DECEMBER 2017CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8IN MYVIEWWhat are the Sales and Marketing Trends that you see in the Market Today?The big thing that I see in the industry today is that everyone is working increasingly towards bringing together the sales and marketing operations for better outcomes. This is something that it seems nobody has been able to do well in the past three decades. I think as the marketing automation channel progresses, it becomes an absolute necessity to support sales for a completely integrated customer experience, in a regulated, automated, cleaned, and traceable manner. Sometimes, the focus is just making the marketing better, but the real concern should be to make sales and marketing processes work together to support each other.It is extremely easy and cost efficient these days to add marketing automation to the company budget for the year. Years ago, a company had to choose between buying marketing automation software or an email service provider, but that is not the case anymore. Email service providers can now do nearly all of what marketing automation providers can and marketing automation software companies have been building up their toolset to send larger batched, designed emails as well. What are the Positive Outcomes of the Technology becoming easily Accessible?The ability for clients to take automated emails from just basic 'welcome' messages to more robust marketing automation programs that automate email interaction with prospects and customers exponentially increases their ability to do more. A sales team can be on the phone or knocking on doors, instead of writing hundreds of typed up emails. A well-run automated program can still feel personalized, using a System that remembers important dates automatically and spell-checks automatically. This can free up a sales staff for hours a day, which can have a noticeable return on investment in addition to streamlining the nurture process. Can you Elaborate on some Projects that you are currently Overseeing?The project I am working on right now is reworking Spirit Airlines' customer journey email program. We're revisiting the series of emails that a flyer receives from the moment they book their flight with Spirit through their trip and even after they return. Spirit has an ultra-low-cost model where you can find tickets for as low as $39, sometimes lower. But being ultra-low-cost­ thanks to an "unbundled" fare -- means that every MARKETING AUTOMATION FOR BETTER CUSTOMER IMPACTJESSICA BEST, DIRECTOR OF DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING, BARKLEY
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