Modern marketers are able to embrace automation while retaining the personalization that is especially important in a B2B sales context, thanks to the myriad tools and platforms that are pitched at providing automated, customizable outreach which can scale to meet the needs of your campaign.
However, even with these assets on your side, you still need to think carefully about the approach you take to building relationships and courting conversions, so here is an overview of the fundamental strategies and the services that enable them.
Lead generation is easier with automation
Generating leads is a process which can consume a lot of time for sales and marketing professionals. Luckily, finding leads is far less taxing if you use packages like Salesflow LinkedIn prospecting software to automate the tedious, time-consuming aspects of this.
Automation tools can scour B2B networks to pinpoint the best possible prospects for your marketing needs, following the parameters you set and sifting out the least suitable individuals so that only the juiciest leads remain.
On top of all this, automated solutions will fire off initial messages to potential contacts and even follow up with replies that are customized to click with the recipient, retaining the human touch in spite of being automated.
As such, when your outreach efforts snag a bite on LinkedIn, you can grow relationships from their nascent stages into more fleshed-out networks of contacts without needing to work your fingers to the bone 24/7.
Toning down salesy language is sensible
A core principle of good B2B outreach which must not be overlooked when automating your marketing efforts is that most business contacts will not appreciate messaging that is an unambiguous attempt to sell them something.
When we talk about personalization, what we mean is making sure you are appealing to both the individual and the unique pain points of the organization they represent and the industry it occupies.
Thus it needs to appear that you have value to bring to the equation, without the blanket sales approach of some B2C campaigns.
Indeed your initial interactions, automated or not, should be about establishing a mutually beneficial connection, as business relationships rarely get off the ground if the advantages are all flowing in one direction.
Solidifying your brand identity is achievable
Another point to make about marketing automation and personalized outreach in the B2B sphere is that your intention might not be to make conversions in the short term, but rather to establish your brand and increase awareness of what it can do.
Think of it as laying the foundations of future sales and growth, rather than a tactic that will result in instant gratification.
That is not to say that you will have to wait long for your outreach efforts to pay dividends, but rather that there should be several metrics used to measure the success of a campaign beyond pure conversions.
Carefully architecting campaigns is worth the hard work involved
While marketing automation is often talked about in terms of the time-saving potential it offers, what some neglect to mention is that you still need to put in a lot of energy upfront when constructing campaigns. This is especially true if personalization is involved in your automated B2B outreach efforts.
However, while this might make it seem like campaigns are frontloaded with hard work, the reality is that modern tools make it simple and satisfying to build impactful outreach initiatives across a number of platforms.
As you can see, marketing automation for B2B growth relies on personalization as well as the skills and experience of human marketers to get right, which is a good thing for all businesses.
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