Jason Kort on the definition of marketing automation and CRM – “CRM is an acronym for Customer Relationship Management which is really another way to say customer database management.  The goal of a CRM solution is to give a 360 degree view of the customer for everyone in a company.    This allows management, salespeople, customer service and others to access basic customer information, learn what products they have purchased, manage customer issues, and so on.  Some of the larger players include Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP.

A marketing automation platform can be used by itself or integrate with a CRM to provide an entire marketing suite that helps manage a database of leads, prospects or customers.  Typical features offered by most marketing automation solutions are lead scoring, email marketing, landing page builders, visitor analytics, and reporting.

Because most CRMs don’t offer this kind of marketing functionality you typically see companies integrate their CRM with a marketing automation platform to get the combined benefits.”

David Raab on the role of marketing automation - ”A CRM system is typically used by individual sales people or customer service agents who are having one on one interactions with with individual customers.  They are focused on primarily existing customers and prospects.  A marketing automation system usually is used by the marketing department, versus sales and customer service.  In a business to business world it is focused on the first stage of the life cycle of how do I generate new leads and how do I nurture them before they are ready to be handed to the Sales team.”

Tony Tissot on integration of marketing automation and CRM –  ”We believe that marketing automation and CRM should be integrated together so that the sales team can see what is happening in real time.  We use marketing automation and CRM together quite successfully.  Sales folks can go into their CRM and evoke an action out of the marketing automation system to do something.”

Click here to view the webinar.

At Dreamforce 2011 we had a chance to catch up with Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO of The Pedowitz Group.  Jeff has 20 years of experience leading successful B2C and B2B organizations and he frequently writes and speaks on a variety of topics related to demand generation, Web 2.0, and marketing.  Prior to founding The Pedowitz Group, Jeff served as vice president of professional services for Eloqua.

During our interview Jeff gave us his take on what makes The Pedowitz Group different and how a marketing automation organization must be staffed to achieve great results…

The Pedowitz Group is a Revenue Marketing Agency that helps companies connect marketing to revenue.  We do that buy successfully integrating people, process and technology.  There are five things that make us different:

1. Technology Agnostic.  We have expertise on a number of platforms, including Marketo, Oracle, Eloqua, Aprimo, Silverpop and Genius.
2. Experience.  We have worked with over 800 clients in the past 4 years, more than 2x our nearest competitor.
3. Pay for Performance and Service Guarantee.  We are the only Agency that offers a pay for performance program.  We stand by our work and guarantee results or you don’t pay.
4. Approach.  We manage all of our clients on the Revenue Marketing™ Journey, a path from Traditional Marketing to Revenue Marketing.  Our SAM™ methodology is unique in that all projects and engagements are managed to produce a monetary result.  We are a results-driven organization that works with our clients to monetize their revenue marketing programs.
5. Revenue Marketing Outsourcing.  We are the only Agency that outsources Revenue Marketing programs to produce a repeatable, predictable and sustainable revenue result.

The great thing about marketing automation is that the technology can be a catalyst for change in any company when you automate something that has been done manually.  However, false expectations can be created when companies think the platform alone will cause revenue to go through the roof.

In order for marketing automation to make a revenue impact, the marketing organization must transform into a Revenue Marketing department, responsible for connecting revenue back to marketing.  Here are the five positions with roles and responsibilities that must be staffed to become a high performance Revenue Marketing Department.

1)  VP of Revenue Marketing – “We need to drive more than brand and awareness.  Marketing must drive qualified leads and create synergy with Sales, which requires Executive sponsorship.”  This position will manage a lead funnel and will be able to envision effective campaigns with all of the necessary elements.  They must have a deep understanding of their market and their buyers.  The ability to read prospects online behavior and effectively create campaigns for pipeline and revenue impact are key competencies.

2)  Business Analyst – “Someone who consistently analyzes metrics and asks strategic questions about sales data and social media.”

3)  Content Manager – “This person manages all the content and develops processes to fully leverage white papers, webinars, campaigns, etc.

4)  Metrics Expert- “Their sole focus should be financial data.  How much have we spent on campaigns?  What is the return, lifetime value of the customer?  This data is pulled from the marketing automation system on weekly basis and forwarded to the VP of Revenue Marketing.”

5) Power User – “This person is an expert on using the marketing automation platform.”

For many companies this investment in human capital is a big commitment, which is often why clients hire The Pedowitz Group.  They get all five of these roles when we engage in a project.

A Revenue Marketing department can be built internally, but the key questions to ask are Is this part of your core competency? Do you feel like you can handle this?  Do you want to be good at this?  Can you be good at this? And finally, do you have the budget for this?

In a previous post we reported at Dreamforce 2011 that sources from multiple marketing automation companies indicated Salesforce.com had selected a marketing automation company to do their internal marketing automation.  According these sources it is a 2 year deal and numerous companies and organizations have signed NDAs to keep quiet.

“We have not selected a company to do internal marketing automation,” said Marc Benioff in press conference earlier this week.  “I would also note that any one technology we choose for our business does not make a central statement about future acquisitions.”

What is more interesting is who was not selected for the project.  Hubspot had received $100 million investment from Salesforce earlier this year and there are other partner that have provided more robust integration with Salesforce.

What is more interesting is who has not been asked to the dance.  The vendor is NOT expected or have investment by Salesforce (Hubspot).  The vendor needs to have high capacity for email volumes.

“No one vendor is material to our business,” said Benioff. “We have multiple vendors in multiple categories and will not select one vendor for our business needs.”

Even with the selection of Eloqua there is plenty of business and growth for other marketing automation companies.  One size does not fit all and each player can win by creating marketing ROI for their customers.

This may explain why Marc Benioff flatly denied any selection during today’s Dreamforce Q/A session. “We have not selected a company to do internal marketing automation,” said Benioff. “We are evaluating the marketing cloud and right now we think the biggest category is social monitoring.” Salesforce purchased social monitoring company, Radian 6, earlier this year and the product was featured and demoed during the opening keynote address.

“I would also note that any one technology we choose for our business does not make a central statement of future acquisitions.”

“No one vendor is material to our business,” said Benioff. “We have multiple vendors in multiple categories and will not select one vendor for our business needs.”

Here is what we know…
- The vendor has not received an investment by Salesforce.
- The vendor does not have close ties to Salesforce.
- The vendor has high capacity for large email volumes.

My guess is the company name will come out sooner or later at the show. In the meantime we will keep our ears open.

Given that we are providing live coverage of Saleforce.com’s Dreamforce convention this week, we thought it only appropriate to share the following article from David Raab’s blog, Customer Experience Matrix.

I’ve long believed that B2B marketing automation is just a passing phase: that, ultimately, B2B marketing automation systems will be absorbed into CRM systems instead of operating independently. It’s a view I discuss sparingly in public, since so many of my friends in the marketing automation industry have a vested interest to the contrary. But there are also a few vendors who have bet in favor of merged systems, so it wouldn’t be fair to ignore their view entirely. 

10 Strategies for Content Marketing, Events, and Marketing Automation Success - Wed, Aug 31 3:30 PM

Advanced Campaign Management: Lead Nurturing and Campaign ROI – Tue, Aug 30 3:30 PM

Death by Marketing Automation – Wed, Aug 31 2:00 PM

Email: Why Marketing Automation Can Not Survive Without It – Thu, Sep 1 3:30 PM

How a Marketing Automation Company Uses Marketing Automation – Tue, Aug 30 3:30 PM

Drive More Revenue – Be Everywhere Your Customers Are, All the Time! - Wed, Aug 31 12:30 PM

Why Integrated Marketing Automation with Salesforce Is a Must – Wed, Aug 31 2:00 PM

Driving Extraordinary Growth through Sales and Marketing Performance – Super Session with CEO Joe Payne on Wed. August 31st 12:30 – 1:30 pm

Accelerating the Revenue Engine: Driving Revenue With a Single View of the Buyer – Breakout session with CTO Steve Woods and Taleo CMO Heidi Melin on Thursday, Sept. 1st, 3:30 – 4:30 pm

If your session/event is not listed, please email info@marketingautomationtimes.com and we will get the list updated.

Greg has a successful history in the software business with a track record of creating winning products, brands and businesses. For over 15 years, Greg helped grow the ACT! contact management and SalesLogix CRM businesses from startups to global brands. He has a passion for helping emerging technology companies with their marketing and growth strategies.

The interview covers the following topics…

- Why Infusionsoft is the right choice for small business owners.

- How Infusionsoft differs from other marketing automation solutions that target the small business space.

- The advantage of converging CRM, marketing automation, and ecommerce in one platform.

- Why being bigger is not the main motivation for  most small businesses.