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Marketing automation to increase your sales... while reducing your expenses!

Companies using marketing automation solutions see an average increase of 14.5% in their sales, while observing a 12% decrease in their marketing expenses.

Marketing automation can be a key asset for your productivity!

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to the methods and tools used to automate repetitive marketing tasks and to manage campaigns more efficiently and in a personalized way. 


With a marketing automation solution, you can ensure that your campaigns are triggered by specific prospect or customer behavior and are tailored to their needs!

This can include actions such as:

 

    • The automatic sending of personalized emails based on the stage of your prospect's purchasing journey 📧
  •  
    • Automated advertising campaign management 📰
  •  
    • Segmentation and scoring of your prospect and customer base according to qualification criteria 👥
  •  
    • The automatic transmission of your warm leads to your sales team 📞

 

In summary, marketing automation allows you to create more personalized, effective, and consistent marketing experiences for your prospects and customers, while enabling more efficient campaign management!

 

Today, we are sharing 4 steps to follow to initiate a marketing automation approach in your organization!

*Invesp, 2023

STEP #1 - Define your campaign objective

To ensure the success of your marketing automation campaign, first make sure that it aligns well with your overall marketing strategy and that it is not an isolated action.

 

The objective of your marketing automation operation must be clearly identified and consistent with your other marketing objectives. 

 

To define it, use the SMART method. Your goal must be:

 

    • Specific 🎯
    • Measurable 📐
    • Achievable ✊
    • Realistic ⚒️
    • Defined in time ⏱️

Let's take an example!

Your SMART objective for a marketing automation campaign will be:

increase the number of qualified leads by 20% over the next three months thanks to an email nurturing campaign.

Specific: The objective is specific because it aims to increase the number of qualified leads, not the total number of leads, through an email nurturing campaign.
Measurable: The objective is measurable because it is possible to track the number of qualified leads during the campaign and measure the 20% increase compared to the number of qualified leads before this campaign.
Achievable: The objective is attainable because a 20% increase is reasonable and achievable if the campaign is well planned and executed.
Realistic: The objective is realistic because it is based on data and realistic business goals. It is also aligned with the resources and budget available for the marketing automation campaign.
Defined in time: The objective is defined in time because it is linked to a period of three months. This allows measuring the impact of the nurturing campaign over a defined period and tracking the results over time.

To help you determine your SMART objective for your marketing automation campaign, we are sharing our dedicated template!


Download and complete it to ensure your campaign meets every success criterion.

Download the Template

KEY #2 - Segment your database

The second key to using marketing automation in your interactions with prospects is to segment your database.

 

This step involves defining your targets and segmenting them according to different criteria to send them personalized messages tailored to their needs and preferences.

 

1/ Identify and analyze the behaviors of customers and prospects 🔍

Analyzing the behavior of customers and prospects is a crucial first step in segmenting the database. It allows you to understand their needs, motivations, and expectations.

 

This analysis can be based on demographic data such as profession, type of structure, company size, or sector of activity. It can also take into account behavioral data such as purchasing habits, areas of interest, interactions with your company, etc.

 

2/ Create personas to personalize messages 👩🏻‍💼 

Once you have identified the different profiles of your customers and prospects, you can create personas, which are fictional characters representing each profile.

 

These personas will help you personalize the messages you send to your targets based on their needs and preferences. Personas can be used to tailor the content of your communications.

 

 3/ Segment based on needs and behaviors 🎯 

Behavioral criteria are particularly useful for segmenting the database in marketing automation.

 

They take into account the actions that customers and prospects have taken on your website, on social networks, by e-mail or other communication channels.

 

To learn more about targeting your audiences, you can watch our webinar on the subject. Click on the button below!

Watch the webinar
"Refine your prospect targeting"

KEY #3 - Create scenarios and workflows

Once you have segmented your database, it is important to create scenarios and workflows for each category of prospects and clients identified.

 

This step involves establishing an action plan for each of these segments and addressing the behaviors and issues of the previously identified targets.

 

Scenarios should be composed of several sequences of events that will guide your prospects towards conversion. It is recommended to start with simple scenarios and not multiply the steps and content, in order to properly control the conversion cycle.

 

To help you build these scenarios, it is recommended to create workflows. Workflows are sets of automated actions triggered by one or more actions of your prospects. A workflow systematically consists of a trigger and conditions.

In summary, creating scenarios and workflows is essential for automating your marketing actions. This will allow you to guide your prospects towards conversion in a personalized and effective manner.

 

If you would like assistance in creating your first scenarios and workflows, click on the button below for a 30-minute session with Nicolas Boissard, Marketing Director of KESTIO.

Speak with an Expert

KEY #4: Expert advice - Lead scoring

Are you familiar with "Smarketing?"

This term, born from the combination of the words "Sales" and "Marketing", refers to the balance and collaboration around common goals between the sales and marketing departments of a company.

Because marketing and sales are often presented as the sworn enemies of an organization!


The sales team complains about the poor quality of leads generated by marketing... while the marketing team accuses the sales representatives of not processing their leads quickly enough!

But when these two departments are no longer in agreement, the productivity of the entire company suffers.  


According to a study by Forrester Research, companies with misaligned marketing and sales teams experience an annual revenue loss of approximately 10%*.

How to move away from a siloed approach to create a real synergy between sales and marketing?


Today, we are sharing our 4 keys to success!

*Marketing Enablement Improves Business Outcomes — Show Me The Value, Forrester Research, 2022

KEY #1 - Use a CRM

By using a CRM, teams can track all interactions with customers and prospects in real time, allowing them to better understand their needs and preferences.

 

This deeper understanding of clients and prospects enables marketing and sales teams to better adjust their strategy in real-time, based on the results obtained.

 

In addition, by tracking the results of each marketing action, it is possible to associate an ROI with each of them, which is essential to measure the effectiveness of each campaign.

Better understanding

Using a CRM is also an effective way to strengthen collaboration between marketing and sales teams.

 

By sharing information about customers and prospects, teams can better understand the needs and preferences of prospects, which allows them to better advise them and offer solutions tailored to their needs.

Additional opportunities

By working together, teams can improve the quality of service offered to customers and prospects, strengthen loyalty, and increase sales.

 

This relationship of trust between clients and the company also helps to generate additional business opportunities and strengthen the company's reputation.

If you would like an expert to help you optimize your teams' use of your CRM, click on the button below. 

 

The objective of this exchange is to provide you with the keys to initiate change.

Speak with an Expert

KEY #2 - Monitor your metrics

To ensure effective collaboration between marketing and sales teams, it's essential to have clear and precise metrics to measure the results of each action.

 

Indeed, these metrics allow for a better understanding of the impact of marketing actions on sales and for better adjusting strategies based on the results obtained.

 

From a marketing perspective, it's important to track the number of leads needed to achieve the company's revenue goals.

This metric helps to better understand the effectiveness of marketing actions and to adjust strategies based on the results obtained.

 

 

On the sales side, it is important to measure the responsiveness and quality of lead follow-up and appointment scheduling.

This metric measures the quality of lead follow-up and identifies areas for improvement to better meet customer needs.

 

 

Additionally, it's important to monitor the conversion rate of leads into customers to measure the effectiveness of each stage in the sales process.

 

For example, if a company generates 100 leads per month but only manages to convert 10% of them into customers, it is important to understand why the other leads were not converted into customers. This metric helps to better understand the points to improve in order to better convert leads into customers.

 

 

Finally, it is important to measure the acquisition cost of each customer to better understand the effectiveness of marketing and sales activities.

 

For example, if the company spent 10,000 euros on advertising to generate 100 leads and ultimately acquired 5 new customers, the acquisition cost per customer is 2,000 euros. 

This metric helps to better understand the profitability of each marketing and sales action and to adjust strategies accordingly.

 

 

Not sure which metrics to track? Start by working on your Business Flow to identify the number of leads needed to achieve your goals.

 

Click the button below to download our Business Flow construction template.

Download the business flow
construction framework

KEY #3 - Bring your teams together

Once these metrics are defined, communicate them regularly to your marketing and sales teams so that they are ingrained in their daily routine.

 

To achieve this, team meetings are an excellent tool!

Bringing your two departments together effectively aligns them on a common strategy for :

 

    • Your clients
    • Your offers
    • Your campaigns
    • Your results

 

To offer attractive content that meets the needs of your prospects, your marketers need feedback and sales arguments from your sales representatives. And your sales representatives need to be aware of all current marketing campaigns to ensure a smooth customer buying cycle.

 

Organize regular meeting times between your sales and marketing teams to foster their collaboration:

 

    • Meetings to launch the week and review objectives and priorities 🎯
    • Brainstorming workshops where your two teams can exchange ideas and address a common problem 🧠
    • Cross-training to upskill your employees in complementary areas of expertise 📚
    • Team building activities to strengthen team cohesion 🤝

 

Company seminars allow you to bring together all the activities necessary for your teams to collaborate!


These are important moments for the life of your company because they strengthen your corporate culture and the sense of belonging of your employees.

May is the perfect time to start organizing your back-to-work seminar!


We are sharing with you our white paper dedicated to the subject, which gathers the errors to avoid and the keys to follow to ensure the success of your event.

Download the white paper

KEY #4: Expert advice

Chaque seconde, 3 nouvelles personnes s’inscrivent sur LinkedIn*.

Votre client idéal y est sûrement déjà présent !

LinkedIn Ads représente ainsi un outil pertinent pour être visible auprès de votre cible et générer une première interaction avec elle.

 

Mais la gestion des publicités sur LinkedIn peut s’avérer complexe, entre :

  • Le ciblage des leads 🎯
  • La gestion du budget 💰
  • Le suivi des indicateurs 📊

 

Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons le fonctionnement de LinkedIn Ads et nous vous partageons 3 clés pour optimiser le taux de conversion de vos publicités !

*BDM, 2023

CLÉ N°1 - Travaillez votre ciblage

Le ciblage est un élément crucial pour réussir une campagne publicitaire sur LinkedIn. 

 

En effet, en choisissant les critères de ciblage adaptés, vous pouvez vous assurer que votre annonce est diffusée uniquement auprès des personnes susceptibles d’être intéressées par votre offre. Cela permet non seulement de maximiser l’efficacité de votre campagne, mais aussi de réduire les coûts en évitant de gaspiller de l’argent sur des leads qui ne sont pas pertinents pour votre entreprise.

Définition des critère de ciblage

Pour optimiser votre audience, il est important de définir des critères de ciblage précis dès la création de votre campagne :

 

    • Zone géographique
    • Effectif de l’entreprise
    • Secteur d’activité
    • Caractéristiques du persona que vous souhaitez cibler : le poste, le niveau hiérarchique et le niveau d’expérience.

 

Ces critères vous permettront de toucher une audience qualifiée et pertinente pour votre offre. En complétant cela, LinkedIn estime le pourcentage de public cible, ce qui donne alors un premier aperçu de l’audience potentielle de la campagne. De cette façon, vous serez en mesure d’effectuer les premiers ajustements, en excluant par exemple certains critères et/ou en incluant d’autres auxquels vous n’aurez pas pensé.

Analyse des KPI

Lorsque votre campagne est en cours, LinkedIn fournit des KPI pour mesurer les performances de votre annonce. En analysant ces données quotidiennement, vous pouvez ajuster à nouveau votre audience en travaillant sur les critères qui correspondent mieux à votre cible. Il est important de surveiller régulièrement vos performances pour optimiser continuellement votre audience et maximiser l’efficacité de votre campagne.

 

Si vous souhaitez découvrir comment optimiser le ciblage de vos campagnes publicitaires sur LinkedIn, nous vous invitons à réaliser une démo de 20 minutes avec notre expert LinkedIn Ads

S'inscrire à une session de démo

CLÉ N°2 - Faites de l’A/B testing

LinkedIn offre plusieurs formats d’annonces publicitaires pour permettre aux annonceurs d’atteindre différents objectifs marketing. Parmi eux, on retrouve les formats suivants.

En général, les campagnes les plus simples sont les plus adaptées à la génération de leads, tandis que les campagnes plus élaborées fonctionnent mieux pour la notoriété. Cependant, il est important de tester plusieurs publicités pour chaque campagne afin d’optimiser les résultats. LinkedIn recommande d’avoir au moins quatre publicités pour chaque campagne.

 

    • Il est possible de laisser l’algorithme de LinkedIn décider quelle publicité fonctionne le mieux en se basant sur les résultats de chaque publicité.
  •  
    • Cependant, il est également possible de gérer soi-même la publication des publicités en surveillant quotidiennement leurs performances. Si une publicité génère moins de leads, vous pourrez la remplacer, la couper ou changer le copywriting pour l’optimiser.

 

En bref, il est important d’utiliser les différents formats d’annonces publicitaires de LinkedIn en fonction de vos objectifs marketing et de réaliser des tests pour favoriser les résultats de vos campagnes publicitaires.

 

Cliquez sur le bouton ci-dessous pour télécharger notre check-list indispensable pour optimiser le copywriting de vos campagnes publicitaires sur LinkedIn.

Télécharger la check-list du copywriting

CLÉ N°3 - Optimisez votre budget

Une fois votre ciblage défini et vos différents contenus créés, votre campagne LinkedIn Ads peut être diffusée !
Rentre alors un critère primordial pour la réussite de vos publicités : le budget alloué. 💰

 

La gestion du budget représente un enjeu fort pour les entreprises que nous accompagnons.
Nombre d’entre elles ont peur d’investir de l’argent dès le début de la campagne et préfèrent tester au fur et à mesure avec de petites sommes.
Or, ce n’est pas la stratégie à adopter sur LinkedIn Ads !

 

Pour lancer pleinement vos publicités, il est nécessaire que le budget alloué lors du premier mois soit le même que celui des autres mois.
Le mois de lancement ne doit pas être minimisé en terme de budget. Nous vous conseillons de dépenser le même montant que pour un mois « classique » où la campagne fonctionne pleinement et génère des leads.
Cela permettra d’être bien identifié par l’algorithme de LinkedIn et d’être vu par l’ensemble de votre audience dès le début de votre campagne, et ainsi d’optimiser vos taux de conversion.

 

Mais pas de panique, votre budget ne risque pas de s’envoler ! 💸
Vous avez la possibilité de définir un budget maximal à ne pas dépasser sur l’ensemble de votre campagne. Grâce à cela, vous pourrez ensuite modifier et optimiser le montant journalier de chaque publicité, en fonction du montant de l’enveloppe définie dans votre budget maximal.

 

Vous l’aurez compris, la gestion de votre budget LinkedIn Ads n’est pas une mince affaire !

Pour en apprendre davantage sur les optimisations possibles, nous vous invitons à visionner le replay du webinar animé par Anne-Charlotte Jean, Responsable Data & Acquisition de Kestio. Elle vous présentera notre méthode pour déployer et suivre vos campagnes et vous livrera nos secrets pour optimiser le taux de conversion de vos publicités !

 

Le replay est disponible sur notre plateforme Kestio.live, qui vous donne accès à plus de 1 000 contenus digitaux et à des webinars exclusifs 

Obtenez votre accès

KEY #4: Expert advice

5 days.

It took ChatGPT 5 days to reach one million users in December 2022.*
In comparison, Facebook reached the same number in 10 months and Netflix in 3 and a half years!

 

You probably haven't been able to escape the real craze surrounding this conversational artificial intelligence.
By asking it a simple question, ChatGPT will search for and gather as much information as possible available on the web in order to provide you with the most appropriate answer.
This chatbot thus offers an infinite number of usage opportunities to its users.

 

But a few months after this effervescence, what can we retain from ChatGPT? How can you really use it in your daily life to optimize your sales and marketing performance?

 

We use it daily at KESTIO and want to share our experience with you because it can save you a lot of time and help you with key marketing and sales activities!

*Source: Sam Altman, 2022

KEY #1 - Mastering the "Prompt"

As we explained, ChatGPT is a conversational artificial intelligence. Its operation is based on the question or request that you share with it.

If, during your trials with the chatbot, you were disappointed with the answers obtained, it may be because your initial request was not clear enough!

Our advice for maximizing the features of ChatGPT is to carefully craft your requests. This is known as "prompt engineering."

The request you make to ChatGPT is thus called a "prompt." 🔍

Sharing a good 'prompt' with ChatGPT starts with giving it context.
Do you want the tool to respond to you as...

 

    • Marketing specialist?
    • SEO Expert?
    • Professional in the IT services sector?

By providing as much context as possible in your search, you guide ChatGPT towards the type of response you expect.
Also, don't hesitate to specify the format and length of the expected result. 🛠

Example of a request

As a content manager for a CRM solution company, can you write a 150-word article on the different types of CRMs that exist?

If, despite these recommendations, you are not satisfied with the answer obtained, do not hesitate to refine your request by adding new instructions and indicating to the tool how it could correct itself.
Based on machine learning, ChatGPT will take your feedback into account to adjust its proposal!

 

ChatGPT's goal is to replicate a conversation with a human. You simply need to tell it what kind of human you want it to be!

 

To help you optimize your queries, discover our webinar dedicated to the art of questioning.
Because when facing ChatGPT, as when facing a prospect, questioning is key!

Access the Webinar

KEY #2 - Improve your marketing performance

How to use ChatGPT in marketing roles to improve your company's performance?

 

In reality, ChatGPT will allow you to SAVE TIME!

 

The first way the tool can be used to improve marketing performance is in writing.
ChatGPT can help marketing professionals by providing them with a solid foundation for content creation.

 

✒️ Textual writing: articles, emails, social media posts, content ideas, titles, subject lines, monitoring a topic, SEO keyword research, text enrichment, simplifying a topic, or reformulation, etc.

 

The quality of the response provided by artificial intelligence depends on the relevance and clarity of the prompt (the request).

 

Be sure to position the tool as a specialist in the activity, for example by asking questions such as:

The second way ChatGPT can be used to improve marketing performance is through understanding personas.

It can help marketing professionals better understand the personas they are targeting by providing answers to specific questions about their behaviors.
For example: "As a marketing specialist, what are the challenges for Marketing Directors in industrial companies?"

⚠️ It is important to note that the use of ChatGPT should not be considered as a simple replication or copy of its content.
Instead, it can serve as a framework and structure for content creation, which can then be personalized with the author's point of view and convictions!

Content creation is a discipline that requires expertise and, above all, time.
At KESTIO, we support you to help you optimize your time and increase your productivity and visibility!


Click the button below for a 15-minute discussion with

A digital presence expert. 👇🏻

Meet an expert in
digital presence

KEY #3 - Improve your sales performance

ChatGPT can significantly impact sales performance by helping you better understand your target's challenges and prepare for your sales meetings effectively.

 

🎯 Indeed, by asking questions about the profession, the activity or the specific challenges of the company's market target, you can obtain useful information to better understand the needs.

 

This will enable sales representatives to prepare their presentations and provide more relevant solutions tailored to the client's specific needs. 💥

 

For example, by asking questions such as:

ChatGPT is therefore useful for helping sales professionals to write emails, sales proposals, or even work on a call script.

 

As a conversational assistant, artificial intelligence can help professionals save time and provide more personalized solutions, which can lead to an overall improvement in sales performance. 💬

 

To take your sales preparation further, we suggest watching our video "Checklist of Sales Meeting Steps", followed by a quiz on the topic. Click below to learn more! 🎲

Watch the video & take the quiz

KEY #4: Expert advice

Do you know the average email open rate in B2B? It is of 15.1%*, declining year after year.

This figure reflects an evolution in marketing practices, particularly an overabundance of emails received (a situation you surely share!).
However, email remains one of the most effective communication tools for a company, allowing easy and cost-effective contact with prospects.



How do you stand out from the crowd?
Today, we're giving you 4 keys to consider to ensure the success of your e-mailing campaigns!

*Source: Le monde du mail, 2022

KEY #1 - Be More Interested Than Interesting

When you send a message (email, SMS, handwritten letter, etc.) to your loved ones, do you consider the recipient to adapt the content?
In a professional context, it's the same thing!

 

The main pitfall in writing a commercial email is contacting all your prospects in the same way by talking about one single thing: yourself.

 

The objective of your initial contact should be to address a challenge faced by your prospect, not to directly sell them your offer. 

Before writing each email, we advise you to refocus on your target and your persona:

 

  • What is their profile?
  • What are their expectations?
  • What are their communication and consumption habits? 

The empathy map

To help you decipher your target, use the empathy map!
In addition to the persona, the empathy map is a visual tool that allows you to put yourself in your target's shoes in order to better understand their emotions and needs.

Thanks to this precise definition of your target's behaviors and needs, you will more easily identify how your offer can help their daily life.


This will be the theme of your commercial email!
By providing a solution to a problem experienced by your prospect, you will attract their attention and increase the chances that they will want to collaborate with you.

KEY #2 - Work on copywriting

Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive content to capture your audience's attention and convince them to take a specific action. Good copywriting is therefore essential to maximize the impact of your email marketing campaigns and strengthen audience engagement.

Structure your message

As seen above, it is important to understand who your target audience is. You need to know what motivates them, their needs, their pain points, and their aspirations. Next, it is recommended to choose a guiding theme or common thread by email that will address a pain point or need of your target audience. This will make your message easier to read and understand. 

 

The message structure must be clear and concise: titles, subtitles, and bullet points are elements that can help improve readability and guide the reader through the message.

Apply the AIDA method

The AIDA method is the most used copywriting method to convert a prospect into a customer. It consists of 4 distinct steps that guide the reader through the conversion process: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

 

  • To attract the reader's attention, use impactful elements such as design, the title, or a striking introductory sentence. 
  • Once you have captured the reader's attention, spark their interest in your solution by clearly presenting the advantages it offers.
  • Encourage the reader to desire your solution by showing how it can solve their problems and why it is the best option. 
  • Finally, encourage the prospect to take action by offering them to buy your product or service, or to subscribe to your newsletter to receive more useful information.

Use storytelling

The choice of words and the emotions they evoke are also a powerful lever of persuasion. Tell a story to engage your target audience, using words that evoke emotions (positive or negative). You can create an emotional connection with your audience.

Consider the subject line and pre-header text.

The email subject line is also crucial to ensure maximum open rates; it's the first thing recipients see when they receive your marketing email. It should be clear, impactful, specific, and short. The email subject line should give a precise idea of the email's content and encourage recipients to open it. Avoid vague or generic subjects, and be as specific as possible. 

 

For example, instead of using "Update of our company", use "5 new features to improve your user experience." Also, be sure to avoid "spamwords", that is, generic words that could send your message directly to spam.

 

In addition to the email subject line, the pre-header is another element to consider. This is the introductory text visible before opening the email. It should be used strategically to provide a glimpse of your message and pique the interest of your recipients.

Speak with an Expert

KEY #3 - Align marketing and sales teams

Collaboration between marketing and sales is essential for converting leads generated by email marketing. Marketing is responsible for creating content and sending emails to attract the attention of prospects, while sales are responsible for converting these prospects into customers. When marketing and sales join forces, they can leverage constructive feedback from each other to maximize lead conversion.

 

Sales representatives can provide valuable information about prospects, such as their level of interest, budget, and specific needs, which can be used by marketing to personalize emails and increase engagement.

 

In return, marketing can provide salespeople with prospect data, such as website pages visited, emails opened, and clicks, which can help salespeople understand prospect interest and personalize their sales approach.

 

Close collaboration between marketing and sales can also help improve lead quality. Marketing can adjust its strategy based on feedback from sales on the quality of leads they receive, while sales can help qualify leads and provide information on their sales potential.

 

How to align sales and marketing teams?

It is crucial to harmonize these two departments in order to create robust sales processes, eliminate existing problems during sales cycles, and significantly increase the conversion rate. 

 

To learn more about aligning marketing and sales teams, we offer a40-minute webinar dedicated to this topic.

Discover the webinar “Questions and Answers
on the marketing/sales process”

KEY #4: Expert advice

80% of users of a Marketing Automation solution report an increase in the number of leads generated*.

For many of the companies we support, generating new leads is one of the main objectives. Is this the case for you too?

 

Are you using Marketing Automation solutions?
Behind this term lies a set of tools that allow you to automate many marketing and sales actions, which are often time-consuming: data enrichment, emailing, content production, opportunity tracking, etc.

 

Today, we present 4 ways to use Marketing Automation to develop your sales.

*Source: Invesp, 2022

KEY #1 - Optimizing Your Processes

Your teams' days are likely filled with numerous repetitive tasks that add no value: updating prospect information, writing follow-up emails, tracking transactions, etc. 

By using Marketing Automation tools, your employees can automate these tasks and free up time for actions with real added value, focused on business.
Saving time and money is guaranteed!

 

However, Marketing Automation is not exclusively reserved for sales functions!
The management functions of your company can also benefit from the advantages of these tools thanks to the centralization of all your actions and thus your performances: number of new prospects, conversion rate, number of new customers, turnover generated, etc.

CRM solutions

The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions address these challenges of automation and performance monitoring.
However, to ensure the effectiveness of this type of tool, you must choose a CRM that meets your needs. How do you choose your software?

To help you make the right choice and succeed with your CRM project, we are sharing our dedicated webinar, hosted by Dominique Seguin and Nicolas Boissard, respectively CEO and Marketing Director of KESTIO.

Discover the webinar
"Choosing your CRM"

KEY #2 - An improved purchasing journey

Segment your target audience

Marketing automation allows you to segment your target audience and send targeted messages and ads based on the prospect's stage in the sales funnel. 

You can target prospects who have downloaded specific content or simply viewed your services to send them a personalized message that will have a real impact. This helps you establish a more personal relationship with your target audience.

Personalize your scenarios.

By using your prospects' data (demographics, behavior, purchase history, etc.), you can create specific customer segments and tailor your marketing strategy accordingly. For example, you can send personalized automated email campaigns and create workflows.

 

Workflows are automated scenarios composed of several marketing actions aimed at prompting the prospect to perform a specific action. You can choose to trigger the workflow in different ways, such as subscribing to your newsletter, downloading a white paper, interacting on a landing page, or participating in a webinar.

 

For example, you can create a welcome workflow for new subscribers to guide them in using your product, or a workflow for prospects who have downloaded a white paper or completed a free trial to encourage them to make an appointment with your sales representative.

 

In short, marketing automation allows you to reach customers in a personalized way through different channels, depending on the workflows (emails, chats, social networks, phone calls, etc.). The goal is to strengthen the customer relationship by offering a smoother and more personalized buying experience. 

To help you surround yourself with the best tools, download our
Sales Enablers Guide!

Download the
Sales Enablers Guide

KEY #3 - Data analysis

Through advanced data analysis, your company can collect and analyze information on prospect behaviors and preferences, enabling them to determine the best tactics to achieve their marketing objectives.

Data analysis is particularly important for lead nurturing!

Lead nurturing is an automated campaign process designed to build a trusting relationship with prospects. Companies provide relevant and useful content at the right time throughout the buying journey.

This technique allows BtoB companies with a long buying cycle to cultivate the relationship with prospects. The content offered must therefore be of high quality, personalized, and provide added value, to reach a more advanced stage in their buying process.

Lead scoring to identify the maturity level of leads!

You can use the data collected to assign scores to each prospect based on criteria such as online behavior, interactions with marketing campaigns, and demographic data. The scores help you prioritize the most qualified prospects and target them accordingly.

What data is worth analyzing?

In summary, marketing automation gives you an overview of the strategy to adopt to optimize your sales. It allows you to know where you need to go and how to get there.

Speak with a
Marketing Automation expert

KEY #4: Expert advice

 Do you want to implement this approach to support the action of your sales representatives and generate a measurable ROI via your marketing actions? If so, you're probably wondering where to start... So, here are 5 steps on how to create your sales funnel, using the tools and resources already in place in your company.

 

1. Take stock of your current marketing tools

Start by taking stock of your current marketing tools and communication actions already in place.

Objective: Start from the existing situation to deploy your new lead generation actions as quickly as possible – and at the lowest cost.

 

To carry out this inventory, ask yourself these questions:

  • What communication materials and marketing tools do you already use? Website, blog, emailing solution, pages on social networks, YouTube channel...
  • What actions do you implement through these channels to interact with your prospects? Publishing 2 articles per month on your blog, sending a monthly newsletter, distributing 2 posts per week on social networks... Do not limit this inventory to your web tools alone, and take into account all communication actions that allow you to get in touch with new prospects. This also includes your events (trade shows or conferences), for example.

  • With what results? How are these results evaluated / tracked? How do you measure the impact of your marketing actions today? Based on what criteria? For example: do you track the evolution of traffic on your website? Of certain pages in particular? Do you know how many prospects have contacted you via the website in the last 6 months? How many people have subscribed to your newsletter?

You can then use this data to amplify certain actions in place or coordinate them more effectively, with the aim of generating leads.

 

2. Define Your Priority Objectives

Next, define a more precise objective than the very general one of "generating leads": which offer do you want to focus your efforts on primarily?

 

Again, avoid an objective that is too broad or vague: a good prospect is not someone to whom you will necessarily be able to sell all of your products or services, but rather someone to whom you have the best chance of selling at least one of them to start with. And to design your sales funnel, you must define which one.

 

If your offers are diversified, you will gradually implement multiple sales funnels to cover the entire "spectrum."

Because in web marketing logic, you attract your prospects based on an identified interest in a topic (which generally corresponds to a problem to solve or a goal to achieve).

 

You can define the priority offer to which your sales funnel and marketing campaigns will be dedicated based on various criteria, for example:

  • by identifying the one that is the most profitable for you (in order to maximize your margins),
  • or the one you consider best positioned in your market (to generate the most volume),
  • or even a new offer that you have just launched (to combine: acquisition of new customers and cross-selling to your current customers)

This choice will then guide the definition of your targets and the content to use (or produce) to attract them to you, and then maintain the relationship with them.

 

3. Refocus on the expectations of your 'buyer persona'.

A lead is an identified contact (with a name and contact information), but it's more than that: always ask yourself what profile a contact must meet to be a valid prospect.

 

 To define it, answer these questions:

  • What are the target audiences for your offer? What company size, what type of position within the company (if you are in BtoB). What age category, gender, or socio-professional category (if you are in BtoC).

  • What is the typical profile of your ideal client (Buyer Persona)? What are their objectives, desires, or problems related to the offer you are providing? What obstacles are likely to complicate their purchase, and how can you help them overcome these obstacles? What are their purchasing habits and preferred communication channels?

  • What are their "interest drivers"? What are their aspirations, key issues, difficulties to resolve? What queries are they likely to type into search engines to find answers?

All these elements of in-depth knowledge of your prospects will then allow you to design the most appropriate marketing actions to attract and convince them.


Discover KESTIO webinars, where we discuss

All topics related to sales performance with our experts: 

Fabien Comtet, CEO

Dominique Seguin, CEO

Nicolas Boissard, Marketing Director


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4. Define the marketing actions to implement

You now have all the elements in hand to design your 'sales funnel' properly!

 

In line with the defined priority offer and the "drivers of interest" of your Buyer Persona, you can: define the theme of your lead magnet – content designed to attract your prospects (EBook, self-assessment, etc.) – and imagine your workflow, the sequence of emails that will maintain the relationship with your prospects and nurture their interest in your offer.

 

Based on the marketing tools and campaigns already in place, you will now be able to coordinate your actions to make them converge towards the same objective, for example:

  • Define the topics of your blog articles or conferences related to the theme of the lead magnet and the interests of your buyer personas.
  • insert at the bottom of these articles and at the end of your conference materials a call-to-action designed to send your prospects to this lead magnet
  • Share these articles via your newsletter with your customer contact base and subscribers.
  • Promote these articles and your lead magnet via posts on social networks...

Thus, all your actions will actively contribute to creating a flow of qualified visitors to your lead magnet, to identify your prospects' contacts and achieve your objective.

This is the key point of your lead generation scenario. Next, you will need to maintain and nurture the relationship with your prospects to support the work of the sales representatives.

 

5. Deploy an initial scenario using an agile approach.

The implementation of this approach is an iterative process.

 

Implement an initial scenario using a 'test and learn' approach, closely monitoring your indicators to quickly assess its effectiveness and the achievement of your set objectives.

 

Based on the observed results, constantly improve this scenario, or stop it if it proves ineffective, after identifying the points that need to be reworked: should a new lead magnet be produced? Contact identified prospects more quickly? Offer them content that better meets their expectations? Generate more inbound traffic to the lead magnet?

 

Once you master an effective initial sales funnel, you can adapt it for other offers and thus multiply the leads generated!

 

Adopt a tool tailored to your business and expectations: choose the right CRM. To better understand its usefulness and choose a suitable CRM, watch this webinar:

[I]: Rediscover our articles on this subject:

But do you know how to leverage these tools to generate leads? To actively contribute to your sales activity, these tools must be linked to a web marketing strategy, and their use must be planned in a coordinated manner.

Here are 3 examples of effective 'sales funnels' to generate leads using your web tools.

 

[Reminder] What is a “sales funnel”?

If you have read our article “What if your website (finally) generated leads?”, the concept of a “sales funnel” holds no secrets for you!

 

If not, here's a quick summary: 

In web marketing, a "sales funnel" is a "scenario" that you have planned in advance to guide your various contacts (physical or web) to key pages of your website, in order to turn them into identified prospects.

 

 It is based on 3 key elements:

  • Attractive content for your prospects, or LEAD MAGNET
  • An entry point to identify them, called LANDING PAGE
  • And an email sequence designed to turn them into QUALIFIED LEADS.

 

How does it help to "generate leads"?

A sales funnel is built to encourage interactions with your potential prospects, once you have captured them and directed them to your website: a click, a visit to a key page, the submission of a form, etc.

The goal is to move them from the status of “unidentified visitor” to that of “identified visitor” (with a name and contact), and then transform them into “qualified leads.”

 

A 'qualified lead' is a contact with whom you are able to initiate a commercial exchange, that is to say: someone at whom you have detected an interest in your offer, and whose direct contact details you possess (email + telephone).

The scenario implemented involves using your web tools strategically and in a coordinated manner to enable you to validate these 2 key points.

 

3 examples of effective web “sales funnels”

Let's take the case of a (fictional) consulting company in the field of Customer Experience.

 

Here are 3 example scenarios that can be implemented to generate leads:

SCENARIO 1 – Self-assessment questionnaire

This scenario is one of the fastest and least expensive to implement. Ideal for a first approach in a 'sales funnel' logic.

  • LEAD MAGNET: Self-assessment

A potential prospect visits the company's website and reads a blog article, for example: '3 Inspiring Companies in Customer Experience.' A Call-To-Action (CTA) at the bottom of the article invites them to complete an online self-assessment on the topic. For example: 'Evaluate the quality of the Customer Experience delivered by your company.'

  • LANDING PAGE: Questionnaire page

The interested visitor clicks on the CTA, which redirects them to an online questionnaire. (To start, you can create your web questionnaires with a free tool, such as Google Forms).

Participation in the questionnaire requires filling in mandatory fields to receive the results: Name + Email address, and possibly optional fields: Function + Company + Phone number. (Don't forget the mandatory GDPR notices)

 

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Summary of results

Two days after participating in the self-assessment, the company emails the participant a summary of the results, along with a proposal for a phone call to discuss these results and, for example, define a short-term improvement plan.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment Scheduling

 If the participant confirms the proposed phone appointment, their status changes to "qualified lead," and their contact information is forwarded to a sales representative!

 

SCENARIO 2 – Thematic Ebook

This scenario, which takes a little longer to implement, allows you to gradually establish a relationship with a newly identified contact and build the company's legitimacy in their eyes. 


Discover KESTIO webinars, where we discuss

All topics related to sales performance with our experts: 

Fabien Comtet, CEO

Dominique Seguin, CEO

Nicolas Boissard, Marketing Director


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  • LEAD MAGNET: EBook

A LinkedIn Ads campaign targeting 'Customer Experience Directors' on LinkedIn generates a qualified flow of visitors to an Ebook with attractive content for this audience.

For example, a 15-page report on "Customer Experience Champions".

 

  • LANDING PAGE: Download page

Interested visitors are directed to a dedicated page, which includes a download form with mandatory fields to receive the link to the Ebook: Name + Email address, and optional fields: Job Title + Company + Phone number. (Without forgetting the mandatory GDPR notices). 

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Self-assessment

 Email 1 – Sent to people who downloaded the Ebook

An initial email sent 2 days later invites them to complete an online self-assessment of their company's Customer Experience.

The participant chooses between 2 options:

Option 1 

Receive a summary of the results by email

Option 2 

Be contacted by phone for a personalized presentation of the results

 

Email 2 – Sent to people who answered the online questionnaire

A second email is sent 2 days later, containing:

Option 1 

a summary of the results in PDF format with a "Call-to-Action" (CTA) encouraging them to make an appointment for a free consultation.

Option 2

An offer of an appointment for the results restitution interview, after which the summary will be sent to them.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment Scheduling

If the participant confirms the proposed phone appointment, their status changes to "qualified lead," and their contact information is forwarded to a sales representative.

 

SCENARIO 3 – Conference material

As illustrated in this 3rd example, a web-based lead generation scenario can also integrate one (or more) physical touchpoint(s)!

 

  • LEAD MAGNET: Conference material

The company's director is hosting a conference on the theme of "The New Challenges of Customer Experience."

At the end of his presentation, he invites participants to download the presentation material.

 

  • LANDING PAGE: Download page

 The conference material download page includes a form to fill out to receive the material, with the required fields: Name + Email address, and optional fields: Function + Company + Phone number.

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Satisfaction questionnaire

 Email 1 – Sent on D+2 to people who downloaded the support material

An initial message invites them to complete an online satisfaction questionnaire about the conference.

After completing the questionnaire, respondents can request a call back from an expert to define their priorities in terms of Customer Experience.

 

Email 2 – Sent on D+2 to people who answered the questionnaire

 If the respondent has not requested a call back after completing the questionnaire, a new email is sent to them 2 days later to offer a personalized consultation again.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment Scheduling

If the participant confirms the proposed phone appointment (at step 1 or step 2 of the email sequence), their status changes to "qualified lead," and their contact information is forwarded to a sales representative.

Each of these 3 scenarios allowed the company to identify new contacts via its website and transform some of them into qualified leads that it transmitted to its sales representatives!

In addition, the chances of conversion with these prospects are greatly increased, because:

  • These individuals are already familiar with the company.
  • The company has gained a certain legitimacy in their eyes.
  • Sales representatives have precise information about their profile (obtained via the form, questionnaire, and interview)

Many variations of these scenarios are possible, depending on your business sector, your offers, the profile of your prospects, and the marketing tools you have. Start by deploying a 1st scenario in “test & learn” mode to generate your first leads. You can then adapt them for each of your offers and scale up!

 

To develop your company's communication tools, consider webinars!

The webinar allows you to highlight attractive content and thus promote the company's activity.

However, it requires a few rules: in this webinar, learn how to organize a webinar that generates more participants and leads for you.

Lead generation and digital selling tools (websites, social networks, sales automation, etc.) have matured and proven their effectiveness. However, they have also begun to show their limitations, as evidenced by the debate around "Content Shock" in the Web Marketing sphere.

Now that these sales methods have become the norm, only those who have mastered the art of using them have a chance of succeeding.

And if this thought gives you – like many others – a few cold sweats, here is some advice to survive the internet lead generation arena.

 

1. Review the weapons at your disposal

As previously mentioned, Marketing now plays a role in most stages of the sales funnel (revisit our article on sales organization for software companies).

In other words, you'd better make sure you have a 'killer' marketing strategy if you want your prospects to choose YOUR SaaS software solution over your neighbor's (and on the web, ALL your competitors are your neighbors!).

 

The first step in your preparation as a « gladiator of lead generation » is therefore to review the weapons already in your possession, to get an idea of your chances of survival and to « upgrade » them:

 

  • What tools and channels do you already use: website, social networks, emailing campaigns...?
  • How are they used: how often? with what content?
  • What volume of visitors or subscribers do they generate?
  • What are the sales-related outcomes?

 

Conduct this assessment without complacency or sentimentality: the better you know your weaknesses, the more likely you will be to correct them.

 

2. Refine Your Positioning and Know Your Target Audience

Once this initial assessment of your Web Marketing tools has been carried out, it is essential, in order to use them as effectively as possible, to start with your competitors and your targets: to use your weapons wisely, there's nothing better than knowing who you're dealing with...

 

  • What are the characteristics of your market on the web, its opportunities and risks?
  • Who are your main competitors, and what is their web marketing and sales strategy?
  • Which clients do you want to attract and convince first, using your Lead Generation tools?

 

This last point should be related to your "Gold, Silver, and Bronze" targets, defined during the construction of your commercial model. And because you are here in a Marketing logic and approach, you will convert these targets with generic outlines (type of company, turnover volume, etc.) into "Buyer Personas", endowed with human and personalized traits.1

 

3. Develop a "warrior" strategy.

Once you know which Buyer Personas you're targeting, everything becomes clearer: how you're going to talk to them, through which channels, and most importantly: what to say to them!

 

Address their concerns, show them what problems you will solve for them and what benefits they will gain; in short, let them know what they will gain thanks to YOUR solution. This will first create trust, and then the desire to work with you.

 

Does that seem a little too simple? You're right.

There's no point in knowing how to speak well if your prospects never give you their number to call them back!

 

An effective Web Marketing strategy relies on a well-defined scenario, which first ATTRACTS visitors related to your target audience, but also then CONVERTS them into identified and qualified prospects – meaning you have their contact information and nurture their interest in your services – and finally, SELL your solution!

 

For your scenarios to produce results, you must first have a clear vision on these different points:

  • Towards which objective will you direct the flow of your visitors (the « contact » page of your site, the « demo request » landing page, etc.)?
  • How does the transition from one channel (web or otherwise) to another happen for your visitors?
  • How do you identify their level of interest in your solution?

 

This will allow you to define a content strategy that meets your objectives: that is, to plan the production and distribution of your "lead magnets" (attractive content that encourages a visitor to leave their contact information) and the "calls to action" that accompany them: downloading a technical sheet or a white paper, completing an online assessment, requesting a demo, etc.

 

4. Don't let chance decide the outcome of the battle

Implementing an Inbound Marketing strategy requires working in an agile manner (we will come back to this shortly), but it is not managed "by instinct" – quite the opposite!

 

To be effective, lead generation via Web Marketing tools must be guided by specific objectives and rely on the careful monitoring of pre-defined indicators.

 

In connection with your sales funnel, define quantifiable objectives and corresponding KPIs.

For example (in simplified mode):

QUANTIFIED OBJECTIVE OF:

Traffic generated

Volume of identified visitors

 Number of leads passed on to sales representatives

Revenue generated

KPI:

Number of unique visitors to the site

Number of contacts generated via the contact field

Number of qualified prospects obtained 

Cumulative revenue from sales made on transmitted leads

 

It is essential to track these figures via dedicated monitoring tools (SEO tools, dashboards, etc.).

And to do this, score your leads: each time a step is completed in qualifying a contact (identification, obtaining a phone number, etc.), a new "score" is assigned to them, bringing them closer to the lead being passed on to the sales team.

 

Scoring also relies on 'rich information' relating to the profile and behavior of your visitors (job title, areas of interest, level of autonomy in the purchasing decision, etc.) that you have obtained via online interactions and recorded in a CRM tool, for example.  

 

5. Learn from your failures and celebrate your successes.

Let's be honest: deploying a Lead Generation web strategy from start to finish, from its definition to its implementation, is a long process and sometimes fraught with pitfalls. This is especially true when it comes to automating processes and interfacing the various tools used (CRM, marketing automation solution, SEO tools, etc.).

 

That's why you should start modestly, allow yourself to implement actions gradually, and deploy your scenarios iteratively.

 

It is possible to start by testing "short" loops with a limited number of contents: 1 lead magnet, 2 articles and 1 infographic (or video) to feed your first email series, for example. This allows you to "get the hang of" content production and its distribution tools, to test processes in agile mode and to generate your first identified leads.

 

Early wins fuel motivation and always bring their share of instructive mistakes.

 

Depending on your resources – and provided you have not skipped the evaluation of your tools, the definition of your personas, and the formalization of your objectives – it may be more effective to start simply and gradually increase power, than to want to build a complex system or immediately start with expensive tools that will need to be amortized.

The Gladiator who wins the fight is not always the one who had the best weapons at the start: more often, it's the one who knows his opponent well and uses his own to the best of his ability once in the arena!

 

 

1. In marketing, a persona is a fictional character representing a target group or segment. They are generally given a first name and social and psychological characteristics. For example: Sabrina, 40 years old, 2 children, urban, senior executive, closely follows fashion, travels by metro, enjoys trail running, etc. Personas are used, among other things, for developing website content and optimizing customer journeys, but also, originally, for designing the product and service offering itself.

Adopt a tool tailored to your business and expectations: choose the right CRM. To better understand its usefulness and choose a suitable CRM, watch this webinar:

Why?

Simply because behaviors have radically changed due to the digitalization of the economy. The internet has profoundly altered the relationships between sellers and buyers, and the latter no longer tolerate intrusive sales pressure...even if they still want information.

 

They will look for this information easily and independently online, at their own pace and convenience. What matters today is being visible when these potential leads are in the research phase. Thanks to the internet, marketing offers companies new tools and, above all, a new way of operating that allows them to position themselves as interesting rather than interested.

This is Inbound Marketing. 

 

Why Adopt an Inbound Marketing Strategy?

From the sales representatives' point of view, it is now counterproductive to go looking for contacts or leads. It's a huge amount of time invested for a more than random result, regardless of the sales representative's skills and motivation, based primarily on volume, in other words, the number of outbound calls. It's a tiring, time-consuming activity with low added value that exhausts sales representatives! A sales representative should invest their time where they bring added value: converting leads into customers. Better than a long speech, here are 10 key figures to rethink your vision of traditional marketing:

 

    1. 68% of online buyers like to spend time reading content published by a company that interests them. (The CMA)
    2. 80% of decision-makers in the industry sector prefer to get information about a company through a blog article rather than an advertisement. (Content Marketing Institute)
    3. 83% of online buyers find their suppliers on Google. (MarketingSherpa)
    4. In the USA, 84% of BtoB CEOs use social networks to gather information about a company before making their purchasing decision, and 56% of buyers consult the blog of the company selling the products they are interested in. (Salesforlife)
    5. 89% of B2B buyers do online research before contacting a company, with an average of 7 to 9 searches on Google. (Google)
    6. 66% of BtoB marketing managers believe that content production is effective when this content is then distributed via various channels: social networks, blogs, public events...(Kapost)
    7. Leads generated via Inbound Marketing cost 61% less on average than qualified leads generated by traditional techniques (outbound marketing). (HubSpot)
    8. Leads that continue to be supported in a conversion funnel then spend 47% more than leads that have not been supported. (The Annuitas Group)
    9. Properly structured and executed inbound marketing techniques are 10 times more effective in terms of lead conversion than outbound marketing techniques. (Gartner)
    10. 34% of salespeople believe that prospecting is the most difficult task they have to perform. (Hubspot)

 

 So why adopt an Inbound Marketing strategy? Because that's what customers want and it's the best ROI for you!    

 

What is Inbound Marketing?

 Inbound Marketing consists of organizing a reverse flow, that is, creating the conditions to generate inbound contacts, leads. In response to the trends described in the first part of this article, it is about attracting customers to you. It is an approach that allows you to create contact in a less aggressive way and especially at the right time with the right person, which will make your commercial strategy more effective. 

 

In this approach, marketing has a more profound impact on the sales funnel. It's no longer limited to creating awareness and interest; it extends to intention and even evaluation, i.e., lead generation. It encourages prospects to take action, for example, through "call to action" buttons on a website.

 

We can clearly see that this marketing strategy opens up a wide range of actions that can also impact the internal organization of the company by bringing marketing and sales closer together.

A topic we will address several times, with a focus very soon on how to implement this strategy and the key points for being effective.

 

In the meantime, we invite you to follow the various articles that we will be offering on topics related to sales performance on this blog or via our newsletter (KESTIO Insights).

 

The webinar is an Inbound Marketing tool that has become essential today: through its audience and content, it generates numerous leads. Find out how in this webinar: