Anyone who knows me from either the social media space or in “real” life knows that the words “marketing” and “automation” aren’t generally in my lexicon. But integrated marketing that’s effective, that’s a whole different conversation.
There’s a lot to be said for processes and systems that can help make the processes of what we marketers do more efficient, more effective and, of course, more profitable for our clients.
This is a guest post written by my friend, TJ McCue. And it’s not about something robotic and automated, but rather about lead generation and nurturing. Good things to know if you’re trying to grow a business. And growing businesses – well, we’re all about that. Which is exactly why I asked TJ to write this post. Read on.
103 Marketing Experts and Business Owners Share Tips and Success Stories on how to Increase Profits with a Systematic, Integrated Marketing Approach.
Marketing Automation is a hot buzzword. It is also a confusing one, too. Some argue it is just a new spin on an old concept of drip marketing. Some promise that it is solidly a permission-based concept. TechBizTalk is out to find the answers, at least some of them, to help business owners and marketing executives demystify marketing automation with a new crowdsourced eBook.
To cut to the chase: We’re looking for expert contributors with examples and ideas to share.
What is Marketing Automation? It is usually focused on lead generation and nurturing. It is a systematic approach that allows you to tie your marketing programs together so that as you build awareness and get a lead to your site or customer support department, you can nurture that lead through to a sale. It is often considered the synthesis of email marketing and customer relationship management concepts (under a strategic sales process).
For our ebook purposes, we are assuming some of this, but also asking our contributors what is actually working in the world of real customers. We are loosely following Barry Libert’s crowdsourcing approach that he used with the book We Are Smarter than Me. (Amazon; No Affiliate Link.) The goal is to take a “Will it Blend” approach and grind all these ideas up, especially the hype-filled ones and see what emerges as a useful, practical, hands-on type of result to help you improve your marketing and sales.
Here is some of what we are exploring:
- Web form fulfillment after you’ve generated interest;
- Capturing leads with a CRM solution;
- Developing follow-up campaigns (sequences) that make sense and are individual, one-to-one versus one-to-many;
- What to do with leads from phone or in person contact, like the leads you might acquire at trade shows (yes, people still go to these);
- Can you tie a sales process to the follow-up sequence;
- Is after purchase follow-up needed? How much is enough? How to include cross-sell, upsell;
- Creating advocates or brand ambassadors in a natural way.
Any of this sound like stuff you’d like to know more about? If so, we’re hosting a 3-hour jam session on June 30th in Seattle, sponsored by Lenovo and Infusionsoft business crm, for contributors and editors of the book and project. The event is limited to 50 attendees and if you’re interested in more information on that, you can connect with me via email or ping me on Twitter at @tjmccue.
As an added bonus, every contribution for the ebook that’s accepted (for the book or the blog) will be entered into the Lenovo M90z All-in-One Computer Giveaway.
Learn more about the Marketing Automation eBook at TechBizTalk.
Author Bio: TJ McCue publishes an educational site called TechBizTalk . Its mission is to help business owners and executives not only find useful software applications and services, but also to learn the best ways to leverage those tools. You can find him at TechBizTalk or on Twitter: @TJMcCue
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
