Once upon a time, lead generation was a piece of cake for global organizations; they instantly reached prospects ready to convert, and easy to retain. But, as times changed, and more companies entered the B2B sector, the game changed dramatically.
As a marketer in future, you now need to work much harder for a quality lead, let alone thousands!!
So, what’s next?
Take a deep breath, as we’re about to share a secret to boost your lead generation process. And guess what? The solution isn’t in the Secret Santa box, it’s just in front of you- the humble AI and marketing automation tools. These aren’t some futuristic technologies; they are contemporary tech, which are very easy to integrate and concurrently effective.
So, if you haven’t implemented these technologies yet, you may be facing limitations as illustrated in the below image:
The two top reasons for marketers not integrating automation are lack of expertise (55.6%), and lack of human resources (48.1%) followed by lack of automation strategy (33.5%), and lack of financial resources (31.6%). If your challenge is the same, remember marketing automation benefits clearly outweigh these limitations.
According to a report, 80% of businesses found marketing automation to improve their lead generation process significantly.
Here comes the quote from John Miller, that perfectly fits the context:
“Marketing automation is the technology that propels your business into a new era of relationship-based marketing with quantifiable results. When powerful technology meets effective implementation and internal process management, your company will soon find itself on a journey that leads to new heights of business success.”
Below, you could find 2 super hacks that leverage AI and marketing automation for amazing results:
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Content creation & keyword (time-tested strategy):
Why do organizations invest in content creation and marketing?
It’s not just visibility, but also the credibility they aim for. Most buyers in the B2B market look for sellers with steady positions in the market and industry. Good content is an indicator of a trustworthy seller.
Additionally, well-written and original content attracts the attention of “real” prospects. It means the attention of ready- to- convert prospects whom you could successfully motivate to take action.
The million-dollar question is how do you develop enticing content?
You need to study your customer’s requirements, what exactly are they looking for? Is it for a longer period or a shorter span? And so on. If the answers to these questions are unavailable, it’s challenging to create effective content. Additionally, there are high chances of not inserting the right keyword in content to appear on the top page of search results.
Find the below representation to have a clear idea:
Just as you could see here the highest leads are generated from SEO. So, as a marketer you need to develop the best content with search engine optimized keywords to hit the bull’s eye.
Now when AI comes into the picture, you get over such limitations. The AI tool offers the SEO keyword, or user intent keyword that perfectly aligns with the crafted content. Gradually, the algorithm shows up your blog or other content forms on the first page of search results. Remember algorithms love unique content with the right user intent keyword (which describes the search criteria of the user in a nutshell).
It’s not that seasoned marketers couldn’t find the right keyword, but AI does that in a fraction of a minute. This content created through artificial intelligence also known as Gen AI is a major marketing breakthrough to benefit marketers. With precise and creative Gen AI content, your job is half done. The next step is nurturing these prospects to keep them off from your competitors. Subsequently, you’d generate high-end deals (deals with larger sizes), therefore bringing revenue and profit for the organization.
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Best time to send email and at right platform(communication at the right time at right place makes the difference):
Have you heard the phrase “right place at the right time”?
Many say it’s plain luck when you show up at places at times that benefit you in the long run(opportunities). But, what if, as a marketer you create these opportunities for your brand??
Yes, if you aim to connect with the best prospects, you’ve to be smart to connect at the right platforms such as on social media, or through email marketing. You need to find out which of these works for you and them, further going ahead with communication.
Moving on to the next challenging segment which is time. First, could you answer this: Are you a morning person or a night owl? Well, the same question needs to be analyzed for the B2B audience. You’d see a varied audience respond or engage with content forms at a suitable time (time at which they aren’t busy and could communicate seamlessly). Overall, the right time here means the time frame when you’ve meaningful conversations leading to deal closure…
Marketing automation makes that simple for you. Find the below image to understand better:
Just as you could see here, email marketing automation helps reconnect with lost customers through emails, it helps customize client experiences, increase the effectiveness of teams, further client retention and offer the right information.
So, how is everything executed?
To put it simply, this tech processes precise data to personalize and send emails giving a subtle message to the prospect, we care for you, so it took time to craft a unique email to send across. AI clearly helps client retention, it helps craft right emails, therefore maintaining the relationship and retaining the customer. You could reconnect with lost customers through AI-customized emails and so on.
Both AI and marketing automation execute with efficiency that is creating right content through AI and sending it at the right time through automation. These technologies work in tandem, leading to impressive results.
Summing up:
Lead generation with AI and marketing automation would change the work structure of the marketing team. These professionals now have AI assistants who help them understand the ins and outs of lead generation processes (the limitations that as a marketer, you didn’t notice but the AI found it).
Henceforth, you could leverage this knowledge to improve lead generation and help the sales team to close a good number of deals with impressive deal sizes. The hacks mentioned in this blog would help you reach your goal at the targeted time.
