Marketing automation solutions have enjoyed tremendous growth in use by B2B marketers over the last 2 years and the trend is clearly in favor of eMarketing vendors. eMarketing solutions encompass a wide array of technologies including: Email Marketing, Web Analytics, Lead Management, SEM/PPC Management and Landing Pages. Much has been written about the fundamental shift away from "traditional" marketing mix items such as direct mail, trade shows and magazine advertising to more interactive, real-time emarketing venues. That blog topic has since past. eMarketing IS the marketing mix in B2B.
One of the key issues facing b2b marketers now is "how much can we spend on an eMarketing solution?" Pricing for eMarketing applications range vary widely. There are 2 classes of applications; Platform (meaning most components like email, landing pages...etc) are part of a single application or Point Solutions (email) wherein only one area is focused on in the application.
Platform application costs typically range from $1500 per month upwards of $5000 per month. Costing of SaaS marketing platforms is often times based on email volume per month/year and database size.
Marketers need to be very cautious when applications price based on database size. Depending on what is applied against the database size (customer records, emails, landing pages) the size of the DB can balloon very quickly and you're suddenly on the hook for a much larger monthly fee than you were planning on.
Additionally, be aware that email volume is not based solely on first outbound emails. Trigger, drip and nurture emails need to be factored into your total email volume per month.
If you're planning on using an email marketing solution for drip and trigger emails and you plan on marketing to a database of 10,000 names, you should estimate your volume at 10,000 x 2.5 per month. That will ensure you've budgeted for enough email to cover trigger emails.
Other things to factor in with email is metering. With some applications, you can meter bursts at a pre-determined rate. Other applications allow you to borrow from other month's allotments. There is no one perfect way to do this. You should work closely with your eMarketing vendor to ensure costs are well defined an your vendor should know what you're trying to accomplish in advance so they can recommend the best plan based on your budget.
Regarding budget, what percentage of your total budget should be allotted to eMarketing software? 10-20% is a number agreed upon by most but is by no means a hard and fast rule.
If your annual marketing budget is $100,000 then 20% works out to to about $1600 per month.
Obviously, the percentage varies based on your needs/activity but if you're total spend on technology is exceeding 25% of your total marketing budget, you are very likely paying too much for a platform based application.
