Recognized as a leading marketing automation expert, Lauren McCormack is a resourceful and award-winning marketer. We’ve recognized her as a Marketing Automation Wizard and got a chance to interview her.
About Lauren McCormack
Lauren McCormack: With a passion to innovate, align sales and marketing teams, and deliver results, I have gained expertise in data-driven digital marketing solutions, demand generation, marketing automation, and marketing strategy best practices. Certified as Marketo Expert thrice, I am an award-winning senior marketer.
Reasons to love marketing automation
Lauren McCormack: Marketing automation serves as the hub of my marketing tech stack and lets me create demand at scale. With marketing automation I can deliver content that feels one-to-one but is actually one-to-many. It helps deliver great results and makes communications welcome in client and prospect inboxes.
One thing people should innovate for marketing automation
Lauren McCormack: I would love to see a better native reporting and multi-touch attribution tool that comes out of the box to demonstrate lead velocity and ROI across the marketing journey.
One thing people should forget about marketing automation
Lauren McCormack: I want people to forget the notion that all platforms are the same and recreating an instance can be transferable in some way. People assume that marketing automation tools such as HubSpot, Pardot, Eloqua, Marketo, ActiveCampaign are all interchangeable. When the renewal time comes for a platform, leaders tend to migrate to a different platform thinking that it would be cheaper, easier, faster, and a better contract. Marketers should understand that choosing a marketing automation platform is a long-term commitment.
Familiar marketing automation tools
Lauren McCormack: I have used Marketo, Eloqua, SFDC, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Constant Contact, and RedPoint. But I am like Marketo the most. I was one of the first 200 people to become a Marketo Certified Expert, and have been certified thrice. I started using Marketo in 2012, worked as a Marketo Consultant for a number of years, and returned to the client-side about a year ago.
The trends and challenges happening in the marketing automation sector
Lauren McCormack: With terms like Revenue Ops taking hold, marketing automation professionals are no more just order takers serving internal customers. People now consider us as influencers and corporate strategic planners, and we have a seat at the revenue table.
Thoughts on the evolution of MarTech arena a few years from now with regard to some of its potential disruptions and transformations
Lauren McCormack: AI, MDM, and Machine Learning will be hot topics in a few years from now. Awareness of global marketing regulations and their evolution will be critical, especially as several companies are broadening their footprints globally. My hope is that the industry leaders don’t become complacent and continue to innovate.
The biggest challenge for companies while adopting a new marketing technology
Lauren McCormack: Education and operational change management are the biggest challenges for companies while adopting a new marketing technology. You need to win the hearts and minds of your team and show them what their value is to the company and their careers. Then once they are on board, you further need to empower them with knowledge and make them experts.
The future of marketing automation in light of the increased involvement of AI in marketing
Lauren McCormack: Since human touch will always be vital, AI will never fully replace the role of a marketer. Its primary role will be around campaign optimization and will eventually extend into content creation.
Impactful projects managed with marketing automation, associated challenges, and its solution
Lauren McCormack: I have received the Marketo Revvie award thrice by solving challenges associated with marketing automation. At CA Technologies we had implemented an award-winning inferred interest nurture program across 14 different product lines. At CenturyLink we had migrated a company that was on Eloqua into their active instance. At New Relic we did an innovative cross media campaign that even involved tiny personalized billboards.
Now we are driving 4-8000 people a month to our Connections virtual events, spotlighting everything from NASA’s use of our product for the space program to get us to Mars 2 years faster, to the US Army’s use of our product for supply chain management, and to AstraZeneca’s use of our technology to advance COVID diagnosis and treatment plans.
Evaluation method for marketing technology tools before making the purchase decision
Lauren McCormack: I like to use G2 Crowd for reviews and side by side comparisons. I also have a Marketing Ops community on Slack where I can discuss tech related issues with my peers and get candid, honest thoughts from actual current users of the platforms.
Thoughts on the idea – ‘strategy should drive technology’
Lauren McCormack: Everything should be driven by strategy, but KPIs are king. If you have a company goal, strategy is the roadmap and technology is how you get there. The evolution of technology and its capabilities often inform strategy with what’s possible and what’s not.
Importance of marketing automation certifications
Lauren McCormack: It shows that you have the tenacity to set your mind on achieving a goal and the follow-through to make it happen. If you can’t make personal goals and achieve them, how can you hit company goals?
Favorite outfit to wear at work
Lauren McCormack: I have worked remotely since 2013, so I embrace my yoga pants, but I love my Brooks Brothers for onsite visits to corporate headquarters. And as I type this, it is a couple days to Halloween, and I’m wearing a unicorn costume.
“SCARIEST” task in marketing automation
Lauren McCormack: I am scared of my direct reports who are well-intended but accidentally break something. Faulty query strings or broken forms always make me sad and worried for them. So I like to build in rich QA layers whenever possible to avoid that gross feeling for us all.
Ways to prove the ROI of technology
Lauren McCormack: I prove ROI of the technology with weighted multi-touch attribution and responsible contact and account management protocol in SFDC. Lead velocity is also very helpful in this case as it shows how much a program spends can speed up the journey of a lead to become a customer. To prevent waste in your lead lifecycle tracking, recycling programs also help.
Five words that best describe Lauren
Lauren McCormack: Responsible, detail-obsessed, discerning, giggly, and clever are the five words that describe me.
Fun activities
Lauren McCormack: I have given lessons for Zumba fitness classes for the past five years and I enjoy music and traveling.
Necessary skills for a marketing automation professional
Lauren McCormack: Accountability and stamina are the two main things to be a successful marketing automation expert.
Top 3 things to do in the first 30 days of a new marketing automation role
Lauren McCormack: There are more than three things that a new marketing automation professional needs to do in the first 30 days. I would listen more than I speak, respect what came before me, look for the people that need the most help, seek out ways to improve efficiency, suggest ideas to my manager as I identify them, and try to build good relationships with all the members of the team.
Top 5 most important marketing metrics in today’s world
Lauren McCormack: Metric and reports vary for different organizations. But total pipeline value, ARR, database growth, lead velocity, and campaign attribution to revenue play vital roles in my current profile. I also like to keep a watchful eye on engagement metrics and unsubscribes.
We now know that to be a successful marketing automation professional, one needs to be always on the move. From learning, to sharing knowledge, to keeping an eye out for whatever is happening in the industry and outside, everything counts.
