Marketing Automation Archives

The Main Reasons Your Marketing Automation Is Failing (How to Fix it)

The 5 Main Reasons Your Marketing Automation Is Failing (How to Fix it)

August 31, 2017/in Marketing Automation /by Dara Lin

What’s in marketing automation? Why is everyone talking about it?

Marketing automation is a software that lets you schedule repetitive tasks to perform on your behalf. Tasks such as;

Send out a bunch of email to your prospects
Schedule a blog post
Send a reminder to certain actions – make a follow-up call or send SMS.
Schedule an action such as send a follow-up email for some triggers

According to SiriusDecisions, 85% of B2B marketers use marketing automation platform but they feel like they’re not using it to its full potential. Who wouldn’t want to just sit down and let your marketing automation do the work for you?

However, if it’s really that good, why is it that many business owners and marketers still fail on their marketing automation? Here are the 5 main reasons why marketing automation fails. *include tips at the bottom on how to fix it.

#1. Having a robotic message

Marketing automation tool allows you to send out mass emails using templates so the message is less personalized.

How to fix it?

Craft the message carefully.
Address them by their first name on the email.
When choosing a marketing automation tool, find one that lets you fetch the name of the person you’re sending an email.

For example:

Hi %%FIRST_NAME%%,

Over 2 billion photos and videos are uploaded to social media each and every day; a staggering amount of content.

Chances are that some of that content could be used by you to improve your marketing effectiveness. But how do you get your hands on it and in an easy and scalable way?

If you are interested in how ABC Pacific, EI Corporation and Cruise Ltd. has used UGC (User Generated Content) to improve their marketing outcomes, then we’d love to talk.

I was hoping you are the right person from %%COMPANY%% to talk to about this. If not can you please point me in the right direction?

Regards,

Anna Anderson

a.anderson@xyzcompany.com

That looks like the one below when the recipient receives it.

Hi Peter,

Over 2 billion photos and videos are uploaded to social media each and every day; a staggering amount of content.

Chances are that some of that content could be used by you to improve your marketing effectiveness. But how do you get your hands on it and in an easy and scalable way?

If you are interested in how ABC Pacific, EI Corporation and Cruise Ltd. has used UGC (User Generated Content) to improve their marketing outcomes, then we’d love to talk.

I was hoping you are the right person from XYZ Company to talk to about this. If not can you please point me in the right direction?

Regards,

Anna Anderson

a.anderson@xyzcompany.com

When trying to engage someone in a conversation, it’s better if you’re not too familiar with your prospect. It can be a little creepy if you know what’s happening in their life.

How to fix it?

Be conversational but maintain professionalism.
Don’t be too personal. Don’t use lines like;

“Hi Peter! Congratulations on being a new dad. Sam looks so adorable!”

#3. Lack of quality content.

Marketing automation allows you to distribute contents easier. But one of the reasons why marketing automation is a failure is lack of quality content. Why? You won’t have something to communicate with your prospects. Content is one way of engaging and connecting with your prospects.

How to fix it?

Be consistent on producing high-quality content
Produce the right content – talk about common issues within your industry and how to solve them to connect with your prospects. Here’s an article for newbie content marketers to get started.

#4. Unfocused marketing objectives.

When it comes to marketing automation setting a clear goal is important. Having too many goals can affect the success of your marketing effort. Goals such as;

Increase the number of inbound leads in a month
Increase your conversion by 20%

How to fix it?

If your goal is to convert more leads into customers, then you need to invest in marketing automation software.

However, after you’ve purchased a marketing automation tool, what will be your next plan?

Think of how you can increase your conversion.
Nurture your prospects. Below are some of our compiled articles on lead nurturing to help you with:
- Re-engage with Warm Prospects Who Have Gone Cold
- The Four P’s Of Sales Leads Nurturing

Divide your team into 3 and have each one handle every stage. For example:

TOFU (Top of the funnel)

The Awareness team. Top of the funnel is all about attracting prospects. How to attract prospects and visitors?

Content marketing
SEO
Social media campaign

MOFU (Middle of the funnel)

The Nurturing team. Middle of the funnel is more on nurturing those who would like to consider your product or service. How?

Send out follow email
Make a follow-up call

Learn more about Callbox lead nurturing process and tool.

BOFU (Bottom of the funnel)

The Closer. Bottom of the funnel is the part where prospects get to decide to buy from you. In doing this, you have to make sure to maintain the relationship even after they have purchased from you.

#5. Not knowing how marketing automation works.

Marketing automation vendors will tell you how to how their software works but not how to create your own marketing strategy. Understanding how it works and how to implement it effectively will help increase your conversion.

How to fix it?

Before you decide to have a marketing automation, create a marketing plan.
Make sure to research first which marketing automation software to choose that fits your marketing needs.

Marketo, Hubspot, etc, regardless what marketing automation software you use as long as you have a clear marketing strategy, you know how your marketing automation works and how to use it effectively, you won’t have any problem wasting time, money and effort.

For Effective Lead Nurturing, which do you Prefer? Predictive or Power Dialers?

January 7, 2016/in Marketing Automation /by Maegan

It is important for B2B marketers to determine the best ways to capture leads. As much as finding and qualifying prospects, enhancing one’s lead nurturing devices should be considered for a better lead generation and appointment setting experience. Even important is being able to reach out to potential B2B buyers effectively.

Today, most companies owe their CRM successes to auto-dialers. To define them, auto-dialers are sophisticated software systems that contact leads from a list. Once answered, the receiver is automatically connected to an available agent for an engagement. Often, most auto-dial software systems have voice mail features that instruct receivers to press certain numbers on their keypad as a way to answer phone surveys.

In terms of B2B lead nurturing, auto-dialers make up for conversations in which not a single second is wasted. With such technology, businesses can eliminate the need to engage gatekeepers and instead talk to the personality directly.

With such perks in mind, an auto-dial system could be your ticket to a better lead management. If you still haven’t employed an auto-dialer yet, it is important to examine the two forms of auto-dialers normally used by B2B companies.

Predictive or Power Dialers?

When choosing the types of dialers to employ, one must consider that there are two types.

First, predictive dialers, as their name suggest, make simultaneous dials to individual leads. If a pickup is detected, the call is automatically connected to an available agent. However, if the waiting time takes long or if there are no available agents to pick it up, the call is dropped and another contact number is dialed. More advanced predictive dialers now come with voice recognition mechanisms that are great for avoiding voicemail messages.

Power dialers on the other hand thrive on a less complicated concept of calling individuals one by one based on a list of leads. Unlike predictive dialers, they do not rely on simultaneous dialing, instead directly hooks a prospect with an agent whether or not the prospects receives the call.

Indeed, each type of auto-dialer has its advantages and disadvantages. Predictive dialers, for one, are good when you opt to increase customer engagements and conversions. But the downside is that it might produce more dropped calls than it can obtain. Power dialers on the other hand are exceptionally advantageous in terms of quality customer engagements because it has dropped call rates.

In the long run

The type of auto-dialer you should employ should depend on your priorities. However, simple start-ups can experience a better lead nurturing program using a power dialer.

Callbox Integrates With Salesforce: A Better, More Efficient Client Experience in Australia

April 13, 2015/in Marketing Automation /by Maegan

Years of innovation and hard work have been put in to give Callbox clients the best solutions for their business, as well as to enable managers and sales professionals to streamline business development.

The challenge has always been to keep up with the changing times, especially with how technology evolves in exponential fashion even just in the last two decades. Callbox started out as a simple telemarketing firm, which eventually flourished into a multi-channel marketing machine.

Now, in the age of cloud and automation, Callbox steps up to the plate, ready for another era of marketing savvy.

In celebrating 10 years of flourishing into a stalwart player in the business-to-business industry, Callbox is taking cloud-based lead management and marketing automation to new heights.

Putting the clients front and center: Callbox integrates with Salesforce

Not a lot of business folks would question how Salesforce is dominating— in a rather lopsided fashion — the current enterprise cloud platform war. It’s not even close. With its acclaimed software stability and supportive ties with customers, partners and developers, Salesforce offers the one true payoff for enterprise CRM.

But it’s not just the reputation that has led Callbox to finally bring Salesforce into the mix; we have always been a resolute fan of new technology and game-changing shifts, which is exactly what Salesforce is and has always been about. When you aspire for innovation, you can’t help but partner with the most innovative company in the world.

Prospects who have long entrusted their data to Salesforce can now be serviced by the Callbox without the fuss of manual migration but with the same certainty and level of convenience they’ve been accustomed to. That premise alone opens up to an entire new experience, not to mention the clear operational and bottom-line benefits for both sides of the equation.

Introducing Callbox DialStream: The Most Efficient Power Dialer for Salesforce

What is DialStream?

Callbox DialStream gives your business the edge by providing a faster, more efficient way of contacting, connecting, and closing more leads.

Salesforce Integration
You want Callbox to generate your sales leads for you, but you and your sales team are very comfortable using Salesforce to manage your leads and sales activities. Solution: DialStream.

Turbo-charged Dialer
Built with such speed and flexibility, DialStream delivers massive efficiency gains and better overall sales performance. Opportunity waits for no one, so we work fast.

Smarter Conversation
DialStream makes way for better and smarter engagement with prospects as it presents customer data relevant to each call.

Achieve maximum efficiency and phone productivity

When you sign up for a lead generation campaign with us and would prefer your Callbox team to work with your prospect lists directly from your Salesforce account (Enterprise), Callbox DialStream makes it possible.

Our dialer solution is seamlessly integrated with Salesforce, which means that:

Your Callbox callers can dial your Salesforce contacts directly through DialStream; No software installation or contact data migration required
When your Callbox callers add notes to each call, send an email, or leave a voicemail message, all data are logged directly to your Salesforce account in real time
Call reports (duration, result, etc.) can be generated using the Salesforce report engine

Contact us to learn more about this amazing solution.

Eager for a Better Sales Efficiency? Avoid these Mistakes in CRM Implementation

March 26, 2015/in Marketing Automation /by Maegan

B2B companies have different approaches in implementing their CRM programs for better sales efficiency. Often, however, there is always a possibility of committing costly mistakes.

In an excerpt from his interesting articles in B2BMarketing.net, IT professional Rick Lyle has listed some pointers on identifying and correcting these common CRM mistakes.

1. Levelled By Legacy

CRM offers companies access to a vast range of new tools and skill sets, but old systems must work hand-in-hand with any new CRM platform.

The trouble is, is that some companies aren’t ensuring that the new and old systems have ‘tied the knot’. To ensure they don’t end up in the divorce courts:

a. Do a company-wide IT survey and learn how existing systems can be mated with the new CRM system.

Or at least be in a position to work together before the legacy system is phased out.

b. Do understand the impact that CRM will have on your entire IT structure – or you could pay dearly later.

c. Don’t jump in both feet first; run a pilot programme before full rollout so you can test that the new and the old will work together.

d. And most importantly, don’t simply migrate the data from your legacy system carte blanche, or else you could end up with…

2. Dirty Data

Ensure your database has been cleaned before you introduce the CRM solution. All entries should be standardised and any discrepancies dealt with.

These can include dealing with double entries, missing fields, gone-aways and non-compliant data. Remember – a CRM system is only as good as the data that’s fed into it.

3. Trials of the Unexpected

A company can change overnight; it may merge, be acquired, a department outsourced or a key stakeholder may be replaced.

Rolling out a CRM system needs to take such potential changes into account, so ensure you have the right budget and schedule contingency plan in place.

4. Those Damn Damning Doomsayers

To ensure that CRM is successful, it has to be embraced by everyone in the company:

a. The C-Suite needs to be on board – executive sponsorship is vital to promoting the new system across the company.

b. A CRM advocate is required from a department – say, the marketing manager – who can show results quickly and prove to other departments that CRM works.

c. A full training programme must be rolled out for all employees so they can grasp CRM’s benefits immediately.

5. DIY Disaster

The idea of carrying out a CRM implementation in-house might sound appealing – even cost effective. A CRM implementation is, however, a big job.

It needs specialists who can:
Help design and implement the CRM system.
Provide that all-important training to employees.
Aid in legacy system migration and management.
Offer support during and after the implementation process.

Want to know how we handle CRM? Contact us now.

The 5 Main Reasons Your Marketing Automation Is Failing (How to Fix it)

#1. Having a robotic message

#3. Lack of quality content.