This series of posts were created when I worked at a Marketing Automation company called “Loopfuse” in the early 2010’s. I was the Senior Manager of Technical Support and I posted blog content on the merits of Marketing Automation in general, as well as some of the technical aspects specific to that platform. I recently rescued these posts from the Wayback Machine for posterity and to remind myself of what I have written in the past. The images are missing, but you’ll get the idea.

I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but sometimes the Christmas presents at my house end up taking on a theme. This year was the “Year of the Puzzle” at the Murdock household, right down to the Mr. Potato Head that my two year old received. It got me to thinking about how many puzzles there are in a day to day routine. Even creating a successful business tends to be an exercise in finding the right pieces to complete the overall picture you’re trying to illustrate. The need for Marketing Automation is an increasingly important piece essential to completing the business puzzle.

The business puzzle

There are some interesting parallels between building a business and putting together a puzzle. For example, even though you may not have worked on that particular puzzle before, each successive one gets a bit easier because past experience helps develop techniques that let you recognize patterns and find quicker solutions to completing a project. Having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in your business is critical to finding to right placement of the pieces, just as having a picture of the finished product is important for piecing together a puzzle.

Where does Marketing Automation fit?

So how do you fit Marketing Automation in to your business? Well, start with looking at what others have done. Study examples of how they have fit Marketing Automation products like LoopFuse in to their business model and discover the benefits of doing so. Recently, MarketingSherpa put out a fantastic article on how Opsview, a LoopFuse customer, went through the implementation process and ended up with a 178% increase in deals. We also have a great case study on how Objectivity was able to save $160,000 by using LoopFuse OneView.

How to put it together

Once you have an idea of what the end result should look like, take a methodical approach in fitting Marketing Automation in to your business mix. When putting together a puzzle I start with the known pieces…edges and corners followed by large, unique areas that are easily identified. Putting together a business is not very different. You start with product and vision then fill in some key players for sales, marketing, and product development/production. From there you start to work on the less obvious pieces that are still needed to bring the whole thing together. I know from past experience there is some trial and error as you move through both processes. The last few pieces may have seemed the most confusing as you passed them over and over as you went along. Once you get them in to place, however, they make sense and complete the picture.

LoopFuse completes the puzzle

Marketing Automation is one of those less-obvious but essential pieces needed to bring your business processes together. It should be identified and worked in to its proper place as early as possible. LoopFuse can help you find the critical Marketing Automation piece you are missing to your business. Check out the features we offer, the webinars we’ve made available, and even the Five from Five series for great lessons learned and thoughts from some startup experts.