Sound familiar?

Yep, it’s time to switch. 

But switching can seem like a daunting task.

And staying the course with your existing platform is tempting, isn’t it? 

But you also know that the problems you’re struggling with won’t go away without action.   

The good news is that switching marketing automation platforms doesn’t need to be overwhelming, especially when you have tips on what features to look for and what to avoid. We’ve compiled our favorites to support you during the process of making a switch. 

Implement marketing automation that plays nice with your tech stack

No one likes a playground bully, do they? Nope. That’s why a new marketing automation tool should play nicely with your other MarTech friends. 

We found when evaluating new marketing technology, approximately 80% of survey respondents said the ability to integrate with existing and new technology is their most important deciding factor. 

When marketing automation  integrates easily (we’re looking at you, CRM!), it eliminates the need for crafty workarounds, productivity slowdowns, and the frustrating roadblocks that made you want to switch in the first place. 

Make a list of your most important MarTech tools, and let that serve as a checklist when considering new tools. A few to consider include your CRM, of course, but also things like analytics and data platforms, your CMS, webinar platforms, and any other functional tools such as survey apps, chatbots, and sales tools.

And if integration isn’t possible with your favorites? Consider negotiating and requesting integrations as part of your deal terms. 

Implement marketing automation that doesn’t require “experts”

Hidden costs. They’re everywhere, right? You sign up for a new internet service, not realizing you need to pay extra for a router. You subscribe to a “free service” only to later realize the features you really want cost extra. In the context of marketing automation, watch out for tools that require fancy, expensive consultants to run them. 

These experts will kill your total cost of ownership. 

Sure, they can do some pretty amazing things, but so can other tools that are way more intuitive and allow your existing team to run them. A straightforward interface, for example, might include things like:

• Drag-and-drop editors that allow marketers to create customized content without the need for extensive tech skills. 
• Pre-built templates for emails and landing pages to create a consistent brand look. 
• Automated workflows that simplify the setup of lead nurturing and engagement campaigns without adding onerous extra steps to the process.  
• User-friendly analytics and reporting that put data in a clear and understandable format that can be used to track campaign success. 

Also, consider getting your team involved in demos to ensure an “intuitive tool” is what it promises to be. 

Avoid add-ons that gobble up your budget 

Paying for extra avocado on your BLT? Okay, we’ll let that one slide. But shelling out extra money each month for add-ons your team doesn’t use? Or even worse, functionality that your team does use but shouldn’t cost extra? 

No, thank you. 

Make a list that details the functionality your team needs from a marketing automation tool. Then use that functionality list as a guide to investigate potential solutions. Are those capabilities included or do you need to pay extra? And if so, how much? 

And here’s a pro tip: Don’t get misled into believing that fancy features that aren’t on your “must have” list have an added benefit. If your team doesn’t use them, they can make it more challenging to get the more basic work done. 

Implement marketing automation that supports your team 

The fear of switching is often rooted in adoption and migration worries. How will you get started? How quickly can your team get up and running? And will you regret your decision to switch? 

On that last point, the real question you’ll be asking with the right solution is: Why didn’t we switch sooner? 

To achieve success, talk with potential solution providers about their migration process. Do they have a dedicated contact to guide you through that process? 

Then ask questions about training. What support is available? If your team gets stuck, can they access real-time help? What onboarding resources exist? Having solid resources and real-time support ensures your team doesn’t hit walls, stumble around in the dark, and become frustrated. 

Implement an automation platform that supports future growth

You have big marketing plans, don’t you? Of course you do! But as you execute those plans, you’ll want to ensure your new automation tool scales with you. Heck, it might even be the reason you’re making a switch in the first place. 

As you consider what is needed to support scalability and meet your marketing goals, consider tools that allow: 

• A clean and clear database. A unified view of data to support business growth. 
• Lead-generation tools. Make it easy to track leads, no matter how many you have in your system. 
• Behavioral tracking and reporting. Tracking and reporting that allow your team to understand details about who your audience is, the stage of the buyer journey, and more to build personalization and automated messaging. 
• Lead scoring and segmentation. Automatically scores and has segments that lead to help with personalized marketing programs. 
• A/B testing. Allows you to test elements like email subject lines, button text, and other elements, to optimize conversions. 
• Customer journey building. Builds a positive brand experience at every touchpoint for leads and customers. 
• Data and reporting. Collects data and constructs reports that help guide your decision-making and optimize marketing automation success 

Ready? Time to reaping the rewards 

Periodically, marketing leaders decide it’s time for change. 

That’s where you are today, right? 

Considering the tips above is a great starting point, and if you need a little extra guidance, we’ve got you covered! 

Check out our comprehensive guide designed to help you every step of the way, so that when your migration is complete, you can take a deep breath and be happy that you made the switch. Following the tips in this guide will enable you to hit your “today goals” and have the confidence that meeting your “tomorrow goals” will be much easier. 

Not sure how to do that? Never fear! Act-On teamed up with MarketingProfs, and we’re here to save the day! Read on for a step-by-step guide with everything you need to know to use marketing automation tools to unlock your superpowers.

The Marketing Superhero’s Guide to Marketing Automation Tools

A superhero’s only as good as the tools in their arsenal. Maybe you weren’t born with a genetic mutation that gives you superhuman abilities, but hey, that’s why we have superheroes like Batman, right? With training, dedication, and the latest and most advanced tech, you can be the savior of your own Gotham City.

Chapter 1: Suit Up! Consolidate the Marketing Automation Tools in Your Tech Stack

“I love deploying new software!”

-No one, ever

First things first: consolidate your tech stack! What do you really need in your utility belt and what’s just weighing you down?

In an informal poll, we learned that fellow marketers consider their marketing automation platform as having the biggest impact on their marketing efforts, followed by their CRM and then their sales enablement tool. And this is just a sliver of categories that make up the current MarTech landscape, where there are a whopping 10,000+ vendors! Just like the Marvel Universe, it keeps on growing.

As new vendors keep entering the market, you really have to pay attention to what’s in your tech stack. Figure out which ones are serving you versus which are just collecting subscription fees. It’s not enough to stick with the status quo—learn what marketing tools are out there that can help you amplify and grow your business.

So ask yourself: What’s in your tech stack? And how do you “stack up” next to your peers?

Now that you’ve done a roll call of your vendors, time to put them to the test. Assess your tools based on team usage, connectivity, and cost by asking yourself the following questions:

·       Is anyone using this tool? If not, should we be? 

·       Do we have duplicate tools? 

·       Are there other teams in our company that could share this cost? 

·       Is there an integration that could make it more sticky?

·       Is there something else in the market that’s a better value?

And finally, the most important question to ask: what’s the ROI on this tool? With budgets being scrutinized and contracts being challenged these days, you really need to justify the time/cost savings and the amount of business influenced by the products you have in your tech stack. What impact would it have on your business if you gave it the classic Batman ka-pow? If you need to part ways with a marketing tool, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: here are tips on how to break up with your marketing automation platform.

Hot tip: Ask your vendor to resell you their product, as if you’re unfamiliar with it. Any tech company worth its salt would have had several product rollouts since you first purchased it, and you may not be aware of all its current capabilities.

Chapter 2: Find Your Sidekick – Do More with Marketing Automation Tools at Your Side

Every Batman needs a Robin. We don’t know what audition process Robin went through to land the coveted gig of sidekick, but when choosing your automation partner, it’s important to discern what’s most important to you. Most marketers want their marketing automation platform to be easier to understand and navigate. How do you find the right match?

One thing we can all agree on: anything that can be automated should be automated. This is true for every stage of the buyer journey and the customer lifecycle. What are some of these key automation activities that will make you look like a superhero for getting so much done?

1. Notifications
   A great marketing automation platform helps with your communications externally, and internally as well. Notifications to the sales team alert them when a prospect reaches a certain lead score or engagement. You can learn more about how to get the most out of your internal marketing team here.
   
2. Nurtures
   Nurtures are great for your customers, too. It’s not just about that top-of-funnel – it’s about engaging customers, encouraging up-sell and cross-sell, and making sure they’re getting the most out of your product.
   
3. Transactional Communications
   We’re all used to communications that remind us to fill out a form, confirm an event, or post-event follow-ups. We’re trained to expect a sequence of steps that a good marketing automation platform should definitely be doing without any heavy lifting on your part ( save that super strength for more strategic projects and places where you can really add value).
   
4. Onboarding sequences
   Closing a customer only puts you at the starting gate—you then have to think about how to onboard your customer so that they have a really great experience. This encompasses everything from beta programs to end-of-life notifications. There’s a lot of opportunity here to think of each stage of the customer lifecycle and how you’re automating those communications. “Speed to lead” is particularly important—what is your company’s response time to leads? Leverage automation to engage your super speed and make sure you’re not leaving valuable opportunities to be snatched up by the competition.
   
5. Product comms
   Some of the most important communications to customers are about specific dates and deadlines about the product. No doubt these should be automated.

One of the best ways you can rely on marketing automation tools as your sidekick is building automated nurture streams. Here are few tips: 

• Build out your ideal customer profiles, so you know how to approach different customers’ different needs.
• Know and understand where your buyer is in the sales process—you don’t want to duplicate communications with the sales team, which creates a confusing experience for the potential buyer.
• Don’t stop with a sale! Think about how you’re nurturing the customer throughout.

Remember: automation works best when it’s personalized as much as possible. Personalization is so important in building trust, loyalty and respect. Base your communications on conversations with customers, the actions they’re most likely to take, and their place in the product lifecycle. For example,  three months out from contract renewal, send an automated email to remind them. 

Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead.

–Harvard Business Review

Maybe you can’t use echolocation like a bat does, but listen to the information and data you have on a prospect to know when to remove someone from a nurture stream and customize your messaging to them. Timing and segmentation are key. What you don’t want to do is treat all customers or prospects the same.

Learn how Act-On can help you create compelling, personalized messages that engage.

Chapter 3: Engage Laser Focus! (Use a Targeted Approach with Marketing Automation Tools)

Ever wondered what would happen if Batman didn’t just focus on crime? What if he also wanted to take care of Gotham City’s pothole problem and use the Batmobile for garbage collection? Even the best of us need a focus. Imagine how confusing the bat signal would be, if it wasn’t clear why the hero was being called.

It’s vital to understand your dataset and focus on metrics so you can identify trends that tie back to your marketing efforts. What channel did prospects come in from? Attribution is key. After all, it’s possible to go way down the funnel with a chunk of leads from a marketing campaign, but with none of them converting. It’s important to assess the data and focus on what you can improve to get better results. It can be as simple as quarterly reviews on all your programs and channels to understand what content is working, and what’s not. What’s your top-performing initiative that’s getting the most clicks and conversions? Hone in with laser focus—don’t just churn out more of the same.

Act-On’s marketing automation tools helped Georgia United Credit Union leverage high customer engagement to segment their customers according to the products, services and accounts they had. By bucketing customers into smaller groups, Georgia Union was able to send more laser-focused communication using marketing automation for personalized and focused cross-selling. The result? 800 upsells in 11 months! This was a new tool in their toolbelt that really created a great customer experience and made Georgia United’s marketing team the superheroes their organization needed.

Want to Tap into Your Superpowers?

Watch the full webinar and learn more tips from experts about how to get the most out of your marketing automation tools.

Act-On provides solutions that empower marketers to target every step of the customer lifecycle, allowing customers to build smart and effective programs to grow their business and generate high customer lifetime value.

Economists say we’re on the edge of a recession. A study showed a 7 in 10 chance we’ll cross over the brink during 2023. Does it mean they’re right? 

Maybe. 

But fortunately, there are some practical changes you can make regardless of economic conditions that can help get ahead of whatever comes next. Some of our own marketing experts recently sat down with the marketing geniuses at ZoomInfo to get their take on how to market during a recession and what you can do now to get prepared.

Fight Back Against MarTech Stack Bloat

MarTech bloat is a tricky problem, sneaking in when you least expect it, slowly getting out of hand and then wasting valuable time and money. And wasting marketing resources is the last thing you want during a recession. 

So, what can you do? 

The answer is simple: Get rid of the slackers. 

Evaluate your technology, what you’re actually using, and which tool uses too many resources or isn’t pulling its weight. For example, once upon a time, you might have purchased a really powerful technology with many capabilities. The challenge is that fully using all of those capabilities might require more internal resources than you have. And this adds up to extra expenses and time wasted.

“What you need to be thinking about is, rather than buying everything that you think is going to add value, focus on a few things that are going to be really important for your go-to-market motions and doing those really well.”

-Dom Catabay, Director of Demand Generation at Act-On

So overall, isolate the technology holding you back and search for opportunities to improve your tech stack. Sometimes this involves onboarding new tech to improve your results (counterintuitive, right?). Not all technology is created equal. The goal is to reduce bloat, so use these tips when bringing in new tools:

• Speed up revenue growth … fast. Every moment, every month and every dollar matter during an economic squeeze. So make sure new tech pays off fast. 
• Help monitor and improve performance. The old saying “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is even more critical during a downturn. Make sure you can tap into reports that show campaign performance so you don’t have to go on a search mission across several platforms. 
• Get rid of data silos. Is your data flowing as seamlessly as it could be? Or is data stuck in silos, causing you to miss out on valuable insights that could help you make better decisions and drive more revenue? You need interconnected data that drives efficiency and helps you get better results. 
• Boost data hygiene. Some solutions don’t promote data hygiene, and this problem area can have a big impact on your bottom line. One study found that data hygiene issues cost organizations roughly 12% of their revenue. Wouldn’t you like some of that back during a difficult economy? 
• And finally, promote scalability. Marketing automation helps offload boring, mundane tasks so your marketing teams can focus on higher-level work. And it helps you scale, which is critical when working on growing during a challenging economy. 

Tap Into the Bottom of the Funnel

As marketers, we know that MQLs are important, but shifting how you think about them can be a game changer. For starters, consider that the lowest cost per MQL isn’t always the best. 

Why? 

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you have 10 MQLs that cost $100 each, but the conversion rate is only 10%. A similar program costs $500 per MQL, but the conversion rate is 50%. Sure, they look similar, but one might result in more bottom-of-the-funnel conversions — and that’s a big difference. 

So, yes, look at the cost per MQL, but then take it a step further and look at the bottom-of-the-funnel performance. How well are those MQLs converting once they get into the hands of your salespeople? Quality over quantity — always.

Kick Bad Leads Out of the Funnel

It’s counterintuitive, right? You worked really hard to get those leads — why kick them to the curb? Here’s the thing: Bad leads waste your sales team’s time, and time is money. So you need to figure out which leads are bad and get them out of your funnel pronto. What’s a bad lead? Here are a couple of examples:

The prospect is a poor fit. 

They lack purchasing intent. 

Their business isn’t suited for your products and services. 

Totally fine, but send these prospects packing instead of inadvertently passing them to your salespeople who work crazy hard trying to convert them — an uphill, if not impossible, task. 

This is a shift for some marketers who in the past tried to fill the pipeline with as many leads as possible. More leads translate to more revenue, right? 

Not exactly. 

So, how do we fix this problem? 

Two words: lead scoring. 

Lead scoring is a tracking system for the qualification process. It assigns each lead a number that shows whether that lead is ready for your sales team or it needs to be nurtured or — in some cases — kicked out of the funnel altogether. 

It’s the opposite of a spray-and-pray approach. You can tell how well lead scoring is working by tracking conversions. If you do it well, conversions should keep ticking up. And higher-quality leads, of course, translate to more sales and greater ROI, which brings us to our next point.

Search for Truth with ROI 

Marketers are no strangers to the ROI discussion. But if you think you talked a lot about ROI last year, just wait until you’re marketing in a recession. You’ll have that conversation so much more often. But that’s okay. You can get ready now. 

“Oftentimes we go into budgeting meetings and we ask about a tech and we talk about the spend and ask the question about the ROI and total cost of ownership of the tool and you can get a deer in the headlights kind of look…”

-Cameron Kilgore,  VP of Revenue Operations at Act-On

The past several years have been prosperous for some industries like tech, and many adjacent technologies have found their way into the tech stack. Oh yes, bloated tech stack, remember? But adjacent technologies don’t support growth, and every tool needs to do its part. ROI will help you quickly determine which tools aren’t pulling their weight. 

Plus, if you know the ROI of all your tools, you’ll be prepared when your budget comes under fire. You can share the specific ROIs and show stakeholders what discontinuing a tool will cost them. They can see the impact. They can see the dollars. And nobody wants to mess with the dollars during a downturn.

Leverage This ‘Secret Weapon’ for Success

Marketing and sales alignment … yeah, yeah, you know it’s important. But during an economic downturn, it’s your secret weapon for success. 

Here’s why: Marketing is traditionally focused on MQLs, and they’re important, for sure. But as we discussed earlier, you’ve got to also focus on the bottom of the funnel. You see, marketing and sales are part of the same team. If they lose, so do you. And in a tough economy, you need both to win. Bad. 

Keep your eye on MQLs but also on how well those leads convert at the bottom of the funnel. Make any necessary adjustments quickly. And work with your salespeople so they understand which technologies give them the best leads and the highest conversions. As you do this, you’ll get sales executives on your side. They’ll know what’s working and won’t want anybody to mess with it. You and sales are now in the same corner, and that’s what alignment is all about.

Navigating Curveballs … and Hitting Home Runs 

The only thing we know about the future is that change will come … and it will keep on coming. Maybe good, maybe amazing, maybe challenging. We just don’t know … yet. But as marketers, we can get ready for whatever’s next by getting rid of our martech bloat, understanding the ROI of all of our tools and getting aligned with sales. 

These strategies will help you do more with less, spot better leads, improve conversion rates and, ultimately, drive up your revenue in the coming year. So whether or not the economic predictions are correct, you’ll be ready. 

Want more tips on marketing in a recession?

Watch the full webinar and learn more tips from experts about B2B marketing in a recession.

How to Personalize in the Age of Internet Privacy 

The world’s major browsers have taken steps to protect their user’s data, and in doing so, set themselves up to be in control of such data when intent-based campaigns need to continue somehow. Since there is big money to be made in advertising to ready-to-buy consumers, the idea of tracking behavior isn’t going to go away entirely, but it will shift. And, access to such data may come at a premium. Right now, the best way to react is to investigate how to connect with your customers first-hand. 

With 80% of consumers preferring companies that offer a personalized experience, first-party data can help you combat fears around the death of third-party cookies. Creating personalized experiences starts with understanding who your customers are and what they need. 

The Role of Segmentation in Personalization

In order to personalize your communication with leads and customers, you first have to have the right data. Then, you can segment people into specific categories based on factors including:

• Behavioral segmentation. Identifying behavior patterns and then segmenting visitors helps you serve relevant and targeted content to keep customers engaged. This can include product recommendations, promotions, marketing messages, and more. 
• Demographic segmentation. Factors like age, income, and background can help you serve content depending on each website visitor’s individual demographics. One downside of demographic segmentation is that it’s generally based on broad assumptions, so it can’t be used for specific content. 
• Psychographic segmentation. Drilling down into the beliefs and values of your website visitors can help you create tailored marketing messages and promotions that speak to your customer as an individual. This kind of data is more challenging to collect than others, but it’s worth doing. 
• Geographic segmentation. Depending on a visitor’s geographic location, you can redirect them to a regional site, show them relevant products, and engage them with offers tailored to their specific needs.     

The most effective strategy is to combine all four segmentation categories to provide high-value, relevant content to your leads and customers. For example, targeted ads based on keywords and website behavior can increase engagement by up to 45%. 

In this article, we’ve looked at five of the most effective ways to capture and use your first-party data. Let’s start with tracking behaviors on your own website.    

Tracking Website Behavior

Adding tracking pixels to your website allows you to collect information about how people behave when they visit your website. Setting up your website correctly can help you collect data that can help you offer better experiences, and guide the right leads through the exact funnel they need to experience in order to be ready to buy. Even better, once that visitor has converted on any form, your marketing automation software can log that activity and connect it with their profile so you can start to build an accurate picture of their interests. 

Tracking website behavior allows you to see visits to each page, and other details, like how long someone stays on that page. You can also get data like geographic location and device type, as well as click and scroll patterns, all of which appear in aggregate in your website reporting. 

Using Aggregate Data to Improve Experiences 

A whole world of optimization opportunities opens up when you have website behavior data. Combine the data you get from Google Analytics (or other website reporting platform) with your marketing automation software, and you’ll be able to understand more about the paths people take through your content, and how well it performs. Tools like Hotjar and Lucky Orange provide visualizations of how visitors interact with your website, commonly called heatmaps. 

Let’s say your data shows, for example, that only 20% of your visitors scroll past the halfway point on your homepage, but of those who do, a great many watch your brand video, and nearly 80% of those viewers fill out your form to get more information. What should you do? Move that brand video up higher on the page, and see if more of your visitors will watch it, and then follow that proven conversion pattern. 

Incorporating Website Behavior Into Lead Scoring Programs

Collecting your own data on your website provides the foundation you need to build or optimize your lead scoring system. The scores will outline visits to specific pages, i,e: contact us, pricing page, or get a demo. Using a scoring system will help your integrated marketing team better qualify leads and guide customers down the funnel. 

While your assumptions may sometimes be correct, seeing a clearly defined customer behavior path can give you key insights into what will affect their intent in the future. These insights make way for a more personalized approach, connecting your product with your customers’ needs. 

Tracking Email Engagement

Email is a powerful tool for  B2B marketers who want to decrease their reliance on third-party data. Because users have to actively opt-in to receive your emails, you know they’re already interested in engaging with your brand. With email generating a return on investment (ROI) of $42 for every dollar spent, it’s worth taking the time to perfect this strategy. Remember that increased privacy around email marketing will affect your open rate data. 

A lot of information can be gathered from the links each user clicks within your email content. If they typically show more interest in links around a specific topic, you can use this information to serve increasingly tailored content. You may decide to recommend additional articles around the same topic or invite them to download a case study about their specific industry or attend an on-demand webinar. 

As your emails drive clicks back to your website, you can combine email engagement data with behavioral data collected by your website to further engage each customer. Use your marketing automation software to segment into users who prefer long-form versus infographic style posts and offer a curated experience that keeps readers coming back for more. 

Your emails should also be specific to a particular audience—what interests one segment won’t necessarily interest another. Targeted emails will be more effective at retaining interest and engagement. Using A/B testing to figure out which content resonates best with whom is a good way to gather additional data that can be used to refine future campaigns. 

Tracking Event Registration and Attendance

Events like live videos, on-demand webinars, and virtual summits are an excellent opportunity to collect event-based first-party data, which can be used to further refine your offers. Live videos are also becoming more popular than ever, with 96% of people using videos to learn more about a specific product or service before engaging with a sales team.  

Collecting email addresses when people register to watch on-demand webinars is the first step, but you can also include custom data fields that help you to gain a deeper understanding of your audience’s goals. Over time, this allows you to carry out progressive profiling so you can understand your customers even better.  

However, the way you register attendees for your events is important, as you’ll need to balance data collection with keeping the customer journey as seamless as possible. Lengthy registration forms for individual events may turn attendees off from the very first moment. Instead, one-click registration allows your audience to easily sign up for other events in the future without having to input their details again. Use your marketing automation platform’s progressive profiling capabilities to enable quick and easy registration.  

For in-person events, it’s also possible to use website behavior data to promote in-person events. Website visitors within the same geographic region visiting pages with similar content can be made aware of events via targeted ads, pop-ups, or emails if they’re already subscribed to your list.

When attendees RSVP to an event, you can segment your audience into who’s coming and who’s not. You can then apply further filters and create tailored emails designed to build excitement or to offer additional information to those who have already confirmed they’ll be attending.  

Tracking Interactions with Your Team

As prospects interact with your team, they provide a huge amount of first-party data that can be used to boost retention, upsell, and improve the customer journey at the same time. You’re likely already using customer relationship management (CRM) software, and these often come with a huge range of tools, some of which use first-party data. First-party data can also be linked to offline interactions including in-person events and sales calls, in which case it’s useful to log these on your CRM to gain deeper insights into customer behavior.  

The live touchpoints in your customer journey are normally very good indicators of buyer intent, and can make or break your B2B sales funnel. Use data about when and how people end up buying after these interactions to optimize the pathway and grow your business. 

Tracking Product Use or Purchases

Purchases and product use are the next layer of the customer journey. Gaining insight into what your customers purchase, how often they use your software, or how and when they purchase add ons or upgrades can be a key part of successful customer retention. To get the full benefit, it’s a good idea to integrate your CRM, ERP or other customer and order tracking system with your marketing automation platform.

To nurture long lasting and profitable relationships with your customers, start by collecting data on what they buy, and how they use your products and services. Then, analyze that data to uncover opportunities for optimization. One example is a community bank that signs up a new customer with a checking account, and uses customer data to understand when that person may be ready to hear about home loan options. 

Take Control with First-Party Data

Transitioning towards reliance on your own data gives you the freedom to create a truly sustainable marketing strategy that’s respectful of your customer’s data in addition to allowing you to meet expectations for a personalized user experience. From tracking website behavior, to understanding buying patterns, there is a lot your own team can do to combat the death of third-party cookies. The key is to have the right marketing tech stack in place to help you accomplish your data goals, because you need a way to capture and act upon your data. The most successful companies in the world combine a website CMS (like WordPress) with a marketing automation solution (like Act-On), and a CRM (like Salesforce) among other specialized tools. Gathering and analyzing firsthand data is the only way to ensure you are segmenting and personalizing your way to business growth, even in the age of increased privacy.