Digital Marketing Archives | Corrao Group Blog

The Benefits of Marketing Automation

In its most fundamental structure, marketing automation software is intended to take time away from the most tedious workplace tasks, freeing up bandwidth for more strategic initiatives. With a powerful marketing automation software like Pardot, you can automate sales, marketing, project management, accounts receivable, and more. In this blog, we’ll take a look at some of the benefits of optimizing your marketing automation processes, between generating leads, personalizing their journey, aligning sales and marketing, and more.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is a crucial component in any marketing strategy. Artificial Intelligence is giving you the analytics in real-time to find what content leads are engaging with on your website. Being able to track clicks, downloads, and website activity gives you more insight to understand what the visitors are interested in. Tracking customer behavior helps your sales team identify the pain points and needs of your prospects. Giving your team a head-start, knowing these pain points accelerates the sales cycle. In a study done by Invesp, “80% of marketing automation users saw an increase in the number of leads, and 77% had an increase of conversion.” Having automated messaging, such as social media, emails, or lead magnets, will create more qualified leads for your company. Automating lead capture allows your marketing and sales team to further invest in strategy and business planning. Once the lead is engaging with your material, it’s time to start them on a customized journey.

Personalized Journey of the Customer

Let’s say you had an ad that someone clicked on and downloaded a lead magnet. The lead can now be put in a customized, automated drip campaign. Developing a library of diverse content to fit any and all of your prospects will serve as the foundation for your automation strategy. Your company saves time each time a prospect is automatically added to a drip campaign with content tailored to their area of interest. This personalized and relevant information to leads provides inherent value allowing you to stand out from the rest of the competitors. However, being able to track engagement with your content is a vital piece of the qualification process.

Accurate and Reliable Data – Reports and Dashboards

Choosing an appropriate marketing automation tool allows you to develop real-time reports in a matter of minutes. With big data you’ll be able to assess the effectiveness of past, present, or future campaigns. Your reports and dashboards, as with many tools at your disposal, will also come into play during the lead qualification process. Pardot’s automatic scoring system scores a prospect based on engagement with all of your marketing assets from email to landing pages to videos. Your sales and marketing teams will then have further insight on your prospect’s existing relationship with your organization paving way for better-informed decision-making in the nurturing process. However, your team may find that you have access to an overwhelming amount of data, and you’ll need a plan for identifying the most valuable among it all. At Corrao Group, we run reports every day to find the data we need to make improvements in our sales and marketing strategy.

Save Time and Resources

One of the most significant benefits of utilizing marketing automation is the increased bandwidth that comes with it. Imagine how much time you are spending on manually sending emails to leads or preparing posts on your social media accounts. Many different marketing automation tools allow you to have more time to spend on strategic planning to maximize return on investment. Free from the burden of many manual tasks, you’ll devote your resources to creating more engaging marketing content, working with your sales team, and building better relationships with customers. Improved relationships within your team and with your prospects is a win for all parties involved.

This explosion of AI technology over the past couple of years has allowed marketers to leave low-status, redundant tasks to AI while being able to focus on the more prominent creative marketing strategies with marketing automation. When leveraged for its full potential, automation software is not a tool just for sales and marketing. At Corrao Group, we created EZ-AR™, the first automated invoice generation and account receivable collection solution. What used to take hours upon hours of manual work, now gets done in minutes thanks to lessons learned in our experience with marketing automation.

Sales and Marketing Aligned

Disconnected sales and marketing teams plague organizations across industries, but marketing automation can bring the two teams together. Marketing automation provides help to the sales team by improving lead generation, lead scoring, and automated lead follow up for sales. The streamlined qualification and hand-off capabilities of a marketing automation tool connect the sales cycle from start to finish. Collaboration between both teams is vital to have, and the relationship of these teams should only grow closer as they work to maximize ROI at your company. Marketing automation delivers higher quality leads with more context based on the pain points and interests of each of these prospects, and all this before an initial phone call. It’s incredible what your company can do when you have both the marketing and sales team aligned, and working as one.

There are many more ways that marketing automation can efficiently and effectively improve your company’s time and revenue stream. Being able to have a powerful tool that can run different parts of your company with AI technology is becoming the norm. More and more companies are moving towards utilizing marketing automation; roughly 51% of companies are already marketing automation users with 58% of B2B companies planning on continuing to use the software or make the switch. Understandably, it can be a lot to handle, and if you would like to learn more, please feel free to contact us. Our marketing innovation combines technology and creativity in a unique experience that attracts, converts, closes, and delights.

4 Tactics to Improve your ABM Process

“97% of practice leaders, marketers, and executives said that ABM provided a higher ROI than other methods, with just under 40% saying it’s ‘much higher’” (Alterra Group). Account-based marketing is a strategy that can provide significant benefits to retain and expand existing client relationships. There are four main ABM tactics to utilize when implementing this process in your workplace: 1) Identify Target Accounts, 2) Target Decision Makers, 3) Engage with Personalized Content, and 4) Close Accounts, Report on Metrics and Expand Accounts.

1. Identify Target Accounts

Identifying target accounts is the first critical step in the ABM process as sales and marketing come together to highlight the accounts that are the best representations of their ideal client. There are four different ways to select your target accounts. This can either be done manually, through CRM reporting, Advanced Technology, or AI-Powered Insights. Recently, we talked about how Artificial Intelligence is transforming the ABM process, and with a product like Einstein Analytics, it becomes easier to collect and analyze current data while identifying additional, similar accounts. When determining the number of your accounts, there is no magic number as every company’s pipeline is different. However, we do suggest that you break them down into three different tiers:

Tier A: Highest value with the highest potential of closing; Hyper-personalized. Ex: 1-50 Accounts
Tier B: High value with great closing potential; very personalized. Ex: 51-200 Accounts
Tier C: Low value; not their ideal client profile, somewhat personalized. Ex: 201+ Accounts

In terms of the number of accounts you should have in your tiers, it depends on what your Average Sales Price (ASP) is. Therefore, if your ASP is low, you most likely will not have a good number of tier A accounts, and if it is high, you won’t have as many tier A accounts. Furthermore, the last step of this process involves defining what your Ideal Customer Profile is (ICP). ICP’s play an essential role in ABM because it is necessary to have an idea of what you want from a potential customer or sale.

2. Target Decision Makers

Once the list of your target accounts is made and separated by tiers, it is time to target who makes the decisions for the company. This becomes a powerful ABM tactic because by targeting the decision maker of the company, it helps speed up the sales cycle and help shape your content. Building out personas at this stage can be the difference that separates you from your competitors. While your competitors send out generic emails, you will be sending highly personalized content that will win over and resonate with your customers.

Some information you should look at to build personas are:

Role – What are their top priorities? Who do they interact with daily? Do they make the decisions?
Challenges – Find out their top problems so that you can offer the solution to those challenges.
Personal & Preferences – Find out top information about them such as their education, employment history, or what city they currently live in. It never hurts to help build report with whom you are doing business with.

It is essential to take the time in this step to build relationships with your clients. Not only will you have a higher chance of expanding their account, but you might have found a customer for life.

3. Engage with Personalized Content

To engage with contacts, you need to have relevant content using the information you gathered in the last step. Those tier A and B accounts will appreciate you taking the time to create a highly customized email just for their account and personas. It is essential to understand that not all content has to be personalized for each account as it would be too time-consuming for the company. However, for those tier A and B accounts, engaging with highly personalized content is a perfect ABM tactic that can show you did your research. Tier A accounts should receive content specifically made for them, while tier B accounts can receive content that is custom to their industry.

The next step is taking the inbound marketing roots and applying them to content you’ve created for the decision makers. Your timing of the content does not change; however, the delivery channel does. It’s important to understand that there are other ways of delivering highly personalized content than just emails. Some of these ways include executive events, direct mail, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings. Consequently, implementing these ABM tactics can help your company stand out from the rest of your competitors because these attention-grabbers and little details will not go unnoticed.

4. Close Accounts, Report on Metrics, Expand Accounts

Your team has identified your target accounts, built up personas and personalized content for each contact, and engaged them on respective channels. Now it’s time to close! The closing of the deal is only the start of your relationship. If you offer a service, your service team will now take over and keep the client happy. Once that is over, it is time to set them up on an automatic nurture email campaign that continuously checks in with the client. Having a nurturing campaign allows you to stay engaged with the client, and when they need more work done in the future, they will know who to trust with their work.

After a few months of utilizing ABM tactics, it is time to prove to your executives that ABM is here to stay. If they need more convincing about ABM, use statistics from target accounts to show engagement growth and confirm that your hyper-personalized content is resonating with the contact. If you would like to learn more about ABM tactics, please fill out the form below to grow your marketing or visit our website.

How Does Artificial Intelligence Transform your Account-Based Marketing Tactics?

Account-Based Marketing tactics are improving fast, and with the help of technology, it is becoming a marketing plan that every B2B company should explore.

Did you know that 89% of respondents reported a higher ROI from ABM (Account-Based Marketing) than traditional marketing initiatives (ITSMA)? While ABM is a strategy best suited for long term growth and potential, new technology – specifically, AI (Artificial Intelligence) could be the critical difference in getting more leads and maximizing your ROI. Account-Based Marketing tactics are improving fast, and with the help of technology, it is becoming a marketing plan that every B2B company should explore.

Imagine being able to recognize a target account the moment they are doing their initial research. Today that is all made possible because of artificial intelligence, and AI is transforming the game in 2019 because of its ability to provide real-time feedback. AI can synthesize through millions of analytics in real time, delivering a list of potential targets. Naturally, this will improve identification rates, which in turn could make for better results for your company. Furthermore, it is now easier for companies to understand the early signals in regards to what an account is not only writing about but what they are searching for. In other words, AI is producing real-time intent, which is getting those early signals about what an account is searching for on search engines. This becomes an important step in the Account-Based Marketing process because the ultimate goal is to get them the moment they start their initial research into what their problems are and the solutions that are offered.

Additionally, AI is also improving account engagement which is following click behavior to identify in real time who (person, company) is on your website, while also recommending content that is relevant to their specific needs. Improving account engagement allows marketers to know who was on their company’s website and what they were looking at (issues they have). This provides sales and marketing to have faster conversion rates because they are already sending their hyper-personalized content to that specific person. Artificial Intelligence works so fast behind the scenes that it allows the sales and marketing teams to work together to best identify the company’s pain points and provide them with solutions to their problems. Ultimately, the old ways of marketing that manually crunched numbers over a designated period are over; AI immediately processes the data and allows marketers to sit back and focus on the bigger picture. Leveraging the ever-changing technology can lead to quicker conversion rates for your company. If you would like to learn more about the importance of artificial intelligence and account-based marketing tactics, please contact us.

4 Frequently Asked Questions about ABM

What is ABM?

A recent study by Alterra Group has found that, “97% of marketers surveyed said ABM had higher ROI than other marketing activities.” Account-Based Marketing is a strategy using B2B sales and marketing principles to target company accounts. It is designed for long-term growth, rather than quick short deals. Based on the ability to send hyper-personalized content to targeted decision makers, Account-Based Marketing tactics are a strategy that if it is managed right, can maximize your ROI over time.

How to Build a Structured Content Calendar

Is your content creation team struggling with staying on top of marketing content? If so, you need a comprehensive digital content calendar. Every company, from start-ups to Fortune 500s, can benefit from the structure of a content calendar, so if you’re not using one, you can start to fall behind. Making sure you have planned content posts in advance is one of the best ways to make sure you are providing the consumer with current and relevant information.

Here are our top 5 tips for creating your digital marketing content calendar!

1. Decide what you want to post

When your content creation team begins to build the calendar, they need to decide what kind of content your company would like to post. If you want to post pictures, social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter would be your best options. If you would like to share information about your company’s services, blogs and emails may be best. Do your research on the times that are best to post for each outlet, as you don’t want your posts to get lost in the abyss of social algorithms.

Another question you need to think about is who your ideal audience is going to be. Your content creation team will want to target the content to your audience, so you need to make sure it’s relevant and interesting to get them coming back for more.

Social Media trends for 2019 that can improve your business

2019 has arrived, and with a new year comes new trends. Social media has been on the rise as one of the main ways people spend their free time with, so it’s important to stay on top of current trends that can set your business up for success. Social media marketing is crucial for businesses in today’s society, and it’s not hard to figure out why.

Here are the top 4 social media trends you should be thinking about this year, with tips on how to implement each!

Video Content

Video content has been a major part of social media these last few years, and 2019 will be no different. With Youtube and IGTV on the rise, it’s important to hop on the bandwagon to make sure you are creating content that people want to engage with. Short videos about your company’s products or services are a great way to tell prospects what you can offer them without taking up too much of their time. (Bonus: if you make a fun and compelling video, they will most likely share it with all of their friends).

Vertical videos are huge on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and if you want to target to those consumers, you’ve got to change the way you present your content. Creating vertical videos is actually a lot easier too, as you can just start creating videos on your smartphone!

82% of consumers have been encouraged to take action after watching a business marketing video.
90% of consumers watch videos on their mobile.
74% of consumers said that they have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a brand’s video.

(Wyzowl)

E-commerce

A lot of brands are now looking to social media to sell their products. With sites like Instagram that allow brands to tag their items right on the post, the buying process has become a lot easier and more straight-forward for the consumer.

Buyers are always on their phones, so it makes sense to market to them there. Creating video content and visual ads through your social media can kickstart your e-commerce business.

Mobile e-commerce sales were projected to make up 63.5% of total e-commerce sales of 2018.
Product videos can increase conversion rates by as much as 144%.

(Social Media Today)

CRM Utilization

CRM software can improve your sales through tools such as templates, campaign management, and marketing automation.

One way you can utilize a CRM, such as Salesforce, is through social media marketing automation. This tool is great for customer service because it can provide consistency for your posts and responses can be quicker. Consistent content is crucial for keeping customers engaged, so utilizing AI and automated messaging is a great way to stay connected even when you’re sleeping. You can also add personalization through these automated messages, which help your customers feel valued.

74% of businesses using a CRM have acknowledged that they have improved customer relations.
CRM software can improve sales by as much as 29%

(Hosting Facts)

User-Generated Content

Sharing content created by your social media followers is not only a great way to stay engaged, but it’s also an avenue that helps your company stay relevant without having to take the time to research and create content on their own.

Not only will you save time and money, but you will also foster brand loyalty. Sharing user content is also a great way to seem genuine in your marketing approach as you connect with your audience and acknowledge their content. Social channels and blogs are a great place to share user content, and the more you share, the more likely your customers will share!

68% of millennials are receptive to information shared through social media
86% say that user-generated content is representative of brand quality.

(TINT)

Social media is always changing, but acknowledging these trends will help your business have a successful year. Videos are a great way to have interesting and digestible content and allow creative freedom. With videos and user-generated content, you will be able to keep customers engaged and willing to purchase your product. A lot of companies don’t have the time to leverage digital marketing experts, such as us at Corrao Group, but we have a full-service digital agency to get you started.

Utilizing a CRM can make this all easier through automation and organization of customer data, and with 10+ years of experience in this realm, we can help!

Get the most out of Salesforce Workflows

Every company has those tedious tasks that slow down their employees’ day. These tasks include high-priority case notification, updating shipment statuses if they’re delayed, and notifying an account owner of updates made by others. These are just some of the thousands of tedious processes that can be streamlined through Salesforce Process Builder. Ultimately, Salesforce workflows automate your business processes continuously in the background so your employees can work on other projects. We’re going to highlight some of the most widely-used processes below.

Business Processes

1. High-Priority Case Notification – Let’s use the example of your urgency scale ranging from 1 -3 with 1 being extremely urgent. Currently, a level 1 case is submitted and it takes hours, maybe even a day, for your team to reach out because they were sifting through level 2 and 3 cases. Set up these workflows to improve your customer service and receive instant notifications when urgent cases are submitted.

2. Delayed Shipment Status Update – In today’s world, people are tracking their packages from when they order it to when it’s delivery. Stay a step ahead with excellent communication to let the recipient know of a delay. No one enjoys their package being delayed, especially if they don’t receive a notification about it. Help alleviate this delayed shipment by being as proactive as possible.

15 of the Best Email Subject Lines Waiting to be Opened

When it comes to email marketing, one of the hardest parts is actually getting prospects to open your email. Even if you have the most valuable, revolutionary information in that email, no one will see it if they don’t open it.

We have curated a list of the 15 best email subject lines just waiting to be opened!

1. The Intriguer

Look what you did…. – Hustle

This type of email subject peaks the curiosity of the reader because they want to remember exactly what they did. The way Hustle used this email subject was to get the reader to open an email from the new list they subscribed to, so it’s fresh in their mind, and they obviously want to hear from their company!

2. The Urgent Statement

$10 OFF—Last Day! – Groupon

Having a sense of urgency, such as “last day!” in this email, always entices a reader to open. If they are a fan of the product or service already and have subscribed to receive alerts, chances are they have been waiting for this email. Also, instead of a percentage off, there’s a straight forward dollar amount, which would get any shopper excited because they won’t have to calculate anything to figure out how much they would be saving!

Pardot Introducing Engagement Studio Timers and SSL for Vanity Domains

Don’t look now but Pardot is back at it with even more advancements! They’ve recently added SSL for Vanity Domains and customizable business hours for Engagement Studios. Let’s dive into these new features Pardot has released for us.

SSL for Vanity Domain
Tired of having to use go.pardot.com for your secure HTTPS connection? Now you don’t have to, SSL is now made available for your vanity domain. Giving you the ability to host your Pardot marketing assets under the HTTPs of your vanity domain.

Set up is really simple. From Pardot, go into Admin > Domain Management > Tracker Domain.

“Will ABM completely replace my Traditional Marketing strategy”?

One of the first questions asked when looking into Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is, “Will this completely replace our traditional marketing strategy”? While it may seem that way at first, traditional marketing isn’t left in the dust when adopting ABM, the time-tested marketing strategy that focuses on understanding the customer at the account level. In this post, we’re going to go over how traditional marketing is consolidated into Account-Based Marketing tactics, as well as how they’re different.

Building a Successful CRM with Salesforce Consultants

Imagine self-implementing a system as vast as Salesforce to find out 6-8 months later that you cannot prove its ROI. Meanwhile, you’ve already spent quite the investment already so that your budget is locked up for the rest of the year. For the past 10 years we’ve seen this all the time, and it is all caused by self-implementation.

Whether you have decided to pick Salesforce as your customer success platform or are strongly considering to do so, what usually follows is, “Can I self-implement? Why do I need to hire a consultant?” Yes, you can do implement Salesforce yourself, but it’s not recommended unless you have a Salesforce admin with over five years of hands-on experience. Although, we highly suggest against self-implementations as it usually does not lead to the proper transfer of business processes onto the platform. This comes from the Salesforce client not having the knowledge of what Salesforce can do as a platform when implemented company-wide.

Category: Digital Marketing