In accordance with a 2021 HubSpot Weblog Advertising Developments Report, 69% of entrepreneurs surveyed say they use automation of their advertising and marketing function.

Whether or not automation is a brand new or normal apply in your organization, we wish to enable you to keep away from widespread traps entrepreneurs usually fall into.

On this put up, we’ll focus on them and alternate options that clear up these challenges.

1. You’ve gotten soiled information.

In a 2021 state of selling automation report, 58% of B2B professionals say the primary tactic that the majority amplifies the success of their advertising and marketing automation device is high quality information.

Soiled information can price manufacturers not solely cash but in addition time, as they take actions primarily based on inaccurate data.

This may be something from duplicate data and naming inconsistencies to outdated contact data and incorrect attribution.

A easy instance of soiled information is an e-mail checklist that is by no means been cleaned. Your checklist possible has disengaged customers, spam addresses, and duplicate emails that threaten the integrity of your information.

This may result in low engagement numbers, injury to your IP repute, excessive e-mail advertising and marketing prices, and a lack of leads.

In your automation to operate correctly, it is important that you just work with clear information to make sure your work shall be well worth the effort you are placing in.

2. You picked the mistaken automation device.

A HubSpot Weblog analysis report on media and content material planning revealed that discovering the fitting device is a roadblock for a lot of entrepreneurs.

The truth is, 45.9% of these surveyed who do not depend on advertising and marketing automation say the largest impediment they face is that they cannot discover platforms with the capabilities they want.

As well as, 59% of B2B professionals say they do not really feel they’re using their advertising and marketing automation instruments to their fullest potential, in accordance with the state of selling automation report.

So, not solely are entrepreneurs combating selecting instruments, additionally they wrestle to make use of them.

Choosing the right advertising and marketing automation device is important, as it would decide how profitable your technique is. Listed here are the highest options to search for in advertising and marketing automation software program:

• Person-friendly, intuitive interface
• Superior analytics and reporting
• Information base and buyer assist instruments
• Integrations
• Scalable choices

Try this text on the highest advertising and marketing automation instruments obtainable in the marketplace.

3. Your advertising and marketing and gross sales groups aren’t aligned.

The worst factor you are able to do with advertising and marketing automation is working in a silo. On the finish of the day, advertising and marketing is a operate designed to assist gross sales, merchandise, and different enterprise sectors.

As such, it is crucial that your advertising and marketing workforce herald all mandatory stakeholders to construct workflows that align with groups past your personal.

That is notably vital with advertising and marketing and gross sales groups who work hand-in-hand to show leads into marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) then sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and eventually clients.

Have you considered what processes would profit your gross sales workforce? This might appear to be an automatic e-mail from a gross sales rep as soon as a lead has accomplished a high-intent conduct.

After all, to outline what that conduct is, it’s important to outline that with the gross sales workforce.

Advertising automation software program can allow gross sales reps to give attention to changing leads as a substitute of tedious duties.

4. You do not practice your workforce.

In accordance with the state of selling automation report, 31% of B2B professionals say probably the most important barrier to utilizing advertising and marketing automation instruments is lack of coaching, the preferred reply after lack of assets.

Automation instruments are highly effective however nugatory in case your workforce would not know the way to use them.

Holding coaching classes will be sure that key stakeholders know your device’s capabilities, are conscious of present workflows and perceive the processes to create new ones.

Listed here are a couple of suggestions for coaching your workforce:

• Curate your coaching to the workforce – Data overload is a really actual factor. To forestall this from taking place and preserve your classes productive, solely train what’s related to that workforce.
• Invite service supplier reps to take part – Nobody will know the software program higher than its reps. Attain out to your supplier and see if they supply coaching classes.
• Maintain a multi-step coaching course of – One session possible will not be sufficient to effectively practice your workforce. Be sure you maintain a number of classes, utilizing a mixture of varied studying methods to advertise studying.

5. You set and neglect.

Though automation does counsel a set-and-forget method, the fact is it’s totally hands-on.

The distinction is that your consideration goes to one thing else. As a substitute of specializing in output, you’ll be able to direct your consideration to assessing efficiency and optimizing.

6. You solely leverage just one sort of automation technique.

Too usually, entrepreneurs begin utilizing advertising and marketing automation, get aware of one set of duties, then give attention to that. By no means increasing past what they already use.

That is the way you miss out on alternatives to enhance your model. Benefit from all the options your software program gives to maximise effectivity.

There are most likely a number of little duties over the course of your work day that do not appear time-consuming individually. Nevertheless, when you add up all the time you spend posting on social media, updating contact data, and different duties, you find yourself with a big chunk of your day spent on issues that may most likely be automated.

Poke round your advertising and marketing automation to see which processes you may make extra environment friendly. For instance, within the HubSpot software program, customers can bulk replace lead contact data as a substitute of clicking into every report and altering particulars there.

The extra processes you automate, the extra time you will have every day to strategize along with your workforce about content material, lead technology, and lead nurturing techniques to maintain attracting high quality results in your website.

Listed here are automation methods you’ll be able to leverage:

• Chatbots
• Activity administration
• Lead scoring
• Lead nurturing
• Contract/quote automation
• Lead rotation
• Drip campaigns

7. Your automation software program would not combine along with your CRM.

A advertising and marketing automation system is meant to make advertising and marketing simpler. A CRM system is meant to make managing leads and clients simpler.

In case your automation software program and CRM do not discuss to one another, then you make much more work for your self.

Earlier than deciding on advertising and marketing automation and CRM platforms, be sure they will combine with each other, and be sure to have the finances to make it occur.

8. You do not have a aim.

Benefit from the benefit of use advertising and marketing automation software program offers and make investments time and efforts into figuring out your objectives first. After getting them, you will wish to assign these objectives to every automated effort – social media, e-mail workflows, and so forth – to make sure it is simple to trace progress.

In any case, entrepreneurs want a technique to measure success in the case of advertising and marketing automation, and one technique of doing so is by evaluating aim attainment. For instance, right here at HubSpot, the Visible Workflows device allows you to set a selected aim for every automated workflow.

A aim may be a brand new lead transitioning right into a marketing-qualified lead primarily based on sure behaviors, akin to downloading a selected variety of content material gives.

HubSpot Visible Workflows additionally means that you can monitor the share of contacts in every workflow that obtain the aim, which is one other nice technique to measure the success and ROI of your advertising and marketing automation.

9. You do not phase your e-mail checklist.

You’ve gotten a database filled with certified leads, however you are utilizing advertising and marketing automation software program to blast out tons of emails that are not custom-made in any respect. Because of this, your leads are churning as a result of your emails aren’t helpful to them.

The answer? Develop a lead nurturing technique that features e-mail checklist segmentation so that you’re sending particular emails to particular individuals that they are extra more likely to open.

With the fitting advertising and marketing automation software program, it is simple to execute an e-mail checklist segmentation technique that delivers sturdy outcomes. For instance, HubSpot clients can use the Visible Workflows App to focus on their emails primarily based on dozens of standards, each demographic and behavioral.

Advertising automation is a robust device for any firm – the trick is understanding the way to optimize it and which pitfalls to keep away from. By conserving these in thoughts, you will guarantee your automation is working at its most potential.

Editor’s Observe: This put up was initially printed in Nov. 2016 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness