Report: Lack of In-House Expertise Hinders Marketing Automation
The results from the “Marketing Automation Strategy Survey,” published by Ascend2, show that 65 percent of marketers believe that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their campaigns, however, a lack of in-house expertise looms as their most challenging obstacle to overcome.
When looking at ways to create successful marketing automation strategies, approximately 67 percent of respondents claim that using both outside and in-house resources is beneficial. About 9 percent of marketers said that outsourcing the planning process to a specialist entirely is the most efficient method.
However, integrating marketing automation expertise was not always the biggest challenge for companies — budget was previously a concern for marketers as well.
A Look Back at 2014
Regalix released the “2014 State of Marketing Automation” report last year that examined the prominence of marketing automation, as well as the challenges involved. Approximately 54 percent of respondents who had yet to implement marketing automation claimed that their budget was the largest obstacle.
At the time, 84 percent of respondents with marketing automation said that they were managing their tasks in-house – only 5 percent claimed that they were outsourcing it to agencies. Technical implementation was the top component of marketing automation outsourced to third parties.
However, marketing automation appears to be paying off for companies that are willing to integrate expertise and invest in their strategy, according to the report.
“B2B buying is a complex process involving a number of decision-makers who now complete almost 60 percent of the buying process by themselves before even contacting the sales team,” wrote the authors of the report. “Marketing automation helps marketers gauge the interest levels of potential buyers without having to do so manually and automates the lead management process.”
Image credit: Ascend2 “Marketing Automation Strategy Survey”