We’ve all heard reports of Marketing Automation and its varying degrees of success (and indeed failure in some cases) but it is very much becoming the norm for B2B business and if you’re wondering how many companies use marketing automation? It’s a lot! Social Media’s Today State of Marketing Automation Survey report found 75% of all companies already use at least one kind of marketing automation tool. And Marketing Automation is expected to grow in popularity in the next few years, with 44% of marketers believing it will be the second most important skill in digital marketing behind mobile technologies according to the Digital Marketing Institute.
So why use marketing automation? Among its many benefits, Marketing Automation can be a valuable tool in the Lead Generation and Nurturing processes - Invespcro found that 4 in 5 businesses saw an increase in Leads when they implemented Marketing Automation tools, with an average increase in conversions of 77%. Successfully integrating marketing automation allows the delivery of much more qualified leads while providing you with a clear overview of lead activity this blog will explore some methods of doing just that.
Social Media
It is no secret that Social Media is pretty widely used amongst B2B businesses, and 83% of marketers feel that Marketing Automation is most suitable for use with Social Media activities. However, when people think of social media automation they often think of “schedulers.” While these tools can help save time by eliminating the need to log in each time you wish to post. There is a wide range of Marketing Automation tools that offer so much more to companies.
Good social media marketing automation platforms will allow you to see which leads are interacting with your content and when used alongside social analytics you can identify what type of content is encouraging engagement with specific leads. You also can assign social interactions with a specific value to score leads. By scoring leads using the content they are interacting with and using custom-built workflow triggers they can be targeted using automated emails or sales teams can be notified when they reach a set lead score to be followed up at the right time.
75% of companies using marketing automation tools find that it is most suitable for conducting Email campaigns, according to Social Media Today. While Email campaigns may not seem like the most cutting edge form of marketing, when it’s combined with Marketing Automation it can be pretty effective - increasing open rates and generating 320% more revenue when compared to traditional email campaigns, according to Campaign Monitor.
So how does automation make nurturing campaigns so much more effective? It’s all about personalisation: once someone opts-in to receive your emails, you can send targeted messages based on the data you have on them. The automation process collects data through interactions with your campaigns, social media or website and uses them to help target prospects with relevant content. Again, automation will help to score leads through the data it collects at the various points on their journey. All you have to do is create content relevant to each buyer stage and marketing automation can guide prospects through the sales funnel one email at a time.
Website Traffic
There are tools available which generate leads based on website traffic. These platforms can show you the companies that your website visitors work at allowing you to follow up directly with those who have viewed your site. They can even be connected with CRMs to create a centralized database of information to follow leads journeys no matter how they connect with your business.
Generating and nurturing leads depends on relevance, you must ensure you reach the relevant people, with the relevant message at a relevant time. By using Marketing Automation, you can make this much easier for yourself and your business while eliminating previously time-consuming, repetitive tasks from your daily tasks and delivering better results.
Here at Maven TM, we use Marketing Automation tools every day and know first-hand the benefits the implementation of marketing automation can provide a business and we can help pass those benefits onto you. So, if you are looking to invest in new technologies or feel you’re not getting the best out of your existing platforms reach out today and find out how we can help you get the most out of marketing automation for B2B Lead Generation campaigns.
