How to Get Marketing Automation to Work for Your Business

How to Get Marketing Automation to Work for Your BusinessI was reading this helpful post, 3 Lessons from 1000 Blog Posts on Marketing Automation, and I was impressed at how easily they were able to summarize the most important factors of such a powerful software strategy; create engagement, forget traditional channels, and measure effectiveness.

I agree that these three factors are critical for its success; however they are many other ways to get marketing automation software to work for your business. The article also neglects to explain how to create more engaging content, how to use the new marketing channels for cross-promotions, or the marketing automation tools that are being used to measure its effectiveness. Although the article was a good synopsis, I felt it needed further explanation.

Here are a few proven ways to get marketing automation to work for your business:

1.       Comprehensive Profiling

A thorough lead profile is an essential factor in the success of marketing automation. Website visitor tracking allows businesses to gather details about a lead’s online history and purchasing behavior. Marketing automation strategists should also use web forms and registries to extract vital demographic information from potential leads.

2.       Lead Segmentation

Marketers should focus on customizing their efforts to groups of buyers with similar interests instead of trying to personalize content for every individual lead. Once leads have a comprehensive profile they can be segmented into different groups based on overlapping characteristics.

3.       Quality Content

Every web page and article should be optimized for more than just keywords. It has to be compelling, helpful, and relevant, so it can make a real connection with the lead. It should answer all of their questions and concerns, while offering them viable solutions to their problems.

4.       Social Media Marketing

Modern business will experience greater marketing automation success when they combine their lead nurturing campaign with a strong social media presence. You will be able to tap into a larger audience if you promote your website content and lead nurturing articles on Facebook & Twitter. This will drive more traffic to your website and increase the number of leads that the marketing automation software is able to capture.

5.       ROI Metrics  

Marketing automation strategies will also work better if they are monitored and tweaked for optimal performance. Marketing automation software allows users to compare the results of the campaign with how much revenue each step generated. It can also show which landing pages and email blasts had the highest conversion rate. Companies can improve the success of their marketing automation campaigns by measuring and reacting to data supplied by the software.

Marketing automation will work for your business, however it will require comprehensive profiling, lead segmentation, quality content, social media marketing, and ROI metrics. Greater marketing automation success will be the end result.

Do you want Lead Liaison to get marketing automation to work for your business?

How Marketing Automation is Evolving to Better Suit the B2B Environment

Marketing Automation TrendsI was researching new trends in marketing automation when I came across this great article on the 7 most popular Marketing Automation Trends. It made me think about all the ways marketing automation has grown and changed just within the past few years. In this post we examine how marketing automation is evolving to better suit the B2B environment.

Its unique ability to tap into the B2B environment and convert more leads has also evolved. The focus of marketing automation has drifted from the power and speed of automation to the necessity of personalization. There is also more emphasis on building lasting relationships and customer engagement.

Creating a Connection

Marketers realized that using a heavily automated process was resulting in a detachment between businesses and B2B buyers. To resolve this issue, marketing automation professionals are now putting more focus on understanding their leads and fulfilling their individual needs through comprehensive lead profiling and segmentation.

Profiling and Understanding Leads

Website visitor tracking software can be used to monitor a lead’s online activity, track their pre-purchasing behavior, and record any demographic information that can be obtained from the lead using online forms and registries. This lead monitoring technology is now an essential component of marketing automation and it is used to develop a complete profile on every lead that crosses paths with a particular website.

Scoring and Segmenting Leads

Another marketing automation trend is extending the benefits of the profiling process by ranking and segmenting each lead. Marketers will compare each lead against a typical B2B buyer and then score them based on how closely their behavioral and demographic characteristics match their existing customers. Leads with a high potential for conversion will be immediately passed onto the sales department and leads that require more nurturing will be segmented into groups based on similar needs.

Personalized Content for Lead Segments

It is too difficult to personalize lead nurturing content for every individual lead, yet personalization is necessary for real engagement. Once leads are gathered into similar groups, marketers can create more relevant and customized content directed at each group of buyers.

Greater Emphasis on Quality Content

The biggest new trend in marketing automation is creating compelling, original, and high-quality content that provides the reader with real value. Content needs to contain more than just keywords to sway savvy B2B buyers. It should also gently guide them in the right direction without sounding like a typical sales pitch.

Marketing automation has evolved to make it easier to track, monitor, and engage B2B leads throughout their buying process. It allows users to understand their leads, score them based on their potential, segment them into defined groups, and nurturing each group using relevant and information content. Changes to marketing automation`s main focus has now given it the power to convert almost every lead the software captures.