It is important for companies to know the challenges of marketing automation before they decide to adopt it.
Marketing automation may not be the best solution for every company just yet. Without the proper budget and resources, companies will not be able to get the most from their marketing automation efforts and valuable time and money could be wasted.
Adopting marketing automation is beneficial for businesses to implement but this can be difficult for CMOs of small and medium-sized businesses. Small and medium-sized businesses usually do not have the resources large businesses have making marketing automation more difficult for them to achieve.
Challenges SMBs Face in Marketing Automation Adoption
Cost
Securing budget is a marketer’s biggest struggle when it comes to marketing automation. A big reason some marketers have a hard time securing budget for marketing automation is that they don’t measure the impact of marketing activities on the business. To secure the right kind of budget, marketers need to learn how to present the need for marketing automation in business terms that executives can understand.
Familiarity
Marketing automation is new and many companies do not have it fully integrated with their other marketing technologies. Not every company can afford marketing automation just yet and it is essential for those companies to wait until they have the proper budget to fully integrate marketing automation efforts into the company.
Hands-On Experience
Most companies do not have marketing automation specialists on-hand to make their integration process go smoothly. Therefore, companies that wish to begin their marketing automation process need to invest in an integration specialist or a marketing automation vendor that offers direct support in integrating with the company’s pre-existing systems. Companies that cannot afford this need to wait to begin their marketing automation process.
Lack of Need
Many CMOs feel the need to invest in marketing automation after the concept has been shoved down their throats. When marketing automation is implemented into a company that is not ready, the software is ineffective and the marketing automation doesn’t work. Without the proper amount of traffic coming into the business, marketing automation will not be able to be used to its full potential.
Lack of Expert Team
Inexperienced CMOs and their team will guarantee their marketing automation nurtures every bit of traffic that becomes a lead but not all leads are created equal. The quantity of leads is great but when quality is neglected, the company misses out on huge payoffs of renewing customers.
Technical Challenges
Many CMOs agree that integrating with their existing marketing technology is a huge challenge. Only about a quarter of B2B companies have extensively integrated marketing automation. This is further proof that marketing automation is not for every company.
Complexity in Execution
Marketing automation is complex to implement, keeping companies from fully integrating their marketing automation with the CRM, social media marketing, etc. Integrating marketing automation with all other marketing channels is essential for companies to accomplish but remains to be a huge obstacle for many.
Inability to Measure Results
New marketing technology is meant to be used by different teams who all have their own long-term objectives and goals. This causes discrepancies in results acquired by each team. The best way to avoid this is to agree on shared criteria for measuring effectiveness and find a common ground to understand each other’s objectives.
Getting More Leads is a Challenge
When it comes to gaining leads, not all leads are created equal. Many CMOs agree that obtaining high-end leads is their greatest challenge but marketing automation can help with this. When CMOs set up their automation, they should do so in a way that nurtures the high-end leads, not every lead the same way.
Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
- GetResponse
- Infusionsoft
- Marketo
- Hubspot
- MailChimp
While many companies cannot afford to fully integrate their marketing automation efforts just yet, when a company is ready to do so properly, there are many vendors that can help them achieve this accurately. These top five marketing automation tools for small businesses are designed to help small businesses achieve marketing automation quickly and accurately. There are many challenges when it comes to marketing automation and a good vendor makes all the difference for small businesses.
Marketing automation will eventually be implemented by every business on the market but until then, it is important for a business to understand all the challenges that come with marketing automation and if they can afford to implement it fully into their organization. If a company cannot afford to properly implement marketing automation into their company fully, they need to wait until they can, or else they will not be getting the most out of their marketing automation efforts and money will be wasted.