Top Three Reasons to Implement B2B Marketing Automation
Websites may be registering high website hit rates, but the number of prospects who actually take the product or the solution seriously may only be a negligible portion. Nevertheless, this insignificant bit may give rise to huge business opportunities because of the industry segment they belong to or because of the need of your product. Therefore, knowing a visitor’s intent is crucial in lead generation. This is where marketing automation tools play a key role. Marketing automation is a must-have for B2B marketers. Here are some the top reasons why it has become imperative to implement one.
a) Centralized Database
Most B2B marketers work with a huge lead database. Maintaining a lead database not only increases the chances of identifying frequent visitors; it also brings attention to the much needed focus on the reach-out programs. A centralized database helps a marketer to effortlessly manage the lead pipeline as well.
Databases created and maintained in marketing automation systems helps to provide a comprehensive picture of whether a lead belongs to the interested target base. It also helps to design marketing programs based on the phase of the buying cycle of the prospect– awareness, interest, trial and buy.
b) Proactive Responses
B2B marketers need to engage prospects in dialogues in order to nurture them. This dialogue must help the prospects to understand how well the product marketed is able to solve their problems and address their needs. By using marketing automation tools, a B2B marketer is able to know what his prospect has searched on his website and if there is a possibility of that prospect visiting again.
Webinar invitations and social media discussions can be good base from where to start a dialog with a lead. As the marketer becomes more aware of the prospect activity, he is able to take prompts actions, which helps the prospect to move closer to the trial stage.
c) Working with not-yet qualified leads
There may be a segment of anonymous visitors who have been left unattended to so far by B2B marketers. It is the responsibility of the marketing team to keep in touch with such people to develop a ‘relationship’ first. Also, Marketing will end up spending more time and money to capture lead information on the unqualified ones if they are let off without any action.
Marketing automation tools help to establish communication (email marketing) with such leads. Continual and automated communication programs specifically designed for the unqualified ones can be executed to keep them informed, irrespective of whether they are responding or not (and to keep adding leads to the marketing funnel).