Aligning marketing and sales - the case of marketing automation in Finnish B2B companies

People are spending increasing amounts of time in digital channels and making purchasing decisions online. During recent years marketing has been under increasing pressure to adapt to this changing customer behavior. The megatrend of digitalization poses new possibilities and threats to all business units, but especially marketing and sales need to find new ways to interact with customers in digital channels. New products are continuously introduced in the marketing technology field, and companies are facing tough decisions on how and what technologies they should invest in to enhance their customer experience and operational effectiveness of marketing and sales. One of the most talked concepts in marketing at the moment, especially in B2B domain, is marketing automation. At the same time, almost every company claims to aim for a customer-centric organization and service experience. Becoming customer-centric requires seamless alignment of marketing and sales, and the early evidence from the field of marketing automation suggests that marketing automation can act as an integrator between marketing and sales to enable that alignment. The purpose of this research is to identify, analyze and categorize what kind of problems Finnish companies encounter when aligning their B2B marketing-sales interface with a marketing automation system. In addition, this research aims to clarify what does a successful marketing automation adaption require in the marketing-sales interface. The theoretical framework of the research is formed from the scattered research field of marketing-sales alignment. Mostly unresearched field of marketing automation and the field of technology as an integrator of marketing and sales are also present in the theory section for better understanding of the context. The research was conducted as an inductive qualitative case research with open and semi-structured interviews. A grounded theory approach was applied for data generation and analysis, where these two phases complemented each other in parallel. Six marketing consultants and six in-house organization experts were interviewed for this research. The key dimensions where Finnish companies seem to face troubles when aligning their sales and marketing with a marketing automation system can be broadly categorized under vision, culture, structure, process and people. Under these dimensions the success themes that emerged from the interview data, by the means of grounded theory, were top-management team, development prioritization, expectations management, data-driven culture, marcomms and sales structure, integrators, metrics, content production and distribution, roles and language, sales activities, customer knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination, incentives and rewards, and training and hiring of people. These themes are the ones that a company planning on investing in a marketing automation platform should revise. The findings of this research indicate that companies aligning their sales-marketing interface with marketing automation system face several aspects that need to be addressed, or the return on investment of a marketing automation system may turn out poor. The findings also support that a marketing automation project should be treated as a business development project, not merely a technology project

The effect of marketing automation on customer experience

Marketing automation has gained marketers attention as an ideology that enables to automate traditionally manual marketing tasks. It enables automated, timely and personalized communications to customers. However, as marketing automation is still a young phenomenon, there is very limited amount of academic research about it. Successful customer experiences, on the other hand, have become more and more important as value creators for both customers and organizations. Superior customer experiences create clear competitive advantage. This research discusses the two phenomena and studies the effect of marketing automation on customer experience. Customer journey perspective and the transition from customer relationship management (CRM) to customer experience management (CEM) are discussed regarding customer experience. Furthermore, the concepts of database marketing, personalization, content marketing and lead management are studied for a better understanding of marketing automation. The findings of the research suggest that marketing automation affects customer experience with automated and personalized interactions along customer journeys. Furthermore, the findings indicate that marketing automation has both positive and negative effects on customer experience. Some of the suggested positive effects are personalized and timely customer interactions and increased trust and intimacy of customer relationships. Some of the negative effects are privacy risks and inaccuracy of customer data

Email marketing reach in the European Union

Marketing automation is a relatively new area within the online marketing landscape. Marketing automation systems are a type of management information systems (MIS) used in customer relationship management (CRM). These systems have gained popularity with large clients who are looking to develop their online strategy. There are several large vendors of marketing automation software. The aim of the paper is to present the evolution of usage of one of the top software tools in the email marketing area, looking for correlations between database sizes and sending volumes, as well as identifying sending volume patterns depending on the calendar. The focus is on a specific software tool used for marketing automation and its largest EU customers by email marketing database size. The core feature of such a tool is sending emails; therefore, this will be our prime indicator of reach that will be presented in correlation to database size, email open and email click rates. Data interpretation and the research implications will be included in the conclusion and will show an important increase in the use of email marketing and strong correlations amongst used indicators

Using big data for customer centric marketing

This chapter deliberates on “big data” and provides a short overview of business intelligence and emerging analytics. It underlines the importance of data for customer-centricity in marketing. This contribution contends that businesses ought to engage in marketing automation tools and apply them to create relevant, targeted customer experiences. Today’s business increasingly rely on digital media and mobile technologies as on-demand, real-time marketing has become more personalised than ever. Therefore, companies and brands are striving to nurture fruitful and long lasting relationships with customers. In a nutshell, this chapter explains why companies should recognise the value of data analysis and mobile applications as tools that drive consumer insights and engagement. It suggests that a strategic approach to big data could drive consumer preferences and may also help to improve the organisational performance.peer-reviewe

Marketing Automation Customers Segmentation

Understanding the various facets of a customer’s data is very important for businesses. This insight can help them identify patterns and opportunities to improve their operations. RFM values are often used to identify which customers are valuable for a company. They are then used to identify which promotional activities are most appropriate for them. K-means clustering is an unsupervised learning technique that works when you have unlabeled data. It allows the identification of new data points and groups. This paper proposes a novel approach that combines data cleaning and analyzing customer data to divide a broad market into various consumer groups, and then designing and implementing marketing campaigns that effectively target these consumers. This study aims to identify profitable segments based on historical data (such as purchased items and the associative monetary expenses). The proposed model is formulated using a decision tree and the RFM model to put the customers in three segments (Gold or Silver or Bronze). The decision tree is a type of supervised algorithm that can interpret clustering. It will use labels to classify the data and then plot the clusters

The impact of marketing automation software on international marketing efficiency

Globalization and growing competition in global markets have increased the need for effective international marketing strategies. Digital transformation is accelerating the shift from traditional marketing towards digital marketing, and marketers are becoming more and more dependent on the increasing amount of real-time data available online. This has also caused the growing need for marketing automation, which removes the need for manual work and helps with collecting, handling, and analysing marketing data. Marketing automation software enable several benefits for companies, but the implementation and use of the software creates various challenges that need to be first tackled. The goal of the study is to understand the impact that marketing automation software have on international marketing efficiency. The theoretical background of the study consists of analysing international marketing strategies and marketing automation software’s benefits and challenges as a part of international marketing. The framework of the study consists of seven antecedent factors that determine marketing automation’s success. The seven factors are review and development of internal marketing and business processes, scoping of instance requirements and implementation project, gain organization buy-in and find a project champion, create and deliver relevant and timely content, set realistic expectations and be patient, continue to invest and reallocate found efficiencies, and correct human resources. The study was conducted as qualitative research, where the data was collected from seven participants as a form of semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study show that the impact of marketing automation software on international marketing efficiency is dependent on all the seven antecedent factors. Companies use marketing automation software for different purposes, and the benefits also vary based on how the software is used. The common benefits regardless of how the software is used are saving time, sending real-time content to the target audience, and quicker responses to customers. The benefits were relatively easy to measure, but the total impact of marketing automation software on international marketing was seen as difficult to measure and the study suggests that some companies might even avoid measuring it to avoid discovering the negative impacts of it. The impact of marketing automation software was also dependent on how much adaptation is needed locally.Globalisaatio yhdessä kasvavan kilpailun kanssa ovat kasvattaneet tarvetta tehokkailla kansainvälisille markkinointistrategioille globaaleilla markkinoilla. Digitaalinen transformaatio kiihdyttää muutosta perinteisestä markkinoinnista kohti digitaalista markkinointia ja markkinoijat ovat koko ajan enemmän ja enemmän riippuvaisia kasvavasta määrästä reaaliaikaista dataa, joka on saatavilla verkosta. Tämä on myös kasvattanut tarvetta markkinoinnin automaatiolle, mikä poistaa tarvetta manuaaliselle työlle ja auttaa keräämään, käsittelemään ja analysoimaan markkinointidataa. Markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistot tuovat yrityksille useita hyötyjä, mutta ohjelmiston käyttöönotto sekä käyttö luovat erilaisia haasteita, jotka on ensin ratkottava. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on ymmärtää markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistojen vaikutus kansainvälisen markkinoinnin tehokkuuteen. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen tausta koostuu kansainvälisten markkinointistrategioiden analysoinnista sekä markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistojen hyötyjen ja haittojen määrittämisestä kansainväliselle markkinoinnille. Tutkimuksen viitekehys koostuu seitsemästä edellytystekijästä, jotka määrittävät markkinoinnin automaation menestyksen. Tutkimus tehtiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena, jossa aineisto kerättiin seitsemältä osallistujalta puolistrukturoitujen haastattelujen muodossa. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistojen vaikutus kansainvälisen markkinoinnin tehokkuuteen on riippuvainen kaikista seitsemästä edellytystekijästä. Yritykset käyttävät markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistoja eri tarkoituksiin ja hyödyt vaihtelevat riippuen siitä miten ohjelmistoa käytetään. Riippumatta siitä miten ohjelmistoa käytetään, yleiset hyödyt ovat ajansäästö, reaaliaikaisen sisällön lähetys kohdeyleisölle sekä nopeammat vastaukset asiakkaille. Hyötyjä oli suhteellisen helppo mitata, mutta markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistojen kokonaisvaikutuksen mittaaminen kansainväliselle markkinoinnille nähtiin vaikeana mitata ja tutkimus osoittaa, että osa yrityksistä saattaa jopa vältellä sen mittausta välttyäkseen negatiivisten vaikutusten löytämiseltä. Markkinoinnin automaatio-ohjelmistojen vaikutus oli myös riippuvainen siitä, miten paljon adaptaatiota tarvitaan paikallisesti

How could marketing automation impact the business performance of Comexposium? Marketing automation

Comexposium continues to exhibit strong growth through global acquisition of key events. However, the company identified the need to increase the renewal rate of its exhibitors. In order to do so, Comexposium determined marketing automation software could have enormous value. However, the company currently does not have the appropriate data to determine to specific returns the software could provide. Thus, this report focused on assessing the impact of marketing automation on the business performance of a B2B enterprise and the best methods to implement and measure it. The main findings were that the software could be of immense value to Comexposium, if the company is ready to invest in internal resources and take the time to adapt to the changes the tool will incur

Marketing management in urban passenger transportation innovations

Purpose: This main aim of the article is to explore possible approaches to innovation marketing management by the example of urban passenger transportation. Design/Methodology/Approach: In modern conditions with the digitalization of the economy enterprises that provide transportation services are aimed at managing through artificial intelligence. Modern transport depends on the preferences of the population, based on philosophy of automation, intellectualization while at the same time is focused on the quality of transportation, elimination of losses and cost reduction. The specifics of marketing activities in the urban passenger transportation market is of particular importance in this study, taking into account the formation of the marketing innovation toolkit in the urban passenger transportation market under these specifics. Findings: A model for innovational marketing management in the urban passenger transportation sector was developed and justified, which includes six key innovation management blocks based on marketing functions: research, forecasting, information, organizational, advertising and practice. Practical implications: In practice, it is about creating a concept necessary for the provision of transport services for passengers transportation, based on the use of innovational marketing. The basic directions for the introduction of innovations at the enterprises of urban passenger transport are proposed. Originality/value: In the field of urban passenger transportation in the digital economy, new opportunities are opening up for development by applying innovational marketing, the practical implementation of which ensures increased efficiency and increases the demand for public transport services.peer-reviewe

Enterprise Marketing Automation Software Selection

Enterprises devote a large amount of time and effort in selecting software products that are critical to their competitive advantage, and one such software is the marketing automation software. The paper discusses in detail the different criteria and methodology for selecting one marketing automation software product among the leading products available in the market. The selection process was identified as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and the methodology used for analysis was Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM), a variation of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Nine experts with different backgrounds in terms of job functions, functional experience, and geographies, who had expertise in marketing automation tools or related products were requested to give their inputs for the HDM analysis and a detailed analysis was done on the results. The results pointed to a single product as the winner of the analysis which was found to reflect the market share and research data and helped understand the decision-making process under different preferences and perspective differences. For future research and further analysis, the model could be made more robust with the inputs from more number of experts to eliminate any bias or outliers and corroborating the results by independently analyzing it with different decision-making methodologies such as TOPSIS or DEA