Marketing automation is a broad way to define front-end software and back-end technologies that help companies market more effectively using multiple channels at once -- such as websites, blogs, social media, and email; while simultaneously automating repetitive and sometimes even mind-numbing tasks.
Marketing SaaS leader HubSpot found that email marketing automation campaigns are among the top three strategies that email marketers use to boost campaign performance. And while the same research discovered that 68% of businesses use automation, only 20% of marketing professionals use email marketing automation.
However, when looking at the 92% of B2B marketing teams that use account-based marketing (ABM), more than two-thirds (68%) automate. (That last data point is from Salesforce.)
So with this in mind, I want to share my favorite email marketing automation strategy with you -- that will save you a ton of time and make your sales team absolutely love the results!)
(This is from the perspective of being a digital marketing strategist and revenue growth consultant for small business CEOs -- with 20+ years of experience implementing marketing automation to grow startups and small businesses. And 31 HubSpot Academy certifications, including in marketing automation (Marketing Hub), sales automation (Sales Hub), Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Advertising, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Sales Enablement.)
Big picture:
If your company sells to other businesses (B2B), you likely have more than one stakeholder that you need to win over -- with your approach to marketing, sales, and customer success.
As people have become more risk-averse and many purchases now get vetted in a decision-by-committee model, account-based marketing has become an incredibly popular go-to-market strategy for engaging with multiple stakeholders from the same company.
Regardless of whether your initial foot in the door in a particular company comes from an eBook download, webinar registration, or demo request, you can use email marketing automation to dramatically accelerate sales cycles by getting more stakeholders from the same company looped in.
How do you do this?
Quite simply, use a basic marketing automation email message always to be asking,
- "Who else at needs to read this?" (eBook, report, or blog post for example)
- Or "Who else at needs to attend this?" (webinar or conference for example)
- Or "Who else at needs to watch this?" (video or live stream for example)
Let a few minutes setting up these basic marketing automation email messages do your heavy lifting for getting additional stakeholders involved in the buyer's journey, no matter what time that conversion event happens 24/7/365.
At the end of the day, unless your sales team is totally asleep at the wheel, the automation will work the magic that most sales development reps (SDRs) and account executives (AEs) truly love!
How do you use email marketing automation to improve customer experience and achieve sales goals? Let me know in the comments.
And if you want to help your sales team with a more effective email strategy that accelerates sales cycles, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.
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