Pursuing Leads Using Marketing Automation Tools
For a B2B marketer, leads can come from different sources.
Email Campaigns – Email responses that a marketer receives as replies to his email campaign messages can be considered as ‘warm’ leads. This is because of the logical reasoning that the email recipient has taken time to respond because he is genuinely interested in the offering or the product.
Form-fills – Form-fills are a major source of ‘warm’ leads. It shows the interest level of the user in using a particular product or service or in reading/receiving related information on a regular basis.
Twitter Streams – Social media marketing is most popular these days and Twitter ‘tweets’ contribute significantly to lead generation. Twitter posts can be segregated based on the ‘attitude’ of the tweets.
Manual Leads –Marketers sometimes gain access to offline leads through tradeshows and exhibitions. Since they have had the opportunity to personally interact with the buyer and know his interest level marketers can pursue them as well. These leads are usually maintained in a desktop folder and nurtured on a high priority basis.
Reading a prospect’s mind would require years of sales and marketing experience limiting to only those prospects that a marketer might speak to or meet in person. In an age where prospects are well researched and armed with information about the selling company, the only differentiator in clinching a deal would depend on how informed a marketer is about a prospect’s needs, which is no small feat.
But it is important, nonetheless, to ensure that the prospect comes to the negotiation table. This is where an intuitive marketing automation platform can pitch in. It can be a boon because that would mean marketers can customize the marketing activities, lead nurturing programs and sales pitches to ensure a warmer response than a cold call/email which just sells.
According to Gartner, B2B marketing automation is predicted to become a more than $3 billion industry by end of 2011. North America has been the biggest contributor to this boom so far and only lately is the rest of the world waking up to the potential which is gradually changing the way people do business.
Why choose Marketing Automation tools?
· Marketing Automation tools can be used as lead generation software. It can help to read the prospect’s mind, analyze their behavior and draw logical conclusions, thereby helping marketers make more informed marketing and sales pitches.
· This tool helps to measure the effectiveness of marketing channels which generate leads through the corporate website.
· It not only helps to evaluate the marketing activities yielding the maximum results but also identifies channels which are popular with the target audience.
· It helps to optimize the marketing spend by helping marketers focus their resources on channels that gives the maximum bang for their buck.
Also read on – B2B lead scoring, Marketing automation software
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