Why are so many B2B organisations using B2B marketing automation software? Because it allows them to track outcomes and develop marketing plans that are highly tailored and successful at converting leads into sales. Instead, b2b marketing is incomplete without a structured marketing automation implementation.

Let us begin with our favourite quote by the marketing veteran Seth Godin:

How Marketing Automation Can Take Your Business to the Next Level

When it comes to marketing automation, these fifteen recommendations will help your marketing initiatives get off the ground:

Having a plan in place is essential for b2b marketing.

You must have a plan in place before you can use any market strategies. Your goals for using marketing automation should be well stated. What tools will you employ, and how often do you plan to make use of these tools? Where does it make sense to take a break from automation and bring in the human touch?

Preparation is the key to saving time.

Yes, setting up a B2B marketing automation takes time, but once done right, you will never have to bother about it again. Make use of the time-saving features of marketing automation by creating templates for the campaigns you frequently deploy. These templates should make it simple for you to edit the content and graphics in your email series for a particular campaign after they’re set up. The information may be made more customised by incorporating customization tokens.

Make Good Use of Reporting for your marketing automation success will be measured through reporting and analytics. Even if your recent email had a high open rate, don’t solely focus on that number. Take action based on the data. Changing the wording or using a different stock photo might provide various outcomes, so experiment until you get the desired results.

Pay attention to the basics.

B2b Marketing automation might be overwhelming at first, so maintain your focus on lead stages, scoring, and nurturing for the time being. Introducing additional features must not be considered unless you’re certain you understand the basics. Whenever you feel lost, refer to the buyer’s journey in the Email Marketing Journey Maps article.

We are big fans of integrations.

Today’s marketing automation software interfaces with a slew of technologies you currently use, and linking these platforms may result in both time savings and better outcomes. Make it easy for your customer care representatives to register phone calls and access customer details by connecting your phone system to a CRM. Connect your marketing automation tool to other platforms like ERP, Project Management Tools, and Accounting Software to track prospects’ interactions and journeys with your product or service.

Buyer Personas: Build and Use

Using buyer personas, you can target your campaigns to the correct audience and deliver the perfect message. Within marketing automation, you may segment your communications to target specific personas, boosting your conversion rate when you communicate effectively with each one.

To effectively define your target demographic, you must use market segmentation ↗. Over the years, Nike has developed a highly successful business model by narrowing in on specific types of customers and tailoring their approach to those groups.

Always experiment and test your B2b marketing strategies

Your automation software, including your campaigns, forms, CTAs, and workflow, should all be tested. However, make one modification at a time to precisely assess the influence of that little change on your marketing automation campaign. Make a list of the most effective fonts, colours, pictures, and messages so you may use them again.

Use Customer Data to Gain a Better Understanding of Your Demographics

You may learn many things about yourself via interactions with your website, product or email newsletters. Don’t overlook the value of their insights. When B2B marketing teams analyse their customer data, they see dramatic improvements in their performance.

Using Lead Nurturing to Generate Revenue

Converting a website visitor into a lead is just the beginning. Create compelling content that guides the potential customer through the buyer’s journey and encourages them to take the desired action, such as contacting a sales representative, subscribing to your newsletters, or making a purchase. For successful b2b marketing, it’s essential to understand your buyer’s journey to give the material they need in the appropriate order and at the right time so that they can progress, create trust and make a purchase.

Focus on Your Lead Source.

It is critical to understand where your leads are coming from, and this will shift over time. This information is vital for creating automated marketing campaigns. For example, which campaign sources deliver you the most marketing qualified leads and which sources produce the best conversions?

Take note:

Lead Category (inbound versus outbound)
The primary source of info (social media, email marketing, event)
Details about the primary resource (Facebook, Instagram, ABC event)

Platform Integration

It is normal for a b2b business to have multiple databases containing customer data to run email marketing campaigns, which might make it difficult to a) maintain data current across the company and b) have a 360-degree perspective of the customer. Maximize the level of integration between your marketing automation and your sales (also known as CRM) systems, which in turn should be integrated with your ERP (enterprise resource planning) tool. If you can’t do that, utilise a reporting platform that combines all the data from the various systems together so that you can measure metrics and KPIs across the customer lifetime.

Focus on the Most Critical Data to Capture

With so much data available, it’s hard to know where to focus. Begin by collecting only the most relevant information, such as your name, email address, and maybe your customers’ location. As your marketing automation grows, you’ll want to incorporate tools like Smart Fields and Progressive Profiling to better collect customer information. Make a strategy for what you want to record and why you want it (what will you do with it).

It is vital to have accurate and up-to-date data.

Create procedures to ensure that your customer data is consistently clean and up to date. For example, how will you deal with email addresses that are invalid, inactive, or unsubscribed from a list? How are you going to deal with duplicate accounts? How do you plan to manage locations like the UK (India) and the United Kingdom (UK)? Put up these procedures and data elements right now to avoid future issues. Later these hygiene issues will hamper your b2b marketing efforts.

Establish Stages of Revenue for your B2B Marketing Automation

To be certain that your b2b marketing efforts are truly generating revenue, you need to set up income stages in your lead funnel to measure the revenue generated through marketing efforts.

Review Your Lead Funnel

You may notice the noise as your automation runs smoothly. These are sections of your sales funnel that may not be producing the outcomes you need. Make sure to re-oil them so that they can resume contributing to the sales process.

B2b marketing automation – the road ahead

Marketing automation is a process that will take time to master. Reduce the number of fancy features you use in favour of the significant ones, and then gradually increase the number of features you use. We have compiled a list of the 19 most critical marketing automation features. B2b marketing is a journey, and companies must set milestones to maximise this investment. If required, seek the help of a B2B Marketing Agency.