Marketing automation software platforms can help B2B marketers streamline their lead nurturing process by delivering targeted content to prospects based on factors such as demographic profile, online behavior, and sales process stage.
This technology has already proven to be valuable to organizations’ bottom lines: A recent Forrester report found that B2B marketers who incorporate marketing automation tools have increased their sales-pipeline contribution by 10 percent.4 The initial wave of marketing automation platforms focused primarily on email marketing, enabling companies to send targeted emails to prospects within their contact databases based on specific timetables, segmentation data, or previous responses.
Successful B2B marketers believe in the value of delivering the right message to the right prospect at the right time. However, although organizations are incorporating some marketing automation tools into their marketing programs, many have not yet embraced the full potential of multi-channel lead nurturing. Only 30 percent of marketers believe that their programs, content, and messaging are well integrated across multiple marketing channels.
According to our survey, 44 percent of marketers believe that, in addition to other channels, display advertising plays an important role in nurturing leads through the sales funnel. What’s more, marketers are ready to move beyond their reliance on email marketing and make multi-channel nurturing a reality for their organizations: 89 percent of marketers would be interested in technologies that support the ability to nurture anonymous and known prospects without using email.
Today, there is tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach new prospects and nurture leads wherever they may be online by complementing the traditional email nurturing channel with effective nurturing through display and social advertising. Marketers no longer need to give up on prospects who don’t fill out contact forms—sophisticated technologies that allow marketers to identify and nurture both anonymous and known prospects already exist, and are being used by leading organizations to expand their reach and nurture more leads through the sales pipeline. By embracing a multi-channel lead nurturing strategy, marketers can now take advantage of opportunities for reaching and connecting with all target prospects wherever they are on the web.
