If you haven’t looked at marketing automation technology recently, you may not recognize the place. There are now over 215 marketing automation solutions on the market and the rate of marketing automation solution and innovation adoption shows no sign of slackening. The question for marketers isn’t so much will marketing automation technology have an impact on your business as it is which trend is the best fit?

Consider these statistics:

• 91% of users believe that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing across channels. Marketo

 

• 41% of marketers say that marketing automation is “Very effective/effective” at creating a cohesive customer journey. Salesforce
• 85% of B2B marketers felt they were not using their marketing automation software to their full potential last year. SiriusDecisions
• Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than those who were not nurtured. HubSpot
• Companies using marketing automation generate twice as many leads as those using just email software. AutoPilot

Not all solutions are the same. Learn the basics of marketing automation, then choose your route.

Predictive Analytics

In “The Hype Cycle for Business Intelligence and Analytics, 2013” Gartner reported that predictive analytics was poised to reach mainstream adoption in 0-2 years, or about right now. Here in 2015 we believe that insight-oriented diagnostic analytics and foresight-oriented predictive analytics will ensure marketer success.

Robust, predictive models help marketers eliminate guess work based on trends they identified using data. Eliminate guess work by answering questions like these:

• What is the optimum frequency of sending emails in a lead nurturing sequence?
• Which content (blogs, infographic, whitepapers, videos, etc.) should you send to a certain lead persona?
• Do you need to revisit your personas? Lead scoring?
• How should you score a lead from a particular marketing channel?

Data driven decisions help marketers launch and execute winning campaigns.

Let us know the best practices you follow when using data driven decisions.

Multi-channel Marketing

Multi-channel Marketing is the ability to interact and engage potential consumers across platforms in real-time — website, Facebook, etc. Marketing automation tools make it possible to personalize this interaction, the ultimate expression of “reach out and touch someone”.

Here’s an example. A company sells laptop computers for home and office use and Karen, a prospect, visits their website, adds a mainstream laptop with a high end graphics card to her cart, gets as far as billing and shipping details, but does not complete the order.

In a situation like this multi-channel marketing could:

1. Send Karen a personalized email urging her to complete her order. The email would show the details of Karen’s cart, her shipping and billing details and a link she can click to complete her order
2. Leverage Facebook so Karen sees an ad — “Karen, are you looking for a new laptop?” — when she logs on. This comes from an integration of the marketing automation platform with Facebook for retargeting.
3. Send, after a day of Karen not responding, a personalized email from Sales Support Executive Brian asking if he can help with any questions Karen may have?
4. Automatically activate after a few days a separate email nurture or Facebook retargeting campaign

This sequence of events can be customized based on the persona “Karen” is associated with in the marketing automation platform.

While highly effective, multi – channel nurturing is woefully underutilized. Here are some of the challenges marketers face when it comes to developing and executing these campaigns.

Multichannel marketing makes it virtually impossible to lose a customer due to their distraction or a technical glitch just before a purchase. This is a powerful concept that helps marketers target the right personas with personalized content at every step of their buyer’s journey.

Do you think this trend will help you improve conversions and target your prospects better?

Marketing Qualified Leads

Lead Quality. It’s typically where sales and marketing have their falling out.

• What is the rate of acceptance of your Marketing Qualified Leads into Sales Accepted Leads?
• Are sales and marketing on the same page when it comes to defining a “Qualified Lead”?

When implemented correctly marketing automation platforms change the ways sales and marketing teams perceive each other. Well-structured, well-documented lead scoring for various personas, channels, etc. help bring marketing and sales to the same conversation.

A constructive dialogue between the teams ensures “qualified” leads are converted, there is no leakage and leads that are not “sales ready” go back for a tailor made nurture andr future qualification.

Are you plagued with disconnect between your sales and marketing teams when it comes to lead qualification?

All our data points in one direction – marketing automation is becoming smarter, more personalized, and more accessible. It’s going way beyond the basic batch-and-blast email tool of yore.

Use the comment box below and let us know your thoughts on how marketing automation can transform business.