How Marketing Automation Transitioned Marketing from Cost Center to Revenue Generation Unit

By Jody Spencer
Director of Marketing
Snowbound Software

The evolution of marketing tactics has shifted monumentally in the past decade.  The tools now at our disposal as marketers are helping shed the cost center perception while elevating the function to a seat at the executive table where marketing can drive business decisions and provide counsel on strategic initiatives. Most importantly, we can do this with confidence and proven intelligence. 

Marketing Back In The Day

When variable print capabilities and PURLs (personalized URLs) first appeared, marketers were finally able to speak to prospects and customers as individuals. We offered them promotions we thought they would be interested in based on our understanding of the needs of their personas.  Unfortunately, it was all conjecture and pseudo-science. We didn’t really understand the individual’s interests or needs and we certainly didn’t understand what it would take for them to make the next step in the buyer’s journey, at least not with any amount of certainty.

We were still performing traditional marketing efforts, but with a personalized twist such as inserting their name or an industry-specific image. We were still making a lot of assumptions and blindly testing theories in the hopes of increasing click-through or download statistics. Always the bridesmaid, we were the “other” department that was trying to earn respect from sales and, more times than not, not winning the age-old marketing vs. sales war.

Marketing Today

As we look at the current state of affairs in 2015, times have changed. Marketing can now gather information on the individual in real-time and begin a conversation based on what they are doing on a website, how they interact socially, what materials they find interesting, and how they interact with emails.  We are able to gather all of this information about a person without them ever picking up a phone or engaging on chat. The Marketing Automation system gathers all of this information behind the scenes and enables us to send relevant communications at the right time to these individuals. These capabilities accelerate the buying process for the sales team, making them more efficient as well. 

With these advancements in automation, we have finally reached a point where sales and marketing can work together in harmony.  Marketing is now able to arm sales with information that is critical to their sales process and has earned respect within the organizations with tangible results.  Sales teams can now close deals faster and even increase the size of the deal by leveraging intelligence that can also assists their cross sell efforts. 

Revenue Generation Tomorrow

Marketing Automation solutions are the catalyst for this evolution. Measurement and automation tools in particular have transitioned marketing from a perceived cost center to a revenue generation unit in its own right. By providing valuable intelligence on prospects that was impossible not so long ago, marketing has also earned a coveted seat at the executive table and the ability to have a significant influence in conversations about who the organization targets, how it should be selling, and how it can shorten the sales cycle. 

Marketing is no longer just a department that spends money to create awareness for a brand and generate leads.  It is now the central intelligence unit that helps sales close more deals faster and best of all, they have the numbers to prove it.

Jody Spencer has over 15 years of marketing, communications and business development experience. As Director of Marketing for Snowbound Software she is responsible for developing, executing and analyzing programs to increase sales and generate brand awareness.  In addition to marketing, Jody also manages inside sales, business development and the Partner program at Snowbound.   Her expertise spans marketing automation, branding, messaging, social media, SEO, PR and business development.