Creating a Leak-free Leads Pipeline

Introduction to Marketing AutomationMay 2010

Overview

Is the 97-3 rule of website traffic creating holes in your leads pipeline? Today, we’ll explore marketing automation and how it can help solve this challenge.

• What is Marketing Automation• Review of MA Landscape• Benefits of Marketing

Automation• Is MA Right for Your Business• Conclusion

Why Do We Say “Leak-free Pipeline?”

“Doctor, what’s the health of my pipeline?”Are leads falling out of the

middle? • B2B leads are expensive and you need a critical mess of leads to fuel the pipeline• What happens when the leads cool off and don’t flow out the middle of the pipeline to the “engaged” stage?• These leads can languish indefinitely in ‘no-man’s land’• Marketing automation can make nurturing these leads scalable—to move them through the funnel

Defining Marketing Automation (MA)

Marketing automation is a technology platform

that can identify, score, qualify and nurture

prospects by automated processes and drive

revenue using trigger-based, multi-touch

communications.

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Traditional Marketing Paradigm

Typically, marketing professionals are juggling and managing multiple platforms, systems, reports and databases.

They’re often stuck in the middle, working less efficiently and effectively.You

The New Paradigm with MAIntegrates all of these processes on one platform for seamless integration and improved efficiency.

Use Marketing Automation to

• Qualify and engage prospects

• Send behaviorally targeted email campaigns

• Re-energize middle-of-the-funnel leads

The Disconnect in Today’s Marketing

Data PointsOnly 2-5% of companies today are using marketing automation (Laura Ramos, Forrester)

89% of companies struggle with automating marketing functions (Aberdeen)

Today, only 27% of all closed sales come from leads generated by marketing (Sirius Research)

 

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What’s the Takeaway? Companies are trying, but struggling, to establish better marketing practices, and only a relatively small percentage of leads are actually attributed to marketing.

Factors Driving MA Usage

Businesses realize the importance of not only winning more customers but also engaging prospects with best-in-class messaging

Survey (446 marketers) of the most important goals over the next 12 months:•24% Ensuring qualified leads are converting into appropriate sales opportunities•22% Nurturing and converting initial inquires into qualified leads•19% Increasing sales effectiveness and improving close rates•11% Cross-selling and/or up-selling existing customers

Survey (446 marketers) of the most important goals over the next 12 months:•24% Ensuring qualified leads are converting into appropriate sales opportunities•22% Nurturing and converting initial inquires into qualified leads•19% Increasing sales effectiveness and improving close rates•11% Cross-selling and/or up-selling existing customers

Benefits of Using MAOld Way – ESP, Google Analytics, etc…

Prospect Contact form completed No PersonalizationNo Engagement

Unknown Actions & readiness

New Way – Marketing Automation

Prospect Contact form is mapped & added directly into your lead database

Name, email, phone gives us details for

1:1 communications

We know when she’s ready! Faster/more tailored follow-up

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Greater Functionality than an ESP

• One-off emails• Mass delivery• Limited customization• Basic email stats/tracking• No web visibility

• Automated communication• Campaign logic• Triggered responses

• Behaviorally targeted & segmented e-conversation

• Website integration/Forms tracking• Lead management & data

warehouse• Prospect interaction management• Detailed site usage reporting• Customized alerts based on activity

Typical uses for an ESPTypical uses for an ESP Benefits of Marketing AutomationBenefits of Marketing Automation

Email Service Provider

More Granular Data than Analytics

• Basic web data– Anonymous, aggregated,

statistical information– Website traffic stats– Page views– Duration on site– Entry / Exit pages– Details broken down by

geographic location– Broad campaign performance

tracking

• Goal / Conversion tracking

• Actionable web intelligence– Identifiable, individual, actionable information– Detailed user tracking for sales team follow up

(name, email, contact info)• Triggered responses based on web/email actions

– Email campaigns for increased engagement– Customized alerts to the sales team or

marketing for timely follow-up• Behaviorally targeted, automated, personalized

responses• Unlimited forms tracking and one click web form

mapping of existing and new forms• Lead scoring, lead management & data warehouse• Integration with CRM for full-cycle visibility & deeper

sales-cycle analysis

Typical uses of Google AnalyticsTypical uses of Google Analytics Benefits of Net-Results Marketing AutomationBenefits of Net-Results Marketing Automation

Engage Less-Ready Leady

Considering over 97% of leads are not sales-ready, it is critical to have a way to move them through the pipeline

But, traditional lead nurturing models are typically not scalable because they rely on multiple touches by the sales or marketing team to become educated and qualified leads

Energize that 95%with MA

•Valued added content

•Helpful statistics

•Tools & Info / Sell Internally

•Promos & Events

Engagement Ideas / Content

Triggers

Additional personalized follow-up based on engagement type

Nurturing Is Everything Because…

• Studies show most (60%-70%) of the qualified leads that hit your website will buy from you or one of your competitors within 12 months

• In other words, you or sales team needs to perform the initial contact

AND follow up perfectly so you

are top-of-mind at decision time

Is MA Right for Your Business?• Are you sending emails as part of your marketing

strategy?• Is it valuable to identify who is on your website

and/or interacting with emails and content?• Do you need to hand off leads to sales as soon as

they reach a certain threshold of ‘readiness’?

Marketing Automation can help with

automated email campaigns, granular

visitor tracking, lead scoring, alerts, etc.

Benefits for Companies of all Sizes

Large Enterprise

Small/Medium Business

So-Ho

•Streamlines communications•Centralizes lead management•Individualizes conversations•Promotes lead cycle management

•Easy to use interface•Quickly measures qualified prospects•Replaces blind cold-calling with calls to qualified leads•Helps you do more with less!

•Offers good balance of personalized communication•Scales lead nurturing•Efficient follow-up to qualified leads

Customer benefits

How does marketing automation benefit you?

• Develop and qualify more opportunities from your database

• Have ‘e-conversations’ using relevant collateral as opposed to one-off emails

• Hand off the most qualified leads to sales at the height of engagement

• Save time and stretch your budget with automated processes

Thank You!

Have eight minutes? Find out more about marketing automation and contact Elizabeth at elizabeth@getmoreaccess.com or follow me on Twitter @esklaroff

Appendix I –glossary of terms• Lead nurturing--In a lengthy sales cycle, nurturing is a relationship building approach that utilizes

marketing media to provide relevant and timely information to prospects and to engage in an ongoing dialog until qualified prospects are sales ready.

• Lead scoring—A process where points are assigned based on specific actions you set within the MA platform. Typically, points will be added for “positive,” sales-ready type behaviors and subtracted for negative actions so the higher the lead score, the more serious the prospect.

• Lead management—A methodology designed to optimize the initial pre-sales process so your sales department has more time to focus on the most valuable prospects and opportunities.

• Drip campaigns (linear, time based, can be triggered on an action)-- the strategy of automatically sending planned, scheduled emails to contacts or prospects

• Logic-based campaigns (non-linear, conditional, behaviorally sensitive)—let’s discuss—I usually lump logic and drip together.

• Demand generation—the process of managing customer interaction and marketing efforts from beginning to purchase or a lead is turned over to sales

• Lead Database—A centralized repository of a company’s prospects that includes critical contact information for communications.

• CRM integration-- CRM (customer relationship management) is a strategy where all relevant customer information is stored and organized in a database. When a MA platform is integrated with a CRM tool, the client can track all customer and prospect information and activities through on integrated platform as opposed to managing multiple tools.

• Sales & Marketing Intelligence—The strategy of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information that is relevant to target markets or demographics that your company is pursuing.