Today, I spoke with Jay Famico, SiriusDecisions’ Technology Practice Director and author of SiriusView: Marketing Automation Platforms 2014, an important analysis of the state of the marketing automation platforms (MAP) market. Jay was kind enough to share part of the report with me, which led to an interesting conversation on the world of marketing automation.
Josh: Why did you decide to review the MAPs? With automation tools enabling marketers to refine persuasion triggers further, do you believe this report will become the marketers’ and the technologists’ go-to report instead of reports from Gartner or Forrester?
Jay – Our marketing automation SiriusView addresses feature mix, ecosystem, and use cases and requirements to help marketers decide which platform is best for them. SiriusDecisions is not going after Gartner or Forrester. Rather, we are a focused provider outside of technology. We are exclusively focused on business-to-business marketing and sales sector. We are more about the complex sale, buying center, and nuances of demand creation by industry sector.
Josh – You mention the growing divide between marketers who can effectively use marketing automation and those who can’t. I see this divide, too, and am curious if you have additional data on salaries and success of certified experts.
Jay – About 40% of MAP power users have less than two years of experience with the system.
It is one thing to buy a MAP, and another to have someone who can work the system. This skills gap is driving more rapid advancement for skilled MAP power users. Marketers with the necessary technical skills are receiving higher titles faster or more rapid promotions. You can see this on Glassdoor and a 2011 Marketo analysis of marketing automation salaries.
Over the next 10 years, someone who has a resume that lists marketing automation is going to get far more call-backs and command a higher salary. Marketers with MAP skills are more likely to be hired – and be hired faster. Marketers with skills in flow chart creation, process management, and engagement concepts will also do well. Without these skills, you’ll be left behind in b-to-b marketing by 2020.
Every week, I get calls from clients who say, “Hey, I need someone to run my MAP who has 6 to 10 years of experience with MAPs and is director-level or above.”
Josh – [laughter]
Jay – But this person does not exist now. That expertise is rare at that level. My advice to hiring mangers is to roll back expectations of what a good MAP marketer is. Why not pair a junior person with a consultant, agency or senior marketer who can mentor them? Find a smart, driven marketer and give them an opportunity. SiriusDecisions can help with this.
Josh – I also see similar postings and frequently find the company changes their mind about those requirements very quickly. There are not enough people with this skill set to be picky right now.
You mention you believe several MAP vendors will enter b-to-b, but what about established b-to-b providers heading to B2C? Do you see challenges for them when it comes to scaling systems or in having the right B2C skill set?
Jay – I can’t talk about any particular vendor, but in general, there is a scaling issue when moving from b-to-b to b-t-c. Your typical b-to-b database contains 10,000 to 2.5 million contacts, max. A b-to-c database can easily 2.5 million-plus. Firms will have to abandon SQL, which many already have done. Some big questions and issues for MAP vendors and their b-to-c customers are
- Testing and quality assurance – what happens when you mis-send? There is a much larger impact with millions of consumers instead of 100,000 professionals.
- Does the MAP have workflow and approval steps to reduce missteps?
- Use cases – what must b-to-c marketers do differently? Activities and metrics tend to be different: shopping cart abandons, more automation, direct sales and no lead transfers. Vendors will need to educate b-to-c marketers what can be done.
- Staffing and users – b-to-c firms use more agencies and external teams, and thus a turnkey approach. Reseller tools will need to be developed further by MAPs. Several are adding an agency login system.
- New features like “exchange centers” and pre-packaged playbooks to transfer recipes across instances are appearing more and more often.
Josh – When you discuss pre-packaged playbooks are you talking about recipe books or preset Marketo programs?
Jay – Yes, this is to transfer recipes across instances. I am a huge proponent of playbooks. It always helps to abstract away the ingredients (features) from what the marketer wants to do. Can they standardize requests? Speed up deployment of a program? Adding recipes and transferring them reduces the need for more skilled teams. Newer users can be effective, while the power user does more interesting things.
Josh – Marketo and HubSpot are both increasing use of “Recipes,” so I’m sure we’ll see more of this as it goes beyond consultancies.
On page 6 of the SiriusView, you display the rated vendors’ customer mixes (SMB v. enterprise) against their overall scores. What’s the best way to read this chart?
Jay – Yes, you can narrow down your selection of MAP based on the chart. But don’t make your decision based on the chart alone. It doesn’t factor in organization-specific needs that must be considered, such as use cases, internal skill level, database size, regulatory issues and the CRM.
After looking at the chart, understand the vendors in the landscape. Narrow down your research by looking at similar firms – those whose customer mix matches who you are as a company. Most likely, you’ll find someone who can meet your needs. Consider each vendor’s strength in your area of greatest need.
Then, go into the report to learn more about each vendor that you aren’t familiar with. The report is intended to help you understand the important things that each vendor does differently and what each is really missing.
Josh – What was the most surprising finding you included in the report?
Jay – First, I thought 2014’s report would involve only slight updates to the 2013 report, but huge changes have occurred in just one year; the level of innovation was dramatic. Acquisitions like Neolane and IBM changed the landscape. Consolidation has been a key theme in the past year and will continue to play a role.
The MAP market has also expanded significantly. In 2013, 11 vendors met our requirements; in our 2014 MAP report, we covered 17. There are a number of firms, like Sitecore, expanding from Web to MAP. Vocus is a good example of evolution, too, although we did not include them in the report this year. Vocus moved from PR software to be more MAP-like.
Also, Eloqua is now adding segmentation tools with data that isn’t in the MAP natively. Other vendors are going beyond AB testing to multivariate and automated AB testing.
Josh – As CRM firms like Salesforce acquire MAPs, is there a risk to customers?
Jay – No, there are no risks to the customer. As an example, if you get Marketo and have SFDC, you will be in a better position for negotiation.
Pardot now has access to SFDC’s deep resources and larger client base. Getting that first meeting is easier for them. Getting shortlisted is easier. SFDC AppExchange apps will, by definition, integrate with Pardot.
What does that mean for competitors? SFDC won’t shut down their open APIs because it will damage their ecosystem and trust. MAP integration is not at risk. SFDC is the main integration point for MAPs and is not likely to change in near future. SFDC and MAPs share many major clients and because of this, neither side will risk client relationships.
Vendors are starting to look outside of SFDC now. Several are adding other CRMs to their roadmap and have already started to add that capability to their marketing messaging.
Josh – I see this, too, in the marketplace in terms of negotiation on renewals. I have not seen many outright switches.
Lastly, what advice would you give someone looking to choose a MAP?
Jay – Understand what your needs, wants, and requirements are. Ask the following questions:
- What are you trying to do in terms of marketing?
- What is realistic and feasible for you in the next year?
- What’s your one-year, three-year and five-year road map, given other constraints? If you are just thinking about automation and ignoring things like data quality and content availability, then you may have trouble.
- Do you have enough content to power nurturing?
- Do you have high-enough data quality to segment well? Enough people with “First Name?”Are your reps putting personal details in fields that might go outside the firm?
Your biggest risk is in not delivering the value expected. With a MAP, you want to immediately show the value.
When you speak with MAP vendors, have standard use cases for them to show during the demo. Be specific about your needs. If you care about nurturing, ask them show you a nurturing plan. The reason is to get them to show you want you want. Don’t let them show you only their best side. Get that comparison point between vendors.
Be sure to speak to other MAP experts. Ask them what they would do again and what they would do differently.
Seek out vendor references from LinkedIn and your peer base, not just the vendor. You want the full story on the system, not just the story from their best clients.
Josh – Jay, great advice, and great to have you discuss this report in detail. Where’s the best place for my readers to see the report?
Jay – If your readers are looking for a synopsis of the report they can read about it and how we categorized each of the vendors in my recent blog post.
If readers would like to access the entire report, Marketo just purchased reprint rights.
Reach Jay @jayfamico
Jay Famico is the Practice Director, Technology at Sirius Decisions. Jay helps clients select and optimize marketing and sales technology, and understand the challenges and opportunities that technology and process standardization present and how individual applications should link to form a unified ecosystem.
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Thanks Jay!
Stay tuned for some very interesting Marketo posts that I’ve been working on the past few weeks. Also, if you’re in the Los Angeles area, I am in town and happy to meet up. Send a note to hello {at } marketingrockstarguides.com.
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