John Koetsier of VentureBeat authored a great article about marketing automation: 70+ players, sub 5% penetration: Marketing automation still ‘crossing the chasm’.
We all have seen great initial adoption of marketing automation solutions. The burning question off course is what does it take to cross the chasm? A vertical market approach as John mentions in his article makes a lot of sense. It is a proven approach in the world of CRM. What else can we do to make marketing automation even more valuable and drive faster adoption?
In my opinion, today’s marketing automation solutions automate the otherwise very tedious task of nurturing leads and driving them down the funnel. As a marketer, I can’t even image life without it. However, what it lacks is context. What I mean is it offers very little additional insight about the lead or prospect over time. If you acquired an email list, you probably have his title, phone number, email and some other details. However, you have no clue on what his or her interests are. Your nurturing campaign is a ‘hope and pray strategy‘. This is where I believe social besides other channels can have a huge positive impact and offer lead level insights which can help drive faster revenue and even faster adoption.