketing automation software vendor for now might not mean finding the right marketing automation software vendor for the future. Finding the right software that can grow with your company is key because a second migration could cause intense amounts of company stress if you outgrow your current software. Furthermore, make sure your digital marketing services can help you grow with the software in mind.
9) How hard will the software be to incorporate into my business currently?
Incorporating new marketing automation software can be difficult, or not, depending on how the marketing automation software vendor has their company set up. If you can easily incorporate other software into the new CRM then that’s great, but many of these services are just not compatible with other services. This is fine if you are just starting your CRM venture, but if you are already using a CRM in your business, make sure to go with a marketing automation software vendor that can incorporate your information that is already stored in your current CRM.
If you need a bit of help breaking down the marketing automation software vendors that are best for your business click here to download our free whitepaper Marketing Automation Match-Up: 5 Marketing Automation Tools Put Head to Head.
We’ve crafted this clever resource to help business owners and marketing managers make smart software decision for their customers and their team.
In our free E-book, we break down and compare 5 of the leading marketing automation software vendors, and see exactly what they can do for your business. With 3 different charts, you can get the bottom-line view of what these major marketing automation software vendors can do for your business.
We cover everything from start-up cost to the nitty-gritty-features that will give your business a realistic view of what software will work.
How Can I Measure the Success of My Current Sales and Marketing Automation?
It’s pretty hard to tell if your marketing efforts are working if you don’t have metrics to measure them against. Even if you’re confident in your strategy, it’s good to constantly test it. Not only can this reveal key performance indicators, but it can also help you tackle problems before they occur.
Use Enfusen’s Modern Marketer Assessment to analyze your campaigns and strategies.
Our in-depth sales and marketing automation assessment will tell you:
- Whether or not your sales and marketing teams are integrated
- If you’re getting the most out of your sales and marketing technology
- If your team has access to the latest strategies as well as the resources to implement them
- If you’re generating enough Sales Qualified Leads
- Your strengths and weaknesses
SEO Consultant Roger Bryan