Tag Archive for: B2B Marketing Automation

B2B Marketing Automation Tips for 2013

B2B Marketing Automation Tips for 2013B2B marketing automation tips for 2013. Marketing Automation has streamlined the business-to-business marketing process, allowing lead generation, lead scoring, and lead nurturing to be systematically manageable using efficient software solutions. The following are several strategic tips to help gain the most qualified leads using the marketing automation machine.

Develop a Complete Profile for a Typical Buyer

The first and most important tip for using B2B marketing automation software is to establish a detailed and accurate profile of a typical buyer. Every buyer will be different, but there will be similar demographic qualities and behaviors that they will all exhibit. Lead scoring is a vital component of marketing automation and it works best when leads are ranked based on proven characteristics.

Start by assessing current B2B buyers to determine their job title, experience, budget, and the type of business they represent. Give each attribute a score based on relevancy. The next step is determining the normal online activity that signifies a buyer is interested in a product or service. Look at what links they click on and what material they download prior to purchasing. Gather all of the qualities to create a complete profile that can be compared against potential leads to determine their likelihood of conversion.

Ask the Sales Team for Input on Lead Scoring Criteria

Once a profile has been established, bring it to the sales team for their input. The sales team works directly with potential and existing clientele. They know what information and guidance buyers need to become customers. The sales team has a greater insight into leads, which they can share with marketing to create a comprehensive profile that will produce high-quality leads. Remember the philosophy that two heads are better than one. It might be worthwhile to include sales at the beginning of the process rather than the end.

Segment Leads based on Similar Scoring

B2B marketing automation is designed to gather an endless supply of leads based on online activity. The amount of leads marketing automation generates cannot be effectively nurtured and directed on an individual basis. By segmenting leads based on similar scoring attributes, marketers can develop customized approaches that will target large groups.

Develop Lead Nurturing Campaigns directed at each Lead Segment

Now that leads have been divided into segments, the final tip is to create compelling and informative nurturing campaigns geared towards each segment group. Lead nurturing campaigns need to speak directly to the B2B buyer. It should answer all of the lead’s questions and concerns while guiding them towards making a purchase.

The world of B2B marketing has changed drastically with the introduction of automated software. B2B marketing can now be managed using an efficient and systematic program for gathering, scoring, nurturing, and converting leads. In 2013, the focus will be improving this process using a complete buyer profile that includes input from the sales team, segmenting leads into defined groups, and developing personalized campaigns based on what each segment needs to know. B2B marketing automation can be a powerful tool if it is fully utilized.

B2B Marketing Automation: Run In the Right Direction and Win

B2B Marketing Automation: Run In the Right Direction and WinThe implementation of B2B marketing automation is often seen as daunting in the face of perceived complexity and unpreparedness. Implementing market automation is simple and cost-effective. It assures more qualified leads and revenue growth without making you put in an overwhelming amount of effort. The following are a few must-follow tips to follow to get your marketing automation plan going in the right direction.

Build your Marketing Automation Campaign on a Strong Foundation

Think of what type of skill sets you have and what type of volume you expect your marketing automation tools to handle. Tally your resources and thoroughly audit the expected performance criteria against the system you employ. Consider targeted customers, their motivations and expectations and make sure your marketing automation system can support them. Add contacts based on these selections then refresh and recreate your campaign content regularly. Plan the minimum details you need from customers upfront.

Improved Targeting and Sophisticated Deliverability

Your marketing automation system must be sophisticated enough to create a sense of trust in the mind of targeted customers. Test your email, the most important marketing automation contact tool, to ensure that its display, presentation, and readability suit customers and their mobile or laptop devices. Ensure that your email does not land up in the spam filter of recipients, blunting its appeal and value. Also, confirm email addresses and make sure you have prospects, customers and partners permission to nurture them.

Integrated and Multi-Touch Campaigns

Align marketing automation with your CRM and multi-touch campaigns. Two-way integration of CRM and automation empowers business processes and campaigns and helps achieve better sales potential compared to stand-alone solutions. It helps keep superior relationship with vendors and customers while expanding the sales funnel without committing extra resources. Multi-touch strategy with provision of five to 10 touches over a period of time is a must to cultivate prospects from interest to sure sales conversion. Enable more touches customized as per client preference in every buying-cycle step.

Consider Timing

Make sure you send appropriate automated messages to the right person at the right time. Source the client or partner data and analyze the same to establish their preferred timing. Messages received during out of office hours or nights may be considered intrusive, leading to negative reaction. However, messages sent on birthdays, special holidays, and leisure times are received with a positive feeling and are more likely to elicit response.

Improve Lead Management

An improved lead management process is a vital part of a successful marketing automation. Use both implicit and explicit data to generate and nurture leads. Implicit information includes clicks, page visits, and email subscriptions while explicit information includes data specific to industry, geography, classification based on requirements, jobs, behavior, etc. Create different lead-stage campaigns to prevent any leak in the sales funnel. Both short-term and long-term communication measures focusing on competitive pricing, education, demos will help attract prospects.

Once your marketing automation is up and running, try to fine tune it regularly to continually achieve higher ROI. Analyze results based on market intelligence and feed the automation system accordingly.