Leveraging Marketing Automation for Lead Scoring

Lead scoring enables marketers to assign a quantitative value to website visits based on the visiting person’s profile, which includes demographic information and website behavioral activities. The value assigned is determined based on what profile the marketer is interested in. For example, if a marketer is specifically interested in Canadian prospects coming from the automobile industry background, these parameters could be assigned a greater value to denote that whether prospects match (or not) with the marketer’s search criteria.

Scoring also lets marketers to sort leads and identify changes in behavioral patterns so that marketers can work with sales-ready leads. And, lead scoring is one of the primary uses of implementing a robust marketing automation solution.

Marketing automation tools help to automate the manual process of lead management and lead generation. By using the lead tracking features of marketing automation software, marketers can touch base with leads they are interested in, by assessing their buying interest.

Marketing automation can enable B2B marketers to:

• Analyze lead scores to personalize email campaigns.
• Assess the effectiveness of campaigns executed for a specific geographical location or specific purpose.
• Create automated responses to prospect web activity such as form-fills or registrations.
• Create mailing lists based on scores.
• Identify buying stage of prospects and their responses.
• Restrict or provide access to prospect information based on his buying stage.

By implementing a lead scoring model in marketing automation software, companies can:

1. Identify the improvement in quality of leads procured over a period of time. When lead profile criteria is fine  tuned on a regular basis, marketers will be able to rightly define a sales ready lead and then plan effectively towards closing the business deal.
2. Decrease the overheads experienced due to manual processes and focus more on the campaign execution process.
3. Note a marked improvement in campaign development and management. This means, marketers will spend less time in transitioning leads from one phase to another, thereby contributing to the base line.
4. Bridge the divide between sales and marketing departments so that they work can together in identifying sales-ready leads.

Marketing automation solutions and lead scoring is a winning combination for B2B marketers who want to gain visibility into lead intent. This lead intelligence can be leveraged to move leads faster in the marketing funnel and drive revenue for the company.

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Marketing Automation Solutions - Providing a Cutting Edge

Today's business environment is an aggressively competitive one. Technological innovations and globalization have helped enterprises stay ahead of their competitors. With the basic aim of every business enterprise to be  profit oriented, they  take steps to market their products and services across wide  geographical regions  through various modes including the world-wide web.

Effective marketing of products and services leads to generation  quality sales leads. However,  the enterprise today with all the technology know how are still challenged to create business strategies that would help manage demand generation campaigns and effectively evaluate  return on investments.  Adoption  of effective marketing automation solutions  by the new age business enterprises help them combat the  complex scenario and streamline marketing and sales functions.

The business enterprises that think of creative and innovative solutions to meet the demands of the customers tend to achieve maximum sales leads. Thus innovation is must in the enterprises marketing plan. The marketing automation solutions is innovative and intuitive and provides the B2B  and B2C sales channels an spontaneous platform for the ever-changing marketing landscape.

Today with technology so involved in every aspect of the business world,  e-commerce has  become a popular method of  business expansions. This has brought to light a number of marketing  tools that has been developed over the years. Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool popular among the B2B enterprises. Being  low cost and  effective means to reach a wide range of  targeted audiences this is an effective way for  building relationship with prospects,  past and present customers. Combined with marketing automation tools from the leading service providers helps enterprises target their emails accordingly.

However, success of the business enterprise is largely dependent on the level of  synchronization of  the sales and marketing efforts of the various teams. Marketing automation systems  facilitates  a high-level of real-time communication between the teams. Social media campaigns also play a great role for communication and feedback between teams as well as customers. This helps to augment the marketing campaigns on the basis of sales team feedback  which further facilitates  greater lead generation.

An effective marketing automation solutions  will  aid generation of qualified leads. Together with the insight provided by the marketing automation  systems the teams can work out better campaigns. With foundations of the marketing campaigns today  based on real data, enterprises gain greater control . The marketing automation solutions thus provides greater return on investment and  a competitive edge for the global enterprises.

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How to Leverage Marketing Automation Tools for Lead Generation

The surge in Internet usage and the overdose of digital information have brought about a huge transformation is the B2B selling process. It has been researched and found out that most buyers prefer to do their research about what they want to buy before reaching out to the company’s hotline.

It is important for sellers to also be informed about their prospect’s wishes. So, there is a need for sales teams to be aware of all the activities that the prospects are doing on the site.

Most company websites have online information filling forms. They know what to do when someone responds to an RFP, or fills up a Contact Us form. Companies are also potential prospects and are reaching out to marketers even if they are not choosing to identify themselves by filling out a form. Therefore, it is crucial to have a platform where both types of visitors are identified – those that choose to identify themselves and those that remain anonymous.

Most analytics tools (like Google Analytics) are more very useful to B2C audiences and hence the talk of summary metrics (number of visit to a page) and Goal completes (who is buying, where are they dropping out etc) which are not quite as relevant from a B2B standpoint. For a B2B environment the marketing automation software used has to be relevant to both Sales and Marketing teams.

When it comes to B2B selling, companies need lead data that is actionable and provides consistent information to all sales teams. This data should help to identify potential prospects, provide some background information to determine if they are qualified and in turn help in reaching out to them.

By using marketing automation solutions for lead generation, marketers can expect the following:

1. Trace Online Activity
Marketing automation tools help in tracking information such as visits made to important pages, downloading content, attending a Webinar, responding to an email sent out, copying content on the site, visiting site from a 3rd party review publisher site, etc. This can be very useful for B2B lead generation.

2. Identify Lead Background Information
Marketing automation solutions help B2B companies to identify the name of the company. Structured data like company size, location, industry can also be identified and be used to determine if the corporate visitor is in the target segment or not and help marketing teams to make a quick decision.

3. Choose Warm Leads Only
There is a lot of data that can be gathered from the interactions of the website visitors with the site. Users can set proactive alerts based on important criteria such as first time visitor from a company, a person from a named account visiting the pricing page, etc can be very useful to a B2B marketer.

4. Identify Target Segment Buyer
There are many people involved in the decision making process, information on their interaction should also be considered to track what the customers are doing. If the contacted person has delegated the responsibility then, it is important to be able to track both individuals and also the company behavior over time to gauge interest levels and qualify them.



Also read on - Lead management, Lead nurturing best practices

Bridging the Sales-Marketing Gap

Every company which has marketing and sales departments has at some point witnessed the famous – sales and marketing fight and blame game – more commonly known as the sales and marketing misalignment.

One of the most significant reasons for the sales and marketing divide is the difference in objectives and their measurement of success in closing the sales deal. In a B2B set up these differences are more glaring as compared to a B2C company.

In B2C, both marketing and sales are measured by the sales and market share the company enjoys for its products. In such a scenario, marketing invariably assumes the role of assisting sales and propelling the company’s revenue share in the marketplace.

However, in most B2B companies, the primary objective of marketing is to generate quality business leads and of sales to convert these into closed deals. Both these departments are also measured based on the number of leads generated and the number of sales closed, respectively.

In reality the role of marketing in a B2B company is relationship building and that of sales to use this relationship and help prospects make a rational buying decision based on business value offered by the company’s solutions.

Irrespective of how companies want to position their marketing and sales objectives, the truth is marketing and sales are two sides of the same coin.

Selling starts the very minute the company goes out into the world and talks about its offering. Companies spend on marketing activities because they want to attract people who can buy their offerings. So what really differentiates marketing from sales is the point of their entry in the relationship building process.

Hence it is essential for companies to create a common ground or process for marketing and sales teams to work together in the in-between stages of qualifying and nurturing Leads.

Define Lead Profile

Defining a good Lead is the first step in this direction. It starts by putting down a definite list of attributes and a score for each attribute; this process helps in scoring the Leads and qualifying them. These pre-defined Lead attributes should be arrived at after doing ample research on how the Leads in the company’s Lead funnel behaved in the past, this requires an in-depth study of both Leads closed and opportunities lost. Also, this should be an ongoing process, where the Lead behavior is watched and the common definition accordingly developed over a period of time.

Automate Processes

Use of technology like marketing automation solutions can help in easing and automating the process of scoring and qualifying leads if the primary source of Lead generation is Internet.

Just this one process can go a long way in bridging the sales-marketing divide, at least in settling the blame game.

Setting up such a process not only helps in bringing clarity to the end objectives of both, but also equates the success metric. The Lead definition becomes the base measurement value for both the departments. Marketing is measured not on the basis of Leads generated but on the basis of qualified Leads generated in accordance with the common definition. Sales get measured on how many of these qualified Leads it managed to close.

Marketing automation solutions allow sales and marketing to have a common free-flowing communication channel through a common “Lead view”, even if they fail to fit the pre-defined criteria.

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Lead Scoring in 2011

Did you know that marketing budgets for marketing automation saw an increase from 6.4% of marketing budgets in 2010 to 6.9% in 2011? Enterprises have realized that with complicated marketing strategies and global recession, marketing automation tools can be more effective in grasping the complexities of marketing campaigns and can therefore offer solutions to solve these complexities. Marketing automation tools can equip enterprises with a cost effective way of ensuring marketing operational efficiency. When conventional and expensive marketing initiatives have failed, it has been the newer marketing elements that need to be focused upon. One such marketing automation element is lead scoring. Very simply put, lead scoring is the process of ranking and getting leads prioritized according to some pre-defined parameters.


Lead Scoring in 2011 - The Road Ahead

Lead scoring can assist enterprises in understanding the interests of their website visitors. Also the intent of these visitors can be ascertained. Often enterprises are plagued with questions about the intent behind a particular prospect’s website visit or about the actual reason behind the 11 will emphasize the ability to grasp the prospect’s intent correctly. Only then can marketing and sales teams take lead score results seriously and also take necessary and suitable action. Also the year will see sales leads scoring engaging more intensely in the analytical aspect of understanding the intent of prospects, which will further help marketing and sales teams to strategize and ideate better on their marketing campaigns. The social media bandwagon will continue to create an impact and it will have some impact on lead scoring techniques as well.

With automated lead scoring methodologies available, enterprises can be assured of better synthesis and communication between their sales and marketing teams. Therefore there will no longer be a sales and marketing teams working as separate teams, rather they will function and work together. 2011 will ensure that lead scoring techniques offer better direction towards the allocation of capital to the right kind of leads rather than focusing on prospects that may yield no profits for the enterprise. Targeted leads, when nurtured, will offer more profits and revenues to the enterprise, and this year will definitely be witness to enterprises enjoying such scenarios.

2011 could very well be the year when enterprises see the economical yet amazingly rewarding aspects of automated lead scoring techniques.

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Lead nurturing, lead management, marketing automation solutions

Formulating an Effective Lead Generation Policy

It is a widely known fact that businesses try to employ diverse and innovative methods in marketing. The Internet has provided a promising platform for B2B lead scoring companies to reach out to larger audiences. And these companies leave no stone unturned to carve a niche for themselves in the market. However, not all companies succeed in this effort. Due to time-consuming procedures and inefficient strategies, marketing efforts often fail.

One of the most important goals of marketing campaigns is identifying potential customers. And this is also the most formidable challenge that businesses face. Lead Generation can be quite intimidating, if businesses are not equipped with the right tools. Several marketing automation solutions have therefore been introduced with the aim to help sales and marketing teams understand buying patterns of customers, and market demands. These solutions also pave the way for successful lead generation.

Tips for Lead Generation

• Studying Existing Customers & Competitors – To initiate an effective lead generation campaign it is a prerequisite to understand the needs of your prospective leads. Obtaining feedback from customers, who have used the product/service before, can help in this regard.

Online polls, surveys, focus groups, and reviews are other means of understanding prospects’ needs. Reviews provide a healthy picture of what competitors have to offer, and this helps in comparing and assessing products/services. Focus groups are existing customers who can provide positive feedback regarding the resolving capabilities of the product offered.

• Creating an Effective Campaign – Once the target audience has been identified, the business website can be used to communicate with them. A clear perspective of the product offered, its benefits, etc has to be provided. Businesses can leverage online opportunities such as blogs and article sites, which have been identified as two most popular ways to communicate with prospective leads. Sharing success stories and case studies are two other effective lead generation techniques. Prospects can also be nurtured with informative email messages and newsletters.

• Thought Leadership Strategies – Lead generation efforts receive a tremendous boost when opinions of industry experts are offered to prospects. This can effectively arouse curiosity and attract the attention of customers.

• Relevant Query Forms – It is important to ensure that the website contains relevant forms for enquiry. These forms should be easy to fill and should not have too many questions. Lengthy forms are time-consuming and can put-off prospects.

• Lead Nurturing Strategies - Once leads have been generated successfully, lead nurturing programs have to be initiated. This would involve sending out relevant, interesting information, whitepapers, case studies etc, to keep prospects engaged. This can ensure that a credible relationship is built with the prospects.

Lead generation is the gateway to a successful sales endeavor. A careful effort to build a loyal relationship with prospects can always ensure long-term benefits.

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Building Relationships with Lead Nurturing

Enterprises seem to be spending quite a lot on efforts to build online lead generation with an eye to ensure enhanced customer base and well-qualified leads, yet they are bothered by certain queries that compels to wonder if  generating leads are enough  for enhanced CRM. The queries these enterprises often ending up asking include:  

• Is lead generation enough to develop greater CRM?
• Does lead nurturing actually work?
• What are the actual parameters of lead nurturing and can they actually bring in optimum results?
• How does one bridge the gap of perception that exists between marketing automation teams and sales teams?

These questions are pertinent and are often drawn up because even as leads are being generated, lead-fatigue can set in among sales teams, if there is no noticeable progress with leads. So even as sales fails in interacting with the lead constantly, marketing automation software teams feel that once they have provided the lead to the sales, it is their baby, so to speak. Therein emerges a problem of a lead being lost because no one wants to nurture the lead or care for the lead.

Lead nurturing can be the key to enhanced CRM
Lead nurturing can actually help not just enable but also optimize sales effectiveness and enhance marketing campaigns. With the right kind of lead nurturing software you can build long term relationships with your prospective customers. Here are the benefits of a good lead nurturing software:

• It will help you understand your customers better, by giving you insights into the customers intention
• It will assist in informing you if your prospect is sales ready
• It will also pass on leads to your sales team automatically and help them with a solution that can further nurture the lead
• The software will ensure that your lead and their interest sustains, this will be ensured by informing and educating the leads with relevant information

To ensure that your leads are nurtured effectively one needs to ensure that they are informed of newer additions to your product, they need to be made involved, so keep them hooked by asking them to view a demo, take part in a webinar, read a blog etc. Educating your lead about the product, its effectiveness through a well-thought of email campaign also might work wonders. The onus lies on nurturing your relationship with your prospect, which means you need to cultivate your relationship and care for it continuously.

lead management, marketing automation solutions