Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation and Marketo IPO (Another View)

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Alex Williams of TechCrunch reports that as of the end of Q4 in 2012, Marketo was at a deficit of about $82.2 million. [1] The $75 million IPO obviously won’t relieve Marketo of all that debt, but it will do one thing: position them for new growth and marketing.

In the fast-paced business world of grow-often-grow-more, big companies like Marketo recognize the inherent potential of automation marketing and are ready to take it as global as possible. The Marketo IPO will give the company funding to better compete with Oracle and other larger cloud solutions who are getting involved in the marketing automation game. However, there are some downsides to the Marketo IPO filing – and you should be aware of them.

Marketo IPO, Putting Customers First?

Getting Too Big for Their Britches

In many cases, an IPO filing of this size could hint at Marketo’s desire to set itself up for acquisition. Popular articles out in the blogosphere speculate that this buyout would come from Marketo’s partner company, Salesforce. Clearly Marketo would be a great buy for Salesforce and a win-win for everyone involved – right?

Not necessarily. In previous articles, we’ve discussed how Marketo’s out-of-the-box solution becomes less user friendly later in the process when a client wants to explore Marketo’s full marketing automation functions. If you think Marketo is only going to get more user-friendly when it’s bought out by another company, you might want to think again.

Acquisitions – or growth of any kind – aren’t always necessarily the best answer for a service’s customer base. If you need a good example of this, take a look at Ooma Telo. (www.ooma.com). A popular internet telephone service, Ooma’s growth has forced them to make the kind of overseas customer service strides and policy enforcement that can end up being very painful for customers.

You may find that after the Marketo IPO, you’re paying the same money for Marketo services – ensuring they can use your money to pay the bills – while the new funds are put toward getting new customers instead of servicing existing ones.

Going with a Smaller Company

It’s not that brands like Lead Liaison aren’t positioning for growth – it’s that we’re growing, quarter to quarter. We’re interested in profitability and accountability – not in making business investments while we’re still in the red. These types of investments could guarantee that not only will you get crummy service – you’ll be without a marketing automation solution when the company goes belly up. Worse, if the company does start to fold, a competitor could buy it out for cheap – and where would that leave you, the customer?

This is why at Lead Liaison, we’re growing comfortably and at the best pace for our clients. We don’t spend money we don’t have – we are positioning ourselves for the future so that we can adequately care for current and new customers. This is our absolute top priority. Marketo is losing money fast, and we’re gaining. We aim to keep it that way – and we won’t make far reaching decisions that could possibly affect you just to corner the market. It’s about customers from top to bottom.

To find out more about how Lead Liaison is 100% committed to serving you first and foremost, contact us for a free consultation today.

 

[1] Alex Williams. “Marketing Files for $75M IPO to Grow SaaS Marketing Platform.” http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/02/marketo-files-for-75m-ipo-to-grow-saas-marketing-platform/

 

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation and the Marketo IPO

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Marketo IPOWe’ve got some thoughts to share on marketing automation and the marketo IPO. We’ve watched our competitor, Marketo, over the years and we must say their growth has been impressive. Marketo has helped put marketing automation on the B2B services map. The company recently announced plans to file a $75 million initial public offering (IPO) to “expand and build out its marketing software platform”. This action follows earlier private capital funding rounds of a reported $108 million.

Reviews on the Marketo IPO from Wall Street to Market Street have been mixed. What we do know is that moves like this indicate an ever-growing acceptance by companies of all sizes of the marketing automation industry. We at Lead Liaison are pleased to be a part of the rising tide.

We see marketing automation as the solution for poor lead management, inadequate pipeline management, a lack of sales and marketing alignment or integration, and several other business challenges. Our innovative Lead Management Automation™ platform provides solutions to many of the present-day challenges to being competitive in your markets. Lead Liaison, Marketo, and other marketing automation companies provide systematic marketing delivery and lead management platforms that allow B2B enterprises to methodically engage with their audiences. The Marketo IPO raises awareness of the benefits that MA provides.

The IPO comes at an interesting time for Marketo, however. The IPO raises a question for investors:  Is this the right time to be raising funds? Although, according to sources, the company states it has earned revenues of $14 million in 2010, $32 million in ’11, and nearly $59 million last year, it has had expanding net losses of almost $12 million in 2010, $22.6 million in 2011, and over $34 million in 2012 towards an accumulated deficit of a whopping $82.2 million. That’s higher than the value of the IPO.

Marketo says it intends to “invest significant funds” to expand its marketing and sales operations, develop and enhance its product line, and upgrade its data center infrastructure and services capabilities. Although, Lead Liaison executives understand the capital investments required to increase technological capacity and development, many times much of an IPO’s proceeds go towards marketing and sales costs.

The IPO also raises a question for Marketo as a company. How will the recent funding activity affect the company’s customers. Often when companies go public there is a drop-off in some areas of customer satisfaction. Our privately-owned stature allows us to focus on developing products in response to our customers not to appease our stockholders.

We respect Marketo’s decision to leverage its top line growth by going public. And we are thankful for the exposure the Marketo IPO announcement brings to the marketing automation space. But is it the right time, as the industry continues to cement its place in business services, to become focused on internal needs and not the needs of the marketplace?

Although we congratulate Marketo on its spectacular growth, financing accomplishments, and its impact on our industry, we wonder about the direction Marketo will turn when its obligations could change from serving its customers’ needs to fulfilling its stockholders expectations.

Lead Liaison

What to Expect From Your Marketing Automation Platform

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Marketing Automation PlatformToday’s marketers are relying more and more on automated marketing systems to execute and monitor marketing practices. With a number of marketing automation platforms (MAPs) available in the marketplace, how do you know which system will provide you with all the tools you need? Following years of platform development, we have found there are several components that you should seek when searching for the right system for your B2B company. Here are some functionality areas that should be addressed in your decision.

System integration

Outbound and inbound marketing tools should be fully integrated into the MAP and delivered through a single user interface. An integrated system allows users to launch email campaigns and other communication channels from one platform. Your MAP should automate most common functions and provide scheduling for multiple simultaneous campaigns. And a good system will seamlessly integrate with popular CRM platforms.

Content management

The MAP system you select should provide the capability to easily create, re-purpose  or reuse web forms, landing pages, and other assets. Does it have an organized library for documents, templates, forms, etc.? Your content should be easily managed and the platform should allow permission-based access by employees and partners.

Program management

Drip campaigns, display ad routing, and trigger marketing tactics should all be achievable through a robust system. Lead nurturing practices will require message creation, a delivery schedule, exit conditions, and in-campaign updating. Your marketing automation platform should provide all these functions across multiple campaigns.

Database capabilities

Your lists are your lifeblood. A good MAP system allows for easy list creation, import and export functions, and list prioritization. Of high importance is the capability to integrate your marketing databases with a CRM system, allowing for dynamic exchange between each platform. List segmentation is also an important function because such features provide sharper targeting.

Lead generation and management

Your marketing automation platform’s primary goal is to streamline and enhance lead generation, management, and distribution. Therefore, you should expect your system to be able to manage inbound leads and send autoresponders based on website visits and other online activities. And CRM-integration should provide seamless transition between the platforms for leads that must be returned to marketing for nurturing.

Lead scoring

The system should score leads based on explicit (location, industry, etc.) and implicit (behavioral traits) data. The scoring matrix should be adjustable to allow for new parameters and modified weighting. Once a lead has received a score, the platform should automatically place new leads in the appropriate pipeline stage and responsively transition leads through the pipeline as additional engagements take place.

Reporting and analytics

An automated marketing platform should provide reporting capabilities. Robust platforms will deliver granular reports and the individual and group levels. The analytics functions should return data from disconnected marketing tools such as social media and user forms. Check for real-time tracking of online behaviors.

Channel integration

Whether your marketing practices include webinars, social media, email, or display ads, your MAP should allow posting, auto response, CAN-SPAM compliance, and personalized capabilities. Better MAPs also provide visitor alerts, behavior tracking, and prospect tagging.

There are many more functions that you should expect from your marketing automation platform. The bottom line is that the MAP system you select should provide you with a broad set of message creation, lead management, reporting, and channel integration tools. If you would like to learn how our Lead Management Automation™ supports your automated marketing practices contact one of our account representatives at 888 895 3237 or sales@leadliaison.com.

Lead Liaison

Building Your B2B Lead Scoring Profile

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B2B Lead Scoring ProfileBuild a B2B lead scoring profile for your business to standardize lead qualification. The most effective strategy to use when you’re deploying a marketing automation platform for your B2B company is to establish an accurate lead scoring matrix. The scores that are assigned to leads as they proceed through the sales pipeline can be a critical difference between committing a sales agent too early or too late and contacting a marketing lead at the right time in the buying cycle. Building a high-yielding scoring matrix first requires marketing and sales managers to contemplate who is their best customer.

We recommend creating a scoring model that reflects the qualities of your customers. Who are they and what do they do when their company is considering a purchase? Optimally, both sales and marketing staff should be involved in the scoring model development process. There is a process of model development that has been successful for many of our clients (which we can talk with you about). However, there are a few mistakes that companies new to marketing automation should avoid when building a lead scoring model.

First, don’t build a scoring model without first developing an optimal B2B lead profile. Define the most common characteristics of your primary markets and create a profile from that information. If your company has multiple market segments (such as 6-8 year old males and their 35-45 year old parents), create a profile for each segment then build a lead scoring model specific to that profile.

Include an adequate number of parameters for your lead scoring model – but don’t include everything. B2B lead profiles can typically be refined into a dozen or so parameters which will include attributes and behaviors. Roughly half of the parameters should represent demographic and business-graphic details of each lead. The other half should represent online behaviors.

Do not assign the same weight to all scoring parameters. Sure, every activity and job or industry-related attribute is an important component to a good lead profile, but some factors are likely more important than others. We offer a free Lead Scoring Model Designer which helps managers build a suitable scoring profile. Users can test scoring models by applying different weights to the scoring parameters.

Do not score all online activity the same. Engagement levels vary within each activity and across all online activities. Your lead scoring profile should account for the variability in message impact and lead engagement associated with each digital marketing asset. For instance, a lead that visits a static web page multiple times is often less impacted each time the page is visited; however, some marketers consider multiple webpage views as a sign of sales-readiness, therefore, worthy of a higher score for that lead scoring parameter. But consumer behavior studies have shown that the impact the repeated message has on a lead is frequently lower each time the page is viewed. Be sure to consider the impact each activity has on your leads and score online behaviors appropriately.

Lastly, don’t create a rigid profile; allow for lead profile refinement as time goes by. Although the general makeup of your leads may not change substantially over time, new strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) will likely emerge that may change certain aspects of your lead profile. So it’s important for you to be able to tweak your profile as situations develop.

If you’re building a lead profile to use in our Lead Management Automation™ platform, we can help you design an appropriate scoring model. Contact us with any questions you may have.

Lead Liaison

Marketo and Customer Follow Through: What Can We Learn?

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Marketo and Customer Follow ThroughMarketo is everywhere you look and there are a lot of good things about them. For one, their aim is to on board new clients to an advanced marketing automation suite fairly quickly so businesses don’t waste valuable lead tracking time. They do this well with their quick start program – giving small to large businesses the tools necessary to begin scoring leads and creating customized email segmenting out of even complex marketing campaigns.

Is Marketo awesome? Absolutely. The question isn’t so much whether or not their marketing automation programs are good for businesses – it’s their growth, and how their recognition in the industry affects the service they’re able to give. What about Marketo and customer follow through, what can we learn?

Marketing Automation Systems: Making the Decision

There are a lot of competitors out there with lead management and CMS integration capabilities. What sets them apart isn’t necessarily the advanced suite of analytics or their tech offerings – it’s how comfortable customers get with the idea of marketing automation, a concept that’s difficult to prove necessary to customers in the first place.

Once customers see how assessing the quality of their leads from inquiry to purchase can be beneficial, they’re hooked. It doesn’t end there – great marketing automation is all about ensuring that once customers are with you, the tracking is in place to know how to shape your services to better accommodate your client’s needs. This is what great customer service is all about – meeting the customer on their level, not the other way around.

Marketo Reviews

One of the most frequent complaints you’ll find about Marketo on popular review websites is the lack of support after the on-boarding process. Marketo is great at giving you all the tools you need to launch and understand their simple interface, but some sources suggest you’ll need to hook up with Marketo’s marketing partners to get hands-on training for using the more robust features of Marketo. This can be frustrating for customers who want to use consulting for on-site services or get specific answers to questions about how to best ingrate their lead tracking software and use it over time.

Marketo is not an out-of-the-box solution for all companies. If you don’t have a tech person on hand, you may find it difficult to hook all your advertising platforms up to Marketo or your CRM. Another problem with Marketo – and many marketing automation software platforms in general – is that once many companies set up email and other initial connections and start tracking and scoring, they use only the bottom level data they get from the marketing automation software and never explore its full capabilities.

Lead Liaison is Different

Marketing automation software companies are growing – and fast. We are, too. Month after month we see an influx of new customers. The difference is, marketing automation companies that are growing often focus on initial installation with their customers, then never revisit the account – or don’t revisit in a timely fashion – to let customers know how marketing automation software can make their businesses better. These aren’t conversations you should have with your clients only in the beginning. Both marketing automation companies and their customers should commit to bettering the way we track our businesses by fostering conversations about how businesses can better use advanced marketing automation features.

When you work with Lead Liaison, you’ll find a company that is growing and investing in itself – but isn’t going to jump ship on you once you make that initial payment. We seek relevant conversations with customers about how we can better their businesses over time – not just in the beginning.

We’d love to get to know you! For more information on Lead Liaison marketing automation systems and how to get the level of attention you deserve throughout your marketing automation journey, contact us today!

Lead Liaison

How Lead Nurturing Content Fuels the Marketing Automation Engine

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How Lead Nurturing Content Fuels the Marketing Automation EngineAn effective marketing automation program will be able to draw in an endless supply of quality leads. Almost every lead has the potential for conversion, but it takes strategic and informative lead nurturing content to earn their trust and eventually their business.

Most people visit a specific website in search of information. They want to learn more about a product or service to determine whether or not it is something they are truly interested in buying. Static webpages are a start, but they don’t have the same impact as lead nurturing content. Leads have a harder time trusting the material displayed on the website, since it is obviously designed to be boastful promotional ad copy geared at landing new business.

Subtle Sales Tool

Lead nurturing content is more subtle. From the reader’s perspective, it should sound like an educational guide designed to help the lead make an informed decision. It should brand a company as being an expert and offer the potential customers reliable answers to their most commonly asked questions. It should never sound like a sales pitch.

Customized Lead Nurturing Content

It also should be customized to cater to each lead based on their online profile. The marketing automation process starts with generating leads and then defines each lead’s individual potential using a ranking method referred to as lead scoring. The lead scoring process gathers their demographic and behavioral characteristics and creates a profile.

The next aspect of marketing automation is breaking these leads into more manageable segments (groups), so content can be developed for lead’s that share similar needs. Although each lead has a different profile, many will be searching for the same information.

Take for example a business that specializes in acupuncture. Some leads may be looking to treat back pain, others may be interested in trying acupuncture to quit smoking, and some many want to use it to lose weight. Depending on the website pages these leads choose to read (click on), marketers can determine what need they are looking to satisfy with acupuncture.

Answer the Lead’s Needs

Once these leads are grouped based on information that they are currently reviewing, content can be generated that answers their needs. Using the above example, if someone has spent considerable time on webpages that address how acupuncture can help you quit smoking, the marketing automation program can be setup to send them an article on the benefits of quitting smoking.

The article itself does not need to promote how acupuncture can help you quit smoking. A lead will trust the information more if it is solely focused on educating the lead on why they should quit. This shows concern for the lead’s health and ultimately builds trust.

Use Registrations to Gain Information  

A company can also attach featured content to visitor registries to gain further insight into a lead’s demographic characteristics. If a person is truly interested in reading more about why they should quit smoking, they will be willing to fill in their basic information to secure access to the article or tutorial. This information is they added to their profile and used for lead scoring.

Lead nurturing content fuels the marketing automation engine by developing trust as it guides leads through the buying process. It is an opportunity for a business to speak directly to the potential buyer and convince them a product or service is necessary for their well-being. It can be powerful fuel for the marketing automation engine when it is used as a customized, subtle sales tool.

Lead Liaison

Lead Liaison Continues to Expand With New San Francisco Office and Email Deliverability Services

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Lead Liaison has announced the opening of an office in San Francisco where the company’s Email Deliverability Services will be managed. This expansion comes at a time when Lead Liaison’s growth has tripled since late 2012. The company, which provides robust digital marketing solutions, has earned record revenues over the past two quarters.

The email deliverability function is part of Lead Liaison’s flagship marketing automation platform,Lead Management Automation™ (LMA), which helps marketing and sales teams manage the entire revenue generation cycle. With the addition of this service, the company expects to provide its customers with improved email delivery and open rates.

Lead Liaison began offering the services to select customers as a beta test in June 2012. Following successful integration with the Lead Management Automation product, the company officially launched the services in March.

In addition to building a world-class email deliverability network to support Lead Liaison’s marketing automation platform, the company has leveraged its expertise and vast resources to provide tailored professional services to companies interested in becoming an Email Service Provider (ESP). The company’s flexible approach to doing business has paved the way for unique Cost Per Million (CPM) rates and business models for prospective ESP clients to ensure their success.

The Email Deliverability Services are available as three packages designed to optimize the email marketing experience as it relates to the Lead Management Automation platform. Premium packages include reputation management, a best practices guide, blacklist alerts and a dedicated IP address among other features.

Lead Liaison believes the integration of email marketing managed services with the existing platform will allow the company to leverage its automated marketing products by increasing delivery accuracy. It also creates closer relationships with clients, which is unique in the marketing automation industry as most companies redirect integration and managed services to third parties.

For more information about the email deliverability services, contact Lead Liaison at 888-895-3237 or sales(at)leadliaison(dot)com.

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Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. It’s innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities.

Media Contacts:
Alex Brown
VP Corporate Communications
abrown(at)leadliaison(dot)com
888.89.53237 (LEADS)

Lead Liaison

Why Your Sales Pipeline Needs Marketing Automation

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Why Your Sales Pipeline Needs Marketing AutomationHave you thought about why your sales pipeline needs marketing automation? We came across an old post the other day that got us talking about marketing automation and the sales lead pipeline. One of Lead Liaison Revenue Performance Specialists commented that B2B lead management has been completely changed because of marketing automation. How, you ask?

1. Redefines Early Pipeline Stages

In the past, a B2B sales pipeline has typically included four primary stages: Inquiry, Lead, Opportunity, and Customer. Thanks to marketing automation sales managers can have a more well-defined view of activity leading up to a sales close. There are four newly recognized phases in today’s sales lead pipeline:  Prospecting, Awareness, Qualification, and Nurturing. These new stages have become recognized as important contributors to the sales cycle.

2. Provides Lead Scoring

B2B marketing automation provides measurements that score leads as they become more familiar with your solutions and company. The commonly quoted industry standard of 80% of first contact B2B leads are not ready to buy means that leads require deeper connections through consistent, progressively-staged messaging. During the lead nurturing process leads can be digitally scored  for sales-readiness within an MA system, which allows salespeople to focus on the hottest leads.

3. Gives Sales Agents Better Information

Sales agents have a greater understanding of sales prospects before they make contact because of the data collected through marketing automation. For example, activities such as webinar attendance and infographic views can be captured in a MA system and reveal how informed a lead is about your products. A savvy sales agent can incorporate that information into her sales approach with that lead. Often B2B prospects must be educated about business solutions. Moving leads through a sales pipeline using a marketing automation system also provides a focused product education process. Automated messaging helps lessen the educational responsibility for your salespeople.

4. Gets Marketers More Involved in the Game

In the past, marketers have had little accountability when it came to moving a prospect to a customer. With marketing automation, marketers now have more “skin in the game” when it comes to moving leads through the sales pipeline. The newly-added sales pipeline stages we mentioned earlier are, for the most part, marketing-related. Prospecting, creating awareness, and lead nurturing rely on digital messaging, social media and search engine strategies, and other marketing-related activities. And now management can see how effective digital marketing campaigns are at bringing in qualified leads through the use of an automated marketing system.

5. Provides Consistent Message Scheduling

Marketing automation uses staged release mechanisms to contact leads on a regular basis. Marketing campaigns used to rely on a lot of leg work to distribute messages; with MA that is no longer the case. From emails to blog posts to articles to press releases, digital marketing assets can be deployed at scheduled intervals using a streamlined process provided by a marketing automation system.

6. Allows Managers to Manage Better

With the incredible level of analytics an automated marketing system provides, marketing and sales directors can now analyze critical details about marketing activities. From page views to click-throughs, MA systems provide data and information that can be used to either improve good marketing campaigns or scrap ineffective ones. Some marketing automation systems require a sizeable investment and may not be appropriate for every company, but those that invest in a marketing automation system to manage their sales lead pipeline find their marketing and sales effectiveness improves. To learn more about how marketing automation can help your company contact a Lead Liaison representative.

Lead Liaison

Five Ways Marketing Automation is Good for Your Company

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Five Ways Marketing Automation is Good for Your CompanyMarketing automation is good for your company. In the world of marketing, automation makes sense. Why? For two reasons: 1) automation provides better tracking and lead management for digital marketing campaigns; and 2) automation provides marketing and sales alignment, which allows both functional silos to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Lean B2B companies with smaller sales and marketing departments can automate functions that, in the past, have required hours of work. Mid-size companies can be more agile with messaging that reacts to market sentiment. Large companies can maintain a competitive edge through targeted, sustained campaigns that strengthen brand loyalty and grow top line revenues.

Marketing automation (MA) is used to streamline workflow and provide measurement for marketing activities in order to increase operational efficiency and accelerate revenue growth. How does MA help small to large companies improve their marketing effectiveness? There are five benefits that marketing automation provides:

Nurture Relationships

Marketing  industry analysts claim that 20% of leads that connect with your brand are not sales-ready at the point of first contact. Therefore, a relationship must be built to move a suspect lead to a customer. In fact, when done properly, lead nurturing can yield nearly 50% more sales-qualified leads from marketing campaigns. Marketing automation allows marketers to develop, execute, and monitor extended campaigns that move leads through buying stages.

Retain/Strengthen Existing Relationships

Marketing automation provides a way to encourage brand loyalty through scheduled messaging to customers. Companies that incorporate MA have significantly improved their customer retention rate versus those that don’t, according to industry leaders. Data collected through digital engagements can be analyzed and leveraged towards stronger relationships. In addition, MA provides a structured approach to up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

Segment Market Participants

Companies are able to segment leads by various criteria through the use of marketing automation. For instance, groups can be easily organized by geography, demographics, online behavior, and other attributes. Marketers can increase messaging effectiveness by tailoring campaigns that capitalize on stored data.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Marketing automation is the best way to blend marketing and sales activities for greater efficiency and effectiveness. MA helps each silo through coordinated messaging, lead scoring, and pipeline management functions. Companies can more readily identify hot leads through a combination of lead nurturing and lead scoring. And systems that integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms provide a seamless transition for leads that have moved from marketing-qualified to sales-qualified status.

Measure ROI

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of marketing automation is the ability for management to measure return on investment in both sales and marketing functions. Executives can analyze response rates,  social media impacts, and other metrics with a few clicks. For example, our Lead Management Automation™ platform provides details about lead sources, campaign types, and most active lead territories, to name a few.

The bottom line is that marketing automation solutions like those developed by Lead Liaison provide companies a streamlined approach to marketing activities and builds alignment between sales and marketing. Business executives can save time and money, measure and optimize marketing investments, and drive revenue growth faster through a robust marketing automation platform.

Please share how your company reaps the benefits of marketing automation. To find out how Lead Liaison can strengthen and improve your marketing process, contact us today!

Lead Liaison

How to Get the Most from Marketing Automation

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How to Get the Most from Marketing AutomationRecently, there have been some marketing specialists that have besmirched the reputation of marketing automation (MA). They have said marketing automation does not work or that MA is not cost-effective. But we are here to tell you that evidence shows B2B marketing automation can make many companies more effective in their marketing practices. The key to making an MA system work effectively is the strategy that is developed before the system is deployed. Here are a few ideas to consider when you’re developing an automated B2B marketing strategy to get the most from marketing automation.

Keep email lists up to date

B2B marketing automation relies heavily on email transmissions. Unfortunately, email addresses often change and job tenure is not as extended as it used to be. Therefore, it’s critical to maintain a current email database with active accounts. Email records decay at a rate of 25% per year so stay on top of your email list: plan to review database records annually and review deliverability reports monthly or quarterly.

Provide timely information

According to a Gartner Research “customers will manage 85% of their relationship with (an) enterprise without interacting with a human.” This means that automated marketing messages had better be relevant and timely. Inbound marketing relies on connecting digitally with leads at the right time, but it’s just as important that auto-response messages connect mentally when prospects are searching for solutions.

Match messaging to lead source

Prospects can connect with your brand from a number of sources. Make sure that the automated messages that follow a lead’s action support the lead source that “sent” the lead. For instance, a lead that connects with you through a Facebook share should receive a message that references the share link that was used to find your brand. This way you recognize your prospects as unique and provide personalized messaging.

Set a reasonable pace for message delivery

With so much email – both wanted and unwanted – filling up mailboxes, it’s a challenge to grab attention and generate enough interest to get read. To get opened you must approach your leads cautiously but consistently. Avoid sending messages too frequently, you may become an irritant. Send messages too infrequently and you risk losing a customer to another more timely message. There is no magical formula for setting delivery schedules but a good rule of thumb is to schedule messages for delivery between three and seven days from the previous contact event.

Tailor messaging to lead behaviors

Don’t simply send a broad message to market segments, acknowledge the path that has brought a prospect to your brand by addressing previous online activities. You can’t rely on your messaging to be simply relevant to your markets’ objectives (i.e. seeking a solution); messages should also remind leads of the digital journey they have taken to get to your brand. Blog reads, website visits, purchase history, and search activity should all be considered when designing automated marketing messages.

Change with customer evolution

Automated marketing should not remain static. Ten years ago there was no Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The channels that B2B buyers use to find solutions will likely change over the next 10 years. B2B prospects use search engines 93% of the time to find solutions and 37% post questions on social networking sites for information. Your automated marketing strategy should be flexible in order to adapt to changing digital marketing channels.

Don’t rely on email alone

Marketing automation systems are evolving. Use automated article delivery or set landing pages to deliver messaging. In the era of full mailboxes, consider other assets to drive lead engagement.

Automated marketing practices are relatively new, and some claim that the verdict is still out on their efficacy. However, the Lead Liaison sales team has found that customers have seen improved response rates and higher conversion rates through the use of our automated marketing solutions. This means more revenue is being generated. The key takeaway here is that, in order for your marketing automation system to be effective, your automated marketing strategy should be solid. To find out more about setting up an effective marketing automation strategy, talk with one of our knowledgeable Lead Liaison sales agents today!