You’ve just purchased Eloqua and are excited to move the needle on your marketing journey towards Revenue Marketing. You’ve seen all of the amazing things your Eloqua implementation can help your organization achieve, and you’re ready to hit the ground running.
So … where to start?
- Are you looking for guidance on what to do first to help ensure you are able to show some ROI quickly so that upper management sees the value in your investment in Eloqua?
- Do you want a way to prioritize what your department should do first to ensure your first few pilot campaigns are successful?
Related: Our Eloqua consultants make this happen – quickly.
This is your new mantra: CRAWL – STAND – WALK – RUN
The most successful companies with an Eloqua implementation in their organization start small, test, tweak and master their new toolset with an agile marketing methodology. I get it: You want to do everything all at once and build out complex nurture campaigns that span your entire buyer’s journey and allow your customers and prospects to guide exactly what they want to hear from you at the exact right stage.
You have the right idea in mind. This is exactly what you should be envisioning for your overall program architecture. However, companies who are most successful break this up in small, bite sized campaigns with very narrow and specific focus and objectives. Think of these smaller campaigns as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that will fit together to complete the entire picture.
One of my clients explained this perfectly with an analogy:
You bring home a brand new baby, there’s a lot of preparation and research that goes into how to do things such as buying a stroller, changing a diaper or deciding what the right car seat looks like.
One day you wake up and suddenly your tiny baby is mobile – they are crawling everywhere! You quickly realize you have not prepared for this next stage and need to babyproof the entire house.
You so desperately waited for this moment and wanted it for so long, but when the time came, you had many things that had to happen first such as protect the sockets, covering the corners on the coffee table and the list goes on.
Now, before baby can stand, they have to first master crawling – and it takes time.
Your marketing maturity is similar.
We all want the “Nirvana” but have to take those baby steps first and be patient and learn along the way from the bumps and bruises, tweak things, and continue to evolve.
So, where do you start?
This getting started guide is a great place to focus your attention on areas where your organization can be successful as you grow and mature. This will help you determine where to stretch your wings and when to pull back and be patient.
Our article on Eloqua’s Contact Washing Machine may also be a great next step.
Don’t forget, you will get to running! The most impact you can have on business objectives now is to master these smaller campaigns a few at a time and continue to build your overall marketing architecture.
If any of the features listed aren’t familiar to you, that’s okay! Remember, you’re crawling first. Take the time to crawl, then stand. Learn how to walk, then run, when it comes to getting the most out of Eloqua for your organization.
Upper management will be satisfied if you lay out a plan in advance, with milestones, and then consistently hit each of the milestones on schedule, crawling, walking and running towards the goal of achieving a great return on the investment. Patience, planning and time will ensure better results for your company and your team.
Like this content? You’ll find more great resources in our Eloqua guide.