Marketing Automation B2B
Marketing Automation B2B is a software tool
for scaling lead generation and growth hacking processes.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing Automation is a tool for optimizing customer experience along the customer journey path. The use of this type of software for Lead Generation is to replace human resources with intelligent software that automates lead nurturing.
How does Marketing Automation Software work?
The best Marketing Automation Software uses AI and machine learning to automatically manage marketing activities across different channels. The use of AI enables to exchange of large amounts of data for various communication channels on the customer path. The gathered data is further used by AI to optimize the content for the audience.
Who is the Marketing Automation System for?
A Marketing Automation System is software used by marketing teams of mainly medium and large companies. This has to do with the fact that these systems usually operate on a SaaS model, meaning they require a license fee. As a rule, small companies do not have sufficient budgets to purchase licenses. The second aspect is the number of leads the company is able to serve. To effectively apply Marketing Automation Software, a large group of potential leads is usually required.
How much do Marketing Automation cost?
Marketing Automation Systems are priced at 2 levels. The less expensive programs such as Salesmanago and Getresponse, which offer all the basic tools at license prices in the range of 500 – 1000 Eur. The second level is advanced software such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Hubspot, or Adobe Marketo, where monthly licenses cost more than 1,000 Eur.
How much does it cost to implement a Marketing Automation System?
Marketing Automation integration costs up to Eur 1,000 for simple solutions. Advanced implementations require a budget of around 2,000 Eur up to 20,000 Eur.
What is the implementation of Marketing Automation?
One of the primary benefits of Marketing Automation is to work in one ecosystem and collect data from multiple sources in one place. To make this possible, you must first integrate your automation program with all the platforms that your customer path is covered by. In B2B practices, the most important integration is with the CRM, which is the source of internal data such as annual turnover, date of last purchase, number of products owned, etc. Integrating the Marketing Automation system with the CRM allows you to match content but also the right timing, two factors that directly affect conversion rates.
What communication channels
does Marketing Automation use?
Automation optimizes marketing processes across multiple sources such as social media, Google ads, email marketing, and website traffic. Thanks to the extensive integration provided by Automation Software, deep customer segmentation is possible, which is the main goal of the most effective entrepreneurs.
AI Machine Learning
The advent of AI and machine learning has enabled Marketing Automation to develop to a new level. Analyzing data using these techniques makes Automation Software tools learn data. As a result, they are able to reach the user with the most effective marketing messages in an automated manner.
Benefits for marketing departments
By integrating data in one place and automatically communicating using various sources from a single Marketing Automation System and linking it to a CRM tool, marketing departments can scale lead generation processes. Properly used, Automation Software technology helps to scale business development with optimized financial expenditure. Companies using Marketing Automation report up to 15% higher conversion statistics!
Functions of Marketing Automation Programmes
Marketing Automation Programmes offer different functions to handle different processes. The basic tool offers email automation functions, i.e. automation of email marketing campaigns, and a journey builder for building customer path automation algorithms. Important tools are plug-ins for tracking website traffic and integration with Google Ads and Analytics. Another feature of Automation Software is social media listening modules that integrate social media data and activities. In digital marketing, “more is not always better”, so with a choice of functions, the Marketing Automation Program can be tailored exactly to the customer path.
E-mail Automation
Optimized email content is content that is tailored to the customer’s persona and is sent when the customer needs it. When an email contains helpful content at the right time then CTR statistics reach tens of percent. In comparison, CTR statistics on an optimized website of more than 5 percent are generally considered very good. The key to good timing is Marketing Automation algorithms based on CRM, website, and social media data. However, content optimization requires a good knowledge of clients, which is why it is so important to build a customer profile based on the knowledge of those who have direct contact with the customer. Content creation itself is generally easy and does not require technical knowledge. Email automation modules often use drag&drop to create email communications, making them intuitive and easy to use.
Dynamic content customisation
Static content customization involves tailoring the marketing message to the characteristics of the recipient. An example would be email marketing with different content based on gender. Marketing Automation allows an additional extension of static content customization with real-time behavioral data. In this way, there are dynamic real-time adjustments depending on the user’s behavior in the app or website. Examples include offering appropriate up-selling alternatives at the point of cart abandonment or cross-selling at the point of order placement.
SMS marketing
SMS messaging is an effective tool in Marketing Automation that, like email, can achieve an open rate of several tens of percent. As SMS has a personal contact nature, it should only be used for messages of high value to the customer. SMS works well for abandoned cart strategies and loyalty programs. Content such as passing on personalized promotional codes converts best. However, marketing research indicates that customers are much more sensitive to SMS spam than to Email. Therefore, sending links in SMS is often not very effective.
Social media listening
One of the biggest advantages of Marketing Automation tools is the ability to track content about the company on social media. By integrating Automation Software with social media, there is the possibility of so-called engaging, i.e. quick responses to user posts. Conducting real-time communication attracts the attention of social media positioning algorithms and results in a rapid increase in the number of followers. Integration with social media channels such as Facebook, allows data on new observers to be exchanged. While the possibilities for content automation are limited here, the functionality itself allows for optimized timings. Involving new observers in the discussion increases their satisfaction, thus turning them into brand promoters.
PPC integration
Integrating PPPC (paid advertising) into Marketing Automation allows the use of audience demographic and geographic data to create and optimize target groups. Implementing such solutions with a Automation Software tool helps to reach the right person with the right message or increase conversions.
Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing is the strategy of adapting communication channels to users’ preferences, following the principle of ‘be where your customers already are’. In practice, an omnichannel marketing strategy is based on sending a tailored message through different channels, e.g. WhatsApp, Messenger, email, or even a Twitter conversation. The power of omnichannel is to increase user engagement in the conversation, which paves the way for higher conversions. Public discussions, in particular, are a way to increase reach quickly. Omnichannel is also about combining online and offline channels. For example, ordering a product online and being able to pick it up or return it in a stationary shop, or promotional codes that can be redeemed in a stationary or e-commerce shop.
Customer Journey with Marketing Automation
The customer journey begins with the first contact with a company and continues through the purchase period and after-sales processes. Guiding the customer through the points of contact with the company so that his or her experience is as high as possible requires a large commitment of human resources. The use of a Marketing Automation tool does not completely eliminate the contribution of customer service to the customer journey but makes it possible to optimize its contribution. Particularly in the SaaS segment, the automation of communication at individual points in the path allows great savings.
Automated lead nurturing
Lead nurturing is otherwise known as lead warming, which means guiding leads through the path while moving them down the conversion funnel. Timing is a key conversion factor in lead generation processes, along the lines of ‘talk to me when I’m in the mood to buy’. A common trigger for Marketing Automation to move from a warm-up process to conversion is when a customer visits a website with commercial intent. In the run-up to this, automated lead nurturing provides leads with informative and educational material about the service and educates them on the benefits of working with the company. Thanks to the data in the tool’s database, the program can send tailored messages depending on the customer’s persona. The messages are generally sent by email and lead to the company’s websites, which are optimized accordingly. The Automation Software tool monitors customer behavior and, depending on the behavior, proposes the next steps in the conversion path. A/B tests are used to warm up the leads and the results allow the marketing team to optimize customer segmentation and thus a better conversion rate.
Timing beats speed
Timing is the optimisation of when messages are sent. When messages are sent at the right time for the user then they have much better open rate and CTR conversion rates. Marketing automation tools analyse the time of day when a given recipient is most likely to be active and use this to optimise the time of contact. In addition, personalised messages on the landing page increase the likelihood of conversions.
Marketing automation scoring
Marketing Automation programs allow leads to be qualified by awarding scores at individual points along the customer path. Each decision on the path is assigned a number of points. Once the indicated number is exceeded, there is a scheduled response from the program, such as sending an email to a dedicated website. Obtaining the right scoring can also be a trigger for the sales department to make contact with the customer. Scoring also allows the content of communication to be optimized. For example, the content of a newsletter can vary according to the number of scores significantly increasing the conversion of Automation Software activities.
Marketing Automation: where to start?
If you don’t know where to start with Marketing Automation, you can always write to us. At drySEO, we have many years of experience in introducing SaaS products and the High-Tech industry to foreign markets. DrySEO’s lead generation strategies effectively use customer journey and Automation Software in the largest foreign markets.