Following hard on the heels of last week's article "Perfect Market Knowledge - No Replacement for Great Ideas"  by Geoffrey Gifford, I came across a recent article by my good friend Ruth Stevens in "Target Marketing"

"Marketing Automation is not Marketing Strategy" is a quick reminder that talent still counts. Essentially, Stevens reminds us that all automation is doing is speeding up the process.

She draws a parallel with the hype surrounding CRM early last decade. "Not only was it a nightmare to get up and running, the software only served to automate the processes - good or bad - that companies already had in place."

Her advice is to:

1. Be realistic about what MAT can do - make sure real humans are thinking through the essential tasks.

2. Clean up your database - Steven's identifies this as "the single most important success factor."

3. Train your staff - senior staff should be "deeply aware" of the MAT capabilities and "junior staff need training in strategic marketing thinking."

So, before we all get swept up in the enthusiasm for the next shiny toy, let's make sure it's not going to give us an even bigger headache.