How to Encourage Your Team to Use Marketing Automation

• Posted on January 8, 2019
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Marketing automation still instills fear in both marketing and sales teams with little prior experience in it – after all, it takes a chunk of their responsibility and places it in the hands of algorithms and software. Can these tools really be trusted?

Recent studies show that not only can they be trusted, but trusting them is also an increasingly important step in standing out in a competitive marketplace.

Case in point – Salesforce’s “State of Marketing 2018” shows that 50% of the best-performing companies use marketing automation, while only 21% of moderate performers use marketing technology, and only 8% of underperformers have adopted it. A clear trend is evident.

Understanding the doubts and fears about marketing automation

There are a few prevailing myths about marketing automation technology that are still keeping teams from trying it out. For one, staff who’ve been in marketing or sales for a long time may feel that they’re experts in their respective fields, but are relative beginners when it comes to technology and software.

One survey showed that more than a quarter of marketers feel that automation software will be too difficult to implement. There’s also the financial strain on companies of applying such technology, as well as the perception that automation software and AI will take away people’s jobs.

All of these fears cause understandable pushback, but with marketing automation transforming the industry, and spending expected to become a $25 billion segment by 2023, it is crucial for teams to engage with it and not fall behind. Thankfully, it’s more than possible to get a team engaged, invested, and thriving with marketing automation tools.

How to get your team onboard with automation

Does your organization find the thought of engaging with marketing automation overwhelming, or think that it’ll be too difficult for your team to implement?

In order to alleviate such concerns, you first need to show that you understand their doubts and fears, before addressing them. Let your team know that today’s martech software is designed to be as intuitive as possible. Most companies that have designed new software see the streamlining of the process for marketers and salespeople as their unique selling point – the aim is to enable marketing and sales teams to spend less time on unnecessary tasks, freeing up time for the more cerebral processes.

Another worry is that marketing automation is an additional cost your team will be tasked with providing ROI reports on, and you don’t know what to expect from its performance, however there are many marketing automation software options, ranging from the inexpensive to the more tailored high price tools, which can fit into any budget. There’s also plenty of evidence to suggest that marketing software makes teams more efficient, and will essentially pay for itself in the long term. Crucially, 75% of companies who’ve used marketing automation see an ROI in 12 months, and 44% see it in six months.

Source: SMT