Ever ask yourself why your marketing strategy isn’t getting the results you wanted? Consider this, we know it’s important to have the best marketing technology.  Additionally, marketing and sales assets are also critical in presenting your brand and moving leads through the conversion funnel.  But why aren’t you seeing results?  Why are your lead generating campaigns failing to generate clients?  The purpose of this post is to review why most marketers are frustrated with their current marketing strategy and what actions can be taken to generate more leads, convert more leads to customers and retain more customers.

CRM, Websites and Marketing Automation’s Impact
on Your Marketing Strategy 

Three critical elements in executing your marketing strategy are your website, CRM (Customer Relationship Management Application) and your marketing automation platform.  The proper use of these three tools allow you to increase awareness, improve communications, optimize conversions, streamline reporting and grow future campaigns.

Critical Elements in Supporting Your Marketing Strategy

Your Website:  It’s your store front.  As awareness of your product or service increases, your website provides engaging content and entices prospective customers to move into the demand funnel and pipeline.  Your website has to not only look good but must be structured correctly from a search engine optimization standpoint (SEO) and inviting from a visitor’s perspective as they begin the buyer’s journey. But that’s not all.  Fresh, relevant and engaging content is critical.

CRM Usage:  This is your customer relationship center.  A real-time record of engagement with prospects is managed in your CRM.  Proper set-up and management on a day-to day-basis is a requirement.  It’s your look into how your marketing strategy is executed and received by your target audience.

Marketing Automation Deployment:  Marketing automation allows you to deploy meaningful campaigns that increase market awareness, nurture prospects through your demand funnel, assist your sales department in converting leads to customers and helps retain customers with supportive communications.  Great work flows and a rich marketing asset library are the fuel that runs your automation machine.

Your Demand Generation Backbone
and its Impact on Your Marketing Strategy 

So why isn’t your marketing strategy delivering leads?  Take some time and consider your buyer’s journey and how each of the above elements contribute to your success.  Some things I have found that can destroy a marketing strategy.

 Five Things That Can Go Wrong

1.  Lack of clarity around buyer personas.  Are your buyer personas well thought out and based on actual input from satisfied customers?  Do you know the questions buyers are asking at specific stages of the demand funnel and have you created content to answer those questions?  What are we driving at?  Know your buyer!

2.  Websites that don’t stand out from the competition and lack relevant and fresh content are a killer to web traffic and new leads.  Are you driving traffic to your website from social media, traditional marketing and other marketing events like webinars?  Do you have analytics in place and structured reporting to share relevant metrics with stakeholders?  Make sure your website is a great place for people to engage with your brand.

3.  CRMs that aren’t kept up to date, processes that aren’t followed and a lack of consistency amongst users wastes your investment into a CRM.  It’s like a cluttered desk that hides information needing to be shared and acted on. 

4.  Marketing automation platforms that use poor work flows and are reduced to spray and pray platforms for emails are a terrible waste of resources.  Lead scoring that isn’t used and processes that are absent or not followed don’t take advantage of the powerful technology you’ve acquired.  Team members who aren’t trained on your marketing automation and as a result only use about 20% of its functionality are another example of a wasted opportunity.  Again, if you haven’t embraced your marketing automation platform, you’ve wasted a significant investment!   Your marketing automation platform should be helping your marketing strategy and allowing your demand generation efforts to scale to new heights.    

5.  A lack of marketing assets or marketing pieces that are created by people with minimal graphic abilities don’t engage visitors.  This is a huge point.  Even if you have your CRM and marketing automation dialed in, a lack of meaningful marketing assets, content creation and content management will translate to marketing failure.  

How to Fix the Tools and the Team
that Promote Marketing Strategy Success 

1. Review each of the elements noted above and create your action plan for improvement.
2. Gather stakeholders and business owners to reach agreement on future strategy addressing operational opportunities and improved process management.
3. Embrace and share target personas, related marketing assets and the buyer’s journey to conversion.
4. Contact and engage support from third party technology partners.
5. Create a reporting cadence and assign ownership of specific demand generation items.

Please follow our blog as we take a deep dive into specific areas of your demand generation funnel.  We also love to hear your questions and feedback!