How Should I Approach My First Days in Marketing automation?

Hi Jo,

I’m due to begin my first role in marketing automation with a new company, and I’m wondering what I can do to get off to a good start. I’m interested in the technical and data-driven elements of marketing, but coming from a role focused more on campaign content, this will be my first time getting truly hands-on with a marketing automation platform.

What things should I prioritize learning? How can I make a good impression on my new team?

Thanks,
New Naomi.

Naomi, congratulations on your new opportunity. It’s natural that you want to shine and show your new colleagues that you’re someone they can count on. That said, don’t feel pressured to get a handle on all the complexities of your tools and the detailed dynamics of your industry and company just yet.

Marketing automation platforms come with quite a steep learning curve, and MOPs as a space is constantly changing. When I first started in marketing automation, I found there to be no shortage of new things to learn, from the technicalities of the platform to the priorities of the business and the ways that my new teams work together. Confidence and fluency in these things is something you’ll develop over time as you get stuck into the role.

For now, it’s best to focus on understanding the essence of marketing automation, the fundamentals of your platform, and what your teams need from MOPs to work effectively.
Here are some steps I recommend you take as you settle into your new job:

Think user-centric: Platforms are all about the user experience. If someone is reading your content, you have one shot at engaging them further—what does this page or email need to convey to encourage them to download that whitepaper or click through? Reflect on the principles of demand gen and inbound marketing; they underlie all the capacities a platform has to bring a campaign to life.

Resources: Check out your platform’s support documentation, learning hub (e.g. Marketo University, HubSpot Academy), and community forums. These resources will help you to self-sufficiently answer questions and explore different features in the platform, and you can also develop a network by participating in user groups and discussions. From interacting with people over time, you’ll increasingly establish yourself and learn more about the broader direction of the MOPs space.

Talk to people: What do various people in your teams like or dislike about your marketing automation platform? What challenges are they experiencing? Talking about these things is a good way to start forming relationships, and it helps to focus your learning of the platform. If you can discover how to solve problems that people are having, you’ll quickly establish rapport and expertise.

Small improvements: Your new team might want you to do things by the book or optimize established processes where you can. Always be receptive to what your manager asks, but suggest potential areas for improvement along the way. Whether you identify some tweaks to a page that could bring more conversions or introduce new visualizations that make data more digestible, it’s good to subtly show how you can improve things and make peoples’ lives easier.

You’ve got this,
Jo Pulse.