The Key Marketing Automation Players On Your Team
You’ve vetted the vendors, selected your features, sized your database and scheduled your implementation; you are now ready to deploy your marketing automation platform, right? Wrong.
Without the correct staffing your marketing automation investment might as well be a car that sits in the garage, collecting dust.In every organization, regardless of how big or how small, there are team members that must be available and sufficiently trained to make the most of your marketing automation implementation. Without these key players, you risk being able to execute programs and campaigns that support the business and integrate the system with your CRM to effectively to maximize opportunities and track revenue.
The Power User
This user knows it all. With multiple years of experience, this user has every certification available from the marketing automation vendor. The Power User knows the ins and outs of your company’s marketing automation infrastructure, the integration with your CRM platform, third party integrations (i.e. webinar, social, event registration, etc.), and is the ultimate system administrator for your system.
The Power User assists in the on-boarding and training for new employees, creates user roles and profiles and acts as a liaison between marketing and IT. He/she should has a close relationship with the CRM user to ensure data is passing between the two systems as desired and in a timely fashion.
On a day to day basis, the Power User is responsible for creating advanced campaigns with complex logic, altering scoring models, making changes to the CRM integration and troubleshooting any issues that arise.
The Marketing User
This user makes it happen. The Marketing User is responsible for the creating, execution and deployment of marketing campaigns. He/she should have an email marketing calendar to manage what communications are going out, to what segments and when. He/she has the basic level of certification available from the marketing automation vendor.
The Marketing User works with the Power User to create advanced and complex nurture programs, integrate third party systems and incorporate marketing strategy. They work closely with the Sales User to ensure the business is benefiting from marketing automation.
A day in the life of a Marketing User might include segmenting the database, creating a landing page, testing the forms and deploying emails. He/she has access to most features within the marketing automation platform, with the exception of system administrator privileges.
The Sales User
While this user may not see the benefit of yet another technology system, it is the job of the Marketing User to show the Sales User why marketing automation is valuable.
Insight into page visits, form submissions and a clear lead equalization process are just a few of the reasons the Sales User enjoys marketing automation. Without leaving the CRM, he/she can identify recent pages a prospect has visited, which forms the prospect has submitted and see how the prospect progressed through the lead scoring model.
The Sales User leverages the marketing automation tool to review the lead qualification stage to determine if the prospect is ready for sales contact. He/she works closely with the Marketing User and Power User to build a Lead Management Framework that supports the business and sales needs.
The CRM User
The CRM User works closely with the Power User to manage the integration between the marketing automation platform and the CRM. Once integrated, the marketing automation and CRM, allow for both sales and marketing users to efficiently manage and market to leads and contacts.
The CRM User and the Power User create custom fields, triggers and workflows (in their respective platforms) to support and enable the business and sales process. Additionally, the CRM User manages and controls page layouts, installed marketing automation packages and request from marketing specific to the CRM.
Developing your team of key players is not something that is done overnight. Finding the right players can, at times, prove to be difficult. Looking for talent? Engage with the various marketing automation groups within LinkedIn, vendor customer communities and your network to source the best candidates. Once the team is assembled, you can start to utilize of power of marketing automation. It’s the technology that enables your Demand Generation Strategy, so make sure you team is in place and the strategy is solid to maximize results.
Author: Sierra Summers @SierraSummers is Vice President, Technology Practice, ANNUITAS
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