You just got a new marketing job or added responsibility. Congrats! That feeling of meeting new people, experiencing a new environment and the excitement of going to the office for the first month – it’s fantastic. Now you just need to get settled into your work.
You’ve read up on marketing automation, demand generation, lead management, scoring, and nurturing – but now you have a system of your own to manage.
Everyone is incredibly excited that you’ve come in to ‘save the day.’ No biggie you’re thinking – how bad can it be? If you haven’t managed a marketing automation system from end-to-end before you’re in for some pretty big surprises.
That’s right – all those articles you read mean nothing. Do you understand what a relational database is? No? Read More Here. If yes, great! You’ve taken a small step towards understanding this powerful database called a marketing automation system.
Well, technically it’s multiple databases. Depending on the system – it is a LOT of databases. You were thinking it just involved your contact list, right? WRONG.
These systems capture web traffic, form submissions, sales leads, paid media, social, marketing events, list uploads, custom data, and much more to provide insight into your on-going campaigns and lead generation efforts. Where do you think the numbers are stored that help tally up your email’s click-through rate? A database.
Learn to love your data! Oh, clean data that is. Otherwise, work will only get harder. We can go into data hygiene another time.
Yes, it is a LOT of data, but that’s fine. The more data it collects the more potential it has. So, before you even dive into the different marketing campaigns you need to take some time to understand the existing structure – yes – you’ll need to ignore your boss and push off a few meetings, informing your new comrades that you need to get familiar with the system before any work can be completed.
OH, if you discover hundreds of custom objects in your marketing automation or CRM system, send for help and/or take your vitamins. Stay tuned for Part 2.
