The business-case-for-marketing-automation-an-act-on-e book

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
HOW TO CRAFT A COMPELLING CASE
the executive team
will approve

Bottom line, you can’t realize the benefits of nurture
marketing the way Top Performers do unless
you incorporate a technology platform that can
preconfigure business rules to manage timely
engagement and escalate prioritized leads to sales
via integration with CRM.
No amount of hired resources could manually reach
out and touch prospects at just the right time with
just the right message.
Marketing automation forms the backbone for
configuring nurture marketing campaigns across
channels and managing communications based on
prospect engagement. It’s also one of the only ways
marketers can actually start to attribute marketing
spend to closed sales.
– Gleanster, March 2013
Set-it-and-forget-it nurture marketing
“
“

2
01
02
03
04
THE
BASICS
OF MARKETING AUTOMATION
page 4
CONTENTS
HOW TO MAKE A
BUSINESS CASE
FOR MARKETING AUTOMATION
page 12
WHAT THE
EXECUTIVE SUITE
NEEDS TO KNOW
page 28
CLOSING THOUGHTS
AND RESOURCES
page 39

3
YOU’RE CONVINCED
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
WILL HELP YOUR COMPANY
leap forward...
...if you can convince executive management to adopt the technology.
Because the buyer has evolved.
Which means the seller (you) must, too.
The scales have shifted.
Digital channels, non-stop connectivity, expectations for
personalized interactions, and unprecedented global
competition have empowered today’s buyers with more
knowledge and choices than ever before.
As a result, marketers must shoulder much more
responsibility for measurably contributing to sales and
revenue goals, an expanded role that’s less “traditional
persuasion” and more “buyer education.”
Success hinges on finding the right mix of inbound and
outbound strategies, and the right data that effectively
measures what matters across the increasing array of
moving pieces.
Marketing automationis a proven
method for striking this balance and can significantly,
measurably, and sustainably increase your chances for
continued success.
This eBook is designed to help you create a compelling
business case that convinces executive management to
adopt marketing automation.
We’ve laid out the basics of what marketing automation
is and what it can do, and we’ve sifted the research and
categorized the results by business challenge. Please feel
free to use any part of this that will help you make the case
to your executive team.
Here we go.

4
+ What is marketing automation?
+ What’s the value of marketing automation?
+ What’s included in marketing automation?
+ What do businesses use marketing
automation for?
+ Marketing automation vs. CRM
THE
BASICSOF MARKETING AUTOMATION
01

A SCENARIO:
PERFORMANCE
Companies that have adopted marketing automation are out-performing
those without it.
in action
58% 63% 79%
of top-performing
companies (defined
as those where
marketing contributes
more than half of the
sales pipeline), have
adopted marketing
automation.
(Forrester Research,
Dec 2013)
of companies that
are outgrowing their
competitors use
marketing automation.
(The Lenskold and Pedowitz
Groups, Nov 2013)
of top-performing
companies have been
using marketing
automation for more
than two years.
(Gleanster, Aug 2013)

6
Marketing automation … focuses on the
definition, scheduling, segmentation,
and tracking of marketing campaigns.
The use of marketing automation makes
processes that would otherwise have been
performed manually much more efficient
and makes new processes possible.
(Marketing Automation Times)
Marketing automation is the use of software
and Web-based services to execute, manage,
and automate marketing tasks and processes. It
replaces manual and repetitive marketing processes
with purpose-built software and applications geared toward
performance. (techopedia)
Marketing automation is the use of technology to generate,
nurture, score and qualify leads, and drive sales, using
customized, multi-touch marketing communications tailored for
each contact’s profile, level of interest, behavior, or place in the
buying process. (Sales Lead Insights)
01 THE BASICS OF MARKETING AUTOMATION
WHAT IS MARKETING AUTOMATION?
It depends on who you ask.
Here’s a sampling of how others define it:
“
LEAD-TO-REVENUE
MANAGEMENT
Forrester Research prefers the
term “lead-to-revenue management
automation solutions” and notes that
such systems were developed to
“bridge a gap between lead generation
activities (e.g., trade shows, direct mail,
telemarketing, and email campaigns)
and selling activities that were
managed by a customer relationship
management (CRM) system (e.g.,
closing the deal).” The opportunity to
calibrate marketing spend to revenue
generation was a significant driver of
L2RM adoption.
“
SALES
FORCE
.COMCRM

7
The core strength of marketing automation is creating a digital infrastructure
in which marketing and sales can understand, and interact with, buyers
throughout the entire lifecycle – from acquisition to retention – in a well-timed,
personalized way.
Consider these facts:
• 78% of marketers cite marketing automation systems as most responsible
for improving revenue contribution. (The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups,
Nov 2013)
• B2B marketers cite the #1 benefit of marketing automation as the ability to
generate more and better leads. (Pepper Global, Sep 2013)
• B2B marketers who have successfully deployed lead nurturing programs
average a 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads versus
non-nurtured leads. (DemandGen, Aug 2013)
• B2C marketers who take advantage of marketing automation have seen
conversion rates as high as 50%. (eMarketer, Feb 2013)
• 69% of top-performing companies cite “cooperation between marketing and
sales” as the most critical value-driver for maximizing marketing automation
ROI. (Gleanster, Nov 2012)
It’s a compelling value proposition.
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
BENEFITS
Done well, marketing
automation can:
Increase overall sales,
both for new and repeat
customers
Shorten the sales cycle
by 50% or more
Increase deal sizes
Increase sales quota
achievement rates
Lower the cost per lead
Lower overall sales and
marketing costs across
the company
Increase alignment of
sales and marketing teams
WHAT’S THE VALUE OF MARKETING
AUTOMATION?

8
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN
MARKETING AUTOMATION?
Generally, marketing automation
systems offer most or all of
the following:
• Email message and campaign creation
• Automated email campaign deployment and
measurement
• Triggered emails
• Lead management and routing
• Automated lead nurturing
• Automated lead scoring
• Creation and hosting of landing pages and forms
• Website visitor tracking
• Social media marketing and sharing
• Inbound marketing, with some SEO capability
• Database with segmentation capabilities
• CRM integration and automatic data synchronization
• Web events/webinar integration, registration,
and management
• Tracking, reports, and analytics
• Third-party app integration
• Data capture of demographic, firmographic, and
behavioral information for leads and customers
• Alerts to notify sales and/or marketing when a specific
person or company visits a specific page on the website
THE HALLMARKS OF A
MARKETING AUTOMATION
PLATFORM
• Data integration, data analytics, list creation,
dynamic list-building
• Automated workflows for the development and
execution of outbound and inbound marketing
• Ability to create email messages, landing pages,
and online forms
• Lead management features for lead scoring, lead
distribution, and lead nurturing
• Visibility and access for sales into marketing
campaign efforts and individual prospects
• Unique activity reports for each lead and contact
showing website behaviors, clickthroughs,
content views, etc.
• Reporting, analytics, and dashboards
- Adapted from SiriusDecisions, SiriusView: Marketing
Automation report

9
For many customers,
size matters. As a small
marketing team, I’ve
experienced first-hand how
potential clients will quickly
reject your company if it
appears too small based on
company profile or perceived
project capabilities.
As an added benefit, our
company suddenly appeared
bigger because we were (and
are) doing the work of a
much larger marketing team.
That’s the power of marketing
automation.
1 Create and manage email
marketing campaigns with less
time and effort.
2 Apply qualification metrics to leads
and contacts.
3 Segment the database to support
targeted, personalized campaigns.
4 Nurture leads with timed content,
to help them progress through the
sales funnel.
5 See and understand lead behavior
as leads move along or drop out of
the sales funnel.
6 Score leads to indicate sales-
readiness.
7 Synchronize leads to the CRM
system as they qualify.
8 Help sales engage more effectively
with buyers by using intelligence
gathered at multiple touch points.
9 Reduce costs by consolidating
point tools.
10 Reduce costs by saving time.
11 Handle increased workloads
without additional staff or
specialized technical skills.
12 Improve sales response times
through information sharing
between marketing and sales.
13 Respond 24/7/365 with no
downtime, no overtime, and no
need for training or retraining.
14 Create set-it-and-forget-it drip
campaigns.
15 Publish to multiple social accounts
with one action.
16 Eliminate manual data entry for
webinar and event registrations.
17 Manage all communications
around webinars and events, from
initial promotions to final follow-up.
18 Get comprehensive understanding
of each lead and customer by
integrating marketing automation
and CRM systems.
19 Build complex marketing
campaigns that coordinate
multiple channels and messages
automatically and in accordance
with pre-strategized, lead-nurturing
timeframes.
20 Demonstrate marketing’s
contribution to the company’s
number of deals, and revenue.
WHAT DO BUSINESSES USE
MARKETING AUTOMATION FOR?
Virtually everyone using marketing automation
begins by employing it for email marketing, then
scales it in different directions, depending on need.
Here are 20 possibilities:
“
“
Ben Jackson,
VP of Sales, voices.com

10
“
Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Neolane
and former Customer Intelligence analyst at Forrester
Research, responded:
The reality is that marketing has
been largely underserved by CRM
providers. Many of the large CRM
vendors don’t provide the type of
flexibility and capability for efforts like
lead management to the marketing
organization as they do to the sales
organization.
The marketing capabilities delivered
within CRM applications tend to focus
entirely around campaign setup and
profiling. They fail to support marketing
professionals in creating landing pages,
implementing sophisticated nurture
campaigns, tracking online visitor
behavior, scoring prospects by implicit
and explicit actions, and automatically
transferring prospects to sales staff when
they are sales ready.
“
“
Christian Wettre,president of W-Systems,
an agency that specializes in deploying marketing and
sales technology, with an emphasis on CRM, said:
With a modern CRM system, you
typically have some ability to broadcast
emails to your client list, and the
ability to capture leads from websites.
But when the customer needs more
sophisticated capabilities, that’s when
we look to marketing automation.
“
MARKETING AUTOMATION VS CRM
A common question:
“If I have a CRM solution in place, do I really need marketing automation?”

11
A large company A small company
A global company has thousands of sales reps
who manage their contact database and strategy
using a CRM tool designed to improve the sales
department’s productivity.
But what about the marketing department’s
productivity, including generating, nurturing,
classifying, evaluating, and scoring, which they then
pass to the sales force? The sales CRM system is
not built to accommodate that.
The marketing automation system is responsible
for those activities, and it’s owned and run by the
marketing department.
This company has two local bricks-and-mortar
locations and 20 sales reps who may or may not use
a CRM tool.
On the marketing side, this company has two
marketers who wear multiple hats, including manually
collecting, scoring, and transferring leads.
But as the leads grow and/or become more complex
due to business growth, multiple products, more
sales regions, etc., the marketing team will become
increasingly less efficient and effective without an
automation platform to plan and execute the increase
in campaigns.
Marketing automation is the tool for the job.
While marketing automation and CRM have different capabilities, the two systems are complementary and
can be integrated to form a powerful sales and marketing tool set that’s rich in features and capabilities.
Ideally, a comprehensive business approach means investing in both
CRM and marketing automation.
THE TALE OF TWO USE CASES
Let’s take a look at two use cases Suresh uses to illustrate his point:

12
+ Why invest in marketing automation?
+ Specific marketing challenges you may have...
and how marketing automation helps solve them
+ Lead generation and management
+ Campaign optimization
+ Sales enablement
+ Resource optimization
+ Data and analytics
HOW TO MAKE A
BUSINESS
CASEFOR MARKETING AUTOMATION
02

13
Marketing automation systems positively impact both
the top and bottom lines, with many results seen quickly
after implementation:
Top Line Improving the experience and engagement
of prospects and customers drives more demand for
products and services, generates more higher-quality
leads, and helps close more sales.
Bottom Line Improving process and operational
efficiencies decreases costs (e.g., resources, capital
equipment, outsourcing) while increasing profitability.
1Revenue
Marketing automation helps companies realize core strategic goals:
Brand relevance Marketers can more easily, quickly, and effectively deliver the right message to the right person at
the right time via the right channel. This dramatically increases your company’s relevance in customers’ eyes.
Increased efficiency Launch campaigns in hours or days, with little or no IT support needed. Automating common
tasks allows relationship-building with fewer resources while increasing personalization. Sales can use lead intelligence to
shorten the sales cycle.
Data intelligence Visibility into the performance of campaigns, personas, and buying stages allows companies to
optimize marketing efforts, improve results, and measure ROI.
2Achieve Organizational Goals
According to the latest stats,
COMPANIES THAT
USE MARKETING
AUTOMATION SEE:
• 107% better lead conversion
• 40%greater average deal size
• 20% higher team attainment of quota
• 17% better forecast accuracy
02 HOW TO MAKE A BUSINESS CASE FOR MARKETING AUTOMATION
WHY INVEST IN MARKETING
AUTOMATION?
Every organization experiencing success with marketing automation has a
different answer to this question. The three that surface most often:

14
Marketing automation systems provide the infrastructure for
sales and marketing to work together.
Sales and marketing cooperation Many
aspects of marketing programs must be calibrated to
sales’ needs. When the teams align, their mutual decisions
are implemented via the marketing automation system.
This alignment results in nurturing, scoring, and handoff
processes tuned to sales’ requirements, leading to
intradepartmental trust and more effective follow-up.
Sales intelligence The real-time intelligence about
a lead’s fitness, concerns, and behaviors lets the sales rep
begin a warm, targeted conversation and build a relationship
more quickly. It also reduces the need for cold calls.
3Improve Internal
Cooperation
B2B organizations with
tightly aligned sales and
marketing achieved 24%
faster revenue growth and
27% faster profit growth
over a three-year period.
(SiriusDecisions)
MINIMIZEINVESTMENT RISKS
To minimize investment risk, consider a
vendor that offers a monthly subscription
tied to the number of contacts you plan to
actively email to in each month. Start small
and test the waters, expanding as needs
and benefits become more apparent, and
as your team’s skill sets grow. Marketing
automation’s reporting capabilities will
help you validate the system’s worth and
document your return on investment.

15
Marketing automation platforms
provide sophisticated, highly
choreographed, interoperable
technologies that power and support
an extensive range of digital marketing
opportunities. By design, the benefits
are far-reaching and interrelated, woven
through multiple teams for multiple
uses at multiple times.
We’ve organized marketing’s most common hurdles into five
categories. We hope this will help you create a strategic plan
to show how marketing automation can answer your own
organization’s biggest challenges.
1 LEAD GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT
2 CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION
3 SALES ENABLEMENT
4 RESOURCE OPTIMIZATION
5 DATA AND ANALYTICS
TRY THIS:
USE CASE STUDIES.
Show your executives that other companies in
your industry or other companies of your size are
achieving success with marketing automation.
Look for case studies that make one of those
points, or look for a study that spotlights how
someone used marketing automation to solve a
problem your own company recognizes as a pain
point worth solving. Your goal is to show parity of
some kind, and reinforce the idea that companies
like yours are seeing a return on investment with
marketing automation.
Be sure to research whether one or more of your
competitors is using marketing automation.
SPECIFIC CHALLENGES YOU MAY HAVE...
AND HOW MARKETING AUTOMATION
HELPS SOLVE THEM

16
1. INBOUND AND OUTBOUND FROM ONE PLATFORM.
Automation platforms enable marketers to communicate “out” (e.g., email, social push) and pull
prospects “in” with capabilities such as landing pages, search engine optimization, and integration with
pay-per-click systems such as Google AdWords.
2. LEAD CAPTURING.
Marketing automation offers several
mechanisms for capturing the
contact information of prospects
who have responded to offers
or messages, thereby facilitating
moving the contact into the funnel.
Key among these mechanisms are:
Landing pages and forms, both
of which can be quickly created
in automation platforms and tied
directly to the database of record.
Webinars and other online events
can effectively expand brand
visibility, and create awareness of
– and demand for – products and
services. Automation platforms
offer integrated capabilities that
allow marketers to plan and
launch web-based events, engage
attendees before and during the
event, and follow up afterwards.
10The average number
of marketing
touches leads receive
from the time they
enter the top of
the funnel until
they’re a closed-won
customer.
(Aberdeen Group, Jul 2012)
DID YOU KNOW…
According to Aberdeen Group,
60% of marketing leads are
generated through outbound
marketing and 40% from
inbound channels.
but...
Top Rank Marketing found
leads gained through organic
searches have a 14.6% rate
of close, while outbound
marketing leads have a close
rate of only 1.7%!
LEAD GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT

17
3. LEAD SCORING.
Lead scoring allows marketers to qualify leads by assigning pre-determined values to their behaviors and profile
characteristics. When a buyer-ready lead score threshold is passed, a notification is triggered, allowing marketers to
quickly pass the lead to sales. Automated lead scoring benefits marketers by:
• Providing timely information on a lead’s progress through the funnel/buyer’s journey.
• Taking the guesswork out of a lead’s status with automated lead classification based on scores (e.g., Marketing-
Qualified, Sales-Accepted, Sales-Qualified).
• Uncovering the content and interactions that drive the highest response.
• Delivering more and better-qualified leads to sales with less time and effort.
Companies
that excel at
lead nurturing
generate 50%
more sales-ready
leads at 33%
lower cost.
(Forrester Research, 2011)
Nurtured leads
make 47% larger
purchases than
non-nurtured
leads.
(The Annuitas Group, Nov 2012)
4. LEAD NURTURING.
With automation, you can implement and manage nurture programs (e.g.,
multi-touch drip campaigns) that:
• Keep new leads in the funnel – especially important for complex, high-
value sales cycles.
• Help leads move through the funnel, via a mix of educational and other
materials sent in a timed cadence.
• Are personalized and customized to the lead’s specific areas of interest,
which strengthens relationships with potential and existing customers.
5. LEAD SEGMENTATION.
Dynamically segment leads in the database as they arrive from social media
campaigns, form-fills, email campaigns, or paid campaigns. By segmenting
leads based on sources, marketers can use the appropriate medium of
communication to send out relevant messages and craft effective campaigns.
Leads can also be segmented by industry, company size, products already
purchased, or any other factor that helps you create more targeted campaigns.

18
6. TARGETING: SENDING
THE RIGHT MESSAGE
TO THE RIGHT PERSON.
From nurturing leads to re-capturing
lost sales to managing loyalty
programs, automation lets marketers
set up targeted messages based
on any number of attributes (e.g.,
age, gender, title, geography,
engagement behaviors).
This allows marketers to:
• Send the right message at the
right time.
• Have visibility into who their
most profitable customers are,
where they came from, and
how to find more like them.
• Cross-sell and upsell to
segments.
TRY THIS:
USE DATAGather your baseline data. Know how many leads are generated and
conversion rates at each step, including what percentage of marketing-
generated become closed deals in contrast to leads generated in
other ways. Understand whether your sales team is losing deals to
competitors, or to no-decision. Review your email statistics, including
sends, opens, and clickthroughs; know which campaigns are delivering
qualified leads and which are not. Know at what point leads fall out of
the funnel. You will use this data to understand how an improvement at
any step could affect revenue.
If your current systems don’t allow you to measure these factors, then
gaining the capability to understand how your marketing is performing
becomes a solid business reason for implementing automation.

19
1. REDUCE LEAD TIME.
Marketing automation efficiently facilitates the quick coordination, scheduling,
launching, and measuring of marketing campaigns from simple to complex,
across single or multiple channels. What used to take weeks can be
implemented in hours or days.
2. OPTIMIZE CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS.
Begin by using A/B testing for campaign elements to increase the odds of
success. Then, through tracking and monitoring the progress (often in real
time) of a campaign, marketers are able to identify what works and what
doesn’t, and can change it on the fly. The new knowledge is incorporated to
find fresh ways of appealing to customers.
3. PERSONALIZE YOUR INTERACTIONS.
Personalization is a proven technique to increase conversion. Automation
allows marketers to tie behaviors to individuals, thereby opening new doors
for dynamically personalizing emails, custom landing pages, and offers.
4. REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE.
Combining the full complement of data collection and profiling with outbound
and inbound tactics, marketers can significantly expand their visibility and
reach, including growing their database and increasing lead flow.
5. TEST TO IMPROVE RESULTS.
Marketers can use testing techniques such as A/B splits for landing pages
as well as email to test creatives or messaging with a representative audience
sample. The winning version can then be rolled out in the larger campaign.
CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION

20
6. OPTIMIZE FOR SEARCH ENGINES.
According to a study by Conductor, organic search drives the most traffic
of all channels; it’s responsible for nearly half of all website visits (47%).
Marketing automation platforms can streamline SEO tasks with on-page
evaluation tools to ensure web pages, blogs, and other content are
optimized for search engines and aligned with best practices.
7. GO SOCIAL.
Automation helps marketers track and manage social publishing and
listening across a wide range of popular social media channels, even
sending notifications when it’s time to respond, which allows marketers to
learn what’s being said and participate in conversations. Some platforms
offer sentiment analysis, competitive analysis, and prospecting.
8. UNDERSTAND YOUR WEB VISITORS.
Website visitor tracking can show precisely which products and services
each visitor is interested in, helping marketers further target campaigns and
promotions to meet their interests. It can also help you identify anonymous
visitors and uncover their contact information.
9. SCHEDULE SET-IT-AND-FORGET-IT EMAIL
CAMPAIGNS.
Marketing automation helps marketers take full advantage of email
marketing, including nurture programs and trigger email programs. Pre-
determined content, offers, and messages are automatically sent to the right
recipients at the right time, working to keep them engaged and progressing
through the funnel.
10. CREATE AND EVALUATE LANDING PAGES.
How well are your landing pages performing? Do they follow SEO best
practices? Do you know the right metrics to watch? Which designs are more
effective? Automation software provides the tools to answer those – and
many more – questions. Some also have one-click webpage creation from
an email message.
TRY THIS:
BE READY TO
ANSWER
QUESTIONS
ABOUT
TIME AND
RESOURCES.
Evaluate everything your team
does now, and how much time
it takes. Estimate conservatively
how much time you might save on
frequent key tasks, such as email
campaign setup and management.
Talk to companies the same size
as yours who have implemented
marketing automation; ask them
to share information with you.
Think about headcount. Consider
whether you already have the
right resources on your team, or
whether you’ll need to add staff.
Some marketing systems require
training before you can use them;
others are easier to use.
Evaluate how you currently work
with, and share information with,
sales. Consider how marketing
automation will affect what you
already do, and whether any
processes will need to change.

21
11. CREATE AND EVALUATE BLOG POSTS.
Marketing automation platforms can be integrated with popular blog platforms
such as WordPress or Drupal. Marketers benefit by creating and measuring
blog performance from a single platform, as well as optimizing each post
for SEO.
12. INTEGRATE WITH PAID SEARCH MARKETING.
If you use pay-per-click advertising, ensure that your chosen marketing
automation platform can integrate with your PPC service. Because most of
them can’t. (Act-On offers easy integration with Google AdWords, allowing
marketers to see how PPC campaigns are performing and the search terms
that are bringing impressions, clicks, and conversions.)
13. INCREASE WEB EVENT EFFECTIVENESS.
Web events – webinars, webcasts, virtual conferences, demos – offer
a multitude of benefits including lead generation, nurturing, thought
leadership, training/education, and brand building. Marketing automation
software integrates with popular web event platforms such as WebEx and
GoToWebinar, and can dramatically reduce the time spent on organizing the
events, while increasing engagement and lead quality.
Marketing automation can even handle registration, which means registrants
will go straight into your database as segmented leads.

A SCENARIO:
MARKETING AUTOMATION
Let’s say you build a promotional campaign comprised of PPC, targeted email
and landing pages, social media sharing, and two pieces of content: an eBook
and a video.
1
day
DISPLAY
ADS
2
day
SOCIAL
MEDIA
ADS
3
day
LAUNCH
EMAIL
ASSESS ACTIONS
LANDING PAGE
in action
With marketing automation, the launch
of your campaign elements can be pre-
scheduled and precisely calibrated. For
example:
• Display ads are in place on Day 1.
• Social media ads on Day 2.
• Emails launch on Day 3, targeted to
specific segments of your database.
• When prospects begin to respond
by visiting the landing page, the
automation system does the work
by assessing their actions and
then channeling prospects into
the campaign track (including
messages, cadence, and scoring)
that best corresponds with their
interests.
• If a prospect fills out a form and
downloads the eBook or video, the
system will send a triggered thank-
you note targeted to whatever action
was taken, and personalized to
whatever degree possible
(e.g., first name).

23
SALES ENABLEMENT
1. GET MORE –AND BETTER –SALES-QUALIFIED LEADS
Marketing automation changes lead generation 180 degrees by
supporting lead capture and lead scoring, which enables sales reps to:
• Optimize their time by using lead scoring to identify and prioritize
sales-ready buyers.
• Focus on getting in front of leads that are ready to buy.
• Build trust-based customer relationships by delivering relevant
information at the right time.
2. ACCESS IN-DEPTH, UNIFIED INSIGHTS FOR
SMARTER SALES CALLS.
Automation technology streamlines and aggregates data from multiple
channels and sources, making it easy to access and understand. This
makes a lead’s interests and status in the sales cycle clear, enabling
sales reps to effectively frame their conversations and communications
to a prospective customer’s pain points without spending too much time.
3. INTEGRATE WITH EXISTING CRM.
Sales reps can remain in their CRM system while still accessing all the
information and intelligence the automation platform provides; no switching
back and forth between systems.
Crucially, this allows reps to have more effective and productive
engagements with potential and current buyers.
4. ELIMINATE COLD CALLING.
With customer intelligence from lead-tracking data, profile information,
engagement history, and CRM integration, sales reps are armed with
the essentials before picking up the phone or sending an email.
TRY THIS:
GET SALES
INVOLVED
FROM THE
BEGINNING.
Know what percentage of
leads sales ignores, and what
percentage of leads return to
marketing. Talk to sales and
see what they think of having
complete account histories at
their fingertips; ask if prioritized
hot-prospect lists would be
helpful. Because sales is so
profoundly impacted by a
marketing automation system,
it’s a good idea to make them
your ally from the beginning.

24
5. MAKE THE MOST OF EMAIL.
Marketing automation systems let sales reps automatically personalize
messages for a particular customer or industry and send them at the optimal
times. Trigger emails can be customized to inbound actions so buyers receive
personalized communications in response. All email communications —
automated or otherwise — are captured in your activity history for each lead.
6. IDENTIFY THE BEST LEADS WITH
REAL-TIME ALERTS
Sales reps can set up alerts that notify them in real time of important activities
and milestones, such as when particular leads visit pre-determined web
pages or engage with content, when a lead score threshold has been met, or
when a qualified lead has been assigned.
7. SHORTEN THE SALES CYCLE.
The comprehensive capabilities provided by marketing automation software
– inbound and outbound marketing, lead scoring, data collection, and CRM
integration – allow sales reps to convert leads faster and at higher rates.
8. CLOSE BIGGER SALES.
According to a 2013 Pedowitz study, 28 percent of marketing teams using
marketing automation reported an increase in the average deal size from
a marketing-qualified lead that was passed to sales. Given that such leads
have been educated and nurtured, and that sales can have a richer, deeper
conversation with them, greater deal size is a predictable outcome of
relationship building.
Companies that excel at lead
nurturing have 9% more sales
reps making quota.
(CSO Insights)

25
1. SAVE TIME BY AUTOMATING MANUAL TASKS.
From deploying email campaigns on a staggered schedule, to setting up
drip campaigns that run by themselves; from tallying website visits by visitor,
to publishing across multiple social channels with one push of a button –
marketing automation saves time. Many marketers use that time to add
new programs or do more analysis; many use it to lessen the need to
add headcount.
2. REDUCE MARKETING COSTS THROUGH
BETTER-TARGETED CAMPAIGNS.
Marketing automation plays a huge role in reducing the costs of marketing
campaigns. The ease of segmentation, personalization, and data-driven
optimization leads to more targeted and tailored campaigns that can be
launched faster and perform better. This has the potential business benefits
of reducing cost and driving profitability.
3. INTEGRATE WITH EXISTING SYSTEMS AND TOOLS.
Most marketing automation systems can be integrated with a wide range
of systems and tools, often accomplished with minimal clicks. This saves
time by allowing teams to keep the tools they’re used to, and reduces costs
by more efficiently supporting marketing campaigns and communications.
Examples include:
• CRM platforms
• Web event management systems
4. IMPLEMENT WITH MINIMAL OR NO IT SUPPORT.
Marketing automation systems are designed for ease of use, including
intuitive user interfaces that facilitate all phases of implementation and
campaign development. This dramatically reduces reliance on IT resources
and allows marketers to more fully manage their own activities.
• Blogging platforms
• AdWords
Marketing
automation
drives a 14.5%
increase in sales
productivity and a
12.2% reduction
in marketing
overhead.
(Nucleus Research, Apr 2012)
RESOURCE OPTIMIZATION

26
5. DEPLOY CAMPAIGNS WITHOUT SPECIALIZED SKILLS.
With automation software, developing and deploying marketing campaigns
doesn’t require highly skilled marketing and/or IT personnel. This can significantly
reduce the amount of effort taken to execute complex marketing tasks, and
reduce costs associated with hiring specialists.
6. IMPROVE SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT.
One of the benefits of marketing automation is better cooperation and
collaboration between sales and marketing. Marketing automation can end much
of the struggle between the two teams because it improves lead quality, increases
revenue, automates tedious tasks, and delivers actionable intelligence. Sales has
input into determining lead quality, scoring, and timing, and so has more trust in
the leads marketing delivers, and is likelier to follow up. Marketers learn what sales
encounters on the front lines, and use the knowledge to create more relevant
content and campaigns.
of CMOs at top-performing companies say “Easy To Use” is the
most important driver for marketing automation ROI.
(Gleanster, Aug 2013)
92%

27
TRY THIS:
UNDERSTAND
YOUR CURRENT
ANALYTICS.
1. GAIN FULL-SPECTRUM INSIGHTS.
Marketing automation delivers real-time results across channels and
campaigns, enabling marketers to quickly gauge campaign effectiveness,
optimize efforts, and allocate resources to the most effective strategies.
2. CUSTOMIZE ESSENTIAL DATA VIEWS.
Integrated dashboards aggregate data from all digital channels and can be
customized to provide the information deemed most important to each user.
On-demand and drillable views provide deeper insights and inform strategic
decisions.
3. TRACK CAMPAIGN ROI.
Sales and marketing teams share responsibility for driving revenues, which
includes the ability to demonstrate a return on investment. Marketing
automation platforms make reporting an integral part of every campaign and
activity, allowing sales reps and marketers to stay in tune with short- and long-
term ROI numbers.
4. UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS BETTER.
Gut decisions can err on the side of optimism rather than reality. Applying
metrics to various parts of the marketing process can show you where you
lose potential customers, and what attracts them most. The more you know …
the more you know.
5. VISIBILITY MEANS ACCOUNTABILITY.
In many organizations, marketing is seen as a collection of creatives who are
not anchored to sales goals or other metrics. Marketing automation provides
the reporting that clearly shows how marketing is performing and what
contributions the marketing team makes to sales goals and revenue. This
accountability helps marketing make decisions that are in line with company
goals, and receive credit for its accomplishments.
As you build your case
for marketing automation,
review what your company
is already measuring. Make
recommendations that
will complement those
measurements, or that will fill
in a critical gap. Keep the total
number small. In most cases,
it’s far better to track a few key
metrics than to keep watch
on many.
Remember that marketing
automation will allow you to
demonstrate ROI on marketing’s
contributions.
DATA AND ANALYTICS

28
+ Selling marketing automation to
your decision makers
+ The CEO
+ The CFO
+ The CIO
+ The VP of Sales
+ Checklist: What your business case
should include
WHAT THE
EXECUTIVE
SUITENEEDS TO KNOW
03

29
Marketing automation allows you to give prospective buyers
what they want, when they want it, and how they want it
… so you can gain, retain, and increase your competitive
advantage.
BUT …
Whether it’s a small executive team or a bona fide
C-suite, convincing the deciders to adopt marketing
automation relies in large part on how well your plan meets
management’s – and your company’s – best interests.
To be successful you need to understand what’s important
to each, anticipate their questions and objections, and
directly address them.
This section highlights some of the top issues your key
executives care about, tips on how to craft a focused reply
that resonates, and additional data points to help support
your case.
03 WHAT THE EXECUTIVE SUITE NEEDS TO KNOW
SELLING MARKETING AUTOMATION TO
YOUR DECISION MAKERS
Getting approval from your executive team is where the rubber meets the road.
“
Matt Heinz,
President, Heinz Marketing
If I’m anyone in the C-suite evaluating
an investment, unless you tell me
otherwise, it feels like money out of my
pocket. So help me understand how
you’re helping me spend money to
make money.
“
NEED HELP CRAFTING YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN?
We can help you craft a proposal that meets the specific needs of your business and executive team.
Contact us today

30
THE CEO
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
• Fully understanding all disciplines, including sales, marketing, finance,
operations, and product/technical aspects
• Developing a complete vision for the company, both near- and long-term
• Setting the company’s values and ethics, and leading by example
CONCERNED ABOUT:
• The entire revenue cycle – top-line growth and profitability
• Customer satisfaction and loyalty
• The competition
WHAT YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON:
1. HAVING SALES ON BOARD
Your CEO will likely ask stakeholders for their opinion, in particular the sales
team. The chance of your proposal getting accepted will increase significantly
when the sales team is behind it.
• TIP: Get buy-in from sales first, before you sell to the CEO.
• DATA POINT: Companies that use marketing automation are nearly 2X
more likely to capture intelligence for the sales team than companies
without automation. (The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups, Nov 2013)
Marketing automation
replaces separate systems
for email, web visitor
tracking, lead scoring,
nurture campaigns,
campaign management, and
reporting with one solution
that streamlines marketing
processes and shares data
with sales.
“
David Raab
Marketing Technology Consultant,
Raab Associates
“
2. SELLING DEMAND GENERATION, NOT FEATURES
CEOs don’t care about a system’s features, they care about measurable business results – customers and revenue. Be sure
to clearly articulate how marketing automation will help generate more demand for your company’s products and services
which, by extension, will drive more sales.
• TIP: Include an explanation of lead management. Your CEO will know what lead generation is, but may be unfamiliar with
how leads are actually managed. Demand-generation processes such as targeted content marketing, lead scoring, and
lead nurturing, are key strengths of marketing automation, essential for increasing qualified leads, new and repeat sales,
and revenue.
• DATA POINT: 80% of CMOs at top-performing companies indicate that their most compelling reason for implementing
marketing automation is to increase revenue, and 76% say to get higher-quality leads. (Gleanster, Aug 2013)

31
3. METRICS THAT DEMONSTRATE RESULTS
Illustrate marketing automation’s value by tying it directly to the metrics your CEO
cares about. Emphasize that the CEO can check up-to-the-minute reports and
have on-demand access to dashboards that show campaign effectiveness in real
time and across time.
• TIP: Keep the metrics high-level but tied to revenue and profitability. Some
ideas include lead-to-opportunity conversion ratios, sales quota attainment
rates, percentages of marketing-sourced sales opportunities, and database
growth.
• DATA POINT: Companies that adopt marketing automation see 53% higher
conversion rates than non-adopters. (Aberdeen Group, Jul 2012)
• DATA POINT: Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or
greater increase in revenue in 6–9 months. (Gartner Research, Mar 2011)

32
THE CFO
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
• Implementing and supervising internal controls, including management of cash
flow and overhead expenses, vendor payment terms, and company liabilities
• Developing the company’s annual budget; analyzing capital investment
requirements
• Cultivating good working relationships with outside financing sources
CONCERNED ABOUT:
• Controlling costs
• Identifying strategies that will increase profits
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Reducing risks
1. TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
Your CFO will expect to see all costs associated with the implementation and
management of a marketing automation system, so do the math on the platform,
If the CFO can support you
in decisions and understands
how the marketing spend
delivers value for the
organization, then it is
much easier for the rest
of the executive [team]
to understand.
“
Catherine Howard
Head of UK Marketing, Atos
“
the people, and the content. It’s just as essential to be upfront about real-world costs as it is to show the benefits of making
such an investment. It underscores your credibility and evokes more confidence from those who control the purse strings.
• TIP: Create a table that shows the specific line items and costs, breaking them down by month, quarter, and year. Items
to include are contract terms, setup fees, and usage/subscription costs (per user or bandwidth or list size).
• TIP: Think about the expertise that will be needed (a demand-generation manager, content creators, etc.) and run a
thorough analysis to ensure the benefits outweigh the costs. For example, although it will cost money to implement a
marketing automation platform, pay the monthly fees, and potentially add some number of resources, the benefits –
e.g., increased opportunity, increased conversion yield on the pipeline, optimized used of sales reps’ time, eliminating
repetitive tasks, and increasing productivity per headcount – should trump the costs. Additionally, they’re easy to do the
math on.

33
2. METRICS THAT INFORM STRATEGIC ALLOCATION OF FUNDS
The depth and breadth of real-time data collection and customized reporting
available from a marketing automation system enables you to not only measure
campaign results, but also quantify the cost-effectiveness of marketing channels,
both standalone and in relation to the buyer’s journey.
• TIP: Emphasize how automated reports and on-demand, customizable
dashboards make it easy to gain complete visibility of what’s working and
what’s not, which helps your CFO make informed decisions about what to
spend budget on to reap the biggest financial gains.
3. TYING MARKETING AUTOMATION TO ROI
Your CFO is all about the numbers, relying on them to determine whether – and
to what degree – any investment will impact profit. A fundamental strength of
marketing automation is its ability to effectively manage leads and, as a result,
measurably increase sales. When presenting your case to your finance executive,
it’s essential to show how the investment will produce quantifiable returns.
• TIP: Demand-generation processes are among the easiest to tie to ROI. Start
by thinking through the sales and marketing processes: demand generation,
lead generation, nurturing, conversion, repeat sales. Assess the headcount
and time necessary for each activity and translate those into costs. Spotlight
how marketing automation will enable the company to do more with the same
headcount/hours it is already paying for.
• DATA POINT: 70% of top-performing companies indicate their investment
in marketing automation generated a positive ROI after the first year of use.
(Gleanster, Nov 2012)
• DATA POINT: B2B marketers who have implemented marketing automation
increased their contribution to the sales pipeline by 10% over B2B marketers
who have not implemented marketing automation. (Forrester Research,
Jan 2014)
Assumptions are a common method
for demonstrating projected results
and getting agreement.
Make “worst case”, “expected case”,
and “best case” assumptions to show
the range of possible ROI outcomes.
ROIOUTCOMES

34
THE CIO
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
• Driving the strategic analysis and
(re)engineering of business
processes, the drivers,
responsibilities, and timing
• Implementing technologies that are
essential to strategic and operational
objectives
• The processes and practices that
support information accessibility
and flow
CONCERNED ABOUT:
• Balancing the competing demands
of technology, business needs,
and risk
• Analytics and business intelligence
• Service availability
• Data and system security
1. HOW THE SOLUTION WORKS
Your CIO understands the technology-based systems and solutions. Your role is
to help define the hard questions in order to assess if – and how – they fit into the
business infrastructure. Generalities don’t work here; it’s important to deliver a
comprehensive description of the automation platform in a way that enables your
CIO to evaluate the business need, and the effort needed to execute.
• TIP: Be prepared to provide the very specific design and architectural
components needed to integrate the solution. Examples include how it’s hosted,
what business capabilities it replaces or adds, how data is stored and secured,
what type of ongoing support the vendor offers, what effort and support will be
needed from the IT team in the short- and long-term.
2. INTEGRATING DISPARATE TOOLS
Tying together disconnected tools offers a wealth of cascading benefits to the IT
department. Not only does it streamline the overall infrastructure and processes, it
saves resource time and effort, and reduces errors, all of which lower costs. Built-in
analytics tools can consolidate multiple reporting mechanisms into a single view,
helping IT quickly assess system health.
• TIP: If sales uses a CRM tool, spotlight how most automation platforms integrate
with CRM, which is a game-changer for optimizing resources, improving sales-
funnel velocity, and increasing sales. Other integration points include web
services, blog and webinar platforms, and pay-per-click campaigns. Uncover
where your company could best integrate with the platform, so you can
articulate those areas – including benefits – to the CIO.
BE SURE TO...
Introduce the CIO to the marketing automation vendor as early as possible to facilitate a smooth implementation.

35
3. IMPROVING DATA INTEGRITY
The ability to easily integrate with a wide variety of business-critical tools and
systems delivers an additional and essential benefit: data accuracy. Marketing
automation platforms effectively map, exchange, and synchronize data between
all touchpoints, which reduces errors and duplication.
• TIP: Technology leaders focus on providing services in advance of business
needs and are constantly looking for partnerships across departments to meet
multiple business initiatives. When engaging your CIO, use information that
shows how the product will benefit your business objectives. Use examples
that clearly paint how marketing automation will drive the business forward,
and stay within your scope while highlighting the benefits.
Marketing automation systems require little to no IT resources to implement,
set up and manage, and cloud-based systems require no hardware. In
addition, most automation systems don’t require technical savvy to use.
These all contribute to significant cost savings.
COST SAVINGS

36
THE VP OF SALES
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
• Increasing company revenue
• Managing sales teams and other
resources to deliver profitable
growth
• Collaborating with marketing
functions to establish successful
lead generation and conversion
CONCERNED ABOUT:
• Quotas
• Lead quality and quantity
• Increasing sales conversion
1. INCREASING LEAD QUALITY AND QUANTITY
Your VP of Sales must be convinced that a new system will generate more
leads and result in more sales. Making the case is relatively easy to do because
marketing automation is a lead-management machine. To get the VP of Sales on
your side, you must connect the dots: from lead-management processes to more
qualified leads to increased sales conversions.
• TIP: Begin by working with sales reps to understand their current processes,
including the tools used, the time it takes, and the average results. Then itemize
how marketing automation can optimize each. For example, lead scoring
prioritizes leads based on interest and engagement, giving sales definitive
knowledge on who to call, when, and what to discuss. Segmentation allows
reps to refine and target their communications more effectively. Lead nurturing
campaigns and related tactics such as drip and trigger marketing keep leads
engaged and moving along the buyer’s journey.
• DATA POINT: Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects
experience a 451% increase in qualified leads. In turn, nurtured leads make 47%
larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Annuitas Group, Nov 2012)
DOING THE MATH
Find out what your sales team’s current rates are, and then run the numbers based on
the averages your marketing automation vendor sees from its customers.
WITH ACT-ON, SALES TEAMS SEE:
• 26% increase in lead conversion
• 10%increase in deal size
• 20%higher quota attainments
• 70%decrease in cost-per-lead

37
2. MEETING AND EXCEEDING QUOTAS
Similarly to the CFO, your VP of Sales is also about the numbers – phone calls,
emails, campaign touches, qualified leads, closed deals. Meeting quota is critical
to company revenue, which means getting highly qualified leads to the sales
team is crucial. It’s essential to clearly show how marketing automation increases
the sales team’s ability to strike when the iron is hot; that is, quickly connect with
leads, continue conversations, and close sales.
• TIP: Focus on the built-in capabilities that directly impact sales’ ability to meet
its quotas. For example, automated lead scoring allows reps to identify and
prioritize sales-ready leads based on points scored. Integration with CRM
keeps all contact information and histories in one place, allowing reps to
increase efficiency while using the sales tool they’re most familiar with. If Act-
On is your platform of choice, it includes website visitor tracking and real-time
alerts, giving sales teams immediate intelligence about who is visiting the
website and what they’re viewing.
• TIP: Use numbers to quantify the benefits by creating a side-by-side
comparison of current sales metrics versus projected sales metrics after
implementing marketing automation. The math is easy to do and the data pack
a powerful punch.
• DATA POINT: Companies that invest in marketing automation solutions see
70% faster sales cycle times, and 54% improvement in quota achievement.
(Bulldog Solutions, Mar 2012)
3. ALIGNING SALES AND MARKETING
Cooperation between sales and marketing is essential to achieving revenue
targets because both departments are responsible for top-line growth: marketing
generates leads and passes them to sales, and sales closes deals. It’s important
to specifically highlight marketing automation as a proven mechanism for bridging
the sales-marketing divide.
• TIP: Emphasize how marketing automation makes the customer lifecycle
visible and measurable in multiple ways which, by extension, allows both teams
to see and share real-time intelligence, craft aligned campaigns, and meet their
respective quotas. For example, lead scoring helps marketing deliver more
qualified leads to sales. Segmentation, search history, and visitor tracking allow
sales to triangulate on the hottest opportunities.
• DATA POINT: Companies that use marketing automation are more likely than
companies without automation to capture intelligence for the sales team, 35%
vs. 19%. (The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups, Nov 2013)
Hugh MacFarlane, founder and CEO
of MathMarketing, conducted an
alignment benchmarking study by
surveying 1,400 professionals in 84
countries. The study found that the
businesses with the greatest degree
of alignment:
• Grow 5.4 points faster
than their less-aligned
counterparts when compared with
businesses in the same industry
• Close 38% more proposals
than non-aligned businesses
• Lose 36% fewer customers
to competitors
THE
BENEFITS
OF
ALIGNMENT

38
ƛƛ Clear objectives for implementing
marketing automation
ƛƛ Specific benefits of marketing
automation adoption and how they
map to company objectives
ƛƛ Technological components and
benefits – For example, are you
recommending email, website visitor
tracking, social integration? If so,
why? What about CRM integration?
SEO auditing?
ƛƛ Data sources – Including
integrations with your CRM systems,
other prospect and customer
data, and inbound and outbound
campaign data.
ƛƛ Budget and milestones – Real-
world costs for implementation, and
reasonable times/milestones for
learning, evolving and refining to the
point where ROI can be achieved.
ƛƛ ROI projections, including:
ƛƛ Outline the volume of activity
required to meet lead, quota,
and revenue goals. Base this on
historic data in your target market.
ƛƛ Calculate what key sales and
marketing activities cost now
(without marketing automation).
ƛƛ Calculate the potential
improvement in costs and results
after implementing marketing
automation.
ƛƛ Calculate current and projected
profit improvements.
ƛƛ Define the results of sales and
marketing alignment in terms of
lead generation, qualification, and
enhanced cooperation.
ƛƛ Analytics and reporting
ƛƛ Risk management – Include the
risks associated with both adopting
and NOT adopting marketing
automation.
ƛƛ Timelines and target dates.
CHECKLIST
WHAT YOUR BUSINESS CASE
SHOULD INCLUDE
To improve your chances for getting executive management’s buy-in, below
is a list of key items to address as you craft your business case:
Be wary of offering generic
benefits like ‘increased
marketing ROI’ or ‘shorter
selling cycles.’ Those benefits
may be legitimate possibilities,
but they carry less weight
when they could apply to any
organization. Instead, identify
the most pressing sales and
marketing challenges at your
company, and speak to those
specific issues.
“
Howard Sewell
President, Spear Marketing Group
“

39
CLOSING
THOUGHTSAND RESOURCES
04

40
• For the small marketing team, it might be time savings.
• For the marketer with lead generation quotas, it might
be the ability to customize and coordinate cross-channel
marketing.
• For the marketer focused on sales enablement, it could
be the ability to use automated programs such as lead
nurturing and lead scoring.
• For the sales team, it might be more and better-qualified
leads, nuanced intelligence about a lead’s needs, a
shorter sales cycle, or a real-time list of hot prospects.
Much of buying and selling, and most of the buyer’s journey,
are conducted online today. Marketing automation allows
the organization to manage and control all aspects of digital
marketing. When integrated with a CRM system, it becomes
an end-to-end, lead-to-revenue management program.
Marketing automation provides the infrastructure and so
creates the opportunity for marketers and salespeople
to understand, and interact with, buyers throughout the
entire lifecycle in a personalized way. This enables them to
market and sell more effectively...and directly improve the
company’s bottom line.
TRY THIS:
KNOW YOUR GOALS.
Before you seek executive support:
• Know the marketing and sales goals you think are
both worth pursuing and attainable with marketing
automation.
• Know the company objectives marketing
automation can support.
• Know what internal support you have. Is the
marketing staff willing? Does sales see this as
an avenue for more/better leads and a more
collaborative working relationship?
• Know how you plan to measure success.
04 CLOSING THOUGHTS AND RESOURCES
MAKE YOUR CASE
The business value of marketing automation varies according to how an
organization applies the technology.

41
With its ease of implementation, turnkey support for cross-channel marketing, robust lead management, and comprehensive
data reporting, marketing automation gives businesses extensive revenue-driving capabilities in a single platform, at a single
cost. What’s more, marketing automation software can keep you accountable, streamline your workflow, and speed up the
time taken to see tangible results from your marketing efforts.
Fast.
If your company hasn’t yet embraced the power and upside potential of marketing automation, we hope this eBook has
provided a compelling argument to get the conversation started.
04 CLOSING THOUGHTS AND RESOURCES
MAKING YOUR MARKETING LIFE EASIER
AND MORE EFFECTIVE
Case Studies
• Manufacturer sees shorter sales cycle
and doubles email open rate by moving
from email marketing to marketing
automation [Learn how]
• Marketing agency saves time in
campaign creation, gives sales people
more-qualified leads, and managing
nurturing campaigns for sales cycles up
to 3 years long [Learn how]
• Education software distributor used
marketing automation and content
marketing to go from two dozen
marketing-qualified leads per month to
over 700 [Learn how]
• Consulting firm providing oil and gas
exploration information services sees 3X
increase in closed sales generated from
email campaigns [Learn how]
• Read more case studies
Reviews, Analysts
Reports, Studies,
and Blogs
• Customer Experience Matrix Analyst
David Raab’s blog
• Gleanster Research
• Forrester Research (no subscription
needed to read blog posts)
• Software Advice reviews of
marketing automation systems
• B2B Marketing Automation
Platforms 2014: A Buyer’s Guide
Tools
• The Buyer’s Checklist for
Marketing Automation
• See how marketing automation
can improve your business with
Act-On’s free, interactive ROI
Calculator
• Get a free SEO Assessment of
your website’s home page
• More information about
marketing automation is
available in the Act-On Center of
Excellence.
Connect with us to learn more!

42
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
Act-On Software delivers cloud-based integrated marketing automation software. Marketers can manage all their online marketing
efforts from a single dashboard that can be seamlessly integrated with CRM, giving sales access into various marketing functions.
Act-On’s fresh approach to marketing automation gives its users full functionality without the complexity other systems impose,
and makes campaign creation and program execution easier and faster.
ABOUT ACT-ON SOFTWARE
©2014 Act-On Software, Inc. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved.
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