Brian Schmid

What marketing automation platform are you using and how long has it been a part of your tech stack? 

We’ve used Pardot since 2016 and are working on implementing Salesforce Marketing Cloud in Q1 of 2019. 

What are the key features you utilize and find critical on a daily basis? Why? 

Engagement Studio has been critical to our success during the last two years.  It allows us to tailor communications based on interactions within a program, and automatically notify sales when a lead is warm.  

Do you believe that you are maximizing the use of your MAP? Why or why not? 

We’ve pushed the pedal to the floor with Pardot. We’re running automated programs based on both CRM triggers and website behavior, then scoring engagement before sending leads to sales. Insights into prospect activity inform the sales team’s conversations, so the entire prospect experience seems seamless, rather than marketing and sales having two disjointed conversations.

What are the challenges limiting your abilities to leverage the full functionality of your chosen MAP? 

Our issue continues to revolve around identifying influence. Source of origin for a lead and source of conversion is straightforward, but highlighting all the influencing campaigns in the middle isn’t something we’ve solved yet. Our technology team has been tasked with building that capability in Q2 of 2019. We’ve already sketched out what we need our reports to display, so we’re making progress.

What are the features/functionalities you are looking for your MAP to incorporate in 2019 to improve performance? Why? 

I’m looking to begin automating entry into social and Google advertising. We saw a lot of success with targeted digital ads, both using retargeting and multi-device targeting by email address. The next step for us is to remove the manual effort of building lists and adding audience members. Instead, we want to incorporate these tactics into our engagement programs/journeys. By removing the effort involved in managing, we’re enabling our campaign specialists to spend more time on analysis and strategy. 

What is your New Year’s resolution for marketing automation?

My New Year’s resolution for marketing automation is to only build and advance programs that are scalable and applicable to every business unit I work with. Pursuing quick fixes for one business unit makes consistent execution and reporting extraordinarily difficult long term.