Simply put, marketing automation is an umbrella term that covers all kinds of software, platforms, or solutions that enable automating and streamlining marketing processes within an enterprise. It can be a simple auto email generation platform for sending out monthly newsletters or a software solution that assists in segmenting customers based on where they are at in their buyer’s journey.
But is b2b marketing automation really worth investing in? The answer is a resounding yes. A research study done by the Annuitas Group shows that marketing automation can help companies achieve a whopping 451% increase in leads.
If you haven’t already implemented b2b marketing automation in your business, it is high time you do. OneIMS reviews why you should with five key benefits of b2b marketing automation.
Marketing and Sales Alignment
In order to be successful, the marketing and sales teams need to be on the same page. By aligning goals and efforts, your business won’t waste time on marketing or sales efforts that the other team cannot fulfill.
According to a recent study, marketing automation can drive up sales productivity by 14.5%. It helps in generating more sales qualified leads, ensuring more closed deals by the sales team. Automation also results in more targeted marketing efforts and a wider reach. It eventually zeroes down to having more leads in the pipeline, giving sales team ample opportunities to do their job.
According to a recent study, marketing automation can drive up sales productivity by 14.5%. Click To TweetPersonalized Lead Nurturing
The time and era of sending the same generalized content to all your leads are bygone. With so much information and content present in the digital world, you cannot expect people to sit and read whatever you send them. Personalized content is the most crucial aspect of lead nurturing. Not only are you sending the lead something they are likely interested in, but it shows the lead that you are interested in them specifically.
But to keep track of what would interest each of your prospects is a large and time-consuming task when done manually. However, this process can be done quickly with marketing automation tools. Marketing automation can group the leads in categories, depending on where they stand in the buyer’s journey. These same tools can also group leads by industry and many other demographics. This makes it easier for you to create and send relevant content to the prospects.
For instance, a marketing automation tool can identify who viewed your social media ad about a 3D printer. With this information, you can send them an email invitation to talk to a sales assistant to know more about the printer. If they are still early in the customer journey, you may send them targeted content on the benefits of 3D printing that can help them move to the next stage on their buyer’s journey.
Accurate Data Reporting
Manually scavenging data and analytics to create a report can be a daunting task. It not only takes an immense amount of time, but a small mistake can lead to inaccurate assumptions.
For example, how many leads did you lose after your email marketing campaign? And how many converted to proceed to the next stage? Reports such as these can be crucial to finding the friction points within your processes, ease out complications, and better your marketing strategies.
By automating the process, you will have guaranteed accurate and consolidated data in one place. You will also get a readymade report of analytics of all your marketing efforts. You can then utilize the data to make better marketing decisions.
Increased Efficiency
To understand the benefits of marketing automation, you must see the bigger picture. Indeed, you have to invest in new tools and technology, but you would also save on staffing cost. Marketing automation takes away from manual labour, and streamlines the processes, freeing your marketing team.
The team can utilize the time in crucial work that cannot be automated, such as brainstorming creative ideas or strategizing a new campaign.
Furthermore, automating your marketing efforts will also help your team to pursue multiple marketing campaigns at the same time.
Better ROI
Instead of experimenting with countless marketing campaigns and spending a large amount of money, marketing automation helps you put your money where it will lead to better returns. B2B Marketing automation results in quality lead generation through targeted marketing campaigns and it is all based on real, tangible data. Hence, you can concentrate your investments on the betterment of your campaigns or make them more targeted.
Just imagine knowing exactly which pages your prospects are visiting, what kind of content they are consuming and which ads they are viewing. There are numerous marketing strategies that can successfully be implemented with this data. For one, you can create more targeted content that will assist the prospects in moving ahead in their buyer’s journey towards sales. Additionally, you can use the data to understand your customers better as well, thus creating better and far more effective branding strategies.
While these are key benefits of b2b marketing automation, the fact remains that these five are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other benefits you’ll reap when your B2B company implements automating marketing efforts. For more information on marketing automation software and how it can benefit you, contact our marketing experts at OneIMS.
