marketingautomation.net

As new services and technologies develop and advance, they pick up consumers who are at various stages in adoption. Given the the recent reporting by MarketingSherpa’s 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, current adopters of marketing automation are considered part of the late majority. The report found that 56% of respondents have either fully or partially implemented their marketing and 21% have plans to implement marketing automation software based on a sample of 935 B2B marketers. According to these numbers, businesses with no intention of using marketing automation are in the minority.

For the companies that have implemented marketing automation or plan to soon, marketing automation can be used as a competitive advantage. As a competitive advantage, it provides B2B marketers with the ability to interact with leads in ways that their competitors can’t. The competitors may declare a lead dead while an adopter may place the lead on a drip nurturing program and close the deal months down the road. Also, early adopters can capitalize on their ability to become experts with the software to always stay one step ahead of the competition. The longer a company waits to implement a tool, the longer it will be until they establish expertise.

Aside from gaining a competitive advantage outside the company, there are many disadvantages of not using marketing automation internally:

• Website traffic will continue to be monitored at a macro level instead of at the visitor level
• Leads will continue to be passed on to the sales team without proper qualification
• The salesperson may have to manually check in with an increasingly large number of prospects on a regular basis
• Pulling reports may be cumbersome and sourced from incomplete or inaccurate data
• Resources may spend too much time on tasks that could be automated
• The creation of new marketing resources like landing pages may be slowed down by the need for IT assistance

Companies with a complex, multi-touch sales cycle should consider the benefits of a marketing automation system. With a little boost from technology, you can save time and money while leaving your less-tech-savvy competitors in the dust.

There are a lot of reasons for that you might decide to get a new car. Maybe you just got a raise. Maybe your needs have changed because your family is growing. Maybe you’re just looking to upgrade to a more efficient, comfortable way to take care of the things you do every day like commuting or running errands.

It’s not such a big stretch to look at these reasons in terms of someone shopping for a new software solution like marketing automation. Just got the welcome surprise of an increased marketing budget? (Sounds a bit like a raise). Have a growing sales team with increasingly demanding needs or more targeted marketing campaigns than you keep up with? (There’s your growing family). Just looking for a better way to take care of ongoing marketing tasks like email campaigns, landing pages and storing online files? (I think you see where this is going).

With these similarities in mind, I present you with three things to consider whether your future calls for a new car or a new marketing automation tool:

Total Value: What’s included in the base price? Does it have all of the features you think you’ll need to get the job done? Will your investment increase drastically as you start to add all the extras you want? Conversely, does it have too many features – do you really need that roof rack, those rain-sensing wipers or that fancy chrome detailing? It looks nice on the outside, but does it have the power under the hood?

Balancing Current Needs with Plans for Future Growth: If you’re a a newly married couple, you probably don’t need the minivan just yet. However, if you’re thinking you may add to your family (or business) over the next few years, you’ll want to make sure you have a product that can grow with you whether that means planning ahead now with a little room to grow or looking for a flexible plan that won’t lock you in with limited options.

Quality of the Manufacturer: You wouldn’t buy a new car without first reading some reviews or talking to your friends who drive a similar model. When purchasing a new business tool, the same rules apply. Ask around. Read up on the latest company news and also check out third-party sources like industry publications, blogs or analyst reports. Get references. Get a feel for the company’s culture and their reputation for customer service.

Sometimes when you work in a small company – or just a company with a small marketing department – it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. You’re bogged down with everyday tasks and marketing emergencies pop up around every corner.

This year, with all the holiday wish lists being passed around, I got to thinking about creating a marketing “wish list.” I have also heard this called a marketing “bucket list,” essentially it is a list all the projects you wish you could find the time to work on some day. It shouldn’t take long to create and it can be a part of your 2011 planning. You may want to host a brainstorming session with your team, emphasizing that since this is a fantasy wish list, no idea is too big or small. Once you have your list, break up the ideas in to a few basic categories based on priority. If possible, make it a shared document that you and your team can add to whenever inspiration strikes.

You may be thinking that since you’re so busy, there is little point to taking the time to create this list. But every once a while when you wrap a large project, you may find yourself with some free time and you can refer to your list to see what you can accomplish. It is also a great tool to help delegate projects to new employees or interns who join the team. In addition, it may give some of your team members an opportunity to speak up and let you know what projects interest them the most so that you can make an effort to match people up with work that will keep them productive and fulfilled.

As a related note, this type of list building project also works very well for building a database of blog post ideas!

Trade Shows Don't Have to Go the Way of the Dodo

Lead generation has changed a lot in the past five years. Marketers are now relying on social media, search engine optimization, email and pay-per-click to get their message out there. Many innovative marketers would argue that print advertising, radio and television and monster-sized trade shows have gone the way of the dodo.

For some industries, these tactics can still be useful. The key is to integrate them with new media techniques to create a cohesive campaign that gets results. One example that comes to mind is trade shows. How can you make the most of your trade show sponsorship (so old school!) by using an updated marketing approach?

Promote via social media: Most trade shows now have some sort of social media element to bring people together before and during the event. This could include an event hashtag on Twitter or a Facebook page with event news and updates. Use your company’s social media channels to promote your participation in the show, interact with attendees and even set up meetings with potential clients. You can also get involved by posting photos from the event or promoting contents and giveaways that your booth is hosting via the social channel.

Promote via email: Use email to let your current customers and potential prospects know that you’ll be at an upcoming trade show. You may use this as a channel to offer discounted admission (if available) or to schedule meeting time with clients. On the prospect side, you may also want to create geographically targeted messaging for your database to alert prospects in the area that you’ll be in town. This can give you the opportunity to set up an in-person meeting (at the trade show or elsewhere in town) with people that you otherwise may not have a chance to meet.

Nurture leads: One great thing about participating in a highly-targeted trade show is that it can result in hundreds of new leads. When you return to your office, put the new leads in a targeted drip nurturing program that is specific to the trade show you attended. This is a great way to stay in contact with leads and provide additional relevant information about your product offerings.

Track ROI: For many companies, especially in the B2B space, it can take a long time to close a deal. Without a method of tracking those leads, how will you remember that a member of your marketing team met Company X at a trade show 10 months ago before passing them off to a sale rep for follow up? You probably won’t. Creating a trade show campaign and tagging the leads into your marketing automation system or CRM will allow you to track the value of your marketing investment over time. This can give you more meaningful metrics – for example, it’s easy to see how many leads you brought back from the show, but how many of those leads actually resulted in new business? Monitoring these metrics will help you show your marketing value, justify budget and determine which events you’ll return to next year.

Today’s marketers don’t have to shy away from traditional marketing techniques, they just need to learn how to update them to work in a modern world.