by bersondev | Jun 7, 2022 | Marketing, marketing automation, marketing technology
Marketing automation empowers marketers to focus on the strategic initiatives rather than get bogged down with the tactical implementation, and it aligns sales and marketing towards accomplishing common goals. This all adds up to decreased costs and increased revenue.
Marketing Automation Features
Campaign and Email Management
Create and track highly targeted marketing campaigns. Manage end-to-end email campaigns, including database management, target list creation and segmentation, email personalization, and SPAM-compliant auto unsubscribe capabilities.
Website Search Engine Optimization
Connect with your customers early in the buying cycle with search engine-friendly pages.
Landing Page and Forms
Create dynamic landing pages and forms. Build reusable templates to create a consistent look and feel. Instantly create leads in your CRM system for immediate sales follow-up on all form submissions.
Lead Reporting and Analytics
Get comprehensive insight into your marketing programs by program type, lead source, and promotions — in real-time. Seamlessly track lead-to-revenue to measure the ROI of your lead generation programs.
“91% of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is ‘very important’ to the overall success of their marketing across channels.” —Ascend2
Marketing Automation Benefits
Effective Multi-Channel Campaign Management
Streamlines the execution of complex marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including websites, email, events, and social media with a centralized marketing platform.
Improves Sales Collaboration
Aligns marketing and sales goals to improve collaboration and convert leads into customers.
Shortens Your Sales Cycle
Delivers highly relevant dynamic content to prospects at the right time, right place and right channel, guiding them through the buying cycle.
Quantifies and Prioritizes Leads
Captures, identifies, scores and nurtures leads based on profile, behavior, interests, and conversion readiness to deliver sales-ready leads.
Real-Time Visibility
Provides insight into campaign performance and return on investment (ROI) with robust analytics.
To learn how to best use Marketing Automation to increase ROI, check out this article.
As a recognized Marketing Automation leader for the past decade, we work with firms to help them utilize their marketing technology to increase revenue. To see how we can help you, schedule a free consultation or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in Marketing Automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
by bersondev | May 11, 2022 | Marketing, marketing automation, marketing technology
While most businesses know that adopting Marketing Automation is more important than ever, it’s just one part of the solution. To generate ROI, you really need to make full use of all of the platform’s features, including emails, content, nurturing programs, triggered messages, lead management, and reporting, just to name a few.
Achieving Marketing Automation success requires:
• A comprehensive strategy.
• Effective creative.
• Up-to-date processes and software.
• And the right people with the rights skills.
Whether you are investing in, or migrating to, new technology, everything from the initial set-up through campaign execution and follow-up is crucial. Investing in the right people with the right skills will allow you to better set up, create, and manage your marketing program. If your not using Marketing Automation or not using it to the max, you’re forfeiting ROI.
The good news is, if you don’t have the right team with the right skills, you don’t have to “buy” (hire staff)…you can “rent” the skills you need much more cost-effectively by using consultants to work with you to:
• Formulate or optimize your marketing budget.
• Ensure you’re using the Marketing Automation platform that’s best for you.
• Fill in your skills gap.
• Develop, design, and create content for your campaigns.
• Achieve revenue goals faster.
• Increase efficiencies and supercharge productivity.
• Speed up the sales cycle with automated workflows.
• Take your company to the next level.
As a recognized Marketing Automation leader for the past decade, we work with firms to help them utilize their marketing technology to increase revenue. To see how we can help you, schedule a no-obligation call or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in Marketing Automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
![B2B Marketers Go-To-Market Top Priorities [Survey]](https://bersondeanstevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/b2b_marketing-priorities.jpg)
by Lori Berson | May 9, 2022 | Lead Management, Marketing, marketing automation, Marketing Strategy
According to the recent The State of B2B lead Management 2022 report from LeanData, Sales Hacker, Heinze Marketing and Outreach, B2B marketing and sales leaders found it more challenging to generate sufficient pipeline last year than to pivot go-to-market approaches amid changing conditions or sell virtually with a remote team. Per the study, those same leaders will be focused on generating pipeline this year.
Not only was pipeline the top challenge for 2021, but it’s the leading priority (among 5 listed) for 2022, according to the survey’s more than 1,700 respondents. Almost half (48.8%) named pipeline growth their top priority for their go-to-market organization this year. That’s more than double the share who said that building/staffing teams (22.4%) is their top priority. Other initiatives such as expanding their addressable market (18.3%), accelerating digital transformation (7.1%), and new tech stack investments (3.5%) were lower on the priority list.
The attention paid to pipeline growth, at least for marketing respondents, is understandable given the extent to which marketing is expected to contribute to the sales pipeline. In a recent study, 82% of marketers said they are measured by the sales pipeline they initiate, and 78% reported being measured by the sales pipeline they influence. The good news is that almost 6 in 10 respondents agree to some extent that their sales and marketing are aligned to deliver growth this year.
Although a slight majority agree that their organization’s lead management systems and processes help them deliver an ideal customer experience, more than one-quarter don’t feel that way. Moreover, one-quarter disagree that their current lead management system will support revenue goals this year. And, although almost 2 in 3 feel that they are somewhat effective in achieving their conversion goals with their current lead management strategy, only around 1 in 4 (27%) are very confident in this area.
Lead Routing Issues
The survey indicates that B2B organizations are at times assigning leads to the wrong owner, with 6 in 10 admitting this sometimes happens and another 7% claiming that it happens half or more of the time.
2 in 3 are able to match leads to accounts and are happy with the process. Unfortunately, this leaves many for whom lead matching occurs but is slow or error-ridden (24.3%), and a small fraction who simply aren’t matching leads to accounts despite a desire to do so (4.3%).
Issues with speed may be the result of outdated processes: the #1 method for routing leads is manual, as opposed to other methods such as using marketing automation platforms or native assignment rules in the CRM.
Looking forward, the top lead management capability that respondents would like to have but currently don’t is more automation and fewer manual processes.
About the Data: The results are based on a December 2021 global survey of 1,732 B2B sales, marketing, and operations professionals, with technology the most heavily represented industry.
Need assistance with your go-to-marketing strategies, and sales and marketing automation? Schedule a call or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in marketing and sales automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
![How Marketers Are Using Marketing Automation Tools [Report]](https://bersondeanstevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Marketing-Automation.jpeg)
by Lori Berson | May 5, 2022 | Marketing, marketing automation
Per an Ascend2 report, marketers mention several advantages of using marketing automation, chief among them are improvements in the customer experience and better use of staff time. And automation has also been linked to a stronger ability to prove ROI as well as increased coordination between marketing and sales teams. With these benefits, almost one-third of marketers surveyed by Ascend2 say they’ll be shopping for a new solution in the coming year.
Some 31% said they’ll be shopping for a solution, versus 26% who won’t be in the market. (The remaining 43% are unsure.) The results are interesting in light of a 2021 report indicating that 2 in 3 marketers had replaced a martech tool in the previous year, with marketing automation the most likely to have been replaced (by 24%).
Automation Usage Trends
The Ascend2 study suggests that there is some room for improvement in automation of the customer journey. While close to 1 in 3 respondents say their customer journey is either fully (9%) or mostly (22%) automated, for a majority – 47% – the overall customer journey remains only partially automated. In fact, for 1 in 5 (22%) the customer journey isn’t automated at all.
Looking at the areas in which automation is being deployed, the report finds that email marketing (55%) is the most widely used, much as it is the most broadly used for personalization. This was the only area for which a majority of marketers reported using automation.
Following email is social media management (44%), which was also the second-most utilized area for automation after email last year. However, after that content management is the third-most this year, as opposed to paid ads last year. Landing pages remain relatively high on the list, as do paid ads, while SMS marketing jumps up this year. Relative to last year, there seem to be fewer marketers putting automation to use in their lead scoring.
Using AI with Automation
While automation can improve efficiencies, adding artificial intelligence (AI) can help to further improve the customer experience.
The survey asked respondents in which areas they are currently testing or utilizing AI in conjunction with their marketing automation. The areas that emerged at the top were paid advertising (32%) and personalizing email messages/offers (32%). Not surprisingly, AI is being leveraged in areas where automation is more broadly used.
Meanwhile, about 1 in 5 report using or testing AI in conjunction with automation for product/content recommendations, email subject line personalization, predictive analytics, and account identification.
Other Findings:
- Price (58%) and ease of use (54%) are the most widely cited primary factors driving the purchase decision of a marketing automation tool, much as they have been in years past.
- Marketers are more likely to describe the success of their marketing automation at achieving important objectives as “very successful” (22%) than “unsuccessful” (14%). For the majority (64%), their marketing automation has been “somewhat successful” in meeting their goals.
- 7 in 10 respondents report that it is either extremely (11%) or somewhat (59%) easy to measure the success of marketing automation in meeting their objectives.
About the Data: The results are based on a survey conducted in February 2022 among 393 marketers, half (52%) of whom count B2C as their primary marketing channel. The remainder primarily target B2B (22%) or B2B and B2C equally (26%). Some 43% of respondents work at companies with at least 50 employees.
Need assistance with marketing automation platform selection, onboarding and/or optimization? Schedule a call or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
Also, check out our agency listing on Design Rush.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in marketing and sales automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
by bersondev | Mar 5, 2022 | marketing automation, marketing technology
The proliferation of digital channels and devices has made it challenging for marketers to accurately target prospects with the right messages, on the right devices, at the right times. Prospects are managing more of the buying process themselves, creating decision shortlists by researching brand websites and social channels without ever speaking to a sales rep. As such, to be effective, marketers must be creative, targeted and aligned with sales goals, and they must also have greater visibility into buyer attributes and behaviors.
Faced with these challenging market dynamics and increasing ROI (Return on Investment) pressure, marketers at companies of all sizes are turning to Marketing Automation as a solution to:
Increase marketing efficiency.
Marketing Automation enables marketers to automate the time-consuming manual tasks around content creation, management, and personalization, campaign scheduling and execution, data hygiene (i.e. fix duplicate or inconsistent data in separate silos), communication with sales, and lead nurturing. Marketing Automation saves time and improves productivity.
“Best in class marketers are 67% more likely to use a Marketing Automation platform and see 14% overall growth in marketing revenue.” – Aberdeen
Enhance the ability to generate more and better-qualified leads.
With Marketing Automation, marketers combine multiple criteria including demographic, firmographic (firm demographics) and behavioral data (pages visited, downloads, completed forms) with a lead-scoring system to generate and identify sales-qualified leads.
A multichannel view of prospect behavior.
Marketing Automation platforms integrate multiple channels to create more comprehensive prospect profiles and more holistic views of prospect behavior.
Better alignment of sales and marketing goals.
Marketing Automation software helps to align sales and marketing efforts ensuring sales reps are working with sales-ready leads. Working cooperatively to set scoring parameters and define qualified leads, sales and marketing become one team. Marketing works on building relationships with early-stage leads to enable the sales team to focus their efforts on the most highly qualified prospects.
Improve lead conversion and ROI.
According to Forrester Research, B2B marketers who implement Marketing Automation experience a 10 percent increase in their sales pipeline contribution.
To learn how to best use Marketing Automation to increase ROI, check out this article.
As a recognized Marketing Automation leader for the past decade, we work with firms to help them utilize their marketing technology to increase revenue. To see how we can help you, schedule a free consultation or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in Marketing Automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
by bersondev | Mar 1, 2022 | Lead Generation, Marketing, marketing automation, marketing technology
Marketing automation success requires more than just software. It takes strategy, creative, and the right team. Whether you are new to marketing automation or have a platform in place, here are sample questions and a worksheet for organizations that have marketing bottlenecks.
Lead Scoring Questionnaire
- Which channels contribute to your current customer acquisitions?
- What content contributes to your current customer acquisitions?
- What are the general steps your current customers took to become customers?
- Based on the earlier assessment of your marketing processes, how would you change your lead scoring model to improve these processes?
Lead Scoring Worksheets
To ensure you provide your Sales team with right leads at the right time, Marketing and Sales should develop the lead scoring model together.
To start, audit your sales-ready prospects and customers who have recently closed to learn their activities and behaviors. (Example: did 70% of your customers come from one lead campaign or lead magnet? Did they schedule a call with your sales team?)
As you clarify the type of leads that Sales prefers, you’ll be able to assign points to lead characteristics like attributes, activity, and engagement. Like campaigns, lead scoring is not a set it and forget it effort. After the initial set up, you’ll need to continue to evaluate your model and adjust it accordingly. Remember, Sales always prefers better qualified leads versus a higher quantity of leads.
PROFILE SCORE
This category helps you determine which contacts are a good fit for your Sales team. The Profile Score rules apply only once. (Example: when your contact enters a specific list based on their form submission, their score will be assigned.)
Make sure each contact has the attributes you’re looking for: job title, company size, industry. You can set up the rules to add points for attributes you prefer and subtract points for attributes that don’t work for your business.
BEHAVIOR SCORE
The Behavior Score shows you the contact’s activity. You’ll be able to identify implicit activity by your contact. (Example: the contact browses certain web pages.)
Depending on your scoring model, Sales might want to reach out to a contact based on their behavior. (Example: if a contact visits a pricing page on your website.) Behavior Scores are applied for every action taken so they can be applied multiple times.
ENGAGEMENT SCORE
This Score helps you identify explicit actions taken by your contacts and are potentially more valuable than implicit actions. A highly-engaged contact is expressing interest in your content. (Example: a form submit, clicking a link in an email.) Engagement Scores apply every time an action takes place.
All three categories: Profile, Behavior, and Engagement Scores give you an understanding of how well a contact fits your ideal customer profile, how active they are on your website, and how engaged they are with your content and business. You can have automated alerts sent to your Sales reps to reach out to contacts based upon your scoring rules.
Aligning customer marketing and Marketing Automation strategies can be challenging and time consuming. The right Marketing Automation platform and experienced external resource will streamline and simplify the process, ensuring that your Marketing Automation strategy is on-point, on-budget, implemented properly, and optimized for success.
To learn how to best use Marketing Automation to increase ROI, check out this article.
As a recognized Marketing Automation leader for the past decade, we work with firms to help them utilize their marketing technology to increase revenue. To see how we can help you, schedule a free consultation or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.
BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in Marketing Automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.
