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What Every Marketer & Salesperson Should Know About Lead Generation

What Every Marketer & Salesperson Should Know About Lead Generation

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AI is changing the game for everyone–including digital marketing practices. It may seem like “Big Brother,” but AI is actually modernizing and improving lead generation efficiency. It allows companies to reach prospects and customers in ways never before possible. More than ever, salespersons and marketers need to work together in order to make the best use of marketing automation and lead generation technology. Salespersons are no longer exempt from the marketing process: they are now integral.

As the number of touchpoints has increased to include everything from email to social marketing to online webinars to whitepapers, so has the challenge of managing them.

For many companies, their digital marketing efforts are scattershot examples of quantity over quality. But lead generation technology emphasizes quality over quantity and, better yet, quality and quantity.

What are Lead Generation and Marketing Automation?
The biggest challenge for marketers and salespersons who need to engage a large number of leads is how to deliver the right message, at the right moment, to every single contact. Lead generation provides them with powerful tools to nurture leads, deliver complex campaigns, guide customers to purchase and engage clients with relevant, emotional content.

Features of marketing automation can include email marketing, landing pages, forms and campaign management tools, relationship marketing, prediction and scoring, lead lifecycle management, CRM integration, social marketing capabilities, and marketing analytics.

The goal of marketing automation and lead generation is to provide a repeatable marketing process that gives way to a repeatable sales process. This is achieved by automated multi-channel execution, customer segmentation and clear analytics. And makes life easier in the process!

What Lead Generation and Marketing Automation Technologies are NOT

  • They Aren’t Magic. “Automation” sounds easy, right? It isn’t. In fact, many of our past clients are befuddled when leads aren’t immediately falling into their laps. This is because lead generation technology requires a lot of leg work and “set up” in order to be successful, and this takes time. It also takes time for campaigns to be written and several touch points before a person decides to buy. Automation sounds fast, but in reality, it plays the long game. But it plays it right.
  • They Aren’t Just Software: Expanding on the “leg work” point, this technology isn’t something businesses can set up and then press a button. If a business doesn’t already have the foundations needed to implement marketing automation, well…they have to be created. Businesses have to integrate and optimize all of their digital tools into their automation program. This means synchronizing their CRM, social media, website and email marketing platform. Automation technology will combine these tools in a way that maximizes the potential of each of them.  It’s a case where the whole truly is greater than the sum.
  • They Won’t Create Content: It’s great that automation provides a way to easily connect with buyers, but it can’t write the content for businesses. Lead generation and marketing automation rely on content to be successful. If businesses don’t have it, they’ll need it. Again this takes time, effort and an automation expert. While it’s a bit of a headache to wait for leads, the foundational work is necessary and will pay off in the long run.

What Lead Generation and Marketing Automation ARE:

  • They deliver key messages and valuable content based on a prospect’s attributes and behavior.
  • They can cultivate leads with an automated drip program until they’re ready for sales.
  • They improve usage and adoption during free trial periods to increase conversion.
  • They create end-to-end invitations and reminders for your webinars and events.
  • They are systems that require care, updates and constant attention.

Why Do You Need Lead Generation and Marketing Automation Technologies?
Automation enables businesses to fully develop and implement strategic marketing plans. It also provides information across all phases of the marketing process including demand generation, lead management, lead scoring, lead nurturing, lead generation, and campaign analysis.

Who is Using These Technologies?
All types of companies — from B2B to B2C in industries such as healthcare, financial services, media and entertainment, and retail. Companies are adopting automation for its real-time, relationship-oriented approach to maintaining and extending customer relationships

Large enterprises have long found value in the technology but automation isn’t just for big companies. In fact, small and mid-sized businesses make up the largest growing marketing automation right now, as the tools and technology have become more affordable and attainable.

Biznet’s Automation Offerings

Remember how we said automation technologies require a great amount of knowledge and can be a lot of work to construct (especially if a business is lacking foundational elements)? That’s where we come in. We understand what it takes to properly implement automation technologies and do everything from website optimization to CRM integration. We also show our clients how to write and set up campaigns using automation software. If you’re interested, please reach out!

In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to learn more about our automation solutions, please get in touch with Kevin at 248.560.9000 or via email.