Exploring B2B Marketing Automation: 6 Game-Changing Examples

Marketing automation has become a game-changer in the world of B2B businesses. But how exactly does it work and what are some effective examples? In this article, we will delve into six impactful B2B marketing automation examples that have revolutionized the digital marketing landscape.

B2B Marketing automation used correctly can be an extremely valuable method to help businesses create more web traffic and leads, which ultimately helps to increase revenues, all the while reducing redundant activities and/or unnecessary headcount. 

If marketing automation is a new frontier for you, it can be difficult to understand what options are available to you and what tools and strategies you should be considering, as well as the associated benefits one can gain from marketing automation tools and strategies.

At first glance, it may sound a bit complicated but the reality is that most marketing automation systems today are quickly deployed and easily managed and fairly light on the wallet compared to the future returns you can anticipate in the months and years ahead.  

Before digging into the 6 real life examples of B2B marketing automation tactics, a good working definition is in order.

In simplest terms, B2B marketing automation allows an organization to automate their marketing processes. It helps to generate leads, follow up with prospects and nurture them through the buyer’s journey. It also enables B2B marketers to personalize their messaging in order to effectively engage with a wide range of audiences.

B2B marketing automation includes tasks such as scheduling social media posts, designing email campaigns and tracking website visitor behavior. It can even be used to identify high-value customers and uncover new markets.

All in all, B2B marketing automation is a key asset for organizations looking to expand their reach, increase efficiency and maximize insights into their customer base. With the help of B2B marketing automation, B2B organizations are able to make the most of their limited resources and drive engagement with relevant customers.

Simply put marketing automation is a way for you to automate repetitive task by leveraging software and become more effective and efficient in your marketing efforts. 

If you're committed to growing your business revenues and slashing time spent on repetitive task B2B marketing automation software and services is something you should highly consider.

6 Game-Changing B2B Marketing Automation Examples

Let's learn about the different types of automation strategies available to help drive web traffic, leads and revenue with B2B marketing automation.

1. Automation in Action: Automated Chat and Chatbots

Web chat has been around for a long time, but the days of having to deploy an actual person to monitor and respond to requests are no longer efficient or cost-effective. Even outsourcing this function can be costlier than having software to automate it.

The good news is that there are many great chat solutions available today that will enable live chat on your website without having to pay for a person to monitor it. For instance, tools like HubSpot offer modern chat software that allows for powerful automation capabilities. These capabilities, such as being able to respond to general questions, route inquiries to the proper channel, or schedule future sales meetings, are just the tip of the iceberg of what's possible with HubSpot's chat features.

Whether you're trying to ease the burden on an overworked customer support team or increase the number of lead conversions on your website, chat automation can be an invaluable tool. By reducing repetitive tasks, it not only streamlines operations but also enhances the customer and prospect experience.

But chatbots are not limited to immediate customer support. In the broader context of marketing automation, they prove to be indispensable. Chatbots play a key role in lead generation by engaging visitors and collecting their contact information. They can be incorporated into your lead scoring system, used by sales and marketing teams to prioritize leads.

By integrating your chatbot with your email automation software, you can seamlessly transition leads from the chat interface to your email marketing campaign. This is particularly beneficial in scenarios like abandoned cart recovery, where a chatbot can engage the customer and an automated email can follow up.

Furthermore, chatbots are integral to executing marketing strategies such as drip campaigns and welcome email series, initiating the customer's journey. By setting up an automated workflow that includes your chatbot and email automation, you provide a consistent and engaging experience for your new customers and encourage repeat business.

Chatbots are versatile tools that can also be instrumental in A/B testing for your marketing efforts, help in pushing notifications about new products, and can be a vital component of your CRM automation tools, enhancing the efficiency of your marketing channels.

If you're not a HubSpot user, there's no need to worry. Other marketing automation platforms, like Drift and Marketo, also offer comprehensive chatbot solutions designed to empower your marketing automation workflow.

In this age of digital marketing, harnessing the power of chatbots can significantly improve your marketing efforts, increasing both customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

2. Amplifying Reach with Website Visitor Outreach Automation

When it comes to marketing automation, a well-executed strategy can work wonders in converting anonymous traffic into tangible leads. For instance, consider the untapped potential of your website traffic. With robust traffic, but little engagement in forms, chat, or direct contact, you may wonder about the true value of these anonymous visits.

With the integration of website monitoring software like Zoominfo and CRM automation tools such as HubSpot, all is not lost. Indeed, you can turn these unknown visitors into potential new customers with the right approach and some advanced automation tools.

Zoominfo's WebSights tool, for instance, can be used to analyze web traffic on specific pages and provide you with the names of companies visiting these pages. Leveraging Zoominfo's workflow tool, you can then run this list of companies against your search criteria, selecting only those that meet your 'ideal customer profile' (ICP) for import into your CRM.

When these new contacts and companies enter your CRM, you can trigger automated workflows, creating an email campaign or even an automated email series that directly targets these prospects based on their web behavior. This can prove incredibly effective for lead generation.

Marketing automation platforms provide the ability to deliver a timely sequence of relevant emails, SMS text messages, social media outreach (e.g. LinkedIn), and phone calls post-website visit. This strategy can generate new leads from visitors who might not have otherwise converted on your site, turning these previously anonymous interactions into concrete leads.

While the majority of this process can be automated, incorporating a human touch with Business Development Reps (BDRs) making follow-up phone calls as part of the sequence workflow can significantly enhance its effectiveness.

This integrated marketing strategy is a powerful tool for converting anonymous traffic into active sales cycles. After all, you've already invested time and resources in driving organic web traffic, why not maximize your marketing efforts by fully leveraging website outreach automation? By integrating these best practices into your marketing automation workflow, you can ensure that no potential lead is overlooked.

3. Boosting Lead Generation and Conversion through Marketing Automation

Lead generation is an essential part of any robust marketing strategy. But what happens once you've successfully generated web traffic and converted that traffic into tangible leads? How can you ensure these leads transition into a sales opportunity? Furthermore, how can you optimize your sales team's efforts by focusing on leads with the highest conversion potential? The answer lies in the strategic implementation of marketing automation, specifically in scoring, routing, and nurturing leads.

Understanding that not all leads are created equal is key. A one-size-fits-all approach to your leads simply won't yield the best results. Ideally, each lead should fall into a specific category or be assigned a lead score to guide further action.

A lead's value can be gauged through a concept known as lead scoring. This process considers both demographic information and behavioral data associated with the lead. Behavioral attributes, such as the type of email address provided (corporate vs. free), pages viewed on your website (pricing vs. employment pages), forms submitted, and email interaction (opens/clicks), provide insight into the lead's potential.

Demographic attributes, such as job title or department, company revenue, IP address, and email address type, can further refine the lead score.

Once you've scored your leads, you can trigger internal and external automated workflows based on their score and other factors. The following example illustrates this process:

• If a lead's IP address is in the US or CA, add 10 points.
• If a lead provides a valid corporate email address, add 10 points.
• If a lead submits form "x", add 20 points.
• If a lead visits employment pages, subtract 10 points.
• If a lead visits pricing pages, add 15 points.
• If a lead holds the title "CFO", add 5 points.
• If a lead's email address bounces, subtract 25 points.

Based on these scores, you can create automated workflows. For instance:

• If a lead is based in the Eastern Time zone, as per their IP address, and has a lead score over 50, route them to Account Executive "John Doe" and assign sequence "XYZ", consisting of 6 emails, 2 SMS messages, 3 calls, and 2 social outreaches over a six-week duration.
• If a lead is based in Mexico, as per their IP address, their email address bounced, and their lead score is zero, update their status as "disqualified".
• If a lead is based in the Pacific Time zone, as per their IP address, and has a lead score of 25, route them to Business Development Rep "Jane Doe" and assign sequence "ABC", consisting of 12 emails over a six-month period.

These are simplistic examples, but the crux of the matter is that with the right tools, such as a marketing automation software, you can build intelligent and relevant workflows that operate 24/7, freeing your sales and marketing team from making individual decisions for each lead.

Remember, when a lead converts, they might not be ready to make a purchase immediately, especially in the case of larger ticket items. This is where your marketing automation workflow shines. By consistently providing the prospect with valuable insights and content over time, you remain top-of-mind, gradually guiding them towards a sales cycle. A powerful marketing automation tool like HubSpot can help accomplish this and elevate your marketing efforts.

4. How Social Media Automation Enhances Your Online Presence

According to HubSpot, "Social media automation is the process of employing automated tools to enhance your social media presence through content curation and scheduling social media posts in advance. Automation tools can help reduce the amount of time spent scrambling for last-minute posts, enabling you to dedicate more time to growing your account by engaging with your target audience."

Coordinating the publishing of diverse assets across multiple social media channels can pose a significant challenge without a centralized automation tool to manage your social assets. As a vital part of your marketing strategy, an automated workflow for your social media channels not only boosts your marketing efforts but also increases consistency across your platforms.

Leveraging the power of social media automation offers a multitude of benefits:

1. Content Planning and Scheduling: Tools like HubSpot or MailChimp can take the guesswork out of the timing and frequency of posts. They allow you to schedule posts in advance, ensuring a steady stream of content to keep your audience engaged. They also provide A/B testing features to optimize content for your target audience.

2. Robust Social Media Analytics: These tools offer valuable insights into your audience's behavior, your content's reach and engagement, and the overall performance of your social media campaigns, enabling you to refine your marketing strategy and align your efforts with your business goals.

3. Social Listening and Brand Monitoring: These automation tools provide functionalities that alert you when your brand is mentioned, enabling prompt reaction to feedback and managing your online reputation.

4. Seamless Integration: Social media automation platforms often integrate with existing marketing automation software and CRM automation tools, unifying tracking of customer journeys and enriching lead scoring and personalized marketing campaigns.

5. Tailoring Content to Each Platform: These tools also help tailor your content to suit each platform's unique requirements, ensuring it looks its best and is optimized for engagement.

While it's best practice for a real person to create social media posts and respond to comments, automation tools bring immense value by managing scheduling, publishing, and providing detailed analytics from a single point. They become a vital part of your CRM automation tools, allowing your team to focus on cultivating relationships with new customers and loyal customers, enhancing your conversion rate, and driving your brand's success.

By harnessing the power of social media automation, you can deliver a personalized experience to your audience, cultivate a stronger online presence, and turn your social media channels into powerful lead generation tools.

5. The Vital Role of Automating CRM Data Management in Successful Marketing Campaigns

When it comes to conducting effective marketing campaigns and maintaining streamlined sales processes, clean and accurate data is of paramount importance. However, as anyone familiar with CRM databases knows, these can quickly become cluttered and outdated, making it challenging to identify high-quality leads and monitor sales progress accurately.

This is where B2B marketing automation tools make their mark. By automatically maintaining, updating, and cleansing data, they ensure that your CRM remains a reliable source of information and a powerful engine for your marketing and sales operations. These tools take care of numerous crucial data fields such as:

1. Contact and Company Owner: Ensuring that each lead or customer is allocated to the correct team member, avoiding confusion and enabling efficient customer management.
2. Lead Source: Keeping track of where your leads are coming from helps in assessing the effectiveness of your marketing channels and refining your strategy.
3. Contact Information (Phone, City, State, Zip Code): Essential for personalization and regional marketing campaigns.
4. Company Details (Revenue, Employee Count, etc.): Offering insights into the size and potential value of a lead or customer.

Top-tier tools like Zoominfo and HubSpot excel in these tasks. They can append or update CRM records based on the rules you specify, ensuring that your data remains up-to-date and accurate. By automating these tasks, they free your highly paid Business Development Representatives (BDRs) and Account Executives (AEs) to focus on generating leads and closing deals rather than managing data.

One notable advantage of this automation is that these rules can run quietly in the background, providing a consistent level of data hygiene with little to no active management required from your team. This means that your data integrity is maintained 24/7, providing you with an accurate and reliable database at all times.

The impact of having clean data cannot be overstated. With accurate and up-to-date information at their fingertips, your sales and marketing teams can contact the right people at the right time with the most relevant messaging, all while being managed by the appropriate team member within your organization. This can significantly enhance your conversion rates and overall marketing and sales efficiency.

By leveraging the power of automating CRM data management, you ensure that your CRM remains a powerful tool for your business, driving success in your marketing and sales efforts, and ultimately contributing to your business growth.

6. Leveraging Buyer Intent Data with Automation

Recognizing buyer intent is a game-changer in the world of digital marketing. Buyer intent data not only identifies businesses that have demonstrated recent interests in your offerings but also sheds light on online behavior trends. It highlights companies that show an increase in content consumption related to your products or services and categorizes this data. This enables marketers and sales representatives to engage prospects at the opportune time with a highly tailored message, enhancing the chances of conversion.

The market is teeming with vendors in the buyer intent space. However, at SmithDigital, we've seen substantial success with leading providers like Bombora, Zoominfo, and G2. Among these, Zoominfo stands out due to its comprehensive automation capabilities. Here's how it works:

Zoominfo identifies companies and contacts exhibiting specific buyer intent signals. These can be anything from an increase in relevant search terms to a surge in visits to your product pages. The platform then automatically exports this data to HubSpot.

Once in HubSpot, these 'hot' prospects are automatically enrolled in sequences based on their distinct buyer intent signals. These sequences might include a series of personalized emails, targeted ads, or direct outreach from your sales team.

When set up correctly, this powerful combination of buyer intent data and software automation can significantly scale your marketing and sales efforts. Its potential extends as high as your budget will allow, requiring minimal human intervention. However, it's crucial to note that while automation plays a significant role in processing and utilizing intent data, human oversight is still recommended to ensure the highest level of personalization and relevance in the communication. This harmonious blend of automated efficiency and human touch can produce the best results in converting intent into actual sales.

In conclusion, automating intent data provides a competitive edge in understanding and responding to buyer behavior. By integrating intelligent platforms like Zoominfo and HubSpot, you can create a finely-tuned, automated system that engages potential customers exactly when and how they need it, optimizing your lead generation and sales processes.

Conclusion: Transform Your Business with B2B Marketing Automation

Looking for a competitive edge in today's fast-paced business world? Consider harnessing the power of B2B marketing automation.

From streamlining chatbot and live chat experiences to harnessing website visitor outreach, marketing automation is reshaping how SMBs engage with their audiences and leverage their web traffic. But it doesn't stop there. With tools like HubSpot and Zoominfo, businesses can seamlessly automate critical marketing operations such as lead scoring, routing, and nurturing, as well as social media management and CRM data management. Additionally, integrating buyer intent data into the automation framework allows for more targeted, timely, and relevant communication with prospective leads.

Embracing marketing automation could be the transformative shift your business needs. Yes, it might not happen overnight, but with a strategic approach and the right tools, you can unlock significant benefits in a relatively short time. Achieving success is about making well-informed choices – selecting the right technology vendors and partnering with experts who understand your unique needs and the dynamic marketing landscape.

If you're considering investing in B2B marketing automation software and services, remember: it's not just an investment in technology—it's an investment in your business's future growth, competitive differentiation, and long-term success.

Let SmithDigital Be Your Guide on the Marketing Automation Journey

Choosing the right digital marketing partner is crucial to realizing the full benefits of marketing automation. At SmithDigital, we bring extensive experience and a deep understanding of the intricacies of marketing automation. We can help your business navigate the complexities and make the most of your investment in marketing automation tools.

Ready to discuss how SmithDigital can transform your business with B2B marketing automation? Schedule a free consultation with us today. Together, let's unleash the power of marketing automation and drive your business towards unprecedented growth.