1245: 4 Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Marketing Automation Platform w/ David Greenberg

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.560 Hey, this is James, the founder of sweet fish media. If you've 2 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:04.839 listened to BB growth for a while, you probably have an idea of what 3 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:09.230 we're passionate about. Loving people really well, a constant pursuit of learning and 4 00:00:09.630 --> 00:00:14.269 inspiring people to own their careers. With all the craziness happening with this virus, 5 00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:18.510 we are incredibly fortunate to be in the business of podcasting. So many 6 00:00:18.589 --> 00:00:22.699 BB brands are looking for alternatives to their inperson events that are being canceled, 7 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:26.980 and our business is growing as a result. Please don't miss hear me on 8 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:31.179 this, because I'm not saying this to Brag. It is heartbreaking the economic 9 00:00:31.219 --> 00:00:34.979 impact this is having on so many businesses. But being in the business of 10 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:39.609 podcasting, the demand for what we do has increased and because of that we're 11 00:00:39.649 --> 00:00:43.890 looking to hire really talented people to help us serve that demand. So if 12 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:46.729 you like what we're all about it sweet fish and you're looking for a great 13 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:50.079 career opportunity, hit us up. There's a link in the show notes where 14 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:55.560 you can apply today. I'm really looking forward to meeting you. Welcome back 15 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:58.880 to be tob growth. I'm looking lyles with sweet fish media today. I'm 16 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.920 joined by David Greenberg. He's the STP of marketing at act on software. 17 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:04.629 David, how's it going today, sir? It's going great. How are 18 00:01:04.629 --> 00:01:08.109 you doing? I am doing fantastic. Thank you so much for asking. 19 00:01:08.109 --> 00:01:11.750 Thank you so much for joining us on the show today. We're going to 20 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:15.150 be talking about, you know, as people are evaluating their marketing budgets and 21 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:18.780 and looking at you know, no one had a crystal ball and could tell 22 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:21.980 that there would be so much in the up in the air at this point. 23 00:01:22.019 --> 00:01:23.500 So a lot of plans, a lot of whether that's, you know, 24 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:29.099 event strategy or what software allounce they are going to be doing this year. 25 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:30.540 A lot of things are up in the air. So we're going to 26 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:36.049 be talking about if you are in that bone and you're looking at your Maretex 27 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:40.370 stact critically right now, we're going to give folks some tactical advice on how 28 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:42.890 to go about that, how to research it, how to work with vendors 29 00:01:42.930 --> 00:01:48.239 and really how to take an objective assessment approach. Before we get into that, 30 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.640 David, I would love for you to give listeners a little bit of 31 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:53.920 context. Tell us a little bit about your background and what you in the 32 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.040 team and act on software up to these days. Well, that sounds great. 33 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:00.959 Yeah, I have been a marketer for about twenty years. Interestingly enough, 34 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:05.390 I started my career trying to be a rock star and after that fizzled 35 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:07.990 out, I moved over into the sales marketing world and actually found there was 36 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:14.069 a lot of similarities and quickly fell into marketing and started my career as a 37 00:02:14.150 --> 00:02:17.740 practitioner in many different roles and I would say over the last ten years I 38 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:23.979 have been sort of in a marketing executive role for several high text startups across 39 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:29.419 the sort of northwest region and here at act on software. ACT ON WE'RE 40 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:35.169 A leading marketing automation platform and you know, our platform let's marketers scale and 41 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:39.250 orchestrate their communications across their revenue funnel, how they build a revenue and how 42 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:44.289 they build their their funnel behind that, and also lets them automate the customer 43 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:47.319 life cycle. I think the one thing about our platform that's unique and is 44 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.639 that behind the scenes are platforms collecting the digital behavior of your prospects and customers 45 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.069 and allows you to tailor and deliver more high value messages and communication of them 46 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:01.310 at the right time. That's fun, Amili what act on does yeah, 47 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:06.270 absolutely, I love some of that behavior on Noalysi stuff, because when we, 48 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:08.629 you know, we're swimming in data, of we're swimming in information, 49 00:03:08.789 --> 00:03:13.620 what we really need is looking at the analytics behind some of that data and 50 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:15.740 then say, okay, if this, then we need to take this action, 51 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:19.819 that sort of thing. So love that you guys are addressing that a 52 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:22.620 bit, David. All right, so let's dive in. If you, 53 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:25.580 for whatever reason, are evaluating your mare text act, maybe it's because of 54 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:30.129 all of the change that's gone on so far this year, or maybe it's 55 00:03:30.129 --> 00:03:34.009 just maybe it's just that time. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the 56 00:03:34.050 --> 00:03:37.090 midst of the pandemic. But, David, talk to us a little bit 57 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:40.599 about some of the signs that you should be evaluating your Mare Tex Stac, 58 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:46.159 especially marketing automation, outside of just, Hey, we need to revisit the 59 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.199 budget or those sorts of things. But what sure of the things that maybe 60 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:52.960 you're outgrowing or you're not, you know, kind of fit, or maybe 61 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.110 you've over purchased, whatever the case might be. What are some of those 62 00:03:55.189 --> 00:04:00.030 signs that it would be worthwhile till at least look into a change? David, 63 00:04:00.629 --> 00:04:04.229 great question and you're right with what's sort of happening and in today's world 64 00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:08.629 I think there's been a lot even in the last few weeks, since this 65 00:04:08.669 --> 00:04:12.300 is started, been a lot more interested how to be really good at digital. 66 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:15.259 You're going to kind of hear things moving away from an offline world to 67 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:19.420 an online world, and so I would expect people to be more interested and 68 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:25.170 in testing in how they provide a great digital experience in the future. Overall, 69 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:29.970 far beyond marketing automation platforms, but obviously that there's a that's a key 70 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:32.769 centerpiece and a lot of people's marked XTAC. So yeah, if you're thinking 71 00:04:32.769 --> 00:04:36.170 about the signs that you like, you need to sort of grow into something 72 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:40.480 else or you need to sort of upgrade your tools that I think there's like 73 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.839 maybe three things that really stand out for me. One of them is today 74 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.800 is the world where technology is open, and so you, as a business 75 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.560 are likely likely bringing in lots of best to breed tools and there will be 76 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.829 times where you're marking automation platform needs to talk to them. So I think 77 00:04:55.829 --> 00:05:01.149 it's a very important requirement that you do. You you identify which other systems 78 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:06.579 are triggers or which other systems. The communication part of the machine needs to 79 00:05:06.699 --> 00:05:12.100 talk to so that you deliver that sort of exceptional customer experience. And obviously 80 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:15.620 when you're have human contact it's some ways a lot easier. When you're digital, 81 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:18.699 you got to figure out how you substitute that facetofacetime and with digital behaviors. 82 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:23.050 How we do it's I think that's a really important aspect that you need 83 00:05:23.089 --> 00:05:26.170 to look at. I think the other thing you need to look at is 84 00:05:26.569 --> 00:05:30.970 is my company, whatever platform using now? Is it? Is it being 85 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:35.920 widely adopted internally? I think often there's a there's a misconception that marking automation 86 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:40.920 is just like a peer demand generation thing, something you've blast out needs and 87 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.319 campaigns, and really it's not. It's a platform for the business and it's 88 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:46.920 a platform that can help you learn as much on the customer side as a 89 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:50.230 prospect side. So I think when you're if you're seeing something where it's only 90 00:05:50.269 --> 00:05:54.990 being used by like the person who does, you know, paid search or 91 00:05:55.029 --> 00:05:59.550 the person who's doing outbound email campaigns, I think that's usually a sign that 92 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:03.980 there's more sophistication needed. I think those two or three things are probably the 93 00:06:04.060 --> 00:06:09.660 most important areas to look to kind of graduate to something else. Yeah, 94 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:13.339 that makes sense. So if you find that your team one, there are, 95 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:18.329 you know, customer success sales, basically anyone outside of just marketing ops 96 00:06:18.370 --> 00:06:23.810 and to Banion, if there are other functional roles that could benefit from adopting 97 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:29.250 and using your marketing automation platform, then maybe there's there's something to be said 98 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:32.079 there that you need to look at changing your current implementation or maybe changing the 99 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:35.040 tech itself. And then also, you know, do you have a lot 100 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:40.680 of piloid information or your marketing ops folks or your marketing folks having to set 101 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.279 up all of these custom integrations or certain workflows where once a month they've got 102 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:47.670 a you know, move data from one system to another, or things are 103 00:06:47.790 --> 00:06:50.750 out of sink. I think we're probably going to spend some time, as 104 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:56.350 we talk about evaluating and implementing integration being a key piece. I think that's 105 00:06:56.389 --> 00:07:00.269 just too tough to avoid. When you talk about MARTEC. Givens some tips 106 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:02.699 as well, David, as if you recognize some of these signs and others 107 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:06.620 that there's just there's enough pain that you need to start doing some research into 108 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:11.019 your MARTEX stack. What are some of the first steps that you recommend to 109 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:15.209 folks? Being a marketer yourself and evaluating, you know, Martec for act 110 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:18.370 on yourself. David, what are some of the steps that you take when 111 00:07:18.410 --> 00:07:24.250 it comes to researching new marketing technology? Sure, I mean let's definitely start 112 00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:27.930 with the integration piece, because I think that's a that's absolutely a top tier 113 00:07:28.170 --> 00:07:32.480 requirement. Most businesses are trying to be as agile and bring automation into their 114 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:38.920 business processes as much as possible. So having very fast systems that talk to 115 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.279 each other, that can scale and don't break when you, you know, 116 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:46.509 grow two, four, five X, super very, very important. So 117 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:49.790 I think that that's absolutely a key point and you know, usually that involves, 118 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:54.069 I would say, kind of behind this is get an internal team. 119 00:07:54.069 --> 00:07:56.870 I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill here, but 120 00:07:57.069 --> 00:08:00.060 you can quickly get in trouble by just being a team of one when you're 121 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:03.980 trying to implement a platform that really can deliver so much more value than traditional 122 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:07.740 demand Jin. So it's important you work with that, like you mentioned earlier, 123 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:11.889 the customer success team, the sales team and even the product team sometimes 124 00:08:11.930 --> 00:08:16.689 to figure out how this tool can really be used to the best of its 125 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.370 ability, and that sort of leads to to another really important point. Is 126 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:26.329 often you hear you I think the find the different stakeholders is really important, 127 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:31.240 but there's also building a road map for what you're marketing automation tool is going 128 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:35.559 to do in your business, and I think starting on Hey, we're going 129 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.679 to first a sort of implement it and have it run really tightly with our 130 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.509 crm and I'll maximize our funnel, make our funnel work as much as possible 131 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:48.350 make sure leads coming in or getting nurtured. Is a great sort of starting 132 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:52.350 use case. A lot of companies who've been with us a while very quickly 133 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:58.340 start expanding into other use cases and I think these will become more popular and 134 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:01.940 required by customers, not only because of the offline to online transition, but 135 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:07.940 just because this this sentiment that customer experience is so important these days and delivering 136 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:13.649 a great customer experiences really it's going to make your brand be set apart and 137 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:16.529 memorable and when they're ready to buy, you'll be somebody they think of, 138 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:20.690 and I think that's a really important part in today's world where you don't have 139 00:09:20.210 --> 00:09:22.570 full control of the bum relying process. So you have to do what you 140 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:26.639 could do to be memorable. So some of these other use cases that we 141 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:31.919 see a lot of our clients outside of the traditional funnel application is to is 142 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.080 real more engagement around the product or offering that the company has. We have 143 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.629 insurance clients who are monitoring when their customers are visiting what pages on their website 144 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:48.750 and they're delivering educational updates about how they can maximize their plan based on that. 145 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:52.230 And so it's really the if you think of that, it's the company 146 00:09:52.389 --> 00:09:54.820 that's serving the customer really has to put their best foot forward and this is 147 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:58.779 an amazing tool to do that. So when you're thinking about your art, 148 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:01.419 marketing automation, WHAT TOOLS RIGHT FIT? You know, it's hard to imagine 149 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:05.139 you would ever buy thinking this would last for ten years, but I think 150 00:10:05.139 --> 00:10:07.250 after be thinking five years, and maybe that might even be a little bit 151 00:10:07.250 --> 00:10:11.649 of us of it. How much stuff changes, how much technology is changing 152 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:13.330 these days. But if you put that Lens on it you can start to 153 00:10:13.450 --> 00:10:20.169 work with those internal stateholders we mentioned and begin to figure out how the organization 154 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:22.639 gets the most value out of it and so it doesn't stay in the silos 155 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:26.720 that you were talking about before. Yeah, absolutely. I love what you 156 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:31.559 said about building a road map, because setting some of those signposts of okay, 157 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:33.840 these are the things that we know we need to implement in the first 158 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.350 six months, this is what we're looking at for twelve or eighteen months. 159 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:41.990 Is the piece of software that we're looking at it? Is that going to 160 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:45.509 be able to grow with us for the next few years? Does it make 161 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:48.950 it easy to execute the things that we need to right now, but is 162 00:10:48.029 --> 00:10:52.980 it also going to enable us in that next phase of growth? And sometimes 163 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:56.419 it's a little bit tough right and there are some tradeoffs. What's going to 164 00:10:56.460 --> 00:10:58.940 give us, you know, the most power in two years? Where we'd 165 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:03.500 think we're going to be and what we think we're going to need might take 166 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:07.129 a little bit more to get up and running in the first six months. 167 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:09.970 There are all these sorts of pros and cons that you have to weigh, 168 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:13.210 but you do need to look at the very short term, the medium term 169 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:16.929 and kind of the longer terms as best you can, and you said it 170 00:11:16.009 --> 00:11:20.679 well. You know, things are changing around us, economic climate, the 171 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.879 technology changes more quickly these days than ever and we're all doing our best, 172 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.320 but I think that that that approach will definitely yield some good things. The 173 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.919 other thing I want to ask you about, David, since you are a 174 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.830 season marketing better in yourself, is, you know, there's the technology Ology, 175 00:11:35.309 --> 00:11:39.429 but we are big believers that it's what you buy, whatever that product 176 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:43.230 or service is, but it's also who you're dealing with and and how that 177 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:48.539 relationship is set up from the very beginning. So, as it specifically relates 178 00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:52.820 to to mar tech are there's some of the the Gotchas, the pitfalls of 179 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:58.740 negotiating or reviewing contract specifically in the MARTEX space, that that you have your 180 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.850 team look out for as you guys are evaluating different pieces of your text act. 181 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:05.090 David. Yeah, though, that's a great question and I really love 182 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:09.169 what you said about trust. I'm just a big believer that in today's age, 183 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:13.649 trust is paramounts. So you can tell right away almost what kind of 184 00:12:13.690 --> 00:12:16.240 brand you you're working with, at least I can. I've a pretty right 185 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.559 form of peating is pretty quickly. But you know, yeah, there's I 186 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.000 think, particularly on Martec, there's maybe like three or four key things that 187 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.679 always stand out and I think whoever is considering what they're buying first I want 188 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.309 back to your earlier question. I want to make comment like marketing, on 189 00:12:31.870 --> 00:12:35.269 implementing a marketing automation platform. It's not a light list, let's be honest. 190 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:39.429 It has to be stitched with the other applications you have to be running. 191 00:12:39.789 --> 00:12:43.539 You actually have to engineer the business processes inside of it. You've got 192 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:46.940 to create your segmentation, you've got to integrated with all the other prodents. 193 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:52.179 So when we're talking about the three to five year road map, that's the 194 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:56.860 one sort of red flag I would about people is it's there's a cost replacement 195 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:00.009 of this. So this is one of the tools, centerpiece, tools of 196 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:03.889 the stack that I have found that usually there's a lot of pain when you 197 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:07.129 have to unwind it and it feels like going sideways. So spend the time 198 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:09.129 up front making sure you're getting the right thing. It can grow into that 199 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:13.080 three to five year room that we talked about. But yeah, when you 200 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.399 get into the contract and into the the conversation, you know there's there's like 201 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:20.559 three things that really stand out for me. First is just be really clear 202 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.720 about what the pricing model is. There are a lot of marketing automation players 203 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.750 out there. There are a lot. Who will price, for example, 204 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:33.230 on total database size, and the reality is you might have a database of 205 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:37.629 five hundred thousand people, three Hundredzero people, but there are might only be 206 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.899 fifteenzero that are actively engaged. So when you're thinking about pricing, figure out 207 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:46.139 what works best for you. Are you really trying to build something for the 208 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:50.740 entire database or you really trying to have some sort of like pricing that's around 209 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:54.379 who's actually engaged with the company? And I you know, that's not a 210 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:56.929 bad thing. I just think at any given life cycle moment there is a 211 00:13:58.090 --> 00:14:01.809 segment of the available market that's engaging with the brand and there's some that's not. 212 00:14:01.570 --> 00:14:05.570 So that's something that comes up quite a bit, I think. Also 213 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:11.679 you'll run into a lot of like monthly and annual type contract conversations and and 214 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.200 we, I know you'd use the word Martec Logan, but cretictly marking automation. 215 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.639 You got to be careful. This is not a month by month thing. 216 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.759 You maybe want to pay a month by month. That's fine, but 217 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.789 you're going to you're not going to make a lot of progress if you're pulling 218 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:28.309 a man pulling them out every three months. This this is a little bit 219 00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:31.789 of a longer term and investment and it does yield the returns, but you 220 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:35.990 need to like be thinking about where the benefits are against monthly and the annual 221 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:41.419 and obviously you get some price lift with with an annual contract. So that's 222 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:45.340 something I think about. The other one is the SOLAS. Is something I 223 00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:48.899 think people want to look at really closely and take a check at where they're 224 00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:54.129 not only what is contractually in their slas, but go back and look at 225 00:14:54.129 --> 00:14:58.169 the application. Any any application worth that's credible these days is going to have 226 00:14:58.289 --> 00:15:03.769 their status transparent. Back to the trust thing and take a look at that 227 00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:07.519 against what you're contractually signing up for, because you know, you the cost 228 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:11.200 of something being down that's like a mission critical communications will like this can be 229 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.200 can be pretty high. So I think you need to be really look at 230 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.639 look at that very closely. You had mentioned last thing and then I'll have 231 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.309 it back over to you. You had mentioned around sort of the relationship side. 232 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:26.789 They're almost never is a marketing automation platform implemented like a cookie cutter. 233 00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:30.590 Every business is different. They have different needs, that have different languages, 234 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:35.110 they have different cultures and ways they think about the funnel. So having somebody 235 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:39.460 who's very strong on the other end of the phone who you know. I'm 236 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:41.700 not going to say they fully understand your business, but the understand your business 237 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:48.740 model and are are proactively a support vehicle for you as extremely important. So 238 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:52.809 I think those four kind of stand stand pretty tall when you're thinking about what 239 00:15:52.889 --> 00:15:56.129 are the levers I have to move in my in my negotiations and contracts. 240 00:15:56.610 --> 00:16:00.009 Absolutely. So you talked about, you know, time of commitment. Really 241 00:16:00.169 --> 00:16:03.169 make sure that you understand the the pricing model and does that fit you know, 242 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.919 I hear what you're saying there. We've even been at a point before 243 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.320 we're looking at okay, this is the side of our database. You know, 244 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.360 this is how much time it would take us to kind of clean that 245 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.480 up to fit within, you know, this range, to hit this price 246 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.429 point with a marketing automation platform. So that definitely rings true for me. 247 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:25.110 Make sure that you have folks looking looking at those slas closely, and I 248 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:27.429 love what you said they're this is kind of more of one of those softer 249 00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:32.429 things. It's not necessarily hey, I can put this into this evaluation spreadsheet, 250 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:34.860 but are the people that you're working with and in the vendors that you're 251 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:41.580 evaluating, are they showing acumen and understanding for your industry and Your Business? 252 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:45.059 You know, like you said, are they going to be an instant insider? 253 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:48.370 No, I don't think any of US expect that. But with each 254 00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:52.730 interaction they should be understanding you a little bit more and that should lead to 255 00:16:52.850 --> 00:16:56.570 better support, better implementation, all of those sorts of things. So so, 256 00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:59.129 David, we've talked about the signs you need to make a change, 257 00:16:59.169 --> 00:17:03.200 the steps to do your research, some Gotcha's pitfalls, things to look out 258 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.119 for in negotiation, as you are evaluating or you're in the rollout phase. 259 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:11.200 What are some of the things that you recommend to folks, David, when 260 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:17.509 it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing automation platform? As you kind 261 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:21.750 of said something earlier that I think lends itself to this part of the conversation, 262 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:26.509 that you know, it's not just hey, it's doing our monthly email 263 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:30.900 and it's doing our outbound campaigns, and how many are we able to send 264 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:33.220 out in this amount of time right? What are some of those next level 265 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:37.339 things that you recommend to marketing teams that Hey, this is going well, 266 00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:41.779 this is serving our needs and it's truly being effective for the business goals we're 267 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:47.529 trying to achieve with any marketing automation platform. Yeah, that's a great that's 268 00:17:47.569 --> 00:17:48.809 a great question. That's kind of what it's all about. You know, 269 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:55.369 one very important thing is are you getting control of your funnel and pipeline? 270 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:59.240 I think, like we talked about, sort of the primary use case historically 271 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.160 has been around a man engine and I think there's a lot of best practices 272 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:07.920 and detail behind that. But Marketing Automation should give you more control around the 273 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.759 shape and velocity of your funnel. And so every company measures this and as 274 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:15.869 different tools and crms and what not to measure all these materials. But you 275 00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:19.750 know, when you start thinking about how long does a nurture lead take to 276 00:18:19.869 --> 00:18:26.750 reach engagement levels, that's our sales ready is a very important component and ingredient 277 00:18:26.829 --> 00:18:29.539 of the machine. But if you think about it more broadly, it's about 278 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:33.660 are you really getting control of your pipeline? Can you do more activity higher 279 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:37.220 in the funnel to create more middle funnel knowing that you have need to the 280 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:40.579 next quarter for the bottom of the funnel and vary? A scenario is like 281 00:18:40.700 --> 00:18:45.930 that and obviously behind that not only control but visibility. Do I understand who 282 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:49.569 is in my stock of leads? Do I understand when what what? And 283 00:18:49.769 --> 00:18:52.809 you know what, if you use an mql methodology, like what the stock 284 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:56.880 looks like there? Those are all very important parts. I think the other 285 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.200 other thing is the whole point of adding a marketing automation platform. Maybe not 286 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:06.119 the whole point, but one of the major points is to get behavioral data 287 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:10.829 of your prospects and customers so that you can serve them better, whatever that 288 00:19:10.950 --> 00:19:15.390 means and whatever context you are so you have to look at overall engagement and 289 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:21.269 like serving up content that's more relevant at a better time that's at the right 290 00:19:21.829 --> 00:19:25.059 step of where they are with a relationship with the brand. And if any 291 00:19:25.099 --> 00:19:27.380 of that's happening, you should start seeing higher engagement levels. And you know 292 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:33.140 I'm talking way beyond email here. Most you know and every company a little 293 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:36.740 bit different, but I think solid, more mature platforms tend to have a 294 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:41.809 multi channel approach. Will include things like social and mobile and and so those 295 00:19:41.809 --> 00:19:45.529 are the whole point of that is give you more channels to engage, but 296 00:19:45.609 --> 00:19:48.250 then you're using the power of the data behind this is the drive more engagement 297 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:53.240 levels, and so most platforms out there have different ways they measure that or 298 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.119 they could work. Companies come up with their own. But you know, 299 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:00.039 if you six months later engagement's gone down, I would say you have a 300 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:03.720 problem. Okay, you should expect expectations. It should be up. And 301 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:07.549 then the last thing I just wanted to mention, which we already talked a 302 00:20:07.589 --> 00:20:10.990 little bit about, is just if you're stepping back and saying, how is 303 00:20:11.109 --> 00:20:14.670 this being used and what's the value of my organizations getting from this? You 304 00:20:14.789 --> 00:20:18.509 have to look beyond traditional capital will and marketing. You have to look at 305 00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:23.619 as a communication tool and our other teams starting to use it and adopted and 306 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:26.940 so you know, whether you know you have that road map that we talked 307 00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:30.019 about earlier, that sort of in six, twelve, eighteen months sort of 308 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:33.539 chunks the logical points of time. You should be looking back and saying, 309 00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:41.329 has this has this delivered more as a way to market and build brand equity 310 00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:45.849 with these people over time? Yeah, absolutely, and that includes current customers, 311 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:48.769 that includes, you know, laws loom and customers. Is it contributing 312 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:53.160 to upselling cross sale opportunities? It's not all just about I feel like we 313 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:57.119 repeat it so often as marketers and sales people right it. It costs so 314 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:03.400 much less to acquire repeat business or add on business than it does net new, 315 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.109 but yet we focus all of our marketing and sales efforts on those net 316 00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:08.750 new logos. So I love that you brought it back. You know, 317 00:21:08.829 --> 00:21:14.069 those four things to look at as far as the effectiveness of the marketing automation 318 00:21:14.109 --> 00:21:18.539 platform you're either evaluating or implementing. You talked about control, which can show 319 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:22.819 itself in in the velocity of your funnel. So control is number one. 320 00:21:23.099 --> 00:21:26.380 Do you have visibility? I love that, again, going back to that 321 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:30.660 point earlier. Just data and information all around us, but how quickly can 322 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:33.890 I look at a dashboard and see, yep, we're doing well, we're 323 00:21:33.930 --> 00:21:37.410 trending in the right direction or oh, nowhere in trouble. We need to 324 00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:41.769 we need to tweak something. So control, visibility. Are you getting behavioral 325 00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:45.769 data that causes you to be able to, or enables you, I should 326 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:48.799 say, enables you to serve your customers better? And then, circling back 327 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:52.240 to one of those signs that you might need to make a change was, 328 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.319 you know, low adoption. So therefore, effectiveness of a new marketing automat 329 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:00.559 platform should be driving more adoption. I love how we brought it full circle 330 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.509 there today, David. Well, if anybody listening to this, David, 331 00:22:03.549 --> 00:22:07.190 would like to take some next steps, follow up with you or just stay 332 00:22:07.269 --> 00:22:08.950 engaged with you and the rest of the team and act on, what's the 333 00:22:08.990 --> 00:22:12.670 best way for them to reach out, stay connected or follow along with some 334 00:22:12.750 --> 00:22:15.779 of your content? Yeah, now, that sounds great. First off, 335 00:22:17.220 --> 00:22:21.819 you can hit me up on Linkedin, David Greenberg, and likewise my email 336 00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:30.130 address at acton is David Dot Greenberg, green be Arg at act oncom. 337 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:33.650 So feel free to having out there and I'll look forward to it. I 338 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:36.210 love it, David, make it nice and easy for folks to connect. 339 00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:38.410 I really appreciate you being a guest on the show today. Thanks for having 340 00:22:38.410 --> 00:22:41.809 me. It's been a pleasure and look forward to listening. I hate it 341 00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:47.119 when podcasts incessantly ask their listeners for reviews, but I get why they do 342 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:51.359 it, because reviews are enormously helpful when you're trying to grow podcast audience. 343 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:53.599 So here's what we decided to do. If you leave a review for be 344 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:57.559 to be growth and apple podcasts and email me a screenshot of the review to 345 00:22:57.670 --> 00:23:02.630 James at Sweet Fish Mediacom. I'll send you a signed copy of my new 346 00:23:02.710 --> 00:23:06.470 book. Content based networking. How to instantly connect with anyone you want to 347 00:23:06.589 --> 00:23:08.829 know. We get a review, you get a free book. We both 348 00:23:08.910 --> win.