Marketing’s missing mission: Elevating & supporting mid-market companies

Marketing automation is the powerhouse of business today and companies can’t afford to ignore it. Because enterprise companies have similar priorities, giants like Marketo and Pardot are taking over the industry and helping other enterprise companies get ahead in their own respective industries. But what about mid-sized or mid-market companies?

They’re being left in the dust when it comes to marketing technology (martech). Companies who’ve surpassed the startup phase but aren’t quite to the enterprise phase yet need operations that are hyper-regulated models but also have the ability to scale.

Mid-market companies, those that fall between startups and enterprises in size, are important for many reasons: they create competition, drive innovation and new trends, keep larger enterprise companies on their toes, and serve as a guiding light for small businesses.

However, without proper support they cannot grow and therefore, the industry will become stale and saturated by an unwavering market leader. It’s up to mid-market companies to step up and support each other, particularly in areas of high demand like marketing automation.

Understanding unique mid-market challenges and opportunities

Companies that fall in the mid-market category find themselves in a unique position.

Without the shiny newness of a startup nor the name recognition and power of a legacy blue-chip company, mid-market companies face their own set of challenges and opportunities when it comes to growth and revenue.

Ones that only similar sized companies can fully understand and relate to.

Mid-market companies are typically very growth-oriented, always aligning with new ways to expand and grow their business. They are increasingly looking to compete with enterprises by being more innovative and leveraging new technology that they can implement and benefit from more quickly.

However, these tools must be able to scale and stand up to the large numbers that mid-market companies serve. They also require more sophisticated automation behind the entry level tools to help achieve this scale.

Enterprises typically have an “all or nothing” mindset when it comes to adopting technology and need to move slower and more cautiously given their size and heavy process and requirements.

So being open to new opportunities and technologies gives mid-market companies a huge opportunity to try different things like new integrations, custom data analysis and more.

They don’t need the complicated and enterprise-grade tools that only a few can afford and can use their agility to their advantage in acting fast against market conditions.

The customer experience sweet spot

But possibly the most valuable asset when it comes to marketing automation is data. Because mid-market companies typically have longer sales cycles, they’re able to collect high volumes of data and act on it quickly.

While all companies collect data on their customers, mid-market companies have a unique opportunity to out maneuver the enterprise-sized companies by using this data to optimize the customer experience and build loyalty more quickly – with the right marketing automation of course!

Using their size and speed to their advantage, they can create a more personalized and human-level interaction with customers. Both of which sometimes get lost in enterprises.

Therefore, when investing in marketing automation, mid-sized companies need to turn to other mid-sized companies who understand their position to find success.

One of the most impersonal and offensive forms of marketing comes from random acts of outreach. When companies aren’t properly leveraging marketing automation for data analysis, they can be overlooking important information that will help them close a sale or will make them seem insincere.

Working with a company that cares just as much about your goals as you do will help you to analyze your data in a smart and strategic way that will personalize your messages and help your outreach feel warm and custom, not cold and random.

Mid-market marketing automation platforms are also flexible. When a company needs to pivot and adjust their strategy, they can do so easily. Working with an enterprise company can be slow-moving and even feel stagnant at times.

Their processes are set in stone and agility is not their strong suit. Having a marketing automation platform that can pivot and adjust with the company cuts down on wait time and delays between actions — resulting in more action and more success.

Making it a mission

Mid-market companies can spark change, drive new ideas and create new opportunities for their clients — which puts them in a unique position to accomplish things that are otherwise often impossible when working with enterprises and startups.

Understanding their own unique challenges and opportunities helps them help each other.

Because scaling and growth are always goals of these mid-market players, marketing automation is a must. Finding the right marketing automation platform that understands the importance of scaling, agility, personalization and technology openness can be the key to success.

Looking beyond just the sales funnel and CRM, a marketing automation platform should improve customer experience and drive deep engagement around a product to help companies succeed and grow, all starting with support from like-minded and sized businesses.

David Greenberg is Senior Vice President of Marketing at Act-On. He oversees all aspects of the company’s marketing and growth strategies. David brings over 20 years of marketing leadership experience in high-growth technology organizations.