by Glen Springer | Oct 9, 2013
If I were given 90 minutes to do a marketing automation audit, here would be my six areas of focus:
Segmentation:
- Find segments to dynamically create targeted lists
- Archive lists not in use
- Consolidate overlapping lists
- Make sure auto-tagging rules are enabled for simplified segmentation
Content automation triggers:
- Confirm that all forms have an active auto responder with related copy and an additional call to action
- Check that a drip sequence is in place and active (where applicable)
- See that rules are in place to send related follow-up pieces when a specific content asset is viewed
Lead scoring/grading:
- Examine pages by content stage and assign appropriate scores
- Review existing scoring to make sure score changes portray accurate interest/buying signals
- Inspect buyer persona profiles to make sure grading is correctly assigned
Integrations:
- Check all 3rd party integrations are properly setup and functioning
- Investigate CRM fields that need custom field mapping to the Marketing Automation software and could provide valuable data for enhanced segmentation
- Recommend additional integrations that enhance prospect experience and provide additional intelligence to sales and marketing
Reporting:
- Look at performance and respective content (e.g. email, social, landing pages) and suggest conversion optimization enhancements
Internal Automation:
- View all form actions to make sure sales and marketing are notified in real-time of hot prospects
- Survey sales team to make sure they’re using real-time tools to analyze prospects
Completing these sixteen steps during a marketing automation audit would absolutely enhance your experience with marketing automation software and better guarantee that you are effectively executing your lead generation, demand generation and sales efforts.
For more marketing automation tips, click here. If you are interested in learning about the marketing automation consulting we provide, you can check our our services page.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Oct 8, 2013
In the B2B world, both sales and marketing teams are now under more pressure than ever before.
Sales teams now have to deal with the customer of the digital age, who wants to go through the sales process without the help of sales. Marketers have to do much more with fewer resources, and new measurement tools mean they are more accountable for their efforts.
There are basically two options for how to proceed in this situation. You can keep trying the same tactics that worked when telemarketing and tradeshows ruled the B2B sales world; or, you can adapt.
We believe adapting is the road to success. We also believe the first step to adaptation is aligning your sales and marketing teams and giving them a shared quota.
One of the main reasons sales and marketing need to be aligned is that successful lead generation now requires a blended effort between the two. Lead generation now requires both a clear view of the sales funnel and a well-strategized content marketing strategy for nurturing. Unfortunately, it seems this is something many companies are still struggling with:
- 68% of companies have not identified or attempted to measure their sales funnel
- 65% of companies have no defined lead nurturing process or toolset
- 79% of marketing leads are never converted to sales
- Only 56% of companies have a system or toolset in place to qualify marketing leads
- (Salesforce.com)
The best way to handle all of these issues at once is by leveraging a marketing automation platform in conjunction with a CRM tool. With marketing automation, you gain backend visibility of your prospects and their digital behaviors, giving you insights into when and how a prospect should be nurtured. Using this information, you can then implement an intelligent content marketing strategy based on buyer lifecycle stages and monitor engagement. Marketing automation also has tracking and reporting features that allow you to measure the ROI and effectiveness of your sales and marketing tactics.
When everyone is working with the same data and working toward the same goals, sales and marketing can finally stop their war and start working together. In fact, automation users have a 53% higher conversion rate from marketing response to marketing qualified and a 9.3% higher sales quota achievement rate (Salesforce.com).
To learn more about the value of marketing automation in the B2B sales process, you watch this quick video that explains why Salesforce bought Pardot for $2.5B. Or, you can download our “Marketing Automation Implementation Checklist.”
To learn about the marketing automation consulting or sales pipeline management services we offer, you can check out our services page.
by gabriel_sales | Oct 4, 2013
As a part of an integrated content marketing strategy, producing B2B video content marketing has become a requirement for B2B companies today.
If you think about your own personal internet use, it is likely you now spend a fair amount of time watching videos—music videos, news clips and of course, who could forget about the cats. Most of your B2B prospects are doing the same thing and have therefore become accustomed to getting their information in this format in recent years.
This means you also need to be present your message in video format to appease the new YouTube-loving buyer. If you’re yet jump on the bandwagon of B2B video content marketing or need some assistance creating more effective videos, we’ve assembled a list of relevant educational blog articles to help you get started:
Tips for Strategy & Execution
If you need help creating B2B video marketing content, getting your videos in front of ideal market or executing video content marketing campaigns, we can help. You can find out more about what we do on our services page.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Oct 2, 2013
B2B marketers today face a complex landscape.
Old marketing tactics have dropped in effectiveness (cold calling, trade shows) while technological innovations have created an entire new way of buying and selling (digital content marketing, customer relationship management). Buyers now control the sales process and selling to them now requires the ability to reach and interact with prospects in an entirely new way.
Evidence of this shift can be seen in the findings of a February 2013 eMarketer report that lists the top challenges from B2B marketers today. Apart from not having enough budget (59%), marketers largest struggle is the ability to “reach the right target at the right time in the buying decision” (39%). This shows that B2B marketers have started to recognize that the buyer needs to be the main focus of all marketing efforts.
This also helps to explain why from 2011 to 2012, there was a 233% increase in the portion of marketing budgets allocated to marketing automation solutions (eMarketer).
Marketing automation platforms allow marketers to manage of all of their prospects from one database and track their prospects digital behaviors to help understand where each prospect is at in their buying decision at any given time. Within the platform, you can assign different numerical scores to each piece of marketing content you create—with lower scores assigned to early stage content and high scores assigned to late stage content like pricing pages or product comparisons. By looking at prospects consumption of all marketing efforts (website, blogs, email marketing, social), you can determine what “next step” is going to be most appropriate for each prospect.
This is why using marketing automation for B2B lead nurturing is so effective, as some of the prospects that come into your pipe are not ready to buy right away. You will know this because your marketing automation solution will tell you that the prospect is not engaging with any high-scoring digital content that signals he or she is near a purchase decision, which tells you the prospect needs to go into a lead nurturing stage.
B2B lead nurturing consists of sending your ‘not-yet-ready-to-buy’ prospects marketing content that educates them on your solution and industry in a non-threatening way. A quarterly company newsletter or educational email campaign are good examples of this. By tracking consumption of your nurturing efforts using your marketing automation platform, you will know when a prospect moves out of the nurturing phase and is ready to be engaged by sales.
When done correctly, lead nurturing helps to build trust and keep your company top of mind when your prospect is finally ready to make a buying decision.
To learn more about the importance of B2B lead nurturing, click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
by Glen Springer | Oct 2, 2013
Photo of green plant between male hands on a black background[/caption]B2B marketers today face a complex landscape.
Old marketing tactics have dropped in effectiveness (cold calling, trade shows) while technological innovations have created an entire new way of buying and selling (digital content marketing, customer relationship management). Buyers now control the sales process and selling to them now requires the ability to reach and interact with prospects in an entirely new way.
Evidence of this shift can be seen in the findings of a February 2013 eMarketer report that lists the top challenges from B2B marketers today. Apart from not having enough budget (59%), marketers largest struggle is the ability to “reach the right target at the right time in the buying decision” (39%). This shows that B2B marketers have started to recognize that the buyer needs to be the main focus of all marketing efforts.
This also helps to explain why from 2011 to 2012, there was a 233% increase in the portion of marketing budgets allocated to marketing automation solutions (eMarketer).
Marketing automation platforms allow marketers to manage of all of their prospects from one database and track their prospects digital behaviors to help understand where each prospect is at in their buying decision at any given time. Within the platform, you can assign different numerical scores to each piece of marketing content you create—with lower scores assigned to early stage content and high scores assigned to late stage content like pricing pages or product comparisons. By looking at prospects consumption of all marketing efforts (website, blogs, email marketing, social), you can determine what “next step” is going to be most appropriate for each prospect.
This is why using marketing automation for B2B lead nurturing is so effective, as some of the prospects that come into your pipe are not ready to buy right away. You will know this because your marketing automation solution will tell you that the prospect is not engaging with any high-scoring digital content that signals he or she is near a purchase decision, which tells you the prospect needs to go into a lead nurturing stage.
B2B lead nurturing consists of sending your ‘not-yet-ready-to-buy’ prospects marketing content that educates them on your solution and industry in a non-threatening way. A quarterly company newsletter or educational email campaign are good examples of this. By tracking consumption of your nurturing efforts using your marketing automation platform, you will know when a prospect moves out of the nurturing phase and is ready to be engaged by sales.
When done correctly, lead nurturing helps to build trust and keep your company top of mind when your prospect is finally ready to make a buying decision.
To learn more about the importance of B2B lead nurturing, click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
If I were given 90 minutes to do a marketing automation audit, here would be my six areas of focus:
