Marketing Automation: Don't lose sight of the wood for the trees.

Keeping it Simple

With more and more companies adopting Marketing Automation solutions to replace repetitive and time consuming manual processes with a specially designed software solution, its often the case that end users get caught up in the complexity of what the systems can deliver and forget the big picture. Ultimately the purpose of this kind of solution is to help streamline the marketing department’s tasks, making it more scaleable and to help marry these activities with the objectives of the sales department – not to make things more difficult.

So here are Profunnel’s top tips to keep your marketing automation simple.

Understand the power of Exclusions:

For those new to marketing automation, an Exclusion List or exclusions are instructions that ensure that a specific segment or group of existing or prospective clients do not receive specific campaigns or responses based on their behaviour. For example, I’m unlikely to want to send the same offers to existing paying clients as my prospective customers. No brainer right?

But beyond this obvious exclusion, its worth considering a couple more noteworthy examples - sending webinar sign-ups more information on your upcoming webinar, or an e-brochure for those who have already downloaded said brochure is an exercise in futility. Once these obvious exclusions have been addressed, the temptation is to start getting super complicated and start excluding according to all sorts of complex metrics – trying to ensure prospects don’t get the same email twice, or excluding whole lists according to behaviour on specific triggers...the list is endless and our recommendation would be to leave this to the pro’s (e.g. your account manager )

Just remember, over-thinking or in this case over-excluding can create both unnecessary work and can impact long-term marketing strategies. Simple strategies are most effective unless you have dedicated resource to run your marketing automation platform full-time.

Don’t overdo your audience segmentation!

Segmenting prospects and customers is a hugely valuable strategy allowing you to deliver specific offerings to a targeted audience who need it the most. Some companies are happy to distinguish between clients and prospects and others create veritable libraries of different segments. For the majority, once again, the simpler the better.

What most marketers overlook when brainstorming a new and innovative way to segment their audience is that for every segment you may need to create landing pages, e-shots, call-to-actions and offers as well as tying all these into separate campaigns. These then all need refining and tweaking and you end up painting the golden gate bridge all over again. Creating compelling content for larger segments will not overburden your resource and will allow you to push on and actually ensure your campaigns are as effective as possible.

Big Picture

It’s crucial to remember that marketing automation platforms are there to help leverage existing sales and marketing capabilities, not as a tool to overburden and burn out all resources. Of course, there is a benefit in having dedicated resource from your platform in order to supply ad-hoc support or even take on a project on your behalf. However, for the majority keeping it simple is a surefire method of reaping the rewards of a marketing automation platform...don’t lose sight of the wood for the trees.

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Email Marketing Provides Greatest ROI

The annual Email Marketing Census 2012 published by Econsultancy this week shows marketers believe email marketing delivers a better ROI than most other channels.

With results compiled from over 800 respondents, the census finds that 70% of the companies considered email marketing to generate either an “excellent” or “good” ROI. The findings also highlight how using an email service provider for more than just “basic broadcast” has had a positive effect on businesses’ ROI. By putting effort into segmenting their email campaigns and integrating email marketing with CRM and web analytics, marketers are 32% more likely to find their ROI to be either “excellent” or “good”.

The census also highlights how many marketers are not taking advantage of more sophisticated forms of email marketing – only 28% said they would send a trigger email to a sign-up or site visitor. These figures clearly identify the benefits of installing technology to assist with lead generation and increase customer sales. Profunnel offers intelligent email marketing solutions to work with other business functions such as web analytics, social media and CRM. The platform can assist company owners with complex marketing campaigns by placing focus on only warm leads. This improves productivity of marketing and sales teams meaning a greater return on investment is achieved.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

Social Media Unfavoured for Marketing ROI

The latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Marketing has found an increasing number of businesses are using social media but are struggling to identify its overall value.

1,500 companies from around the world were questioned including both consumer and B2B companies. As Management Today reports, 67% of B2B companies are using Twitter and 64% are integrating LinkedIn while under half of the businesses are using Facebook. Although these figures suggest that social media is being considered an important marketing tool, many of the businesses in the survey have not been able to prove the ROI. More than 1 in 5 were not convinced that it helps to create new enquiries while only 23% thought it was proving useful for finding prospects.

This survey suggests that social media can be effective but needs to be used in conjunction with traditional media and not relied on to generate customers. A more valuable way to do this is through specialist marketing automation software, which can help businesses to pinpoint prospects. Profunnel’s email marketing solutions can increase leads directly into a sales team's inbox and alert the team not only of emails being opened but also clicks on a website so businesses can clearly see the activity of their database and efficiently act on warm leads.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing automation.

Email marketing ‘has a place’

Although some experts claim email marketing is being made redundant by social media, the latest research by Econsultancy shows quite the opposite.

As reported by MyCustomer.com, the UK market for email marketing grew by 15.5% last year with the value for platforms and services rising to £388 million. The figures have been drawn from email service providers, the cost of internal staff resources for email and spending on agency services.

The research indicates that this boost to email marketing is being strengthened by cross-channel campaigns and according to Econsultancy’s research manager, Aliya Zaidi, the key factor for marketers to master now is relevance. She suggests: “The growth of social media and greater volume of emails means companies can simply no longer afford to ignore email tactics that will increase the effectiveness of their campaigns, including personalisation, targeting and segmentation.”

By integrating email marketing solutions, businesses can create focussed, segmented campaigns based on the use of their website by prospects, such as keywords, downloads and number of visits. The technology can also provide real time statistics on open-rates to ensure marketers can concentrate on warm prospects while companies improve overall communications with customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on targeted email marketing.

Tension Over Customer Data Reclaim

The new government scheme to be introduced at the beginning of 2012 will allow customers to access their personal information held by companies.

Midata is proposing to generate new services and to help customers make informed decisions, creating a two-way trust for businesses and their customers, with the hope of leading to growth in the economy.

As reported in Marketing Week, there could be doubt in this scheme from businesses as many companies find that data is a fundamental aspect in making their business successful and gives them an advantage over their competitors. Many businesses use the information as a marketing strategy – targeting products and services relevantly to customer interest. This is a useful and successful way to build trust with customers.

Profunnel’s B2B lead generation solution allows marketers to identify customer interest by monitoring their website activity. The technology will track which pages known and anonymous customers visit, how long for and how often. As real-time alerts are fed to sales and marketing, online lead generation is increased as the warmest leads are being highlighted. With email marketing solutions, sales people can send targeted messages containing information relevant to the prospects’ interests. The personalisation can increase engagement and trust with the recipient, leading to more sales and a clearer ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on lead generation

Email Marketing is Evolving

The results from the annual Marketing Week ‘Email Attitudes Research’ survey indicate that email marketing remains a favoured method of communication for businesses. 70% of respondents said they sent more emails over the last 12 months than the previous year and 45% have seen greater click-through rates.

Consumers surveyed in 2010 found one of the biggest issues with email to be ‘information overload’, whereas this year consumers are more willing to receive email messages due to better targeting. Although for many marketers ‘targeting’ is still considered a big challenge, finding difficulties in obtaining data.

Email appears to be retaining its status as a preferred form of marketing as businesses begin to see the potential of integrating email with other marketing channels. 45% indicate they have seen traffic from other channels increase when integrated with email campaigns. However there is still concern from marketers over data capture, which would allow them to create more tailored emails.

As the results highlight, targeted email marketing is the underlying success factor for marketers and consumers. Profunnel provides integrated email marketing solutions to strengthen tailored campaigns for better results. Through web forensics, website visitor behaviour is captured and warm leads are selected and sent through to marketers, developing B2B lead generation. With this information, email messages can be composed with relevant content for individual prospects. Recipients are more likely to open these messages which will consequently create greater opportunity to generate new business.

Please visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing

‘Loyalty’ and ‘Engagement’ found to be Key factors to Increase ROI

The Guardian Media Group (GMG) has recognised the potential of growth for its online publications and is aiming to become a digital-first company. The group already has the Guardian website in place, however it intends to shift its main focus from print newspapers to a web-based news service.

This strategic decision to drive the Guardian website forward comes from the media group’s desire for a ‘mutualised, collaborative and networked’ form of journalism. To achieve commercial success, GMG is aware that it needs to capture its digital audience and create an individual relationship with the Guardian reader, in order to retain their loyalty. The group intends to deliver customised content, tailored to specific reader interests, via new technology as part of an increased marketing campaign.

Loyalty and engagement are key requirements when building any business relationship. In B2B, companies must connect with prospects on a personal level to increase the chance of securing an affiliation, while current customers require communication and information following their purchase if they are to remain loyal to the company.

Profunnel offers intelligent marketing automation solutions conducted via a single platform – bringing financial benefits to organisations as the issue of implementing various software applications with limited functionality is eradicated, resulting in an improved ROI. The solution increases B2B lead generation and provides marketers with lead nurturing technology to take website visitors from their initial visit through the buying cycle to the final purchase. Additionally businesses can optimise their entire online marketing campaign by integrating email marketing solutions whereby messages can be modified to provide relevant information and increase customer engagement.

Visit Profunnel for more information on marketing automation

Businesses opt for B2B Email Marketing

Research conducted by Econsultancy has found that the chosen method for companies to communicate with their customers is through email marketing.

The findings indicate a wide range of areas for which email marketing is preferred for customer engagement. 86% of the businesses questioned choose this channel for corresponding offers, 80% for product and service news, 76% opt for email marketing when requesting feedback and 60% prefer this channel when offering customer service.

As illustrated by these statistics, the majority of companies consider email marketing to be most valuable. However it’s important to implement the correct strategy in order to generate successful communication and build relationships with customers.

By integrating email marketing solutions into their campaign, businesses can increase the effectiveness of their messages. From a single demand generation platform, Profunnel offers solutions which incorporate automatic tracking of visitors to the website and real-time alerts highlighting the interests of these visitors to the sales and marketing team. This process improves online lead generation as only warm leads are referred to the sales team. The information retrieved through Profunnel’s demand generation software can assist sales in creating tailored email messages to achieve successful engagement with customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

Boost to Direct Marketing Spending

According to the latest Bellwether report, direct marketing budgets have grown. In keeping with Profunnel’s beliefs, it’s refreshing to see companies investing more in their marketing strategies.

As reported in Marketing Week, the second quarterly report from Bellwether shows that companies have increased their investment in direct marketing, including email marketing, which is one of only three channels to see a rise in spending. From April to the end of June, budgets have jumped by 2.5 per cent, compared with 1.8 per cent in the first quarter.

Mel Cruickshank, chairman of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s direct marketing group, says companies are “turning to direct marketing to provide return on investment against marketing spend”.

In order to be a good investment, successful direct marketing depends greatly on forward planning, accurate targeting and up-to-date data. Integrating intelligent marketing technology can ensure companies receive this good return on investment, which Profunnel has proven time and time again.

The latest email marketing solutions from Profunnel, allow sales and marketing professionals to tailor their messages – offering a personal approach to engage their visitors – making them more attractive to potential customers. Profunnel’s targeted email marketing software incorporates a level of personalisation and flexibility derived from the results of lead scoring, which are generated by visitor activity. Based on these findings messages will be sent containing relevant information to prospects, which improves email lead generation, directing warm leads into a company’s sales inbox.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

Online Marketing Prospers

The latest report by IPA/BDO Bellweather has shown a significant increase in companies turning to internet marketing and predicts a 2.9 per cent boost in online advertising and social media spending.

Online marketing is fast becoming the preferred approach for companies due to the advanced functionality and clearer ROI delivered by activities such as email marketing, social media tracking and online lead generation. However, this can be time consuming and costly when using multiple software applications. Profunnel offers all of these services and more from just one platform, allowing companies to economically optimise targeted email marketing solutions and online marketing activity through the latest demand generation technology.

For more information on B2B lead generation from Profunnel, please click here

LinkedIn Favourite Social Media Channel For Marketers

According to a recent research report by BtoB, LinkedIn is the favourite social media channel among marketers.

The study revealed that out of all of the social media channels 26% of respondents preferred LinkedIn, followed by Facebook with 20%, blogging (19%) and customer communities (14%). Surprisingly, Twitter was favoured by only 13% of marketers.

Whatever the channel, social media has become an integral part of B2B marketing and is most effective when used in collaboration with other marketing activities. Social media tracking is an effective method for companies to employ to ensure they get the most out of social media activity.

Profunnel offers a social media marketing package, which incorporates various systems to optimise your use of Social Media channels. The software offers services on; creating marketing campaigns, tracking the impact of blogs and building pages to track and capture incoming traffic.

For more information on the technology available click here.

Online Journey – Key to Marketing Success

Web forensics enables marketers to track the activity of individuals and companies that visit their web site and to direct them to information that relates to their area of interest. The technology monitors visitors, collating information that builds knowledge on customer interests.

These details are essential for online marketing, but what turns a visit into a sale is the identification and recording of the customers’ online journey - not just the information required to hit a person’s mailbox.

With lead generation technology, businesses are able to understand their customers’ behaviour and respond with targeted actions. Companies can create campaigns and nurture leads, building relationships and developing trust with potential buyers, which in turn leads to more successful outcomes.

For more information on the technology available click here.

Planning for the Future

The confidence of business was restored a little this week with George Osborne’s budget - the Telegraph reported that the new measures will encourage investment and boost the amount of funds for companies keen to capitalise on growth opportunities.

This boost should pave the way for further development and success, and for sales and marketing it means making the most of the opportunities being opened up.

By integrating lead generation technology into your plans, business can not only improve the understanding it has about the behaviour of its customers, but it can also quickly respond to their needs. This information allows organisations to improve their targeting, conversions, and ultimately ROI.

As the days of Labour rule have vanished so has email blasting. Sales and marketing needs to understand its online customer is vital to the company’s sustained growth - from responses to e-letters and social media activity, businesses can develop a digital fingerprint to tailor its communication and focus on hot prospects.

Find out how lead generation technology needs to be on every company’s budget this financial year.

What Can White Papers Do for Lead Generation?

The answer is a lot. Many companies underestimate the importance of white papers and what they can do for your company, but their content is key in establishing new leads.

White papers play a role at the beginning of the buying process – they help establish you as an expert in your market, while offering a great introduction or reminder of the services/products you offer. They work successfully as part of an email marketing campaign, generating warm leads from people keen to find out more about what you offer. The result is increased conversion rates for sales, while those leads that are not yet ready to buy can be nurtured over time.

Effective email marketing with white papers is all about generating solid leads for your business. Communication can now be carefully targeted and highly relevant, with a content rich approach that potential customers find useful. Get this right and you’ll give your sales team opportunities that they can really work with.

The leads are out there and white papers can help. For more information on white papers visit Profunnel the learn about demand generation

SEO is Only the Beginning

Web activity and maximising online visibility through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become a critical component in lead generation for businesses in all sectors. But strong SEO is only the beginning for companies.

While SEO is an important marketing tool, it cannot be solely relied upon to increase sales. Attracting visitors to your website is the first step of the new business chain – but once they are there, how do you make sure they keep on returning and ultimately purchase your product or service? The key to this is building understanding of these visitors – where they have come from, what they are interested in on your website, where they are in the buying cycle and more.

So how can you achieve this? Next generation web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity) enables companies to really understand potential business, nurture it, communicate more effectively with individuals, and manage those relationships. Not all web forensics offers this ability, so now’s the time to get ahead of the competition, find out more about improving your Lead Generation

Email Marketing Continues to Grow

According to new research by Econsultancy, the email marketing industry has increased by 15 per cent year-on-year. The research revealed that email marketing is worth £336 million to date this year.

There are many reasons for this increase in email marketing, but one of the most fundamental is that companies are now finding that email marketing can be successfully, easily and cost-effectively integrated into their overall marketing activity. From big business to SMEs, companies are embracing email to support both tactical and strategic marketing campaigns.

Add to this the latest tracking and tagging technology, which allows companies to monitor customer response and action on every element of an e-shot, and now we are seeing email marketing becoming far more targeted and personalised. The result is increased lead generation for companies and improved ROI – elements no company should turn their back on.

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