We were going to share some insights about how marketing automation helps you target leads, but we decided instead to take a closer look at that approach. It’s true that a MARKETING AI® will pinpoint your VIP leads – you can read all about that in our other article this week – but it can do much more. Rather than think in terms of targeting, let’s take a look at marketing automation from the other side of the fence and see how it looks from a lead’s viewpoint.
Understand Your Leads
We respond to brands and businesses that speak our language and truly seem to “get” us. Some B2B companies assume that only matters in consumer contexts, but it’s as true for software solutions as it is for sodas – people care about businesses that make it clear they care about their customers. To care about them, you first have to know more about your leads, and developing buyer personas with your MARKETING AI is an excellent starting point for greater understanding.
Help Them Recognize Their Needs
Before prospects can think about buying a solution, they first need to know enough about the problem they’re trying to solve. What can you do to help them see it more clearly? You might offer a troubleshooting guide or quiz to guide them to a greater understanding of the scope of the problem. Along the way, you can also introduce the possibility of solutions, but your primary goal is to educate. Marketing automation can carry a lead from initial recognition to in-depth self-assessment tools that provide detailed solutions.
Deliver on Content Promises
Your leads trust you to educate them, but if you give them irrelevant information or over-promise on content, that faith in you can quickly fade. Clickbait articles are enjoyable in some contexts, and it’s fine if you have a little fun with the concept as we did in this clickbait-themed post, but your content should always respect your leads’ time. Marketing automation helps you supply leads with relevant content by using contextual cues to show you what they find interesting.
Know When to Act
If you’ve ever gotten a discount offer days after making a purchase or felt the press of an insistent sales pitch within seconds of visiting a site, you understand the importance of timing. Behavioral feedback, buying history, and preference pages are important signals leads send about where they are in their buying journey, but it’s not possible to track all these signs manually. Here’s where a MARKETING AI shines, allowing you to anticipate what your prospects need and react to them in real time.
Leads want to feel catered to, not targeted. Marketing automation offers a way to satisfy their needs while also meeting your lead gen, conversion, and revenue goals. Your prospects will tell you when your customer-focused approach is working via increased sales and referrals. Your MARKETING AI will also let you know through detailed analytics. It’s the ideal fusion of human insight and machine intelligence combining to give your prospects outstanding service.
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