Your Step by Step Guide to Switching Marketing Automation Platforms: Getting Started
Getting a new marketing automation platform is one of the most exciting times in every marketer’s life. You’ve been promised 101 different things your new technology will do for you: gather contacts, nurture them, collect attribution data, pass them off successfully to sales—practically walk leads down your revenue aisle.
But not every marketing automation marriage is a happy one. After a year or so you may find that your platform is not meeting the goals you set at the beginning of implementation, or you’re struggling to execute a crucial task in the UI and have to overcomplicate workflows and processes with customization and workarounds. Is it time to switch marketing automation platforms?
Switching Marketing Automation Platforms
Whether the system is too simple for the processes you need, or you find you’re paying far too much for something you’re only using to send newsletter emails, eventually every organization reaches a breaking point. When that point comes, the thought of switching marketing automation tools can seem too daunting a task for many teams, stopping the project before it even starts.
That’s why we’re creating a new step-by-step blog series for successfully switching marketing automation platforms. In the first installment of this series, we’ll cover the most important question you need to ask at the start of your process. The answer will act as the foundation for every action you take over the switching process: Why are you switching Marketing Automation?
It’s a pretty hefty question, with a lot of potential answers and implications for what platform you should be switching to. We recommend getting your marketing and sales decisions makers together for a brainstorm. Be sure to document your answers.
Questions to Answer Before Switching Marketing Automation
To get your session started, we’ve broken down the main question down into several different, easy-to-tackle parts:
- What is wrong with your current system? Have you outgrown it or do you feel there is a better option? If you’ve got a crucial task or workflow that you can’t implement, the first step is ensuring that any new platform you’re considering can provide that functionality for you. Make it a sticking point in any sales process — or ask for a specific demo of what it is you’re trying to accomplish.
- Would it be easier, or cheaper, to get creative with your solution? Sometimes you can use other tools to suffice as workarounds. For example, you might be able to combine data from two different systems or trigger the kind of workflow you need using another tool like Zapier or Automate.io. Doing so might be a bit more challenging, but could save you the headache of switching to an entirely different marketing automation platform.
- Have you exhausted all options? Sometimes, the solution is possible within the marketing platform you are currently using, it just takes a second set of eyes to realize it. Have you contacted support, or an outside party (like SmartAcre), about the struggles you’re experiencing on the platform you have?
- Is it time to switch? Sometimes it’s clear that you just can’t accomplish what you need to in your current system, and a workaround won’t be sustainable as your business grows. It’s important to consider what you want to achieve in the long term as well. How will your marketing automation platform scale in 2 years? 5 years? Even more? Will your company eventually expand to multiple product lines? Does your lead scoring system allow you to have multiple models in place depending on products, personas, or target accounts? If your current system won’t ever meet these goals, it’s time to switch.
With the answers to the above questions in hand, you’ll know whether or not switching marketing automation platforms is truly the best move for your business. If it is, armed with the talking points above, you’ll know where to get started on the search for your next platform.
Marketing Automation Goals
If switching seems like the next best step after having these conversations, you’ll be well on your way to the next part of the process (and the subject of our next series post): Goal Setting!
Keep coming back to the SmartAcre® Blog for further installments of our “Step by Step Guide to Switching Marketing Automation Platforms” series! We’ll go over goal-setting, selecting the best option for your budget, data migration, and more.
Do you have a question about a marketing automation switch you have planned, or are undergoing? Leave it in the comments below, and we’ll try to cover it in our upcoming posts.
And if you’re new to marketing automation, unsure if you have the right solution in place, or just looking to get more from your current technology stack, our team of experts can help. Contact us today for a marketing automation audit, or to discuss ways to solve any problems you may have in your marketing automation platform.
 HubSpot |
 Pardot |
 Marketo |