Marketing has many new rules, and marketing automation is one of several major movements which has gained fanfare mixed with frustration. The popularity has come from the possibilities of capitalizing on leads generated from inbound marketing efforts. The frustration is from a lack of implementation and execution.
At the end of the day, marketing automation is a system. The system is, in turn, a project with specific requirements for a specific buyer. Thus, there is a lot of work, thinking and strategy behind a marketing automation initiative. A badly managed process can result in the frustration side of the equation. A sound strategy and execution can provide systematic management of inbound leads.
Everyone Has A Lead Generation Problem
Businesses want more leads. These come from how compelling your interaction and substance of your offering is. A lead is someone that raises their hand. We all want more. It’s difficult to get attention when everyone is clicking around on Google and thumbing through their mobile devices.
Content which makes a true meaningful connection and is targeted for a person trying to solve a problem not only gets attention, but engages your buyer. After this, it is about building trust and fanning the flame of their interest. It is not for the faint of heart. It is about commitment and continual refinement in the following ways:
- Analysis of buyer behaviors. You have a lot of data which tracks every movement of a website visitor. The data needs to make sense and be analyzed for where the opportunities and drop-off points are. It is an ongoing process.
- Building content assets. Your content lives. It needs to continue to grow and build an online asset for getting found and nurturing the next wave of leads. Past content needs to be integrated together to drive further exploration by leads.
- Integrating Sales Feedback. Lead scoring serves your sales process and sales people. Their feedback on how the algorithms are working needs to drive further refinement of your scoring schema.
There is not a magic ball to peer into and figure out the perfect marketing automation mix. You arrive at perfection by continually working hard at the system and processing new lead experiences. It is a game of improvement made possible by transparency into what buyers are doing.
Are there areas of lead generation and lead nurturing you find hard to upkeep? What are they?
