After reviewing recent industry blog I found some information I thought you might find interesting.  According to the DemandGen Report only 10% of B2B companies currently use marketing automation.  Given that the industry growth rates are much higher, it’s rational to assume that many B2B CMO’s are on the verge of deploying an automation platform.  Because of that, I wanted to address one myth about marketing automation.

Myth: Marketing automation platforms cost too much

Reality: Even the top marketing automation platforms cost less than you think, especially when you consider the high costs of:

1. Sales rep time spent chasing bad leads. Instead of trying to convert poor-quality leads, your sales reps can maximize their time by contacting people who areserious about what you offer.  Marketing automation gives your sales team access to new data – such as your leads digital “footprint”. These insightshelp keep each call in the process relevant.
2.  Marketing team’s time performing repetitive tasks. Time-consuming tasks, such as event marketing and management, can be streamlined through marketing automation. Your marketing team can simplify their processes and ensure more successful events.  Automation will make your marketing efforts more efficient
3. Lost revenue due to unattended leads.   If you don’t nurture leads in early stages of the buying process, they will likely buy from your competitors. A marketing automation platform sends leads relevant content until (based on their lead-score) they’re ready to move to sales.

B2B marketing leaders are under tremendous pressure to increase their marketingteam’s contribution to generating revenue. For companies serving buyers that make high-consideration purchases, like yours, marketers need to communicate with potential buyers at every stage of their problem-solving cycle, providing them with information that is targeted to their needs, role, intent, andinterest level. To manage this depth of engagement at scale requires marketing automation.

You have to make an investment to increase your marketing effectiveness.  That is why we recommend marketing automation for our clients.

JC Thomas Marketing Communications is a very experienced, full-service marketing and PR firm that does great creative work.  We use intuitive software to get it in front of the people most engaged in your brand. (cool work here).