Marketing Automation Platforms

Marketing is perceived by most observers to be one of the more ‘fluffy’, ‘arty’ and ‘imprecise’ parts of an enterprise. However, in the global market of the twenty-first century, in which consumers are increasingly discerning, products are increasingly commoditised, markets are increasingly open to competition and the velocity of change is increasing all of the time. The skills of marketing are no longer marginal, they are vital.

In building and protecting brand, the success or otherwise of marketing is key to corporate profitability. In a commoditised market if, through marketing, a distinction can be made so that a product can be seen as ‘cool’ and desirable, the result translates as rapidly to the bottom-line as any cost saving or rationalisation programme. But as margins tighten everyone is looking more closely at return on investment (ROI). This dictates that marketing must become a more measured discipline. The days of running multi-million pound awareness campaigns with no tracking of the outcomes are disappearing. Today, marketers are expected to take decisive actions, with the results being supported with facts. Today, quantification is replacing intuition.

The demand is for:

• Increased marketing velocity—with better visibility and control, allied to enhanced collaboration within and beyond the enterprise.
• Increased marketing effectiveness—with better targeting giving better results.
• Increased accountability—with budgetary control and full tracking of all that is being spent.
• Increased ROI—with results being commensurate with the sums expended.
• Increased success—ultimately measured by increased share of the wallet from the targets.

Currently, Global 2000 companies are spending more than $600billion a year on marketing, most of it in an uncontrolled ad-hoc manner. It is against this background that Marketing Automation exists.

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