Where we last left off, I was debating between two final marketing automation solutions- one we could get for a very reasonable price, and another, more advanced system that would cost us 2-3 times the price. While we’d done a basic cost-benefit analysis, it was hard to say how much having any marketing automation solution would benefit us, much less the additional benefit we’d get from one solution over another. I was having trouble making a final call, and everybody else at the office was kind of split on their decision, as well.
Then our COO asked me a question that put it all into perspective…
He said, “For 2-3 times the price, it would mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars each year. For that price, we could potentially hire another person in marketing. What do you think is worth more: the extra MA functionality or another human to help execute our campaigns?”
Once he put it that way, it was a no-brainer. Of course I’d rather have a person to help write emails and coordinate campaigns! Would it be nice to have the added MA functionality too? Perhaps. But we’re just getting started with marketing automation, after all. The likelihood that we would “hit the wall” with the more economical solution in the first couple years and need a more advanced system that quickly is very unlikely. Plus, even if we didn’t hire another person in marketing right away (which we don’t plan to), I would still feel silly putting all that money into software that we couldn’t get the full benefit from for many months or even years to come.
So I picked up the phone and called the vendor with our final decision. Read the rest of this entry »
