Material specific to marketing automation such as needs, best practices, lessons learned, and benefits of marketing automation.

Lead Liaison

How to convert more B2B leads into customers? Marketing Automation!

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How to convert more B2B leads into customers? Marketing Automation!As the post title implies, our answer to the eternal sales question “how do we convert more leads into customers?” is to deploy marketing automation. Is that the only answer? No. But with the amount of data available today, marketing automation will do more to improve your B2B lead conversion rates than social media, PPC, or stale drip campaigns.

It’s quickly becoming apparent that marketing automation can play a significant role in improving your lead conversion ratio. From first touch (initial point of contact) to pass through (migration to CRM), lead conversion for companies in most industries is improving thanks to MA. The first step towards higher B2B close rates is to manage your leads effectively before they are sent to your sales team.

To begin, you should know your customers well. Who are they? What do they like? What do they do? Why do they buy? Much of this information is now available digitally, the key is to leverage the information you collect into effective lead management.

Lead Generation

An often overlooked concept about lead generation is that it should be approached holistically not unilaterally. When you need to convert more B2B leads into customers look to strengthen lead generation efforts. Lead gen starts with first touch, escalates through lead tracking, and winds up with capture. If you’re not focusing on developing good content for your touch points, tracking your website visitors using business intelligence integration, and capturing contact information through digital assets, you’re not effectively generating leads – and you can’t convert leads you don’t have. Make sure your lead gen scope is broader than list buys and PPC campaigns.

Lead Nurturing

Many think lead nurturing equals email drip campaigns. Though partly true, lead nurturing is so much more. Lead conversion through the nurturing process requires that you develop the relationship through escalating engagements. Simply sending the occasional “hi-how-are-you?” note won’t be sufficient to move your leads through the marketing pipeline. Build a campaign that offers more at advanced buying cycle stages: a webinar invite, a product demo. Remember, nurture means “to grow”.

Lead Scoring

There’s nothing worse for a sales agent than to receive a lead that turns out to be a graduate student completing his thesis. MA platforms provide lead scoring and grading capabilities that should allow you to sharpen the sales team’s focus towards the most suitable, marketing-qualified leads. Establish specific criteria that can be scored or graded. Most leading systems grade explicit lead attributes (industry, company size) and score implicit behaviors (webpage visit, webinar registration). Once a scoring matrix has been created, determine a scoring threshold that automatically migrates the lead to your CRM.

Lead Distribution

Lead distribution must be optimized to channel leads appropriately to your sales force. Which sales agents are available to respond quickly? Which agents have high close rates? Which agents know the lead’s industry best? Automated systems distribute leads using parameters that can maximize your sales team’s efficiency. Some MA platforms allow you to assign lead ownership according to predefined criteria, such as geography or seniority. Leads distributed effectively will shorten your average sales cycle and improve sales close rates.

Keep in mind that marketing automation is a tool that will improve sales conversions and help convert more B2B leads into customers. Though MA platforms have improved sales outcomes, much of the success that comes from lead management is dependent on the content you provide. If you don’t have strong creative minds to develop messaging in-house, consider outsourcing.

Lead Liaison

When Marketing Automation Won’t Work

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When Marketing Automation Won't WorkLead generation. Lead nurturing. Sales pipeline management. These are all benefits of implementing a marketing automation system for lead management purposes. But the grass is not always greener if your company is not prepared to fully leverage the strength of a marketing automation platform. Though marketing automation has proven over the past five years to be an effective tool at shortening buying cycles, providing more qualified leads, and improving sales conversions, investing in marketing automation does not always provide the returns managers expect. It’s important to understand when marketing automation won’t work. There are a few reasons for this:

Don’t Have a Long-Term View

In the “every-minute-counts” world that digital connectivity provides, it is important to remember that marketing is a long-term endeavor. That said, companies that are looking for an immediate fix of poor marketing results through a marketing automation platform may be disappointed. Marketing automation is intended to reduce marketing costs and increase results – over the mid to long-term. Successful implementation takes patience, despite the statistics that show shortened buying cycles.

Don’t Have a Marketing Strategy

Integrating a marketing automation platform will not be effective if your company has not invested time into marketing strategy development. While an marketing automation system may provide decent lead generation capabilities with little planning, the broader functionality that makes an marketing automation system effective requires  thoughtful analysis of what messages you want to deliver to prospects over time, when and how leads will be distributed to your salespeople, and what metrics will be used to evaluate performance. Without careful strategic planning a marketing automation platform will often provide limited effectiveness.

Don’t Have an Evaluation Process

Most marketing automation platforms provide analytics for evaluation purposes. The key to an effective marketing automation integration is having the ability to analyze results and make modifications to your marketing strategy. Not every message will resonate with your leads, and developing effective lead generation and nurturing tactics requires adjustments. Your marketing model should not be cast in stone. Therefore, companies without an adequate campaign evaluation process may find that marketing automation is not beneficial.

Don’t have a Qualified Database

Marketers that start out by injecting unqualified leads into a marketing automation system will likely struggle to see a healthy ROI. Although one of the primary functions of an marketing automation system is lead generation and nurturing into sales-ready prospects, the initial integration phase will present poor results if your database is filled with one-off contacts and stale lists.

Marketing automation has been shown* to

  • Increase qualified leads by 451%
  • Generate 50% more sales-ready leads
  • Nurture leads at 33% lower cost
  • Increase conversion rates by 50%

While marketing automation has been shown to drive revenue faster and manage leads more effectively, this tool is not suited for every company at every stage of the business life cycle. The most effective use of the Lead Management automation platform has been shown by companies with revenues over $5 million. If you’re interested in exploring an marketing automation system for your company, be sure to first determine if your company is prepared to take full advantage of this powerful tool.

Reference: http://www.slideshare.net/McRaeandCompany/four-b2b-marketing-issues-marketing-automation-can-solve-14232631

Lead Liaison

6 Ways to Retain B to B Customers Using Marketing Automation

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Retain B to B customers using marketing automationThere are many ways to retain B to B customers using marketing automation – let us tell you 6 key ways to do so. With Marketo raising $85 million and Silverpop raising $25 million recently, the marketing world is abuzz about the awesome potential of B to B marketing automation for lead generation and management practices. More prospects are being targeted and nurtured using a marketing automation (MA) platform than ever before, but did you know that MA can be just as effective at retaining your existing customers? It’s important to remember that customers should be managed as leads at all times; B to B buyers can migrate to competitors at any time. Here are a few ways you can maximize customer retention through marketing automation:

“Typically, much of our effort is focused on filling top of the funnel, but seldom do we make time to plug any leaks we may have in the sides.  If we’re serious about maximizing customer lifetime value, however, we’ve got to find room in our strategy to prioritize retention as well as acquisition.” – Andy Worobel, Eloqua

1) As a purchase follow-up tool. Customers want to feel like they are cared about after a sale. Using a marketing automation platform like our Lead Management Automation™ solution, your sales team can schedule email messages to routinely “check in” with customers to inquire about satisfaction, provide tips and tricks, uncover issues that must be addressed, or provide product updates. A follow up process is a great way to retain B to B customers using marketing automation.

2) As an up-sell/cross-sell tool. Sales agents know that it is often easier to sell add-ons to existing customers than it is to solicit new business. A marketing automation platform can be an effective mechanism at driving ancillary sales. Through a sustained campaign of sharing special offers and other purchase opportunities delivered by an MA system, your sales team can be more effective at revenue generation.

3) As a time-sensitive reminder tool. An MA platform allows your sales team to deliver reminders about deadline-driven offers without the need to personally contact each customer. Special offer reminders delivered occasionally throughout the offer period can be a great way to stimulate interest and generate revenue.

4) As a customer engagement tool. Even with a protracted sales cycle where your sales team spends months building a relationship with their prospects, there are likely still hidden needs or wants that a customer might have. A marketing automation platform provides cost-effective yet powerful way to engage in an ongoing dialogue with customers without your sales agents spending valuable time performing outreach activities. Creating dialogue and interactive discussion with customers is a great way to retain B to B customers using marketing automation.

5) As a “Happy Birthday” tool. Users can automatically deliver holiday or special occasion greetings to customers following a purchase. Once a sale is complete, your sales agent can immediately schedule brief messages to be delivered throughout the year. This tactic will drive top-of-mind-awareness (TOMA) by maintaining a consistent contact process and recognizing your customers.

6) As a customer appreciation tool. Customers often want to sense that your company appreciates their business. While a sincere expression of gratitude is important at the time a sale closes, occasional expressions of gratitude months or even years after a sale can be effective at maintaining TOMA.

Lead Liaison

7 Tips on How to Make Marketing Automation More Personable (Part 2)

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7 Tips on How to Make Marketing Automation More PersonableOur previous post, 7 Tips on How to Make Marketing Automation More Personable (Part 1), shared three tips on how to make marketing automation more personable. Here’s the follow up to that article with four more useful tips to drive your marketing automation strategy.

Here are the last 4 of 7 tips on how to make marketing automation more personable:

4.       Create Informative and Relevant Content

After leads are segmented, marketers can create personalized content that is relevant for each lead segment. This content should be focused on the needs that were established during the lead profiling step.

5.       Encourage Feedback and Participation

The key to obtaining new customers using any form of marketing is engaging and connecting with the lead. One way to make marketing automation more personable is through questionnaires and helpful popups. For example, if someone clicks on a page about “web design,” a popup could appear in the right-hand corner offering “10 tips to improve your website design” which leads to an informative and relevant article.  Make sure to keep the popups subtle, so they always appear helpful instead of pushy.

6.       Evaluate the Success of Lead Nurturing Content

A good marketing automation strategy should be constantly changing in an effort to improve upon its current level of success. It is important to use marketing metrics to weigh the success of every lead nurturing campaign and then use that information to modify anything that doesn’t appear to be really connecting with your potential consumers.

7.       Stay Committed After the Sale

Marketing automation is designed to build trust because it is based on a lead’s needs and personalized attention towards addressing their concerns. Don’t lose these relationships after the sale by switching from nurturing to neglecting. It is necessary that you continue to offer valuable information and support after a purchase is made. Success comes from building and maintaining strong mutually-beneficial relationships. This type of full-circle attention is what will make the marketing automation process more personable.

Lead Liaison

7 Tips on How to Make Marketing Automation More Personable (Part 1)

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7 Tips on How to Make Marketing Automation More PersonableAutomated marketing systems are efficient at generating leads, but these leads won’t be worth much if they are not converted into consumers. Today’s consumers are tired of spam emails and computer-generated campaigns and they expect a more personalized touch.

Here are the first 3 of 7 tips on how to make marketing automation more personable:

1.       Understand Your Lead’s Needs to make Marketing Automation More Personable

Marketing automation is designed to quickly gather and analyze behavioral and demographic details about potential consumers. It tracks their online activity to give marketers and sales professionals an insight into their needs. Businesses can make marketing automation programs more personable by understanding and focusing on what the lead truly wants from the company. For example, they don’t want a blender. They want a better way to make smoothies.

2.       Use Sales and Marketing’s Input for Scoring Leads

When you are trying to determine a lead’s interest and needs, it helps to pick the brains of both your marketing and sales teams. Marketing professionals understand what trigger a lead’s interest and the sales teams know what it takes to satisfy their concerns. Scoring leads is necessary for prioritizing and providing personal attention to leads that are on the verge of making a decision.

3.       Segment Leads into Similar Groups

It is too difficult to personally target every lead, especially since marketing automation can generate thousands or even millions of leads per month. Leads that have similar backgrounds and needs can be grouped together to simplify the process. This way lead nurturing campaigns can be personalized towards each lead segment rather than every single individual.

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation Makes Visitor Tracking Even More Powerful

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Marketing Automation Makes Visitor Tracking Even More PowerfulVisitor tracking is one of the most important things you can do for your business. When people come to your website, they should have an opportunity to convert in some way – whether that’s contacting you, filling out a form or buying something. Once you have a clear visitor path in place on your website, you have the ability to track visitor behavior to see how appealing your offer is, whether your website should be changed or whether your current visitor funnel accommodates your actual sales cycle. Marketing automation technology can help you do all this.

Visitor Tracking and Google Analytics

Many businesses are already signed up on the free Google Analytics platform. It’s easy to use, it’s robust and you can get a good idea of how visitors are interacting with your site and data from Google Analytics reports. There are, however, some underlying components of your sales cycle using Google Analytics alone won’t address for you.

1) Ease of use – Many organizational executives don’t have the technical know-how to translate the reports into something meaningful for their businesses.

2) Ease of implementation – A similar problem. A company will need a web development professional to install Google Analytics or similar tracking software in most instances.

3) Addressing needs – Google Analytics and similar visitor tracking software will let you know about certain aspects of your users’ behaviors, but won’t translate them into your specific sales cycle. Many firms address this by hiring additional personnel or simply trying to squeeze working with the metrics into their sales and performance programs. If you’re doing your own full time executive or sales job, trust us that this approach doesn’t often work in the most efficient way for your business.

Marketing Automation Tailored to Your Sales Cycle

When you implement an automated marketing solution for your business, you’re addressing the unique needs of your business and your sales cycle at every level. Your marketing automation platform can work with a Google Analytics installation to help capture your data in a way that will truly benefit your business.

re sending that get the most conversions or reactions from your visitors. Marketing automation makes use of dozens of useful tools that help streamline your process and make running your business and marketing teams that much easier.To find out more about how Google Analytics compares to Lead Liaison’s website visitor tracking read this post.

To find out more about how marketing automation can help you gather, analyze and execute on website visitor tracking today, talk to a specialist at Lead Liaison.

Lead Liaison

Why Marketing Automation is Revenue Generating Software

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Why Marketing Automation is Revenue Generating SoftwareMarketing automation is designed to generate revenue. It has its hands strategically placed in all aspects of the buying process. It covers everything from initial sales prospecting to final lead conversion, and it includes valuable metrics for evaluating the results.

Nine ways Marketing Automation Software Generates Revenue:

 

1.       Sales Prospecting

Marketing automation begins with sales prospecting. The software is designed to expand your contact database by capturing a broad-range of potential online consumers. Depending on the marketing automation provider, it can also increase the numbers of leads by allowing marketers to upload their contact database and earn trading credits based on the quality of the leads they provided. Businesses can then take the credits they received and exchange them for new contacts.

More Leads = More Revenue

2.       Database Segmentation

It is too hard to customize campaigns based on each individual lead, but there still needs to be some personalization based on leads’ basic needs. By dividing leads into segments with similar interests, marketers can send more relevant messages to segmented groups which will increase response rates and generate more revenue.

3.       Lead Tracking

Marketing automation is revenue generating software because it can track every visitor’s online activity. This tracking software is used to expand on a lead’s current profile data and assess their interest in certain products or services. Marketing automation tracks both a lead’s activity and their inactivity, so marketers can capture the lead’s entire buying process.

4.       Lead Generation

Marketing automation brings new leads into the marketing engine using web forms, landing pages, email campaigns, and website tracking. It is able to generate more revenue by capturing new leads from the 95% of your website traffic that currently goes by unnoticed.

5.       Lead Routing

Marketing automation software improves efficiency by instantly distributing qualified leads to the sales team. Striking while the iron is hot can sometimes be the difference between converting a customer and permanently losing them to a competitor. Most marketing automation providers can send leads automatically through Salesforce.com, text messages on cell phones, or by email depending on the company’s preference.

6.       Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is one of the most effective ways to convert customers and generate more revenue. If the material is well-written, informative, and relevant to a potential consumer’s needs, it can be a valuable sales tool. Marketing automation software can be setup to instantly send lead nurturing content based on parameters established by database segmentation.

7.       Inbound Marketing

A good marketing automation strategy should be focused on increasing a company’s exposure and creating methods for prospective leads to easily locate their website. By establishing credibility on other reputable websites, marketing automation can build their brand authority and bring in new customers.

8.       Lead Conversion

Every step of marketing automation is gently guiding the lead towards conversion. Once a lead is showing sincere signs of interest, it can be passed onto to sales to close the deal. Marketing automation generates more revenue by producing up to 50% more sales-ready leads.

9.       Metrics

Marketing automation software includes metrics for analyzing and evaluating each campaign. It is hard to judge whether or not a campaign was successful, unless you can physically see the results. This is the final and most important step to using marketing automation to generate revenue. Constant review and improvement will be necessary to ensure that it is capturing, nurturing, and converting every lead within the loop.

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation Can Increase the Value of Your Business

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Marketing Automation Can Increase the Value of Your BusinessExecutives have a lot to do. Plenty of people who are building businesses are grooming them for sale – and who can blame anyone for that? Businesses with tremendous growth potential are true cash cows, ready to make years of steady income for the right buyer.

In selling a small to medium sized business, owners and investors know they need to make the business look as profitable as possible to potential buyers. For businesses who are selling service instead of retail, account managers and the sales team already face difficult divisions. Sales folks who are driven by commission often over-promise, so by the time accounts get to analysts there’s already a problem.

This problem can be exacerbated by executives who are hard-driving their sales staff without follow-up on the quality of work environment and account performance with regard to the account service teams. If this sounds like your situation, watch your cancellation numbers – more often than not, overselling without account teams to handle the load can result in tons of dropped clients and bad reviews.

Enter Marketing Automation…

If you’re grooming your business for sale and you find that in your business, “one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing,” marketing automation could be the key to streamlining communications between different parts of your business – and as an overall result, your customers’ experiences with you.

With a marketing automation system in place – and the support to cover any process questions you need addressed – you can rest assured that the start to finish sales and performance processes for your business are handled.

Marketing automation allows sales people to better quality leads, put a system into place that is hands-off for following up on leads, keep better track of customer communication and offer a more streamlined transition to account management.

Marketing automation allows leads that haven’t converted to stay in your funnel more efficiently. Lead scoring allows you and your sales teams to communicate in the most effective way with clients who haven’t yet made a commitment to you.

Marketing automation makes setting up and performing work on new accounts easier for your account analysts. Email management, reporting and handling overall marketing functions for your business can become a more streamlined process with the right marketing automation tools at hand.

Making the Ultimate Sale

A potential investor or buyer for your business is going to want to see not just increased sales numbers and great profitability/growth potential. They’ll want to know you have a great process in place for ensuring future success and a great investment. Marketing automation tools placed properly and utilized by your team can actually increase the value of your business. When you can demonstrate that the future of determining the value of leads and acting on that value is secure, you’re showing investors they can trust they’re making a good purchase.

Don’t wait until the selling process starts to get marketing automation in place – make sure your employees are able to use this technology now! Lead Liaison is happy to help discuss your marketing and selling needs to address how marketing automation can make your business more valuable.

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation Guides Leads from Generation to Conversion

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Marketing Automation Guide LeadsThe marketing automation system is designed to gently guide leads from the initial generation to final conversion. There is a steady stream of potential customers surfing online every day in search of new products and services. Marketing automation software captures, nurtures, qualifies, and converts more online leads than any other automated marketing system.

Automated Lead Generation

Marketing automation software is designed to capture every potential lead that comes in contact with a website. The process is completely automated, so no lead can escape its grasp. Their online profile and behavior is automatically extracted and used for lead profiling and scoring.

Improved SEO Drives Traffic

The content marketing automation produces is successful at nurturing leads, but it also helps drive more traffic to a website. Search engine’s rank websites based on quality content and keywords. Marketing automation assists SEO efforts by using keyword-rich articles to inform and engage visitors.

Better Lead Profiling

It is easier to guide a lead from generation to conversion when a company understands their needs and interests. Marketing automation uses online registrations and surveys, as well as their online activity to develop a comprehensive profile of the lead.

Scores & Prioritizes Leads

By comparing the lead’s profile against the profile of an existing customer, marketers can better evaluate whether the lead is ready for conversion. Every demographic and behavioral characteristic is given a value based on relevancy and then ranked by how closely they match to current customers. The sales team is only given leads that a high chance of conversion, so their valuable time is never wasted.

Segments Leads into Similar Groups

Marketing automation is a craft that balances automated technology with personalized attention. It cannot successfully convert leads by using the same approach on every potential consumer. Unfortunately, it also cannot efficiently address hundreds or thousands of lead’s individual needs. The compromise to this problem is lead segments. By grouping leads together that have similar interests and backgrounds, marketers can offer a more personalized approach without having to customize their efforts for every single lead that is generated.

Nurturing Leads with Customized Content

One of the most effective ways that marketing automation guides leads from generation to conversion is through lead nurturing. By taking the information gathered in profiling, marketers can develop customized content directed at each lead segment. This information is created to build trust and strengthen relationships with potential consumers by offering them value prior to conversion.

Marketing automation guides leads from generation to conversion by first capturing them as they surf online, and then profiling, scoring, segmenting, and prioritizing each lead based on their characteristics and needs. It also uses quality content to both enhance SEO and nurture leads into consumers. Marketing automation covers the complete lead management process from start to finish.

Lead Liaison

Common Mistakes Made in Marketing Automation That Could Drive Away Business!

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Common Mistakes Made in Marketing Automation That Could Drive Away Business!The online world of commerce is constantly evolving and traditional marketing methods are not able to keep up with the new global business structure. Marketing automation was developed so that marketing campaigns could mimic the speed and efficiency of the internet and online business commerce.

It can be an incredibly valuable tool for generating and converting leads, if it is done correctly. Unfortunately, common mistakes made in marketing automation can have the exact opposite effect. Marketing automation can either convince a lead to trust in a business or lose the lead’s trust completely.

Here are seven common mistakes made in marketing automation that can drive away business:

1.       Strong Sales Pitches and Aggressive Calls-to-Action

One of the most common mistakes made in marketing automation that could drive away business is overly aggressive calls-to-action. Today’s consumers know they have plenty of options and they will not be bullied into rushing a decision. Coming on too strong can permanently turn off a customer.

2.       Not Involving Sales Dept. in the Process

Marketing and sales should combine their knowledge and experience to create the best lead scoring criteria and lead nurturing content possible. The sales department has in depth information about what leads want and need. They can help make sure the criteria and content is suitable for a typical buyer.

3.       Monitoring Only a Lead’s Activity

Too many businesses only focus on a lead’s current activity and they tend to stop monitoring leads that are not active. A lead’s inactivity should be tracked as well. If someone was on your site daily for four days in a row and they haven’t been back for weeks, they may be too busy investigating alternative options. This is the perfect time to reach out to them with some pertinent guidance or purchasing incentive.

4.       Getting Too Personal

A very common mistake made in marketing automation that could drive away business is asking too many questions. Questionnaires or surveys are great for gathering more data on potential leads, but too much of it will become overwhelming and annoying. Limit each questionnaire or survey to only 5 to 10 questions and don’t attach an online registry to all the quality content on your site.

5.       Not Focusing on the Consumer’s Needs

Every aspect of marketing automation should have the consumer’s needs at the forefront of the decision making process. What does the lead really need to know? How can I help the lead make an informed decision? What can I do to offer the lead greater value? These are all great consumer-focused questions, but it all boils down to what does the consumer really need? For example, if you sell fitness equipment, don’t focus on the equipment itself. Instead, focus on the lead’s need to get healthier and/or lose weight.

6.       Not providing Valuable Content

Articles, ebooks, and tutorials are meant to help potential leads make their decision. It is not an opportunity to brag about your product or service. Free online content should offer the reader real value as a method for building a trusting and lasting relationship. Useless or poorly written content can quickly drive business away.

7.       Not striving to Improve on the Marketing Automation Strategy

Not every lead nurturing campaign is going to work. Marketing automation strategies are based on solid research, but until they are implemented, it is hard to be certain about the response you will receive. The same goes for the relevancy of lead scoring criteria. As a company analyzes their conversion rate against their lead scoring profiles, they will notice different components that are not properly rated.  A common mistake in marketing automation that will drive away business is not striving to improve on your current strategies.