On-Demand Marketing Automation: Buyer's Checklist for Shopping for a Marketing Automation Provider

For organizations that have limited marketing budgets, are just starting out with e-marketing, or want to inexpensively augment existing programs, on-demand marketing automation is a great solution. Of course, one should use a structured assessment process to choose the best provider for them. First, identify and quantify the goals and objectives of marketing automation initiative. Then determine budget and personnel available to participate and oversee the initiative. Once the objectives and budgets are established, the next step is to analyze how one would apply marketing automation to achieve their objectives. This step requires a combination of self-education on what can be automated and forecasting of efficiency improvements gained by applying specific automation. Finally, evaluate alternative vendors for marketing automation.