Cost Efficiency & Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation is scary powerful and can also be scary expensive but I have a few secrets that can help you add marketing automation but also keep the cost down.

• Don’t get rid of your email platform: 
  
  “What? Why do I need to keep my email platform?” is probably your thought right now but hang with me for a minute. A true marketing automation platform is going to be billed based on the number of contacts and will come with a set number of emails you can send to each contact; if you go over that number you have increased your cost by usually a very expensive per email spend.  I always recommend my clients keep their email platform for newsletters, transactional emails and any information that is required to be sent to members.
  
  

• Don’t put many contacts in your new platform: 
  
  “Then how do I use it?” The idea of marketing automation is to track the behavior, show you where your new leads came from and when they converted. Link your website, social media, blog and any other resources to your platform and let the leads drip into your platform.  This way you are getting CLEAN and ACCURATE data.  If we load in contacts, especially without validating and cleaning up your data then you have already flooded your system with data that might not be true/real. This will also help keep your cost down especially for the first year.  “What about the second year, though?” Is that your next thought?  Of course you need to budget, so two things you can do here: 1. Ask for the pricing based on number of contacts and/or 2. Look at your current number of valid emails and use this as a build up to number (see number 4 ‘One Step at a Time’)
  
  

• Integrate your systems:
  
  “I want to be able to track my member’s behavior though too.” Your members will visit the site, and when they do, the platform will pick up on that data. From there, if you have integrated systems you are now able to ensure the old data in your email platform is correct and if not, you now have clean data in the email platform.
  
  
• Take it one step at a time:
  
  Don’t try and move/do everything in your new platform all at once because you will become overwhelmed. We find it is better to start with one initiative (one department, one campaign, one focus) and build off of that and then once you become more comfortable with each initiative.  By doing this, it keeps in line with what I discussed in number 2 ‘Contacts in your platform;’ you can gradually increase the number of contacts in the system. Marketing Automation platforms don’t have an “overage” on contacts, they will bill you the following year for the number of contacts at that point in time. 
  
  

Make sure to talk these options through with your vendor first, as you have many ways to implement this solution; never accept an all or nothing approach!

Want to learn more about how HighRoad can help you? Contact us!