How marketing can drive more revenue with less work

by | Aug 8, 2014 | Content

For marketing departments today, if you’re not automating, you’re leaving revenue on the table. Historically understaffed marketing cannot afford to waste a moment of time. Just a few years ago we didn’t have the software available to help the way we do now, but technology has come a long way and it’s time to take advantage!

Law firm marketers and professional service firm marketers, this is an area where you are notably falling behind. Lead generation, CRM, integrated marketing programs are not just for software companies and B2C mammoths anymore. Your marketing departments are even more under-staffed than other industries. Start automating now.

Three ways marketing automation will help you drive revenue:

1. Metrics on exactly where your business is coming from: The advanced analytics available in MA systems means you can track a prospect through their entire journey to your doorstep. Which blog posts were most effective? Does that pay-per-click campaign really result in business? Which page on your website is driving potential client to contact you? How many email touches, blog reads and website visits does a typical prospect make before picking up the phone to talk to you. With this information, you can do more of the marketing activities that are actually driving new business, and leave the ones behind that are not delivering. Can you say R. to the O. I.?

2. Targeted marketing: If you’re sending emails from simple mail programs, you’re either spending a lot of time manually segmenting your lists to created targeted emails or you’re sending the same emails to everyone. If you’re not targeting your emails to your different types of prospects, you’re leaving revenue on the table. In this report by Marketo, “76% of all email marketing revenue came from more advanced practices than generic broadcast email.”

3. Maximizing your time: With a small marketing team and high expectations, we marketers need to squeeze every minute out of every day. A MA system can be like an extra set of hands. Once set up, your targeted email programs can run with minimal intervention on your part. Emails can trigger based on website page visits, email clicks or opens, social media posts and a whole host of other things. This helps you be super responsive to your potential clients without a big time expenditure. With more time, you can do more programs to drive more revenue.

Like with any large purchase for your business, it’s important to have a strategy for how you will maximize your use of the product before purchasing. Be clear about your objectives, so you can both select the right product for you and hit the ground running once you purchase. It is an investment in both time upfront, and dollars for your budget, but one that will drive revenue in the end.

“Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost.” (Forrester Research)

I recently purchased the Pardot system for LexBlog. I reviewed several of the options in the marketplace and collected a lot of research. In a future post, I’ll share my findings.

Image by brentdanley via Flickr.