Kestio

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

Companies using marketing automation solutions see an average 14.5% increase in sales, while observing a 12% reduction in marketing expenditure*.

Marketing automation can thus become a key asset for your productivity!

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to the set of methods and tools used toautomate repetitive marketing tasks and manage campaigns in a more efficient, personalized way


Thanks to a marketing automation solution, you can ensure that your campaigns are triggered by a certain behavior of your prospect or customer, and that they are tailored as closely as possible to their needs!

This can include actions such as :

 

    • Automatically send personalized e-mails based on the stage of your prospect's buying journey 📧
  •  
    • Managing automated advertising campaigns 📰
  •  
    • Segmentation and scoring of your prospect and customer base according to qualification criteria 👥
  •  
    • Automatic transmission of your hot leads to your sales team 📞

 

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

 

Today, we're sharing with you the 4 steps you need to take to launch a marketing automation initiative in your organization!

*Invesp, 2023

STEP 1 - Define your campaign objective

To ensure the success of your marketing automation campaign, make sure it fits in with your overall marketing strategy , and doesn't stand alone.

 

Theobjective of your marketing automation operation must be clearly identified and in line with your other marketing objectives. 

 

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

 

    • Specific 🎯
    • Measurable 📐
    • Achievable ✊
    • Realistic 🛠️
    • Time-dependent ⏱️

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 specific objective is to increase the number of qualified leads, not the total number of leads, thanks to an e-mail nurturing campaign.
Measurable : The objective is measurable, as it is possible to track the number of qualified leads during the campaign and measure the 20% increase over the number of qualified leads prior to the campaign.
Achievable : The target is achievable, as a 20% increase is reasonable and achievable if the campaign is well planned and executed.
Realistic : The objective is realistic because it's based on realistic data and business objectives. It is also aligned with the resources and budget available for the marketing automation campaign.
Temporally defined : The objective is defined in time, as it is linked to a three-month period. This makes it possible to measure the impact of the nurturing campaign over a given period and track results over time.

To help you determine your SMART goal for your marketing automation campaign, we're sharing our dedicated canvas !


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

KEY No. 2 - Segment your database

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

 

This stage involves defining your targets and segmenting them according to various criteria, so that you can send them personalized messages tailored to their needs and preferences.

 

1/ Identify and analyze customer and prospect behavior 🔍

Analyzing customer and prospect behavior is a crucial first step in segmenting the database. It enables us 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 buying habits, interests, interactions with your company...etc.

 

2/ Create personas to personalize messages 👩🏻‍💼 

Once you've 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 to personalize the messages you send to your targets according to their needs and preferences. Personas can be used to adapt the content of your communications.

 

 3/ Segment according to needs and behaviors 🎯 

Behavioral criteria are particularly interesting for database segmentation in marketing automation.

 

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

 

To find out more about targeting, view our webinar on the subject. Click on the button below!

KEY No. 3 - Create scenarios and workflows

Once you've segmented your database, it's important to create scenarios and workflows for each identified category of prospects and customers.

 

This stage consists of drawing up an action plan for each of these segments, and responding to the behaviors and issues of the targets previously identified.

 

Scenarios should be composed of several sequences of events that will guide your prospects towards conversion. It's advisable to start with simple scenarios, and to avoid multiplying steps and content, in order to master the conversion cycle.

 

To help you build these scenarios, we recommend creating workflows. Workflows are sets of automated actions triggered by one or more of your prospects' actions . A workflow systematically consists of a trigger and conditions.

In short, the creation of scenarios and workflows is essential to automate your marketing actions. This will enable you to guide your prospects towards conversion in a personalized and efficient way.

 

If you would like us to help you create your first scenarios and workflows, click on the buttons below for a 30-minute session with Nicolas Boissard, Kestio's Marketing Director.

KEY No. 4: Expert advice - Lead scoring

Ever heard of "Smarketing"?

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

After all, marketing and sales are often presented as the enemy brothers of an organization!


The sales team complains about the poor quality of the leads generated by marketing... while the marketing team blames sales for not processing its leads fast enough!

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


According to a study by Forrester Research, companies with non-aligned sales and marketing teams lose around 10%* in annual revenues.

So how do you move away from a silo-based approach and create genuine synergy between sales and marketing?


Here are our 4 success factors!

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

KEY No. 1 - Use a CRM

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

 

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

 

What's more, by tracking the results of each marketing action, it's possible to associate an ROI with each of them, which is essential for measuring the effectiveness of each campaign.

Better understanding

Using a CRM is also an effective way of strengthening collaboration between marketing and sales teams.

 

By sharing information about customers and prospects, teams can better understand prospects' needs and preferences, enabling them to advise them better and offer solutions tailored to their needs.

Additional opportunities

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

 

This relationship of trust between customers and the company also generates additional business opportunities and strengthens the company's reputation.

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

 

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

KEY No. 2 - Monitor your metrics

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

 

Indeed, these metrics enable us to better understand the impact of marketing actions on sales, and to better adjust strategies according to the results obtained.

 

On the marketing side, it's important to track the number of leads needed to reach the company's sales targets.

This metric allows us to better understand the effectiveness of our marketing actions, and to adjust our strategies according to the results obtained.

 

 

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

This metric enables us to measure the quality of lead follow-up and identify areas for improvement to better meet customer needs.

 

 

It's also important to track the rate at which leads are converted into customers, to measure the effectiveness of each stage in the sales process.

 

For example, if a company generates 100 leads a month but only manages to convert 10% of them into customers, it's important to understand why the other leads haven't been converted into customers. This metric will help you understand where you need to improve to better convert leads into customers.

 

 

Finally, it's important to measure the acquisition cost of each customer to better understand the effectiveness of marketing and sales actions.

 

For example, if the company has spent 10,000 euros on advertising to generate 100 leads and has finally acquired 5 new customers, the cost of acquiring each customer is 2,000 euros. 

This metric enables us to better understand the profitability of each marketing and sales action, and to adjust our strategies accordingly.

 

 

Don't know which metrics to track? Start by working on your Business Flow to identify the number of leads you need to reach your objectives.

 

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

KEY No. 3 - Bring your teams together

Once these metrics have been defined, communicate them regularly to your marketing and sales teams, so that they become part of their daily routine.

 

Team meetings are an excellent way of achieving this!

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

 

    • Your customers
    • Your offers
    • Your campaigns
    • Your results

 

To be able to offer attractive content that meets the needs of your prospects, your marketers need feedback and sales pitches from your sales reps. And your sales reps need to be up to date with all current marketing campaigns to ensure the smooth flow of your customers' buying cycle.

 

Organize regular meetings between your sales and marketing teams to encourage collaboration:

 

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

 

Corporate seminars bring together all the activities your teams need to work together!


These are key moments in the life of your company, reinforcing your corporate culture and your employees' sense of belonging.

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


We'd like to share with you our white paper on the subject, listing the mistakes to avoid and the keys to follow to ensure the success of your event.

KEY No. 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

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.

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 

KEY No. 4: Expert advice

5 days.

It will have taken ChatGPT 5 days to reach one million users, in December 2022.*
By comparison, Facebook reached the same figure in 10 months and Netflix in 3 and a half years!

 

So you probably couldn't miss the real craze surrounding this conversational artificial intelligence.
By asking a simple question, ChatGPT will search and gather the maximum amount of information available on the web to provide you with the most appropriate answer.
This chatbot offers its users an infinite number of possible uses

 

But just a few months after all this excitement, what can we learn from ChatGPT? How can you really use it in your day-to-day business to optimize your sales and marketing performance?

 

We use it on a daily basis at Kestio and would like to share our experience with you, as it can save you a lot of time and help you with key marketing and sales activities!

*Source: Sam Altman, 2022

KEY No. 1 - Master the prompt

As we explained earlier, ChatGPT is a conversational artificial intelligence. Its mode of operation is therefore based on the question or query you share with it.

If, when you tried out the chatbot, you were disappointed by the answers you got, it may be because your initial request wasn't clear enough!

Our advice for making the most of ChatGPT's features is to work on your requests. This is what we call " prompt engineering ".

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

Sharing a good "prompt" with ChatGPT is all about giving it context.
Do you want the tool to respond to you as a...

 

    • Marketing specialist?
    • SEO expert?
    • Are you an ESN professional?

By giving as much context as possible to your search, you'll guide ChatGPT towards the type of response you're looking for.
Don't hesitate to specify the format and length of the expected result. 🛠

Example query

As content manager for a CRM solutions company, can you write a 150-word article on the different types of CRM available?

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

 

The aim of ChatGPT is to replicate a conversation with a human. All you have to do is tell it which human you want it to be!

 

To help you optimize your queries, discover our webinar dedicated to thethe art of questioning.
Because with ChatGPT, as with any prospect, questioning is key!

KEY No. 2 - Perfect your marketing performance

How can you use ChatGPT in the marketing business to improve your company's performance?

 

ChatGPT will actually SAVE TIME!

 

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

 

✒️ Copywriting: articles, emails, social network posts, ideas for content, titles, subject lines, subject monitoring, SEO keyword research, text enrichment, popularizing a subject, rewording, etc.

 

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

 

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

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

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

⚠️ It's important to note that using ChatGPT should not be seen as simply replicating or copying its content.
Instead, it can serve as a framework and structure for content creation, which can then be customized with the author's point of view and beliefs!

Content creation is a discipline that requires expertise and, above all, time.
At Kestio, we can help you make the most of your time and gain in productivity and visibility!


Click on the button below for a 15-minute exchange with

an expert in digital presence.👇🏻

KEY No. 3 - Perfect your sales performance

ChatGPT can have a significant impact on sales performance, helping you to better understand your target audience's issues and prepare your sales meetings effectively.

 

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

 

This will enable salespeople to prepare their presentations and deliver more relevant solutions tailored to the customer's specific needs. 💥

 

For example, by asking questions such as:

ChatGPT is therefore useful for helping sales professionals write e-mails, sales proposals and call scripts.

 

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

 

To take your sales preparation one step further, we suggest you watch our video "Sales interview checklist", followed by a quiz on the subject. Click below to find out more! 🎲

KEY No. 4: Expert advice

Do you know the average B2B e-mail open rate? It is 15.1%*in decline year after year.

This figure reflects an evolution in marketing practices, and in particular an over-abundance of incoming e-mails (an observation I'm sure you share!).
But e-mail remains one of the most effective communication tools for a company, enabling easy and cost-effective contact with prospects.


So how do you make the most of it?
Today, we're giving you 4 key points to bear in mind to ensure the success of your e-mailing campaigns!

*Source: Le monde du mail, 2022

KEY No. 1 - Be more interesting than interested

When you send a message (e-mail, text message, handwritten letter...) to a friend or family member, do you take the recipient into account when adapting the content?
The same goes for business!

 

The main pitfall in writing commercial e-mails is to contact all your prospects in the same way, talking about one and only one thing: yourself.

 

The aim of your contact should be to respond to a challenge faced by your prospect, not to sell your offer directly to them. 

Before writing any e-mail, we advise you to refocus on your target and your persona :

 

  • What's its profile?
  • What are its expectations?
  • What are its communication and consumption habits? 

The empathy card

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

Thanks to this precise definition of your target's behaviors and needs, you'll be able to identify more easily how your offer can help them in their daily lives.


This will form the theme of your sales e-mail!
By providing a solution to a problem experienced by your prospect, you'll attract their attention and optimize the chances that they'll want to work with you.

KEY No. 2 - Work on your copywriting

Copywriting is theart of writing persuasive content to grab your audience'sattention and convince them to perform a specific action. Good copywriting is therefore essential for maximizing the impact of your e-mail marketing campaigns and boosting audience engagement.

Structure your message

As seen above, it's important to understand who your target is. You need to know what motivates them, their needs, their pain points and their aspirations. Next, it's a good idea to choose a common theme or thread per e-mail that addresses one of your target's pain points or needs. This will make your message easier to read and understand. 

 

The structure of the message should be clear and concise: headings, sub-headings and bullet points can help improve readability and guide the reader through the message.

Apply the AIDA method

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

 

  • To grab the reader's attention, use impactful elements such as the design, the title or a punchy catchphrase. 
  • Once you've got the reader's attention, get them interested in your solution by clearly presenting the benefits it offers.
  • Stimulate the reader's desire for your solution by showing how it can solve their problems and why it's the best option. 
  • Finally, encourage the prospect to take action by offering to buy your product or service, or to sign up for your newsletter to receive more useful information.

Use storytelling

The choice of words and the emotions they evoke also play a powerful persuasive role. Tell a story to engage your target audience, using words that evoke emotions (positive or negative). You'll be able to create an emotional connection with your audience.

Think about the subject line and pre-header

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

 

For example, instead of using "Company update", use "5 new features to improve your user experience". Also be sure to avoid "spamwords", i.e. generic words that could send your message straight to spam.

 

In addition to the subject line, the pre-header is another element to consider. This is the introductory text visible before you open the e-mail. It should be used strategically to give an overview of your message and arouse the interest of your recipients.

KEY No. 3 - The alliance of marketing and sales

Collaboration between marketing and sales is essential for the conversion of leads generated by e-mail marketing. Marketing is responsible for creating content and sending emails to attract the attention of prospects, while sales is responsible for turning these prospects into customers. When marketing and sales combine forces, they can leverage each other's constructive feedback to maximize lead conversion.

 

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

 

In return, marketing can provide sales with prospect data, such as website page views, emails opened and clicks, which can help sales understand prospects' 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 the leads they receive, while sales can help qualify leads and provide information on their sales potential.

 

How do you align sales and marketing teams?

Harmonizing these two departments is crucial to creating robust sales processes, eliminating existing problems during sales cycles and significantly increasing conversion rates. 

 

To find out more about aligning your marketing and sales teams, we offer you a 40-minute webinar dedicated to this topic.

KEY No. 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 work with, generating new leads is one of their main objectives. Is this the case for you too?

 

Do you use Marketing Automation solutions?
Behind this name lies a set of tools that enable you toautomate numerous marketing and sales actions, which are often time-consuming: data enrichment, e-mailing, content production, opportunity tracking...

 

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

*Source: Invesp, 2022

KEY No. 1 - Optimizing your processes

Your teams' days are surely punctuated by numerous repetitive tasks with no added value: updating prospect information, writing follow-up e-mails, monitoring transactions... 

By surrounding yourself with Marketing Automation tools, your employees can automate these tasks and free up their time for real added-value, business-oriented actions.
Time and money saved guaranteed!

 

But Marketing Automation isn't just for sales!
Your company's management functions can also benefit from the advantages of these tools, thanks to the centralization of all your actions and thus your performance: number of new leads, conversion rate, number of new customers, sales generated...

CRM solutions

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions meet these automation and performance monitoring challenges.
But to ensure the effectiveness of this type of tool, you need to choose a CRM that meets your needs. So how do you choose the right software?

To help you make the right choice and succeed with your CRM project, we're sharing our dedicated webinar, hosted by Dominique Seguinand Nicolas Boissard, respectively Managing Director and Marketing Director of Kestio.

KEY No. 2 - An improved purchasing experience

Segment your target

Marketing automation enables you to segment your target audience and send targeted messages and ads according to the prospect's level of advancement in the sales funnel. 

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

Customize your scenarios

Using your prospects' data (demographic, behavioral, purchase history...), you can create specific customer segments and tailor your marketing strategy accordingly. You can, for example, send personalized automated email campaigns and create workflows for them.

 

Workflows are automated scenarios made up of several marketing actions designed to prompt the prospect to perform a specific action. You have the choice of triggering 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 through the use of your product, or a workflow for prospects who have downloaded a white paper or completed a free trial version to encourage them to make an appointment with your sales representative.

 

In short, marketing automation enables you to reach customers in a personalized way through different channels, according to workflows (emails, chats, social networks, phone calls...etc). The aim is to strengthen customer relations by offering a smoother, more personalized purchasing experience. 

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

KEY No. 3 - Data analysis

With advanced data analytics, your company can collect and analyze information about prospects' behaviors and preferences, enabling them to determine the best tactics for achieving their marketing objectives.

Data analysis is particularly important for lead nurturing!

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

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

Lead scoring to identify the maturity level of your 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 demographics. Scores help you prioritize the most qualified prospects and target them accordingly.

What data is interesting to analyze?

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

KEY No. 4: Expert advice

Would you like to implement this approach to support your sales force and generate measurable ROI from your marketing actions? If so, you're probably wondering where to start... So here are 5 steps on how to create your sales tunnel, 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 initiatives.

The aim is to build on what already exists, so you can roll out your new lead-generating actions as quickly as possible - and at the lowest possible cost.

 

To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What communication media and marketing tools do you already use? Website, blog, emailing solution, social networking pages, YouTube channel...
  • What actions are you implementing via these channels to interact with your prospects? Publish 2 articles a month on your blog, send out a monthly newsletter, distribute 2 posts a week on social networks... Don't limit this survey to your web tools alone, and take into account all the communication actions that enable you to get in touch with new prospects. This includes your events (trade shows or conferences), for example.

  • With what results? How are these results evaluated/monitored? How do you measure the impact of your marketing actions today? On the basis of what criteria? For example: do you track the evolution of traffic on your website? On specific pages? 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 existing actions 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": on which offer do you want to focus your efforts?

 

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

 

If your offers are diversified, you'll gradually set up several sales tunnels to cover the whole "spectrum".

Because, in webmarketing logic, you attract your prospects to you on the basis of an identified interest in a subject (which for them generally corresponds to a problem to be solved or a goal to be achieved).

 

You can define the priority offer to which your sales tunnel and marketing campaigns will be dedicated on the basis of different criteria, for example :

  • by identifying the one that's most profitable for you (to maximize your margins),
  • or the one you feel is best positioned in your market (to generate the most volume),
  • or a new offer you've just launched (to win over new customers and cross-sell to existing ones).

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

 

3. Refocus on your buyer persona's expectations

A lead is an identified contact (with a name and contact details), but not just that: always ask yourself what profile a contact needs to meet to be a valid prospect.

 

 To define it, answer these questions:

  • Who are the targets for your offer? What size of company, what type of function within the company (if you're BtoB). Which age category, gender or CSP (if you're BtoC).

  • What's your ideal customer's profile (Buyer Persona)?What are their objectives, desires or problems in relation to the offer you're proposing? What obstacles are likely to complicate their purchase, and how can you help them overcome them? What are their buying habits and preferred communication channels?

  • What are its "drivers of interest"? What are their aspirations, key issues and challenges? What queries are they likely to type into search engines to answer them?

All these elements of detailed knowledge of your prospects will enable you to design the most appropriate marketing actions to attract and convince them.


Discover the KESTIO webinars, where we discuss

all topics related to sales performance with our experts: 

Fabien Comtet, CEO

Dominique Seguin, General Manager

Nicolas Boissard, Marketing Director


4. Define the marketing actions to be implemented

You now have everything you need to design your "sales tunnel in the truest sense of the word!

 

In line with the priority offer defined 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-diagnosis...) - and design 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 can now coordinate your actions so that they converge towards the same objective, for example :

  • define the topics of your blog articles or conferences in line with the lead magnet theme and the interests of your buyer personae
  • insert a call-to-action at the bottom of these articles and at the end of your conference materials to direct your prospects to this lead magnet
  • relay these articles via your newsletter to your customer and subscriber contact base
  • promote these articles and your lead magnet via posts on social networks...

In this way, 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 in your lead generation scenario. Next, you'll need to maintain and nurture the relationship with your prospects to support the work of your sales force.

 

5. Deploy a first scenario in agile mode

Implementing this approach is an iterative process.

 

Deploy an initial scenario on a "test and learn" basis, closely monitoring your indicators to quickly assess its effectiveness and whether you've reached your objectives.

 

Based on the results observed, constantly improve this scenario, or stop it if it's not proving effective, after identifying the points that need to be reworked: should a new lead magnet be produced? Recontact identified prospects more quickly? Offer them content that better meets their expectations? Generate more inbound traffic to lead magnets?

 

Once you've mastered your first effective sales tunnel, you'll be able to apply it to other offers and generate even more leads!

 

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

[I] : Read again our articles on this subject:

But do you know how to leverage these tools to generate leads? To make an active contribution to your sales activity, these tools need to be combined with a webmarketing strategy, and their use thought out in a coordinated way.

Here are 3 examples of effective "sales tunnels" to generate leads with the help of your web tools.

 

[Reminder] What is a "sales tunnel"?

If you've read our article "Et si votre site web générait (enfin) des leads?", the notion of the "sales tunnel" no longer holds any secrets for you!

 

If not, here's a quick summary: 

In webmarketing, a "sales tunnel" is a "scenario" you've thought through in advance to direct your various contacts (physical or web) to key pages on your website, with a view to turning them into identified prospects.

 

 It is based on 3 key elements:

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

 

How does it generate leads?

A sales tunnel is built to provoke 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...

The aim is to transform them from "unidentified visitor" to "identified visitor" (with a name and contact), and then into a "qualified lead".

 

A "qualified lead" is a contact with whom you are in a position to initiate a commercial exchange, i.e.: in whom you have detected an interest in your offer, and for whom you have direct contact details (email + telephone).

The scenario consists of using your web tools in a strategic and coordinated way to help you validate these 2 key points.

 

3 examples of effective web "sales tunnels

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

 

Here are 3 examples of lead-generating scenarios:

SCENARIO 1 - Self-evaluation questionnaire

This scenario is one of the quickest and least expensive to implement. Ideal for a first approach to the "sales tunnel" logic.

  • LEAD MAGNET: Self-diagnosis

A potential prospect visits the company's website and reads a blog post, for example: "3 inspiring Customer Experience companies". A Call-To-Action(CTA) at the bottom of the article invites them to carry out an online self-diagnosis on the subject. For example, "Evaluate the quality of your company's Customer Experience".

  • LANDING PAGE : Questionnaire page

The interested visitor clicks on the CTA, which takes them to an online questionnaire. (You can start by creating your own web questionnaires with a free tool like Google Form).

To take part in the questionnaire, you need to fill in the following mandatory fields to receive the results: Name + Email address, and optional fields: Position + Company + Phone number. (Don't forget the mandatory RGPD mentions )

 

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Summary of results

2 days after taking part in the self-diagnosis, the company emails the participant a summary of the results, together with a proposal for a telephone meeting to discuss the results and, for example, define a short-term improvement plan.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment scheduling

 If the participant accepts the proposal for a telephone appointment, they become a "qualified lead" and their contact details are forwarded to a sales representative!

 

SCENARIO 2 - Thematic Ebook

This scenario, which takes a little longer to implement, enables you togradually establish a relationship with an identified new contact and build the company's legitimacy in his or her eyes. 


Discover the KESTIO webinars, where we discuss

all topics related to sales performance with our experts: 

Fabien Comtet, CEO

Dominique Seguin, General Manager

Nicolas Boissard, Marketing Director


 

  • LEAD MAGNET : EBook

A campaign Linkedin Ads campaign on the Linkedin profiles of the "Customer Experience Directors" of targeted companies generates a flow of qualified visitors towards an Ebook with attractive content for this target.

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

 

  • LANDING PAGE : Download page

Interested visitors are redirected to a dedicated page, featuring a download form with mandatory fields to receive the link to the Ebook: Name + Email address, and optional fields: Job + Company + Phone number. (Not forgetting the mandatory RGPD mentions). 

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Self-diagnosis

 Email 1 - Sent to people who have downloaded the Ebook

An initial email sent 2 days later invites them to carry out an online self-diagnosis 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 telephone for a personalized review of your results

 

Email 2 - Sent to respondents to 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) prompting you to book a free consultation.

Option 2

A proposed appointment for the results feedback interview, at the end of which the summary will be sent to the customer.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment scheduling

If the participant validates the proposal for a telephone appointment, he becomes a "qualified lead" and his contact details are forwarded to a sales representative.

 

SCENARIO 3 - Conference support

As this 3rd example illustrates, a web-based lead generation scenario can also include one (or more) physical contact point(s)!

 

  • LEAD MAGNET: Conference support

The company's CEO hosts a conference on "The new challenges of the Customer Experience".

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

 

  • LANDING PAGE : Download page

 The conference support download page includes a form to fill in to receive the support, with mandatory fields: Name + Email address, and optional fields: Position + Company + Phone number.

  • EMAIL SEQUENCE: Satisfaction questionnaire

 Email 1 - Sent D+2 to people who have downloaded the media

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

At the end of the questionnaire, respondents can ask to be called back by an expert to define their Customer Experience priorities.

 

Email 2 - Sent on D+2 to respondents to the questionnaire

 If the respondent has not asked to be called back at the end of the questionnaire, a new email is sent 2 days later, again offering a personalized interview.

 

  • LEAD QUALIFICATION: Appointment scheduling

If the participant validates the phone appointment proposal (in step 1 or step 2 of the email sequence), he becomes a "qualified lead" and his details are forwarded to a sales representative.

Each of these 3 scenarios enabled the company to identify new contacts via its website, and to transform some of them into qualified leads that it passed on to its sales force!

What's more, the chances of converting these prospects are multiplied, because :

  • They already know the company,
  • The company has acquired a certain legitimacy in their eyes
  • Sales reps have precise information on 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 at your disposal. Start by deploying a1st scenario in "test & learn" mode to generate your first leads. You can then apply these scenarios to each of your offers and build on them!

 

To develop your company's communication tools, think Webinar!

Webinars can be used to showcase attractive content and enhance the company's activity.

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

Now mature, lead generation and digital selling tools (websites, social networks, sales automation...) have proven their effectiveness, but have also begun to show their limits, as evidenced by the " Content Shock " debate that is stirring up the Web Marketing sphere.

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

And if that thought makes you - and many others - break out in a cold sweat, here are a few tips on how to come out of the online lead generation arena alive.

 

1. Review your weapons

As we've already mentioned, Marketing is now involved in most stages of thesales funnel (read our article on thesales organization of software publishers).

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 " lead generation gladiator" is therefore to review the weapons you already possess, to get an idea of your chances of survival and to "upgrade" them:

 

  • What tools and channels do you already use: website, social networks, email campaigns...?
  • How are they used: how often? with what content?
  • What volume of visitors or subscribers do they generate?
  • With what impact, in terms of sales?

 

The more you know about your weaknesses, the more likely you are to correct them.

 

2. Refine your positioning and know your target

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

 

  • What are the characteristics of your online market, its opportunities and risks?
  • Who are your main competitors, and what are their web marketing and sales strategies?
  • Which customers do you want to attract and convince as a priority, via your lead generation tools?

 

This last point should be seen in relation to your "Gold, Silver and Bronze" targets, defined when building yoursales model. And because you're dealing with Marketing logic and approach here, you're going to convert these generic targets (type of company, sales volume...) into "Buyer Personae", endowed with human and personalized traits. 1

 

3. Develop a warrior strategy

Once you know which Buyer Personae you're addressing, everything becomes clearer: how you're going to talk to them, via which channels, and above all: to tell them what!

 

Address their concerns, show them what problems you're going to solve for them and what it's going to do for them - in short, let them know what they're going to gain from YOUR solution. In this way, you'll first create trust, then the desire to work with you.

 

Sound a little too simple? You're right.

There's no point in "talking into your prospects' ears" if they never leave you their number to call them back!

 

An effective Web marketing strategy is based on a very precise scenario, which enables you first toATTRACT visitors related to your target, then to CONVERT them into identified and qualified prospects - i.e. those whose contact details you have and whose interest in your services you have nurtured - and finally, to SELL them your solution!

 

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

  • Where will you direct the flow of your visitors (your site's "contact" page, "demo request" landing page, etc.)?
  • How do your visitors move from one channel (web or not) to another?
  • How do you identify their level of interest in your solution?

 

This is what will enable you to define the content strategy that meets your objectives: in other words, to plan the production and distribution of your " lead magnets " (attractive content encouraging visitors to leave their contact details) and the accompanying " call-to-actions ": download a data sheet or white paper, carry out an online diagnosis, request a demo...

 

4. Don't leave the outcome to chance

Deploying an Inbound Marketing strategy strategy requires working in agile mode (we'll come back to this shortly), but it can't be managed "by instinct" - quite the contrary!

 

To be effective, lead generation using Web marketing tools must be guided by precise objectives and based on careful monitoring of pre-defined indicators.

 

In line with your sales funnel, define quantified objectives and the corresponding KPIs.

For example (in simplified mode):

QUANTIFIED TARGET OF:

Generated traffic

Volume of visitors identified

 Number of leads sent to sales reps

Sales generated

KPI:

Number of unique visitors to the site

Number of contacts generated via contact field

Number of qualified leads obtained 

Cumulative sales from referred leads

 

It is essential to monitor these figures using dedicated management tools (SEO tools, dashboards...).

And to do this, to "score your leads": each time a stage is reached in the qualification of a contact (identification, obtaining a telephone number...), a new "score" is assigned to it, which brings it closer to the transmission of the lead to the sales team.

 

Scoring is also based on "rich information" relating to the profile and behavior of your visitors (function, centers of interest, degree of autonomy in the purchasing decision...) that you will have obtained via online interactions and recorded, in a CRM tool for example.  

 

5. Learn from your defeats and savour your victories

There's no denying it: deploying a lead generation strategy from start to finish, from definition to implementation, is a long and sometimes tricky process. This is particularly true when it comes to automating processes and interfacing the various tools used (CRM, marketing automation solutions, SEO tools, etc.).

 

That's why you need to start small, allow yourself to implement actions progressively, and roll out your scenarios iteratively.

 

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

 

The first victories fuel motivation and always bring their share of instructive mistakes.

 

Depending on your resources - and provided you haven't overlooked the need to evaluate your tools, define your personas and formalize your objectives - it may be more effective to start simply and build up gradually, rather than setting up a gas factory or starting immediately with expensive tools that will have to be amortized.

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

 

 

1. In marketing, a persona is an imaginary character representing a target group or segment. It usually has a first name and social and psychological characteristics. For example: Sabrina, 40, 2 children, urban, senior executive, closely follows fashion, takes the metro, goes trail running...etc. Personae are used, among other things, to develop website content and optimize customer customer customerThey were also originally used to design the product and service offering itself.

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

Why?

Quite simply because the digitalization of the economy has radically changed behavior. The Internet has profoundly altered the relationship between buyers and sellers, and the latter no longer put up with intrusive commercial pressure... even if they still demand information.

 

They can search for this information on their own, at their own pace and at a time that suits them. What counts today is being seen 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 doing business that positions the company as interesting rather than interested.

This isInbound Marketing

 

Why adopt an Inbound Marketing strategy?

First of all, from a salesperson's point of view, it's now counter-productive to go out looking for contacts or leads. It's a huge investment of time for a more than uncertain result, whatever the salesperson's skills and motivation, based mainly on volume, in other words the number of outgoing calls. It's an exhausting, time-consuming, low-value-added activity that wears salespeople out! But salespeople should be investing their time where it adds the most value: converting leads into customers. Better than a long speech, here are 10 key figures to help you rethink your vision of traditional marketing :

 

    1. 68% of online shoppers enjoy spending time reading content published by a company that interests them(The CMA).
    2. 80% of decision-makers in the industry prefer to obtain information about a company via a blog post 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 find out about a company before making a purchasing decision and 56% of buyers consult the blog of the company selling the products they are interested in(Salesforlife).
    5. 89% of BtoB buyers do research on the Internet before contacting a company, with an average of 7 to 9 queries on the Google search engine.(Google)
    6. 66% of BtoB marketers believe that content production is effective when this content is then disseminated via a variety of channels: social networks, blogs, public events...(Kapost)
    7. Leads generated via inbound marketing cost 61% less on average than qualified contacts generated by traditional techniques (outbound marketing).(HubSpot)
    8. Leads that continue to be nurtured in the conversion funnel spend 47% more than leads that have not been nurtured.(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 consider prospecting to be their most difficult task(Hubspot)

 

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

 

What is Inbound Marketing?

 Inbound marketing consists in organizing a reverse flow, i.e. creating the conditions for generating inbound contacts, or leads. In response to the trends described in the first part of this article, the aim is to attract customers to your company. It ' s an approach that allows you to create contact in a less aggressive way and, above all, at the right time with the right person, making your sales strategy more effective. 

 

In this approach, marketing has a deeper impact on the sales funnel. It no longer limits itself to raising awareness and arousing interest, but goes all the way to intention and even evaluation, in other words, lead generation. It invites the prospect to act, via "call to actions" on a website, for example.

 

Clearly, this marketing strategy opens up a wide field of action, which can also have an impact on the company's internal organization, in particular by bringing marketing and sales closer together.

This is a topic we'll be tackling on several occasions, with a forthcoming zoom on how to implement this strategy and the key points to be effective.

 

In the meantime, we invite you to follow on this blog or via our newsletterKESTIO Insights) the various articles we will be proposing on topics related to sales performance.

 

Webinars have become an essential Inbound Marketing tool: thanks to their audience and content, they can generate a large number of leads. Find out how in this webinar: