Automated marketing, yes, but with a finely qualified target group
We are moving towards more and more marketing automation. This certainly saves time, but its impact depends exclusively on how well the data is qualified upstream. Find out all our advice on the challenges of lead generation.
CONTENTS
Targeting and marketing automation
Targeting versus mass marketing
As individuals, we get a lot of advertising. We do everything we can to avoid spam. But that doesn't stop us from being interested in the very information we're looking for, or information that might be of interest to us. Amazon has understood this by displaying the message: "You like this. You might also like...". Suggestions are based on an algorithm linked to our personal history. It is individualised: we talk about BtoC targeting.
How do you reproduce similar targeting for professionals? It involves adapting to their profile and behaviour. This means :
- firstly, being well informed
- secondly, drawing up standard scenarios to make the right offer at the right time.
Be well-informed about your contacts
Lead scoring tools enable you to monitor the progress of your contacts in real time. With a solution like Sparklane, your monitoring becomes active. You choose a certain number of business signals associated with your contacts: a move, the appointment of a manager, product development, international growth, a partnership or even a fund-raising... And the lead software tracks these indicators for you. As soon as one of them turns green, you'll receive an alert (by email or text message). This is an excellent way to
- stay on top of all your leads, even when you're managing a lot of them
- get 360°, ongoing knowledge of each of your leads
Business signals provide your sales force with greater responsiveness and better contextualisation of actions. By cross-checking data, lead scoring can even become predictive, enabling you to anticipate prospects' future needs.
Develop your scenarios
In B2B, sales cycles are longer. The prospecting effort is spread over the medium to long term. The challenge is to "keep prospects warm" until they reach maturity. This is known as lead nurturing. Keeping in touch discreetly but effectively, so that you're there at the right time. To do this, you need to programme actions to be spread out along a typical path. After the first meeting, I send this email. If the person responds, I send another email. You automate your marketing by building an optimal conversion tunnel.
Data: the decisive raw material
While the formula is unstoppable, it must nevertheless be based on qualified data. What information are your business signals based on? And how do you keep it up to date?
A tool for up-to-date, qualified market intelligence
This is what the Sparklane for Marketing module offers, with its Datalake tool. Based on big data technology, it collects news data from websites such as Les Echos and Le Figaro. It connects to their reservoir of information sources and continuously refreshes your database. As a result, your sales staff can base their actions on information that is not only up to date, but also better qualified than any standard prospecting file you might have bought.
Hyper-targeting to refine your approach
Having fresh, reliable data is one thing, but to use it effectively you need to be able to consult it easily. You need to be able to filter your database according to personalised queries. On Sparklane, you can refine your segmentation using pre-selected hypercriteria, such as growth indicators, distribution channels or presence on social networks.
Market analysis to benchmark your performance
A software package such as Sparklane can be integrated into your CRM to enhance the database and refine your approach. The wealth of market information is linked to your leads on the one hand, but can also provide you with a broader sectoral analysis. The Dataviz tool compares your "basket" of contacts with the number of similar contacts in the sector. This view highlights your current market coverage relative to the untapped potential.
Conclusion
By subtly combining hyper-targeting with marketing automation, you can effectively personalise your sales approach. Finer targeting upstream, followed by judiciously automated actions downstream. The process follows a pre-designed standard path, so that it's just right and on target. This new way of marketing is a powerful lever for maximising your conversion rates.
Article translated from French