Marketing automation: for a more effective B2B marketing

The interest for marketing automation is booming. All the merges within some companies make these solutions more efficient and innovative and therefore, give a new dimension to the customer relationship. In B2B, sales cycles are longer and more complex than in B2C. A marketing automation solution connected to a CRM is now the obvious answer for marketing professionals who want to be more proficient and more importantly more efficient in their actions. According to Marketing Sherpa, these tools drive up to 75% more leads.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation does not mean installing an autopilot for the marketing function. This tool will help to automate marketing campaigns which can optimize marketing processes. This type of software is connected to a CRM and therefore aims to effectively make clients out of your prospects. Contrary to what some may think, developing a marketing automation platform does not mean you don’t need a marketing team! However, it will certainly make it more efficient and effective through the features it can offer.

What are the functions of marketing automation?

Thanks to technological innovation, the platforms of marketing automation have more and more functions:

• Functions linked to the management of marketing campaigns

Marketing campaigns are most the time emails, but they can also include retargeting campaigns. The principle is simple: the different scenarios (often based on the life cycle of the customer and / or product) will first be established as well as their trigger elements. These will enable the platform to identify them. Then, the different campaigns can then be set and automated. We can find functions, such as dynamic segmentation, with ClickDimension and MS CRM, but also sending emails, creating forms and landing pages, etc.

• Functions connected to the management of leads

Lead Management includes features such as scoring. Content management, including SEO were added recently on tools such as Marketo or Act-On. Of course, there are possibilities to integrate it with SFA systems (Sale Force Automation) and with social media.

• Functions allowing the follow-up of marketing activities

The control and monitoring of marketing activities are carried out through a dashboard that will allow to have information in real time at a glance. But don’t forget that for this monitoring to be complete, integration with various infrastructures used by the company must be effective. So, if your business has a transactional website, micro site … the platform must be connected to it.

To conclude, marketing automation tools are part of the logical result of an optimized customer relationship. If the system is well initialized, the company will benefit from scale economies, as once substantial marketing campaigns are configured, they are automated. On the other hand, the processing of data in real time and, reducing the risk of human errors, make incomparable contributions to qualified leads, customization and accuracy of marketing actions.

So what are you waiting for before you get started?