Marketing Automation in Business:
what to know and how to implement tools to automate B2B lead generation.

Marketing automation in business combines advanced technologies with modern online marketing methods to increase the efficiency of marketing efforts by automating tasks, personalizing communications, and integrating with different channels. The choice of the right tool, such as HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or Salesmanago, depends on the company’s specific needs, budget, and integrated systems such as CRM.

Marketing Automation

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation is a new online marketing technology aimed at automating, effectively managing, and optimizing marketing activities. The method combines online marketing strategies with advanced technological tools to increase the effectiveness of contact with users and personalize activities. Technology is a key component of automation in business, as it enables the automation of repetitive tasks, analysis of large data sets, and linking of different communication channels. The use of automation technology requires strategic planning and advanced implementation tailored to customer needs and behavior.

Why companies use marketing automation platforms?

Companies use marketing automation platforms mainly for their ability to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing activities. Automation allows precise targeting of messages, leading to higher KPIs and increased revenue. With marketing automation, businesses can better utilize their resources while minimizing human error and operational costs. Automation also enables more effective market segmentation and personalization of communications, which is key to building long-term relationships with buyers.
In addition, marketing automation integrates with various Internet marketing channels, such as email, social media, and websites, enabling companies to have holistic online campaigns. Our studies show that 75% of marketers using automation have seen an increase in conversion rates, and 77% have seen an increase in revenue. The experience of organizations in various sectors demonstrates that this technology is particularly useful in strategies for acquiring leads, personalizing messages, and optimizing online marketing.

Which companies use marketing automation most often?

Large and medium-sized companies often use marketing automation to manage complex campaigns and large customer bases, especially in the B2C and online store (e-commerce) sectors. In these areas, automation allows for personalized communication with consumers on a large scale, which is key to increasing sales and loyalty.

What is marketing automation in B2B?

In B2B, marketing automation is often used to acquire and nurture leads. B2B companies use these tools to effectively drive long-term sales cycles by automating the acquisition and evaluation of leads, allowing them to effectively convert prospects into actual customers. Automation in B2B also helps collect and analyze data, which is key to optimizing marketing and sales strategies.

What is a marketing automation system?

A marketing automation system is software, often offered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, that provides a variety of online marketing functions. The key features of such a system are the ability to collect and analyze customer data, both by tracking their activity on the website and by exchanging information with other data sources, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems.

The system enables automation of communication with potential customers, using the collected data to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns. This allows companies to effectively manage interactions at various stages of the sales funnel, from lead acquisition to lead nurturing to conversion. The software also allows the automation of repetitive tasks of the marketing department, such as sending emails (e-mail marketing), newsletters, overseeing social media advertising activities or segmenting target groups, which significantly increases the efficiency of marketing activities.

What exactly does marketing automation consist of?

Marketing automation consists of automatically repeating marketing tasks and scheduling work. In practice, this means the following activities:

  1. Automatic triggering of actions: For example, when a potential lead fills out a form on the site, the software automatically sends a personalized email marketing, SMS, or web push.
  2. Segmentation and personalization: The software analyzes user data, allowing you to dynamically create and tailor personalized communications to specific segments of your target audience in real-time.
  3. Customer behavior tracking and analysis: By exchanging information with different channels, such as website, email, and social media, the software monitors customer interactions and provides detailed data that can be used to optimize sales department strategies.
  4. Lead management: enables effective actions with contacts from acquisition to conversion, through automatic nurturing and scoring.

What are the best marketing automation tools for businesses?

The best marketing automation tools for businesses are HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. HubSpot is preferred by small and medium-sized companies because of its ease of use and the comprehensive solutions it offers. Salesforce Marketing Cloud, with its advanced features, is ideal for large organizations with complex marketing needs. Each of these platforms offers a wide range of automated inbound marketing tools for personalization and analytics, enabling effective campaigns.

Who uses automation in the company?

The user of marketing automation in a company is usually the marketing department, especially digital specialists. These are the people responsible for configuring, organizing, and optimizing customer journey processes, which include various communication channels and sales strategies. These specialists use automated tools to run campaigns more efficiently, personalize customer contact, and analyze marketing data and results.

What are the benefits for business?

The benefits of marketing automation for companies include the ability to scale marketing efforts, allowing one specialist to effectively manage a large number of customers. Automation allows you to segment your contact base and tailor messages to their individual needs and stages of the customer lifecycle, leading to more personalized brand messages and better customer service. The result is an increase in company KPIs and revenue.

When considering an investment in a marketing automation platform such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Hubspot, or Adobe Marketo, companies need to take into account not only the direct subscription costs, which can be around $2,000 per month but also the implementation costs and salaries of specialists. Implementation costs, depending on the complexity of the configuration and the number of connections required, can oscillate between $2,000 and $30,000, while salaries for specialists range from $2,000 to $10,000 per month and can be even higher for B2B contracts. To ensure a positive return on investment (ROI), the projected revenue from leads acquired through these platforms must exceed these costs. Companies must therefore carefully analyze the effectiveness of their campaigns, measuring the revenue generated from acquired customers against total operating costs, to ensure that the investment is delivering the expected financial benefits.

It is worth implementing marketing automation solutions in business if the projected return on investment (ROI) is positive. In a situation where a company plans to invest $7,000 per month in marketing software, it is important that the software bring benefits that exceed the value of this investment. This means that the software should bring in additional revenue that not only covers the cost of its purchase and operation but also brings in additional profits. For example, improving the efficiency of tasks within digital marketing, increasing the conversion of leads to customers, saving time and resources, and gaining valuable analytical data that can be used to further optimize marketing and sales strategy. There is also value in improving the user experience and increasing loyalty, which translates into long-term benefits for the company.

How to implement marketing automation tools to automate B2B customer acquisition?

Implementing marketing automation tools to automate B2B customer acquisition requires a strategic approach and several key steps:

  1. Assess needs and budget:
    • Analyze your business needs and available budget.
    • Identify whether you have the resources, including people with the right knowledge and skills to use specialized tools.
  2. Tool selection:
    • Based on your analysis, choose the tool that best suits your business needs.
    • Consider specialized systems, such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, if your organization has complex requirements and has specialists with experience in these environments.
  3. Customer path mapping:
    • Map customer paths to understand their experiences and interactions with your brand.
    • Based on this information, build personalized customer journeys.
  4. Content marketing and landing pages:
    • Develop and plan the ongoing production of content to be used in communications.
    • Create relevant landing pages.
  5. Install analytics:
    • Integrate analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, into landing pages to track effectiveness.
  6. Testing and optimization:
    • Run test campaigns on small samples of your audience.
    • Analyze results, make optimizations and scale effective strategies.
  7. Data collection and continuous optimization:
    • Systematically collect campaign data and analyze it to understand customer behavior and preferences.
    • Regularly update and optimize your strategies to increase their effectiveness.
marketing automation system implementation

What is the integration with CRM?

Integrating marketing automation software with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system involves linking the two systems to exchange data and share customer information. Such a combination enables better tracking of interactions, more efficient processes related to potential customers and more precise measurement of the ROI of online marketing efforts. For example, HubSpot can be integrated with Salesforce’s CRM, allowing contact data to be used for marketing purposes and vice versa. This data exchange provides consistency and a more complete picture of user activity, which is crucial for effective relationship management.

Salesforce or Hubspot, or maybe Salesmanago: which platform for B2B lead generation?

The choice between Hubspot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Salesmanago for B2B lead generation depends on a company’s specific needs, budget and integrated systems such as CRM. Hubspot is known for its user-friendliness and ease of use, making it a good choice for organizations that don’t have a development team. Its simple connection to Salesforce and high-quality email automation tools are appealing, but landing page limitations and potential site performance issues can be a hindrance.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud, on the other hand, offers deeper integration with the relationship management module and is more technologically advanced, but requires programming skills and has a steep learning curve. Although more difficult to learn and requiring programming skills, it provides excellent integration with the customer relations and social media program, which is crucial for deeply integrated businesses. Salesmanago, being a cheaper option, can be considered for the smaller needs of the local market for small and medium-sized companies.

Key Takeaways

  1. Marketing automation is a technology of new online marketing to effectively design and optimize marketing campaigns, combining strategies with technological tools to increase the effectiveness of customer communications.
  2. Companies use automation in marketing to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, leading to higher conversion rates, increased revenue, better use of resources, minimized human error and operational costs, as well as more effective market segmentation and personalization of messages.
  3. Marketing process automation is used in both B2C (especially e-commerce for managing complex campaigns and large customer bases) and B2B (for acquiring and nurturing leads, and overseeing long-term sales cycles) sectors.
  4. The systems, often offered as SaaS platforms, enable the collection and analysis of buyer data, automating communication with potential leads and interactions at various stages of the sales funnel, significantly increasing the efficiency of marketing tasks.
  5. The choice between tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Salesmanago depends on an organization’s needs, budget, and integrated systems such as CRM, with HubSpot being preferred for ease of use, Salesforce Marketing Cloud for integration with CRM, and Salesmanago may be considered for specific local market needs.