Who doesn’t love the sound of “automation”?  Often the exhilaration for marketing automation is rooted in marketing professionals that are spread thin, subconsciously hearing an implication of getting something for nothing.  Unfortunately there is a cost to everything.  The obvious cost of automation is the investment of time, money, and/or energy to establish the automated processes.  However, there is also a risk in automation becoming too aggressive and causing as many problems as it solves because the workflows for the automation are simply too complex.

The more complex a machine is, the more likely it is to break down.  Automation is no different. Complexity typically comes in the form of:

1. The number of platforms – The more tools you add in your workflow, dictates that each platform has to hand off the process to the next in the chain.  Every one of these touch points is a common culprit of automation break down.
2. How long the chain of events is in the workflow – The more consecutive steps added in your automation process means that a longer string of actions has to run trouble free to complete the process. The longer the chain of events the higher the probability of a failure.
3. Time to complete the process – Time based steps run the risk of throwing the automation out of sync which almost assuredly will create errors.

Minimizing the impact of all these potential problems is to simplify your workflows.

1. Many platforms have a unique feature or benefit but if it’s not saving significant time or effort, it’s typically best to remove non-critical platforms from the automation process.
2. Segmenting workflows into modular components often makes the automation more reliable and always makes diagnosing problems easier. It has the added benefit of letting you reuse a piece of your automation in other processes, if applicable.
3. Time kills reliability.  Technology will experience a break down if given enough time.  Don’t let your automation timelines become too lengthy.  Again modularizing a process into multiple workflows is often helpful if a delay or time based trigger is necessary.

Automation is often looked at as an ideal solution for executing sophisticated digital marketing campaigns.  However, backtracking and remedying complex automation problems can quickly undermine the time saved from implementing the automation in the first place.  Simplifying and modularizing your marketing automation is typically advisable even if it requires a minor manual process.

The barriers to entry in digital marketing have steadily been lowered over the years.  New tools and platforms can be a blessing to productivity in the hands of a competent professional, or a fast track to disaster for an “aspiring professional”.

Fiverr went public today and there was an interesting test conducted by a writer at Quartz.  Essentially she tested out three different writers to provide her with a short news article about Fiverr’s IPO.  At the risk of spoiling the suspense, the experiment did not go particularly well with varying issues in timeliness and quality.

Everyone loves a bargain but buying professional services for five dollars almost shouts “you get what you pay for.”

Consistency is a major factor in digital marketing success. Having a core professional or professionals that know the business and its target market is almost always the most efficient way to achieving sufficient results.

However, this is not to say there can’t be a place for gig work in your digital marketing campaign.  Any small gap in you or your marketing partners’ skill set might be bridged by a service like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, etc. But any of these small job platforms need to be approached with caution.

Here are a few tips on using these freelance platforms successfully.

1. Don’t go low cost – Cost is what keeps these platforms afloat so they are all below typical rates for anyone in a developed country. Almost all the providers are working cheap so the higher cost providers will still be a bargain and might actually delver a useful service.
2. Weigh the Reviews – Many of the mid or higher cost providers on the platform are able to command that rate because they’ve proven themselves over time with other clients. Learn from others experience and select providers that have a good track record.
3. Review How Providers Bill Jobs – In an attempt to overcome the low rates, some providers offer only subsets of jobs so that you have to buy several gigs to complete the work. It becomes an unproductive game of cat and mouse as they try and nickel and dime each element of a project from you and isn’t worth the effort.
4. Hold on to the Good Ones – If you find a provider that does quality work on a timely basis. Make sure to request work from that provider directly rather than bidding the job out again and hoping to find someone with the same level of competency.

Using these platforms can be a process of finding diamonds in the rough.  As the Quartz writer concludes it often takes more time than it’s worth to get the desired product.  But if you are diligent in finding a few of those diamonds, it can be a helpful and cost effective supplement to your digital marketing capabilities.

Scoping out a new digital marketing application can be one of the most fun parts of crafting a marketing campaign.  Imagining all the leads and/or sales can lead you to a perfectly optimized call to action.  But it’s more likely to lead you to an overbuilt application that gets little use. When launching a new digital marketing application focus on achieving the basic requirements so that you can roll it out.  Then decide if further enhancements are warranted based on usage and feedback.

Let’s think through this on a simple example, a website form.  A simple option would be to use a form processor that emails the content to you.  That can be quickly launched but formatting, organization, and security might all be a concern in that method.  So are any of those truly a problem?  If so then something more robust is required.

The next step up would be a form processor that populates a database.  A report feature from the database could solve formatting concerns.  The data would be uniformly organized in a database. And sensitive data would not be delivered via unsecured email communications.  But maybe you need the data to populate into your CMS or maybe the form collects payment details and needs full encryption?

Then you might move to a more complex solution that integrates with your CMS and provides true ecommerce security.

Working from the simplest option to the most complex is often a valuable exercise because it lets you question your true requirements.  Many times trainers, consultants, or professional coaches will default to a complex option even if the features aren’t really needed.

This obviously increases time and cost to launch. Perhaps even more detrimental is it can hinder user adoption. There’s nothing worse than building what seemed to be the perfect digital marketing application only to find that users:

• Don’t see the value in it
• Think it’s too complex
• Request significant modifications outside the scope of what’s been developed

Launching the simplest version of your application solves all those problems.

• If they don’t see value in it, at least you can cut your losses and move on to something more useful without wasting significant time, money, and effort.
• The simplest version is rarely more complex than users can handle.
• Requests for modification are easier to undertake as time and budget have not been exhausted and the development cycle is not as mature so it can agilely shift in new directions to accommodate enhancement requests.

The best digital marketing applications tend to be an iterative process of improvement.  Rather than assuming you can develop the best version of the application on your own, develop a simple version on your own and then go through a process of evolution based on usage and feedback to craft a better version of the application than you could have initially imagined.

Our last post on choosing tools for your digital marketing campaigns raised a simple question from a couple readers: How should a tool be evaluated?  Here’s an example of an evaluation process and how one simple difference in focus can alter which tool is most suitable.

There are a handful of platforms that have become available that advertise the ability to identify the users are on your site and what they are doing.  This is done in one of two ways. 

The first is that the platform will try to match a user to a database of IP addresses associated with particular companies.   The user data is logged and then marketers can try to match up that user to a particular person at the company using LinkedIn or contact databases.

The second is a platform that logs a user’s IP address and if that user completes a form or somehow identifies themselves, then the platform will log their user behavior to the contact info and create ongoing log of their activity.  This allows marketers to create custom offers based on the user’s logged profile and preferences.

The first thing to note is that there is no perfect tool.  None of these tools will automatically identify a person visiting your site.  Both options rely on matching a user’s IP address to contact information.  That’s either done by referencing a database or having a user self-identify by completing a call to action. The majority of users will not be matched to either so only a subset of visitors will be logged.

Here’s the process we would use for evaluation:

Budget

Can we afford the tool?  If not, it’s pointless to investigate further.

Return On Investment

If we can afford the tool, what is our projection on how much additional revenue it will generate or how much time will it save?  If that savings or revenue does not make up a little more than the tool costs, it’s not worth the time investment to implement it.

Overlapping functions

Does this tool have duplicative processes to other platforms in our toolset? Several of the tools that offer user tracking are multifaceted.  Specifically, platforms that log users after self-identifying usually have a contact database function. Digital marketers need to understand how those tools will co-exist with existing processes or whether an existing tool can be eliminated by a new tool’s functionality.

Compatibility

Does the new tool work with your existing tool set?  Tools that lack compatibility require a manual process to link the tools up.  If the manual process takes too much time or resources, then it’s likely not worth the effort unless it can replace the non-compatible platforms.

Objective

Is the tool solving the problem that you are experiencing?  Often times the novelty of a marketing tool blinds digital marketers to the obvious question of whether the function is useful. 

In this example, if a company is looking for more leads and has marketing support to investigate the companies that visit the site, they would get value from the first option.  A company that has a steady stream of leads but struggles to systemically follow up with those leads would benefit from the second option.  

But what about a company that needs more leads but doesn’t have marketing support? The first option gives them data they can’t take action on. The second option only informs them about leads they’ve likely already exhausted. Having the data is a sophisticated option but one that brings little value in either scenario

Spend some time doing your due diligence on any tool you want to incorporate into your marketing process.  That initial evaluation process can save a lot of time by ensuring the tool offers value for your specific needs.

Finding the right tool set for running your digital marketing campaigns is essential.  The right toolset allows for digital marketers to effectively, efficiently, and responsibly deliver their messages to a targeted group.  Reducing that set of platforms and applications to the simplest marketing system that meets all of your needs is an ongoing process of evaluation and refinement.

The importance of having the right tools is rarely lost on digital marketers as the wrong tool, or a disconnect between tools, results in timely manual fixes that eat up a day.  Understanding the importance of getting the right digital marketing tools can help marketers find an effective toolset, but it can also cause over analysis and inefficiency in searching for the perfect tool.

To spare anyone searching for the perfect tool or series of tools some pain, it doesn’t exist.  There is no perfect digital marketing platform or set of tools that work best across the board.  Individual businesses or organizations have to analyze available options and find the right mix of capabilities that meets their available resources and budget.

So with that said, it’s OK to have a tool for “right now”. Just because a tool is not specifically designed for your need or doesn’t have all the functionality you seek, doesn’t mean it can’t be a good interim solution as you move toward an even better option.  Improvising is a valuable skill in getting your marketing tools to mold to your needs rather than trying to fit all your needs within a packaged product. Better to have a tool that meets some of your requirements rather than one that meets all of them but is not realistic in the short term.

It’s not uncommon to find trainers, consultants, or professional coaches that have been introduced to a new marketing tool that seems perfect but they need to wait on resources or budget.  Rather than implementing an option that might immediately help, they fantasize about the ideal mix of this “perfect” tool.

Even if the tool is perfect, which no tool is, it will be less than perfect as time passes.  Digital marketing tools are all technology based.  That means a rapidly changing environment and set of capabilities. Even twelve months from now, your marketing initiatives and process will have likely evolved enough that an ideal tool will be slightly out of alignment.

As you evaluate tools to add to your marketing toolset, look at realistic options for right now. Implementing a tool now doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade later. But delaying any tool will mean that initiatives are delayed indefinitely or that running those initiates will be needlessly time consuming.

A good digital marketing system should be a technology platform or platforms that allows the digital marketer to consistently and reliably communicate to their target audience across chosen marketing channels. It should then compile the data from those campaigns so that insights can be gained by analyzing the metrics.  While most trainers, consultants, and professional coaches agree conceptually, seamless execution is often deficient due to performance gaps.

Clients often hire us as a full digital marketing service and we run campaigns from start to finish.  However, we also commonly work with clients that have am internal marketing professional that we partner with because they have identified gaps in their digital marketing system and are struggling to fill that deficiency.

The internal digital marketing professional that we partner with is often a powerful jump start to working with a client because they have already identified performance gaps that they want to improve.  Sometimes assumptions need verified to confirm the gap but having an initial diagnosis of the flaw saves a lot of time in repairing the issue.

Gaps in digital marketing systems typically come in one of three versions:

• Time – This is the most commonly identified issue.  Internal digital marketers often have a lot of hats to wear and some tasks can become too time consuming to be practically addressed.  Extra resources not only take a particular task off the internal marketing professional’s plate, it frees up time to accurately complete tasks that they are proficient at.
• Technical – This gap arises when a digital marketing element requires more technical acumen than the internal marketer is comfortable taking on.  This is often a difficult gap to acknowledge because internal digital marketers sometimes feel like they aren’t fulfilling their job role if they can’t overcome the technical problem.  However, once a technical gap is identified, it can remove a lot of wasted time and energy in struggling to meet a challenging technical need.  Instead, the internal marketing professional can focus on more productive tasks.
• Manual – This gap is often a result of a manually replicated task.  These types of activities can take a lot of time and energy with little gain for it.  Replacing the manual process with an automated fix makes the process repeatable with fewer errors.

Identifying gaps in your digital marketing system doesn’t mean you have to hire external resources.  However, it does mean that more efficiency and effectiveness can be built into your process by implementing a proper solution to the identified deficiency.

There are only two things that will motivate someone in your marketing audience to take action on your calls to action, pain or pleasure.  Most digital marketers focus on pleasure motivators like features, benefits, or improvements.  However, overlooking the motivational elements of pain can be a costly mistake. 

As Theodore Levitt said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.”  It’s hard to deny the wisdom in that statement but it’s still focusing on what someone gets from a drill, the feature of a set drill size and the benefit off the specific hole. What happens if they don’t have the drill and struggle to create that quarter-inch hole?  That’s a pain question that often spurs action.

Rather than focusing your marketing content on the benefits of your product or service, try focusing on the problems that the product or service resolves. It’s typically a simple way of re-thinking the message but often creates more substantial impact to your digital marketing communications.