 Your new post is loading...
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
While technology has undoubtedly improved marketers’ lives, many marketers are still trying to figure out which technologies (and vendors) best align with their unique needs. With such a vast sea of choice, finding the right match can feel like speed dating—an overwhelming and clumsy process that doesn’t always end in a great marriage. And that hasn’t exactly made marketers’ jobs markedly easier.
In fact, a 2016 Harvard Business Review and Salesforce report found just 15% of marketing organizations have advanced marketing capabilities. Similarly, a recent study of marketing leaders from more than 270 B2B companies found that 50% of marketers say their biggest frustration is managing too many technologies, followed closely by problems integrating technologies (49%). Just 3% of marketers say their marketing technologies are easy to integrate.
This starts with three key questions:
Who are you trying to engage?
What do you want to send?
What’s the timing or cadence that will be most effective for that particular target?
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
PCMag: Where do you think AI and ML will take MA over the next five years? What new features and opportunities will they give marketers? Michelle Huff of Act-On: ML will act as marketers' co-pilot in their decision making and campaign execution process. AI will influence when, what, and where to engage with buyers and customers, predetermined by ML that can consume, digest, and compute mounds of data and turn it into actionable triggers and marketing activities. Essentially being able to predict and tailor outreach down to the best message, at the perfect time, and across the ideal communication channel. AI will build on the foundation MA provides—a centralized engine for tracking, scoring, measuring, connecting, and learning from interactions with prospects and customers—and, ultimately, will give its users a way to anticipate and adapt engagement to their buyers' behaviors and actions.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Only two in five survey respondents (41%) believe their organizations are using marketing automation to its fullest capacity.
The research shows that there are only three areas where more than half of those surveyed are using the basic functions of marketing automation: email (73%), web forms (63%), and landing pages (56%).
Fewer than three in ten users are implementing more advanced tactics such as automated creation of dynamic content and account-based marketing.
58% of Leaders are using lead nurturing vs only 35% of the non-leaders. Similarly, significantly fewer non-Leaders are using their systems’ lead scoring capabilities (37 percent, versus 48 percent for Leaders). It was seen that both these areas are very much on the radar, with 50 percent and 47 percent of companies, respectively, planning to use these tactics.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Completing this maturation is where the biggest opportunity lies, because doing so is what allows a marketing organization to transform itself from an expense to a revenue-generating center. Here’s why:
1. A properly implemented marketing automation system becomes the most important repository of customer data. If it doesn’t contain the data directly, it can integrate with other, important customer data sources. It logs the customer’s buying journey, recording all the touchpoints, and as such, this data is a massive source of potential energy.
2. Marketing automation systems have the tools to turn this customer data into kinetic energy, in a way that measurably impacts revenue.
The study report makes it clear that for many companies, the marketing automation toolbox is under-utilized, but in which areas? Companies that are leaders in the use of marketing automation are exploiting account-based marketing, doing sophisticated lead scoring and nurturing, integrating business intelligence and social data to get precise insights into individual customers. These insights are actionable, allowing sales and marketing team members to do things that accelerate sales, expand deal sizes, increase retention and loyalty, get referrals, or all of these outcomes.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
#1 Harness the value of the ‘empowered consumer’
Whether they are in the market for B2C or B2B products and services, digitally empowered consumers want to deal with the companies that address their needs most effectively. Marketing automation software enables you to deliver more intelligent and impactful messages to your audience, based on a better understanding of their needs at a given moment.
#2 Focus on the landing page so prospects are more likely to convert
#3 Engage in lead nurturing, not ‘drip marketing’
#4 Segmentation and workflows are the building blocks of marketing automation
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
- Ascend2’s State of Marketing Automation survey found that most marketers report their strategy with the software is successfully reaching objectives with 33% reporting very successful and 51% reporting above average.
- The key evaluation criteria for respondents was ease of implementation: “A majority (54%) of marketing influencers point to ease of implementation as an important evaluation criteria for selecting a marketing automation system. Ease of implementation is more important than even the cost of ownership,” Todd Lebo, partner and CMO, Ascend2, told Marketing Dive.
- Other key findings include the top strategic objectives are increasing ROI (46%), and optimizing productivity and acquiring more customers (both 45%). Critical challenges include measuring performance (41%), improving database quality and increasing ROI (both 39%).
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Traction is the #1 problem for most startup companies.
But not Calendly, who was able to ‘go live’ with thousands of beta users already in the pipeline.
Instead, their major hurdle was in making sure people not only converted but stuck around for the long-term, too. Increasing retention leveraged their network effects; empowering each existing customer to bring in brand new people.
So Calendly dove deeper into understanding what makes their customers tick. They lined up interview after interview. And used each new insight or tidbit of wisdom to better tailor their messaging.
Integrating their product into marketing automation use cases was one powerful example.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Marketing automation is a big investment, as are the barriers to adopting and fully implementing automation tools. See the steps marketers can take to successfully implement marketing automation.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
#1 No clear defined strategy
#2 Using marketing automation as a glorified email marketing tool
#3 Selling instead of nurturing
#4 Not producing enough targeted content
#5 Tracking the wrong metrics
#6 No Process for Experimentation
#7 Running on autopilot
#8 Paying too much for automation software and underusing it
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
1. DYNAMIC CONTENT ISN’T JUST FOR EMAILS, IT’S FOR YOUR WEBSITE TOO.
2. SEGMENTATION RULES ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND
3. SAVE YOUR FILES INTO THE RIGHT FOLDERS
4. RETARGET YOUR PROSPECTS
5. SCORING CATEGORIES TELL A STORY
6. PAY ATTENTION TO THE EMAIL CLIENT REPORTS
7. ARE YOU USING DEPENDENT FIELDS? (IF NOT, WHY NOT?)
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Today, B2B technology vendors are offering much more than technology: Many also offer DIFM services (AKA, managed services) to execute the tactical activities associated with using their platform. For example, marketing automation technology vendors might offer DIFM services like these:
- Designing email and landing page templates
- Building and executing nurture campaigns
- Developing and implementing lead scoring profiles
- Building and managing events
- Performing A/B-testing
- Creating and managing campaign reports
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Data reveals two truths that marketing-automation software sales reps will not bring up when they paint a picture of your idealized marketing future:
Marketing automation is complex and requires an investment from your teams to translate existing processes into an established sales and marketing process before implementing.
Marketing automation requires a fire hose of content.
What can you do to protect your investment and realize the true potential of marketing automation? Here’s what I recommend:
- Hire a pro.
- Assemble a team.
- Map your buyer’s journey.
- Plan for developing content.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
eMarketer: Marketing automation is only as effective as the data behind it. What data obstacles do marketers still face?
Weiser: The biggest data challenge is still attribution. For Shutterstock, the average customer interacts with four touchpoints before making a purchase. That means we’re spending on them four different times, and if we don’t know the ROI [return on investment] of each of those media touchpoints, then we can’t make a decision about which one drove the purchase.
A lot of companies get frustrated because they can’t figure out attribution with mathematical precision, and they don’t want to live in a messy space. That’s why they stick with last-touch attribution—because it’s neat and clean. But I’d rather see more companies experiment.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
- "Smart and specialized marketing automation platforms: Marketing tech companies are continuing to specialize their MAPs, focusing on their clients’ primary needs—and then finding specific technologies that address each of them. Rather than trying to combine everything in one huge marketing automation system, tomorrow’s MAPs will be smarter and focus on smaller applications for each stack of tasks.
- Artificial intelligence and account based marketing: 2016 saw explosive growth in account based marketing (ABM) adoption. More than 70% of B2B companies are now focused on driving ABM programs, according to a study by SiriusDecisions. The ABM Leadership Alliance also released a research on the state of the ABM market, which found that ABM marketing now outperforms other traditional marketing methods. B2B marketers also experienced a 171% increase in their average annual contact value (ACV), when using ABM strategies like selecting target accounts, defining budgets and outlining team structures. This growth is expected to continue and evolve with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in ABM.
- All about the customer: Marketing automation will become central to the customer experience, extending beyond the marketing function alone. In fact, leading marketing functions are already using marketing automation in new ways, including internal communications, customer satisfaction initiatives and channel optimization. The most successful companies have divided the responsibility of automating between sales and marketing with CRM integration."
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Marketing automation systems are not an autopilot for connecting with prospects and customers. There are definitely tasks that they make easier, but they won’t solve all your marketing problems.
Marketers still need to develop creative campaigns that engage people. You know that right message, right time, right place thing that every martech vendor says? Well, it really is true. That’s why we all say it. But it is as much the marketer’s responsibility as it is the software’s.
Before you create your next campaign, put yourself in the mind of your prospect or your customer. Take what you know about them and ask yourself, would you click this email, respond to this offer, or otherwise engage? If not, re-think what you are doing.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
What do you need to do to make automation work for you?
You need to understand your sales pipeline. What are the biggest problems your clients deal with and how are you positioned to help solve them? What stage in the pipeline are your clients in? How long should they be in each stage? What is the probability of closing at that stage? What objections can you overcome before you speak to your ideal client? How many times should you be contacting them before they make a decision and without you being annoying?
If you don’t have all this information, you will have to test it out. You also need to be able to track each and every step of the way – this is where tools and systems come in, so you can see how effective you are and have it displayed on a dashboard for easy access.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
"The following activities need to be a part of your marketing automation strategy, especially from the subscriber to customer phase.
1. Triggered actions
2. Analysis and reports
3. Lead nurturing
4. Email marketing
5. Integration capabilities
6. Lead scoring
7. List segmentation"
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
- First create your marketing plan, so that you know what kind of tool will be the best fit.
- Understand that although all marketing automation tools revolve around email, they each offer very different functions.
- Startups should choose a midgrade tool to start with; this avoids later frustration.
- Pricing and function are the two major differences between the levels of available platforms. The most basic level tools can be acquired for free (with very limited function), and are between $9 and $20 per month. The midgrade tools like GetResponse, cost between $45 and $129 per month. Finally, the Big Boys cost in the region of $199 to $895 per month.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
With multi-channel, marketers simply had to ensure that they were engaging customers in whichever key battlegrounds pertained to their particular field. Omni-channel is all of this and more. It’s all of these levels of customer interaction delivered as a concerted effort, as cohesive elements of the same interactive whole.
Marketing automation software gives you a platform on which to build, and it gives you a fighting chance at taking on the omni-channel pioneers at their own game.
Understanding your customers and understanding the routes they take as they navigate your services enables you to enhance their experience of your organization. Use the information gathered by your marketing automation platform to segment your customers, creating specific customer groups which can be targeted in different ways.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
Statistics are the first thing we mention in our presentations and our articles. They’re what we cite to justify our budgets. You have only to look at most marketers’ social media feeds to see it. We marketers just love our statistics. Especially, it seems, our marketing automation statistics.
So have at it. Indulge your addiction. Here are 35 marketing automation stats to know and love and share and cite. They’re all fresh stats, too – none are more than a couple years old.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
1. 42% of B2B marketers plan to test or deploy marketing automation this year (DemandGen Report)
2. 59% of companies do not fully use the technology they have available (Ascend2)
3. 80% of marketing automation users saw an increase in leads (VentureBeat)
4. 12% of marketing automation users saw an increase of leads by 50% or more (VentureBeat)
5. 10% of marketers feel they are able to fully execute mature marketing automation strategies (Forrester)
6. 80% of B2B marketers consider it a core requirement of their jobs to understand and use marketing technology (Forrester)
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
nd that’s just the tip of the iceberg. So if marketing automation is so powerful, why aren’t you using it? Three reasons:
First, successful marketing automation requires a cultural shift within large organizations – each and every department must buy into this concept and work as an integrated unit.
Second, smaller businesses with minimum resources and manpower cannot always afford expensive marketing automation programs (MAPs).
Third, because getting started with marketing automation is overwhelming.
To overcome all three struggles, here are the three easiest ways to get started with marketing automation:
1) new subscribers
2) lead nurturing
3) cart abandonment
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
- Bounce Rate Minimization and Communication Delivery Confirmation
- Lead Management and Nurture for Better Business Prospects
- Predesigned Landing Pages and Testing of Different Versions for Enhanced Engageability
- Deployment of Dynamic Content and Mobile Marketing Campaigns
- Integration with CRM, API and Bilateral Flow of Information
- Management of Social Media Marketing Campaigns
- Analytics, Reporting and Tracking Performance of Marketing Campaigns
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
1. Managing brand reputation
When so many factors affecting your brand image are external, how do you manage it? This is where marketing automation tools need to keep pace with changing trends and empower brands to actively monitor the social network and the entire digital sphere where the brand might be mentioned.
2. Converting campaigns into conversations
Continuous conversations allow brands to communicate meaningfully with the audience wherein they are not mere receivers but active participants. The feedback received from such an engaged audience is priceless. This also helps a brand in displaying authenticity.
3. Defining target customers
Marketing automation will allow for better customer behavioral analytics to understand your target customers better. Evolved tools will allow brands to create dynamic segments based on customers’ actual behavior, which can then be mapped to their personas.
|
|
Scooped by
Marteq
|
- Marketing Automation Strategy #1: Use Your Welcome Email To Distinguish Customer Types
- Marketing Automation Strategy #2: Reuse Existing Content To Compel Conversions
- Marketing Automation Strategy #3: Increase Saas Usage & Upsells
- Marketing Automation Strategy #4: Segment MOFU Readers With Topical Lead Magnets
- Marketing Automation Strategy #5: Get Reviews On Autopilot
|
|
![Get the Most Out of Your Marketing Automation Tools [Infographic] - MarketingProfs | The MarTech Digest | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/KKADj-x80TFhfZJ-1P8E6_L6dadsvGA8m9WNoVsbzkY=)
All the more reason why B2B Sales should take over MarTech via the Sales and Marketing Ops function. So much functionality is being wasted.
Click/tap to view the original article.
This news comes to you compliments of marketingIO.com. #MarTech #DigitalMarketing