We talk to you about marketing automation, lead generation and gated content and… you don’t understand anything! Don’t worry, everything is normal. To succeed in deciphering the new digital marketing terms, follow the definitions of Little Leonard!

What is marketing automation?

Let’s start with a metaphor…. There are two types of booksellers. The first, just because it’s a bestseller, will recommend the latest Douglas Kennedy book. Bad luck: you hate thrillers! The second one will remember your last visits and suggest a novel that you won’t be able to put down. Which one do you prefer? The second one, of course.
Well, it’s the same with digital marketing: its goal is to provide you with valuable information, related to your current questions. Now imagine that this expertise is able to be delivered automatically… You are now facing marketing automation!

Marketing automation… and more concretely?

Marketing automation is much more than a trendy expression. This device consists of collecting behavioral data from the user and then activating automated campaigns according to the needs and profiles of the prospects thus identified.

Marketing automation : when and why use it?

Has your inbound marketing strategy proven effective? Do your prospects’ behaviors tend to repeat themselves? Then you can develop buyer personas (we’ll talk about them in the next article) and build scenarios around these typical paths.

These scenarios – generally, the sending of a series of emails – will be automatically triggered according to the levers activated by the user: for example, downloading a white paper and filling in a form. These successive emails will also allow for the ever finer segmentation of your contact base.

More and more popular on the B2B market, marketing automation is not done without a defined content strategy to “nurture” your prospects (lead nurturing) and “qualify” them (lead scoring). Marketing automation allows you to improve your sales performance and nurture your prospects during sales cycles that are sometimes very long..

The key ingredients for successful automation

There is no magic formula for marketing automation apprentices! Rather, a recipe for success based on the combination of very specific ingredients :

• a qualified and relevant customer base: constantly updated, it must allow you to target and segment your prospects according to their behavior (online visits, requests for information, form completion);
• an ad hoc tool: Marketo, Plezi, Pardot, HubSpot… There are many solutions! However, make sure you choose a software that is well sized and adapted to your needs.
• A dose of content marketing: a relevant content strategy is a prerequisite for the success of your marketing automation project;
• a team trained in the use of the tool and the design of campaign scenarios.
• a zest of time and perseverance: yes, no pain, no gain!

If marketing automation looks like a panacea, be careful: it is a device to be deployed methodically (and to be chosen carefully) and which requires you to review your entire marketing strategy. Many people come to us after having failed, due to a lack of maturity on the subject or following a bad choice (oversized solution, too expensive mechanics, etc.).

To take full advantage of marketing automation, we advise you to be accompanied by the right people. In the meantime, why not read our white paper on digital marketing maturity?

Image credits : Freepik