Sales + Marketing = Strategic Automation
No need for sales and marketing teams to break each other’s hearts in this modern age of digital. Marketing automation strategies have transformed the way companies conduct business today, but what do you really need to know to make this trend work for your business? The previous shot-in-the-dark strategy (where everyone received the same email) yielded some results, but marketing automation’s deep capability to target based on measurable behaviors now allows your sales team to work smarter, not harder.
If your company doesn’t currently use an automation system to align sales and marketing functions, the best place to begin is to watch our 14-minute webinar Tips, Trends, & Techniques for Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams.
If you are already generating digital leads from a platform that integrates with your CRM, then read on to fully tap into this strategy. Featured below are 2 ways to get started:
1. Carefully plan and execute a drip campaign
Awareness occurs through a variety of touch points. In today’s online world, many prospects need to see a brand numerous times before they engage. Drip campaigns help businesses achieve this goal by executing a series of timely emails that educate and encourage prospects to take action. If your business typically features a long sales cycle, this tactic helps you stay in touch with your prospects throughout their decision-making process.
The key to a successful drip campaign is to create consistency. If your automation platform allows you to set up triggered sending, use this strategy to convert prospects who are ready to walk away. For example, if you have an e-commerce website (ie: you sell online) you might consider triggering a drip campaign when prospects abandon the shopping cart. The same approach aligns well with any lead-conversion form. If you’ve already sent an email campaign about a particular topic, use it as an opportunity to begin to measure click-through rate so you can segment your audience.
The most important part of automation is for both the sales and marketing teams to pay attention to engagement (clicks, unsubscribes, and timing) throughout your drip campaigns to determine appropriate balance. Some email platforms even feature ‘Lead Scoring,’ which will automate this process for you.
2. Generate dynamic content
Your CRM or email platform typically capture previous behaviors of your customers and prospects. Dynamic content allows you to execute strategies based upon this data. Essentially, your emails will automatically update content based upon what is most likely to get an interaction.
For example, if your prospect downloaded a whitepaper, you can use dynamic content to send the customer a complementary case study. Moreover, if a customer purchased a specific product, use dynamic content to send an email about a similar product that may interest him or her. If your email platform allows you to integrate data from your website analytics, this enables you to take your marketing automation strategies to a new level by incorporating site history.
Segmentation tactics like the ones listed above can generate over 100% more clicks for your business versus the shot-in-the-dark strategy.
Prospects are much more likely to convert if you present them with relevant content. Instead of hours of analysis to help you determine how to master these digital behaviors, the tools we use can help streamline the process for your business. If you are new to marketing automation strategies, these techniques will help you be much more effective with lead generation. Would you like to schedule a free digital consultation to learn more?
