Drive up demand, build your brand, and get closer to your customers
This is an ebook about B2B marketing automation, demand generation, and enhancing the customer journey. If you are a marketing or sales professional looking to really get to grips with these topics, to stay ‘in the know’, and explore the art of the possible then we suggest you grab a coffee and read on.
Who knows when that next moment of inspiration could strike right?..
2. ContentsPutting potential to work.......................................................................1
The backstory.........................................................................................2
The touch points....................................................................................3
Getting your ducks in a row................................................................. 4
Talking alignment...................................................................................5
End-to-end magic...................................................................................7
Serving a purpose...................................................................................8
Talking alignment...................................................................................9
Missing a trick?.......................................................................................13
Getting serious about performance...................................................14
Brand marketing....................................................................................15
Talking brand marketing.......................................................................16
The sky’s the limit.................................................................................19
Enhance marketing..............................................................................20
Talking customer marketing.................................................................21
Demand generation.............................................................................25
Talking demand generation.................................................................26
Winning hearts & minds......................................................................29
The big ‘value add’ of demand generation........................................30
Conclusion.............................................................................................31
3. Putting
potential
to workDrive up demand, build your brand, and get closer to your customers This is an ebook about B2B marketing
automation, demand generation, and enhancing the customer journey. So if you’re not looking to build interest
in a particular product or service you should probably put it down and walk away. We won’t take offense. These
are specialist subjects after all. That said, if you are a marketing or sales professional looking to really get to grips
with these topics, to stay ‘in the know’, and explore the art of the possible then we suggest you grab a coffee and
read on.
Who knows when that next moment of inspiration could strike right?
The three key questions you’ll find answered
over the following pages:
What’s the current status of marketing automation?
How’s it evolving, and what’s proving to deliver the best results?
What are marketers doing with the technology at their disposal?
1
4. Marketing Automation:
the
backstoryFuelling the
demand generation
process
In case you’ve been living on Mars,
living on a commune, or are only
arriving now to the ‘game’ of
marketing, this page offers a quick
recap on marketing automation’s
progress to date (please feel free
to skip to the next page if you’re
already ‘in the know’).
The concept first came to life
in the early 1990s, when Unica
introduced an early version
marketing automation system
to support marketing’s gradual
shift toward measurable results
– followed a few years later by
Eloqua. These first systems were
expensive and perhaps not too
user friendly, and it took almost
15 years before automation gained
significant traction.
The majority
of enterprise
companies have
in some form
adopted marketing
automation
But how things have changed!
Fast-forward to today and the
majority of enterprise companies
have in some form adopted
marketing automation (with SMBs
not too far behind). This success
is down to one simple fact: the
technology addresses head on
one of marketing’s most enduring
challenges: delivering relevant
and timely leads to sales in order
to generate credible pipeline
opportunities.
What’s more, marketing
automation is very good at it.
Awesomely good. In fact no other
technology can touch it for the
numbers created, for helping
educate prospects at their own
pace, or nurturing leads through
different phases of the sales
cycle. In other words marketing
automation has turned out to be a
game changer, both in terms of its
ability to deliver big numbers and
report on the results.
Marketing
automation has
turned out to
be a game changer.
2
5. Touching
thetouchpoints
A breakdown of what’s being done where
We all appreciate that at its heart the role of marketing
is relatively simple: arouse, inspire, and act on interest
in your company’s product or service.
To this list can be added the need to capture leads,
nurture relationships,
convert prospects into customers, and then expand
the relationship. Hence why we have different ‘types’
of marketing that are active at different touchpoints
along the buyer’s journey:
Brand Marketing
Which supports every stage of the lead lifecycle. The Engage stage of the lifecycle, in which you start
discussions with prospects, is especially dependent on brand marketing and brand awareness.
Brand marketing tasks and responsibilities can include press, analyst, social media, advertising, events,
and content marketing.
Demand Generation
Which typically covers the Connect, Nurture, and Convert stages of the lead lifecycle. Here your
resources are spent on furthering the conversation, intelligence gathering, and making sure sales have
what they need to convert the lead.
Demand tasks and responsibilities can include marketing activities such as lead generation and
nurturing, lead scoring, sales alignment, and field marketing.
Customer Marketing
Which loosely aligns to the Enhance stage of the customer lifecycle, in which you build and deepen the
relationship after the lead has become a customer.
Activities at this stage might include customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty programs, community
building, and advocacy – all aimed at increasing customer lifetime value.
3
6. 1 Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey
If you’re coming to ABM for the first time and
expecting to be an early adopter then we hate to
break it to you but that ship has sailed. In fact ABM
has been around for decades, gaining traction first in
the enterprise space due to the great deal of manual
effort (and time, resources, and a big budget) required
to make it work.
Fast forward to today, and the basic process remains
pretty much unchanged, though advances in
technology have served to reduce the labour equation.
As for what this process is, ABM makes target
organisations an individual ‘market’ in their own right
– and therefore the target of dedicated sales and
marketing efforts. To this is added the data analysis
and research needed to identify the correct accounts
and contacts to target, as well as the materials needed
to engage these people: all done in a personalised,
scheduled, and timely fashion.
Getting your
ducksinarow
(or reviewing the interconnectedness
of marketing activities)
4
7. TalkingAlignment
The values for shared success
What performance
indicators are shared
across brand marketing,
demand generation, and
customer marketing?
Revenue Generated
ROI
Website Traffic
Leads Generated
Other
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
Email Opens & Clicks
Leads Generated
Return on Invenstment
Social Followers & Engagement
Revenue Generated
Website Traffic 171
146
135
120
120
90
72
59
9
Other
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
Email Opens & Clicks
Leads Generated
Return on Invenstment
Social Followers & Engagement
Revenue Generated
Website Traffic
Other
Score
erage
Clicks
erated
ment
ment
erated
Traffic 171
146
135
120
120
90
72
59
9
92
79
77
73
66
55
51
23
4
Other
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
Email Opens & Clicks
Leads Generated
Return on Invenstment
Social Followers & Engagement
Revenue Generated
Website Traffic
Other
Score
erage
Clicks
erated
tment
ement
erated
Traffic 171
146
135
120
120
90
72
59
9
92
79
77
73
66
55
51
23
4
BRANDMARKETINGCUSTOMERMARKETINGDEMANDGENERATION
1
2
3
4
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
5
8. TalkingAlignment 2
The level of marketing interconnectedness
Are the brand marketing,
demand generation, and
customer marketing
functions within your
organizations aligned
under a cohesive strategy?
All respondents
92% of marketing organizations
say that brand marketing, demand
generation, and customer
marketing functions are at least
‘somewhat aligned’ under a
cohesive strategy.
Top performers
vs. Laggards
Top performers are much more
likely to be totally aligned under a
cohesive strategy.
B2B vs. B2C
A majority of both B2B and B2C
organizations responded as being
at least somewhat or totally
aligned across all three marketing
functions.
Yes Totally Aligned
Somewhat Aligned
Not Aligned
38.69
16.95
54.77
69.49
6.53
13.56
Yes Totally Aligned
Somewhat Aligned
Not Aligned
s Totally Aligned
mewhat Aligned
Not Aligned
38.69
16.95
54.77
69.49
6.53
13.56
Yes Totally Aligned
Somewhat Aligned
Not Aligned
32.37
35.29
56.83
59.66
10.79
5.04
33.72%
YES Totally Aligned
58.14%
SOMEWHATAligned
8.14%
NOTAligned
6
9. End-to-end
Magic
Sticking with leads every
step of the way
Evidence therefore suggests
that marketers are spending
roughly the same amounts of
time and resources across three
broad areas: branding, customer
marketing, and demand generation.
What’s more, the top guns (those
hitting or over-achieving on their
revenue targets) are 52% more
likely to have a significant portion
of staff aligned to each major
marketing function.
What’s more, top performers are
also 23% more likely to have a large
chunk of their of budget allocated
to each of the three major
marketing functions.
Delivering a marketing strategy a
that touches every aspect of a the
customer journey.
This is due in part to the role of
the CMO, which is becoming less
obsessed with demand generation
– and more focused on being
marketing ‘general managers’ able
to facilitate success across all
functions within the marketing
team. Arguably this has to be the
case with the growing emphasis
on end-to-end experiences, and
delivering a marketing strategy that
touches
every
aspect of
the customer
journey.
And let’s be
honest, for today’s
buyer (inundated
with choice and
information),
experience is everything.
Which helps explain how
their journey is increasingly
non-linear, with constant
advances, reversals, and
sideways steps.
That’s why it’s vital to spread
budgets over the course of a
lead’s lifetime to ensure, from
the prospect’s point of view at
least, that their interactions with a
business are consistent, relevant,
and personalized wherever
possible.
92%
of marketing
organizations say that
brand marketing, demand
generation, and customer
marketing functions are at least
‘somewhat aligned’ under a
cohesive strategy.2
2
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey
7
10. Serving
a purposeTime to build on initial successes
Marketers continue to adapt to
the demands of the modern,
‘in-the-know’, and always-on,
B2B buyer (or buyer group, with
that rich mix of influencers and
decision makers). And as already
mentioned, increasing effort is
being directed toward the delivery
of positive experiences at every
stage of the end-to-end customer
lifecycle.
Increasing
effort is being
directed
toward the
delivery
of positive
experiences.
Doing this is not easy of course,
and requires you to be clear and
precise as to what exactly it is
you stand for; what your brand
promise is: and the purpose behind
your business. But as research
shows, it’s those marketing leaders
able to get the functions of brand,
customer, and demand generation
marketing working in unison
that are delivering the stand out
results.
The challenge comes in building
and maintaining this operational
harmony. Marketing automation
has helped by turbo charging
the acquisition process of new
prospects, and turning demand
generation into a data-driven star
performer. But it exists in only
small packets elsewhere. As a
result, marketing technology is
rarely put to work in applying
data-driven tactics to the creative
and branding side of the customer
lifecycle – including further stages
such as retention and expansion.
The challenge
comes in
building and
maintaining
this
operational
harmony.
8
11. Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
TalkingAlignment 3
Mind the gap: going in search of missed opportunities
Which functions are more
likely to get neglected by
marketing teams? What
percentage of teams spend
‘less than 10%’ of staff time
across the three major
functions?
All respondents
Despite the hype and number of
technologies available to support
the demand generation function,
it is most likely to be neglected by
marketing teams.
B2B vs. B2C
B2C organizations are most likely
to neglect demand generation,
while B2B organizations tend to
neglect both brand and customer
marketing functions.
30.62%
36.82%
35.27% Low Investment
In Customer Expansion
Low Investment
In Demand Gen
Low Investment
In Brand
35.97%
24.37%
32.37%
42.02%
41.73%
27.73%
Low Investment
In Customer Expansion
Low Investment
In Demand Gen
Low Investment
In Brand
30.62%
36.82%
35.27%
9
12. TalkingAlignment 4
Following the money: a brief look at budget allocation
Which functions get the
least amount of funding?
What percentage of teams
spend ‘less than 10%’ of
budget across the three
major functions?
All respondents
Demand gen and customer
marketing functions are most likely
to get the short end of the budget
stick. 41% of organizations spend
minimal budget (10% or less) on
both demand gen and customer
marketing functions.
B2B vs. B2C
B2C organizations are most likely
to neglect demand generation,
while B2B organizations tend to
neglect both brand and customer
marketing functions.
Low Investment
In Customer Expansion
Low Investment
In Demand Gen
Low Investment
In Brand
27.52%
41.09%
41.47%
27.52%
41.09%
41.47% Low Investment
In Customer Expansion
Low Investment
In Demand Gen
Low Investment
In Brand
33.09%
21.01%
37.41%
45.38%
48.92%
32.77%
10
13. Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
TalkingAlignment 5
Covering the bases: the alignment of marketing resources
What percentage of
respondents have solid
staff coverage across all
three major functions?
(Respondents that have
‘11 to 25%,’ ‘25 to 50%,’ or
‘51% or more’ staff time
dedicated to all three
functions)
All respondents
Most organizations are neglecting
at least one of the three major
marketing functions. 68.6% of
respondents have at least one area
with staff coverage level in the ‘10%
or less’ category.
Top performers vs
Laggards
Top performers are more likely to
have solid staff coverage across all
three major areas
N
Y
No
Yes
32.66%
27.12%
67.34%
72.88%
31.4%
YES
Significant staff time
is dedicated to
all three functions
68.6
No
One or more of the three
areas is understaffed (10% or
less of total time allocated)
Significant budget is
dedicated to all three
functions
One or more of the three
areas is underfunded
11
14. Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
TalkingAlignment 6
Spreading the load: identifying areas of underspend
What percentage of
respondents are investing
budget in all three major
functions? (Respondents
that have ‘11 to 25%,’ ‘25
to 50%,’ or ‘51% or more’
budget dedicated to all
three functions)
All respondents
Most organizations are neglecting
at least one of the three major
marketing functions. 69% of
respondents have at least one area
with budget investment in the ‘10%
or less’ category.
Top performers vs
Laggards
Both laggards and top performers
are underfunding at least one of
the three functions.
No
Yes
30.51%
31.16%
69.49%
68.84%
31%
YES
Significant staff time
is dedicated to
all three functions
69%
No
One or more of the three
areas is understaffed (10% or
less of total time allocated)
Significant budget is
dedicated to all three
functions
One or more of the three
areas is underfunded
12
15. Missing a
trick?
Finding opportunities
to extend marketing
automation
Is it right for marketers to (mostly)
see marketing automation as the
preserve of demand generation?
To answer that is to first state that
the same activities used for engaging
prospects (think: trigger messaging,
segmentation, scoring, nurturing etc.)
are also relevant for both branding and
customer activities. Equally, they too
seek to deliver consistent execution
that’s repeatable, scalable, and
measurable – while ensuring a consistent
end-to-end experience.
So the logical assumption is that
marketing automation represents
something of a missed opportunity for
many brand and customer marketers.
Which is surprising when you look at
the research into key metrics and KPIs
driving their behaviours, with revenue
generation, ROI and leads generated
sitting top of the pile.
Marketers
should be using
their existing
apps and
software tools
This is
certainly
what our
experiences
of working with
leading B2B tech
players confirm:
the strong emphasis
on tracking, analytics,
and reporting, is making
marketers more focused than ever on
tying their campaign activity back to
revenue and ROI. With this in mind, in
doesn’t require a rocket scientist to
surmise that marketers should be using
their existing apps and software tools to
cover the complete marketing mix.
13
16. Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
Getting serious
about performanceUsing KPIs that the business actually cares about
Despite the difficulties associated with measurement, there is still a definite shift by marketers toward more
scientific and data-driven activities. That’s because the board ultimately deals in the current of opportunity, and
cares only for numbers relating to revenue generated – and want to see ROI no matter what a campaign is trying
to achieve.
This reflects the theme of ‘the modern marketer’ who is now more focused on data and analytics than ever –
including tying marketing efforts directly to revenue. In fact, in the recent 6 Marketing metrics your CEO actually
cares about from HubSpot, the 6 key KPIs were listed as:
• Customer acquisition costs (CAC)
• Marketing % of CAC
• Ratio of customer lifetime value to CAC
• Time to payback CAC
• Marketing originated customer acquisition %
• Marketing influenced customer acquisition %
But what of marketers themselves, and the metrics they really care about? Look at the research on how
resources are being allocated toward the goal of revenue generation and ROI tells it’s own story:
of marketing
leaders use ‘revenue
generated’ and;
use ‘ROI’ as a KPI for
brand marketing
of marketing
leaders use ‘revenue
generated’ and;
use ‘ROI’ as a KPI for
demand generation
of marketing
leaders use ‘revenue
generated’ and;
use ‘ROI’ as a KPI for
customer marketing
57% 47%
53%
53%
61%
57%
14
17. Now’s the moment to turn our attention
to brand marketing: the discipline of
sharing a company’s values and purpose
with the wider market.
It’s an activity that conveys the central
promise behind your proposition – at the
strategic, tactical, and emotional levels
– and therefore needs to infuse every
interaction with prospects, customers,
analysts, press, and commentators.
But what resources are B2B
organisations committing to brand
marketing? How do they compare to
their B2C peers, and what specific
metrics are they working to?
15
18. Talking Brand Marketing
An overview of resources dedicated to ‘spreading the word’
What percentage of
total marketing staff
time dedicated to brand
marketing?
All respondents
69% of marketing teams dedicate
significant staff time to brand
marketing. The remaining 31%
spend less than 10% of their
total staff resources on this
important function.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
Top performers are more likely to
dedicate significant resources to
brand marketing. The laggards are
much more likely to have neglected
the brand marketing function, with
a whopping 37% of laggards in the
‘less than 10%’ category.
B2B vs. B2C
Not surprisingly, B2C marketers
dedicate more staff time to
brand marketing than their B2B
counterparts.
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment In Brand
10% or less
30.62%
24.81%
24.81%
19.77%
Significant Investment
30.62%
24.81%
24.81%
19.77% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
35.97%
24.37%
21.58%
28.57%
25.90%
23.53%
23.53%
16.55%
51% or mor
26-50%
11-25%
ant Investment
me
me
me
ess
35.97%
24.37%
21.58%
28.57%
25.90%
23.53%
23.53%
16.55%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
26.64%
37.29%
23.62%
28.81%
27.64%
15.25%
18.64%
20.10%
16
19. Talking Brand Marketing2
What financial commitment is being put in place?
What percentage of
total marketing budget
dedicated to brand
marketing?
All respondents
72% of marketing teams dedicate
significant budget to brand
marketing. The remaining 28%
spend less than 10% of their total
budget on this important function.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
Again we see that top performers
are much more likely to dedicate
significant resources towards
brand marketing. Among the
laggards, 37% dedicate ‘less than
10%’ of their budget to brand
marketing, compared to just 25% in
the top performing group.
B2B vs. B2C
Similar to what is seen on graph
‘B2B v. B2c’ page 17 with staff time
allocation, B2C marketers dedicate
more budget to brand marketing
than their B2B counterparts.
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment In Brand
10% or less
27.51%
28.29%
22.09%
22.009%
Significant Investment
27.51%
28.29%
22.09%
22.009% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
24.62%
37.29%
28.14%
28.81%
24.62%
13.56%
20.34%
22.61%
51% or
26
11
nvestment
24.62%
37.29%
28.14%
28.81%
24.62%
13.56%
20.34%
22.61%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
33.09%
21.01%
24.46%
32.77%
23.74%
20.17%
26.05%
18.71%
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
17
20. Talking Brand Marketing3
How are companies measuring what ‘great’ looks like?
What performance
indicators do marketing
leaders use to measure
the success of their brand
marketing efforts?
171
146
135
120
120
90
72
59
9
Other
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
Email Opens & Clicks
Leads Generated
Return on Investment (ROI)
Social Followers & Engagement
Revenue Generated
Website Traffic
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
18
21. The sky’s the limit
Five examples of how marketing automation
can give brand a boost
1. Influencer relations:
By scoring press, analysts, and bloggers you get to see who your most engaged and interested influencers are.
You can also track the pages they’re visiting, the content they’re reading, and the emails (pitches, press releases,
events) they are engaging with – intelligence that can be used to guide next steps.
2. Press release attribution:
It’s no dark secret that sales can come from press releases. This is done primarily through the creation of
trackable URLs that tie the activity back to the lead-to-revenue process. In addition you can also get a grip on
multi-touch attribution to measure how press releases contribute to any sale.
3. Corporate/internal communications:
Here marketing automation can be used to create and execute internal newsletters, emails, etc. The tech also
helps you track employee engagement, alongside such external uses as identifying and nurturing prospective
new employees.
4. Brand identity management:
Obviously it’s a good thing to have consistency of brand across all channels. That’s why marketing automation
is often used by corporate marketing teams to control visuals, including brand look and feel, logo usage, and
header/footers.
5. Event management:
Events require audiences yes, but more than that they require a group of highly relevant, enthusiastic attendees.
Knowing who to invite, and carefully managing all communications before and after is therefore of obvious
importance. Step forward marketing automation, which enables you to quickly automate workflows (save the
date, registration reminders etc.) with more precision and less effort – before re-using and refining the workflow
for future gatherings.
19
22. Enhance Marketing
Delighting customers
from the offEnhance marketing includes a host of ‘post acquisition’ exercises ranging from customer on-boarding and
retention, to upselling, loyalty and advocacy programmes. They’re pretty important too when it comes to
marketing’s role in helping reduce churn, improve customer satisfaction scores, and increase customer lifetime
value. And as analysts and ‘thought leaders’ are want to tell us at every possible opportunity: ‘it’s usually far less
expensive to keep an existing customer than it is to attract a new one,’ so automating these processes can play a
big role in reducing costs and increasing net profits.
In fact talking of analysts, Gartner Group claims that a staggering 80% of most companies’ future revenue comes
from just 20% of their existing customer base. The challenge however is that these ’20 percenters’ are typically
doing all that can with you, meaning future growth potential is limited. Hence the importance of winning and
delighting new customers through automation – while also investing in the later stages of the lifecycle to nurture
their full potential.
5%
Increasing
customer
retention
rates by
increases
profits by
25-95%.4
4 Source: Bain Company
20
23. Talking Customer Marketing
Exploring the current commitment to customer marketing
What percentage of total
marketing staff time is
dedicated to customer
marketing?
All respondents
The majority of marketing teams
are spending ‘more than 10%’ of
their time on customer expansion
marketing.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
Revenue achievers are much more
likely to invest significant staff time
in customer marketing.
B2B vs. B2C
B2C marketers are much more
likely to invest significant staff time
in customer marketing.
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment In Brand
10% or less
27.51%
28.29%
22.09%
22.009%
Significant Investment
27.51%
28.29%
22.09%
22.009% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
33.17%
42.37%
28.14%
28.81%
25.13%
18.64%
10.17%
13.57%
51% or mo
26-50
11-25
nt Investment
e
e
e
ss
33.17%
42.37%
28.14%
28.81%
25.13%
18.64%
10.17%
13.57%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
33.09%
21.01%
24.46%
32.77%
23.74%
20.17%
26.05%
18.71%
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
21
24. TalkingCustomerMarketing2
Reviewing the numbers dedicated to customer marketing
What percentage of
total marketing budget
is dedicated to customer
marketing?
All respondents
A whopping 35.27% of marketing
teams invest ‘less than 10%’ of
budget in customer marketing.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
Top performers are investing more
in customer marketing.
B2B vs. B2C
B2B marketing teams are
the biggest offenders for
underinvesting in customer
marketing. 49% of B2B marketers
invest ‘less than 10%’ of their
budget in customer expansion
efforts.
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment In
Brand 10% or less
35.27%
28.29%
23.64%
12.79%
Significant Investment
35.27%
28.29%
23.64%
12.79% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
40.70%
44.07%
24.12%
30.51%
26.13%
15.25%
10.17%
9.05%
51% or more
26-50%
11-25%
cant Investment
me
me
me
ess
40.70%
44.07%
24.12%
30.51%
26.13%
15.25%
10.17%
9.05%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
48.92%
32.77%
24.46%
26.89%
20.14%
27.73%
12.61%
6.47%
22
25. TalkingCustomer Marketing 3
Exploring the key measures driving customer marketing
What performance
indicators do you use to
measure the success of
customer marketing?
92
79
77
73
66
55
51
23
4
Other
Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Social Follows Engagement
Email Opens Clicks
Website Traffic
Return on Investment (ROI)
Revenue Generated
Leads Generated
23
26. Turning frowns
upside downSeven ways marketing automation helps engage customers
New customer on-boarding:
Good marketing automation tech helps you build,
refine, and automate highly effective 30-, 60-,
and 90-day on-boarding drip programmes.
Customer value investment:
Through newsletters and new feature announcements,
you can educate customers on the best ways to use
your products – and keep them informed on all the
latest developments.
Training and education:
With webinars used to spread knowledge, and to help
customers become power users – all supported by
automation that drives awareness and attendance of
these online events.
Customer retention:
Measure product consumption levels, and automate
the triggering of communications based on feature/
non-feature use.
Satisfaction surveys:
With marketing automation tools it’s simple and easy
to deploy surveys, gather the responses, and invite
customers to analyse the results.
Upsell/cross-sell:
By using marketing automation, CRM, and ERP data,
you can accurately predict when a buyer is ready for
an upsell (by monitoring pages visited, downloads,
contract renewal information etc.), and know when it’s
time to reach out with an offer they can’t refuse!
Advocacy/loyalty:
Scoring customer behaviour and engagement (webinar
attendance, emails opened, user groups attended etc.)
lets you quickly understand who your advocates and
most loyal customers are.
24
27. Demand Generation
Putting customised
communications
to the testLet’s not forget demand generation – those leads aren’t going to create themselves! Here the marketing
automation story is well understood, and its ability to help marketers deliver personalised, tailored
communications to their targets audiences at scale. At the same time, demand generation supports a ‘no lead left
behind’ mentality. Indeed lead nurturing and marketing automation go together like a horse and carriage, with
the combined ability to build interest, and keep it warm until final closure.
All of which helps explain the continued rise of marketing automation:
57% 80%
57% of marketers say lead nurturing is the most
valuable feature of automation software.5
80% of marketers using automation software
generate more leads; 77% convert more of those
leads.6
5 Source: Ascend2
6 Source: VB Insight, APSIS
25
28. Talking Demand Generation
Exploring the level of resources dedicated to demand generation
What percentage of total
marketing staff time is
dedicated to demand
generation?
All respondents
Despite the hype, 37% of marketers
are still spending ‘less than 10%’ of
their time on demand generation.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
Surprisingly, top performers are
more likely to spend ‘less than
10%’ of their time on demand
generation than their revenue-
lagging counterparts.
B2B vs. B2C
B2B marketers are investing more
staff time on demand generation.
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment
In Brand 10% or less
36.82%
25.97%
24.03%
13.18%
Significant Investment
Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey.
36.82%
25.97%
24.03%
13.18% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
38.69%
30.51%
25.63%
27.12%
23.62%
25.42%
16.95%
12.06%
51% o
Significant Investment
of staff time
of staff time
of staff time
10% or less
38.69%
30.51%
25.63%
27.12%
23.62%
25.42%
16.95%
12.06%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
32.37%
42.02%
25.18%
26.89%
25.18%
22.69%
8.4%
17.27%
26
29. Talking DemandGeneration2
Assessing the budgets put aside for automating lead generation
What percentage of
total marketing budget
is dedicated to demand
generation?
All respondents
41% of marketing teams are
spending ‘less than 10%’ of budget
on demand generation.
Top performers vs.
Laggards
The laggards are more likely than
top performers to spend 51% on
demand generation, indicating that
many teams are achieving revenue
goals without heavy investment in
demand generation.
B2B vs. B2C
B2B marketers are more likely to
invest significant amounts of their
budget into demand generation.
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
Low Investment
In Brand 10% or less
41.09%
26.36%
18.22%
14.34%
Significant Investment
41.09%
26.36%
18.22%
14.34% 51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
42.71%
35.59%
26.63%
25.42%
17.59%
20.34%
18.64%
13.07%
51% or mor
26-50%
11-25%
ant Investment
me
me
me
ss
42.71%
35.59%
26.63%
25.42%
17.59%
20.34%
18.64%
13.07%
51% or more of staff time
26-50% of staff time
11-25% of staff time
10% or less
37.41%
45.38%
25.18%
27.73%
19.42%
16.81%
10.08%
17.99%
27
30. Talking DemandGeneration3
An eye on the results – key metrics in demand generation
What performance
indicators do you use to
measure the success of
demand generation?
173
157
138
127
76
72
34
264Volume/Amount of Press Coverage
NPS or Customer Satisfaction Score
Social Follows Engagement
Email Opens Clicks
Website Traffic
Return on Investment (ROI)
Revenue Generated
Leads Generated
28
31. Winning Hearts
MindsFive key plays for automating your demand generation activities
Influencer relations:
By scoring press, analysts, and bloggers you get to see
who your most engaged and interested influencers
are. You can also track the pages they’re visiting, the
content they’re reading, and the emails (pitches, press
releases, events) they are engaging with – intelligence
that can be used to guide next steps.
Press release attribution:
It’s no dark secret that sales can come from press
releases. This is done primarily through the creation of
trackable URLs that tie the activity back to the lead-to-
revenue process. In addition you can also get a grip on
multi-touch attribution to measure how press releases
contribute to any sale.
Corporate/internal communications:
Here marketing automation can be used to create and
execute internal newsletters, emails, etc. The tech also
helps you track employee engagement, alongside such
external uses as identifying and nurturing prospective
new employees.
Brand identity management:
Obviously it’s a good thing to have consistency of
brand across all channels. That’s why marketing
automation is often used by corporate marketing
teams to control visuals, including brand look and
feel, logo usage, and header/footers.
Event management:
Events require audiences yes, but more than that
they require a group of highly relevant, enthusiastic
attendees. Knowing who to invite, and carefully
managing all communications before and after is
therefore of obvious importance. Step forward
marketing automation, which enables you to quickly
automate workflows (save the date, registration
reminders etc.) with more precision and less effort –
before re-using and refining the workflow for future
gatherings.
29
32. The big
‘value add’
of Marketing
Automation
Smarter marketing builds on
detailed audience insights
Marketing automation generates a lot
of intelligence. Priceless insights into
what your prospects and customers
are thinking and doing. That gives you
the ability to think tactically, to act
strategically, while all the time keeping
your finger on the pulse of the market.
The good news for marketers using the tech for
demand generation purposes only is that they’re only
scratching the surface of its potential. One ‘dive’ into
the data can show what else is achievable. For example
businesses can get to know their audience better, and
use this knowledge to build better retention strategies
– which in turn helps you refine your buyer personas
and improve your go-to-market strategy in a virtuous
circle of applied data.
Build on these insights and demand generation
activities can become ever better, as you target
the right buyers at the right time – with advanced
segmentation features that allow you to pinpoint leads
based on previous behaviours, profile characteristics,
and fields from your CRM database. Not that you’re
finished there, as a greater understanding of what
customers are looking for can be fed into future
product development and sales strategies.
This is the essence of the ‘smart business’ model,
and a unique ability to ensure your business remains
relevant and part of on-going customer conversations.
30
33. ConclusionUnleashing automation’s full potential
At the heart of this ebook sits one simple question: are you getting the
most from your marketing automation platform? Are you building on the
returns being delivered in demand generation, and extending the tech to
deliver greater consistency, alignment, and coordination across the end-
to-end customer journey?
It’s not about ending up with an ‘if not, why not?’ question. We understand
each company is different. But what we have tried to show is what
other companies are up to, and to highlight the potential of marketing
automation to connect the different phases of a prospect-to-customer
journey. To show how it can help bring together the brand, demand, and
enhance stages of the customer lifecycle – while continuing to stimulate
momentum throughout the sales funnel.
This is the true capability of marketing automation.
• It’s about marketing using branding and messaging to turn the customer
experience into a seamless series of activities that help build influence
and trust
• It’s about removing siloes and delivering a cohesive engagement strategy
across demand generation, branding, and customer marketing efforts
• And it’s about turning this alignment into greater sales interest: those
organizations describing themselves as ‘totally aligned’ are 43% more
likely to achieve their revenue goals that those who aren’t joined up.7
7 Source: Act-On Marketing Leadership Survey
31
34. AboutQuantumMarketingThe one B2B demand generation agency for technology
At Quantum we can point to a long track record of success since first opening our doors in 1999. These are
success stories centred on delivering a consistent ROI for large blue-chip tech brands, smaller mid-market
businesses, and everything else in between.
All of which means we’re passionate about generating leads for our clients, and delivering opportunities
that have an immediate impact on sales pipelines and customer experiences.
To do this, we offer a range of services that collectively enable Quantum to offer a truly end-to-end
engagement model:
• Demand generation
• Insights and data strategy
• Creative development
• Channel partner services
• GDPR compliance
• Audience building
• Account based marketing
• Digital social marketing
• Marketing automation
• Inside sales
• Proposition enhancement
• Bid support sales enablement
T: +44 (0) 118 902 2500
F: +44 (0) 118 902 2501
E: enquiries@qm-g.com
W: www.quantummarketing-group.com
Quantum Marketing Group
Abbey Gate, 57-75 Kings Road
Reading, Berkshire
RG1 3AB