This document discusses how marketing automation and CRM systems can work together to create a single source of truth for organizations. When integrated, they can bridge the gap between marketing and sales by allowing both teams to access the same customer information. The document recommends aligning marketing and sales goals by building an integrated system that can qualify leads, automate lead assignment, track customer touchpoints, and provide insights into campaign performance. Integrating a CRM and marketing automation platform allows both teams to have up-to-date customer profiles and synchronize data, improving efficiency across the organization.
Sold on marketing automation, but having trouble getting the C-suite on board? Sometimes all you need is a well-planned strategy — and this presentation template can help you show upper management that you've thought ahead. Check out our blog post to download the editable template: prd.to/1kVo1pF
IDC provides an overview of the key issues in sales enablement and sales productivity. While sales enablement is a key cornerstone of sales productivity in this challenging economy, IDC finds that most organizations still do not understand the basics of sales enablement or the operational issues that deliver good sales enablement.
The Secret to Building a Sales Enablement PowerhouseMindTickle
Alex from Procore and Marc from MindTickle explore:
State of the industry
Need for Sales Enablement
Sales Enablement and Sales Readiness at Procore
Best-in-class framework for Sales Readiness
Learn how to make sense of two approaches to managing customer interaction and engagement: CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and MA (Marketing Automation). In this presentation, you will learn:
-101-level marketing technology definitions
-When and how to use what platform
-Best practices & success stories for marketing and sales teams
Sold on marketing automation, but having trouble getting the C-suite on board? Sometimes all you need is a well-planned strategy — and this presentation template can help you show upper management that you've thought ahead. Check out our blog post to download the editable template: prd.to/1kVo1pF
IDC provides an overview of the key issues in sales enablement and sales productivity. While sales enablement is a key cornerstone of sales productivity in this challenging economy, IDC finds that most organizations still do not understand the basics of sales enablement or the operational issues that deliver good sales enablement.
The Secret to Building a Sales Enablement PowerhouseMindTickle
Alex from Procore and Marc from MindTickle explore:
State of the industry
Need for Sales Enablement
Sales Enablement and Sales Readiness at Procore
Best-in-class framework for Sales Readiness
Learn how to make sense of two approaches to managing customer interaction and engagement: CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and MA (Marketing Automation). In this presentation, you will learn:
-101-level marketing technology definitions
-When and how to use what platform
-Best practices & success stories for marketing and sales teams
This Mindmatrix presentation on sales enablement offers a step-by-step process for enabling your direct sales teams. Watch this presentation to learn-
-Why is sales enablement is so important?
-What does direct sales enablement involve?
-Why is it time to move beyond traditional marketing automation and CRMs?
-What are the 12 steps to holistic sales enablement
How to Use Sales Enablement to Increase Pipeline and Drive RevenueBrandon Redlinger
“Sales enablement has the most leverage in driving the productivity of your salesforce.”
-Matt Heinz, President, Heinz Marketing
Sales enablement is yet another hot new term that's been injected into sales lingo and it’s getting more budget allocated in high growth companies. These companies are deploying this role with incredible results as they jump on the opportunity to supercharge the revenue generating side of the business.
On this presentation, you'll discover:
The keys to an effective sales enablement program
How technology can help you drive revenue and shorten the sales cycle
How to track, measure and improve your sales enablement program
How Sales Enablement drives productivity and closes more deals
How marketing and sales can develop effective Sales Enablement content
4 types of content sales can use to close faster
In this on-demand seminar HubSpot and BrainSell provide actionable tips to create a Smarketing (Sales + Marketing) approach to automating your business and revenue growth.
In this session you'll get best practices in aligning Sales and Marketing teams to drive down costs and increase revenue through a holistic view of your customer’s journey - from demand generation to the final sale and beyond!
Key takeaways:
Increase pipeline through tighter sales and marketing alignment
Execute a winning content marketing strategy
Convert more leads through stronger lead management process
Rethinking Sales and Marketing alignment: [How Marketing will help close deals]CRMT Digital
Better Marketing and Sales alignment improves profits, customer services and internal relationships. Most organisations have already realised that traditional business unit divisions hinder more than they help and are now seeking to improve internal relationships between departments. For successful alignment between Marketing and Sales, employees need to be empowered by technology.
My Puget Sound AMA Slides on B2B Customer Acquisition StrategiesBrian Hansford
The Puget Sound AMA invited me to present ideas on B2B customer acquisition and demand generation. Paul Judy, Avalara's VP of Customer Marketing presented B2B customer marketing concepts.
Dan Tyre talking about Sales Enablement at our virtual Solent HUG (HubSpot User Group) recently. It was great to see so many enthusiastic and engaged attendees at the webinar.
The feedback so far has been fantastic.
We look forward to inviting you to the next one in due course and we plan to run them at least quarterly.
Please visit our chapter and keep an eye on upcoming events:
https://bit.ly/39DyZN6
#SolentHUG
Best wishes
Sam (Solent HUG team).
Improving CX with AI: Microsoft Case Study [SiriusDecisions Summit 2017]InsideView
In this case study, learn how Microsoft is applying deep AI-driven market intelligence through its applications to impact the different phases of its customers’ lifecycle
A panel of 8 best-of-breed MarTech leaders share their thoughts on how B2B marketing operations professionals can best navigate the complex MarTech landscape.
White Paper: successful with marketing automationrun_frictionless
Marketing automation is more than merely automating your workflows, even though – as the name suggests – this clearly is the point. However, if you just do what you are doing now but with the help of a fancy tool, the results will not be that dierent. Nor does marketing automation mean mass marketing, i. e. providing the same content to all the leads you have got, regardless of their engagement history, progression in the sales process, or preferences, and hoping some will bite
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
This Mindmatrix presentation on sales enablement offers a step-by-step process for enabling your direct sales teams. Watch this presentation to learn-
-Why is sales enablement is so important?
-What does direct sales enablement involve?
-Why is it time to move beyond traditional marketing automation and CRMs?
-What are the 12 steps to holistic sales enablement
How to Use Sales Enablement to Increase Pipeline and Drive RevenueBrandon Redlinger
“Sales enablement has the most leverage in driving the productivity of your salesforce.”
-Matt Heinz, President, Heinz Marketing
Sales enablement is yet another hot new term that's been injected into sales lingo and it’s getting more budget allocated in high growth companies. These companies are deploying this role with incredible results as they jump on the opportunity to supercharge the revenue generating side of the business.
On this presentation, you'll discover:
The keys to an effective sales enablement program
How technology can help you drive revenue and shorten the sales cycle
How to track, measure and improve your sales enablement program
How Sales Enablement drives productivity and closes more deals
How marketing and sales can develop effective Sales Enablement content
4 types of content sales can use to close faster
In this on-demand seminar HubSpot and BrainSell provide actionable tips to create a Smarketing (Sales + Marketing) approach to automating your business and revenue growth.
In this session you'll get best practices in aligning Sales and Marketing teams to drive down costs and increase revenue through a holistic view of your customer’s journey - from demand generation to the final sale and beyond!
Key takeaways:
Increase pipeline through tighter sales and marketing alignment
Execute a winning content marketing strategy
Convert more leads through stronger lead management process
Rethinking Sales and Marketing alignment: [How Marketing will help close deals]CRMT Digital
Better Marketing and Sales alignment improves profits, customer services and internal relationships. Most organisations have already realised that traditional business unit divisions hinder more than they help and are now seeking to improve internal relationships between departments. For successful alignment between Marketing and Sales, employees need to be empowered by technology.
My Puget Sound AMA Slides on B2B Customer Acquisition StrategiesBrian Hansford
The Puget Sound AMA invited me to present ideas on B2B customer acquisition and demand generation. Paul Judy, Avalara's VP of Customer Marketing presented B2B customer marketing concepts.
Dan Tyre talking about Sales Enablement at our virtual Solent HUG (HubSpot User Group) recently. It was great to see so many enthusiastic and engaged attendees at the webinar.
The feedback so far has been fantastic.
We look forward to inviting you to the next one in due course and we plan to run them at least quarterly.
Please visit our chapter and keep an eye on upcoming events:
https://bit.ly/39DyZN6
#SolentHUG
Best wishes
Sam (Solent HUG team).
Improving CX with AI: Microsoft Case Study [SiriusDecisions Summit 2017]InsideView
In this case study, learn how Microsoft is applying deep AI-driven market intelligence through its applications to impact the different phases of its customers’ lifecycle
A panel of 8 best-of-breed MarTech leaders share their thoughts on how B2B marketing operations professionals can best navigate the complex MarTech landscape.
White Paper: successful with marketing automationrun_frictionless
Marketing automation is more than merely automating your workflows, even though – as the name suggests – this clearly is the point. However, if you just do what you are doing now but with the help of a fancy tool, the results will not be that dierent. Nor does marketing automation mean mass marketing, i. e. providing the same content to all the leads you have got, regardless of their engagement history, progression in the sales process, or preferences, and hoping some will bite
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Marketing Automation - Gleanster Research CheatSheet: Gleanster Research
What marketing automation is
How marketing automation works
Definitions of common jargon and acronyms associated with marketing automation
Common out-of-the-box features in marketing automation tools
How to justify investments in marketing automation
How much marketing automation tools cost
Essential pre-purchase tips and tricks to maximize an investment in marketing automation
Grow your franchise brand with franchise management toolsSubhoMondal4
Do you seek to position your brand in both the global and local markets? However, the diversity in the markets asks for different strategies and a step-by-step process to reach oblivion. That is what it is supposed to be with Franchise Management Tools!
Presentation at Loriman Social Media Seminar on Automated Marketing Software Solutions. Features to look for, Solutions and Pricing. It is an overview of the landscape for software to power marketing, lead generation and sales.
This book explains the concept of customer relationship marketing(CRM) and provides guidance on how to implement it effectively. It also gives good practical examples of customer relationship marketing and the importance of social media when targeting a customer. For more information please click on link:
https://shrinke.me/6RwSQs0W
Relationship build business... how do you relate to your target audience?
If you want to have a long-term customer based circle, building relationship is essential.
You see, people buy from you because they already have the connection and trust with you not that they need the product alone. This is very important to understand.
A quick guide on what Marketing Automation is, steps to success in launching your campaigns, how to optimise activity and enables sales to help drive revenue.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
From Daily Decisions to Bottom Line: Connecting Product Work to Revenue by VP...
Marketing Automation and Your CRM
1. Marketing Automation &
Your CRM: The Dynamic Duo
Bridge the gap between marketing and sales by creating a single
source of truth for your organization.
2. 2 / Pardot
In 2012, SiriusDecisions predicted that the adoption of
marketing automation would increase 50% by 2015 —
it’s now 2015, and the marketing automation industry
continues to grow at a rapid pace. Why? Because more
and more B2B marketers are realizing the benefits of
creating a complete marketing and sales ecosystem using
marketing automation and their CRM.
In today’s B2B organizations, marketing and sales
alignment is critical to success, but these two teams will
only work well together when they’re pursuing the same
goals and have access to the same actionable information.
Marketing automation is designed to bridge the gap
between marketing and sales by working with your CRM to
create a single source of truth for your organization.
This e-book will walk you through the basics of marketing
automation and the benefits of building a marketing
and sales ecosystem. You’ll also get a brief rundown of
the implementation process so that you can better
understand what it takes to get a fully-integrated
system up and running.
Read on to learn how you can align your two teams,
gain greater insight into your campaign performance,
jumpstart lead generation, and positively impact your
ROI — all by pairing marketing automation and your
CRM together to create the ultimate dynamic duo.
INTRODUCTION
Align marketing and
sales with marketing
automation.
79% of top-performing
companies have been using
marketing automation for
more than 2 years. -Gleanster
intro
3. Perhaps you’ve seen the phrase “marketing
automation” floating around on the marketing blogs
you read. You’ve almost certainly heard about it at B2B
marketing conferences you’ve attended. Maybe it’s
even popped up while you’re hanging out by the office
watercooler, or come up in a casual conversation with
a friend who just implemented automation at his new
company (hey, it could happen!). After hearing it over
and over again, you may be left wondering what all the
fuss is about. What is it about marketing automation
that has captured the attention of today’s marketing
professionals?
Let’s start from the beginning. Marketing automation
platforms are designed to increase sales and maximize
efficiency for companies with complex sales cycles,
allowing marketing and sales departments to manage
their prospect interactions and online marketing
campaigns in one central platform.
Marketing automation:
What’s all the fuss about?
3 / Pardot
A marketing automation system typically offers:
• Micro-level analytics that track all touch points
with a prospect — including forms, pageviews,
content downloads, emails, social interactions,
and more
• Lead scoring and grading to help qualify and
prioritize your leads
• Automated lead nurturing to send emails to
prospects based on predefined rules or time
intervals
• Customizable real-time notifications that let
your reps know when a prospect is active and
showing buying signals
• Closed-loop reporting for easy calculation of
marketing ROI
• Wizards and tools that allow non-technical users
to easily create dynamic, branded, personalized
online marketing campaigns and emails
one
4. 4 / Pardot
B2B marketers who
implement marketing
automation increase
their sales-pipeline
contribution by 10%.
-Forrester Research
When marketing automation is integrated
with a CRM like Salesforce, a new level
of functionality is unlocked that allows
marketers to track and analyze all
touchpoints with prospects from the
moment of lead generation to the close of a
sale (more on this in the next two chapters!).
Starting to envision how a tool like this
could transform the way you do your job as
a marketer? Take a look at the next chapter
to learn more about building a single sales
and marketing ecosystem using marketing
automation and your CRM.
5. 5 / Pardot
Many of the tensions between marketing and sales
teams stem from breakdowns in the lead management
process. All too often the marketing team is passing over
leads that aren’t sales ready, and the (understandably
frustrated) sales team is choosing to pursue their own
leads instead. This leaves customers lost in the mix — and
when left to fend for themselves, your buyers will likely
find a friend in a competitor that is doing a better job of
catering to their needs. Revenue is left on the table.
When these alignment issues exist at the top of the
funnel, the company is losing out on new customers,
and marketing is losing a chance to show their value as a
revenue generator. To shore up these holes and perfect
a lead management process that works for both teams,
it’s essential to build an all-in-one marketing and selling
tool that everyone can rely on. This is where marketing
automation and your CRM come in.
“Creating a lead-to-revenue model is an integrated sales
and marketing effort,” comments Tyler Lessard, CMO at
Vidyard. “You have to break down the barriers between
marketing and sales and start thinking about your revenue
engine as an integrated model, from lead generation to
lead scoring and all the way through the funnel.”
Build a sales and
marketing ecosystem.
two
Once sales and marketing leadership agree to tackle this
issue together, you’ll want to start building this integrated
revenue model by examining the technologies needed to
help align objectives across party lines. Your sales reps
are likely used to working primarily in a CRM, but imagine
a system that displays all of the relevant prospect and
campaign information needed by both teams, all in one
place. That’s exactly the kind of ecosystem you can create
by integrating a marketing automation system with your
CRM.
Think of it this way: if a CRM is primarily a sales tool,
marketing automation is its marketing counterpart.
Integrating the two systems allows you to sync
information bidirectionally, meaning that an update to a
record in your CRM will automatically be made in your
marketing automation system (and vice versa). This
keeps sales and marketing on the same page by giving
them valuable insight into prospect activities, increasing
the efficiency of the lead management process, and
smoothing out kinks in the sales funnel that might cause
leads to drop out of the sales process entirely.
6. 6 / Pardot
With marketing automation working in
tandem with your CRM, you’re creating a sales
and marketing tool capable of streamlining
troublesome sales and marketing tasks, such as:
• objectively qualifying leads so that only
high-quality leads get passed from
marketing to sales
• automating lead assignment so that leads
are always sent to sales at the right time
• tracking marketing and sales touchpoints
throughout the length of the sales cycle —
in real time
• improving the relevancy of sales and
marketing messages
• preventing non sales-ready leads from
slipping through the cracks
• gaining insight into campaign performance
to help prove marketing accountability
The chart on page 7 takes a closer look at how
marketing automation and your CRM can cover the
full spectrum of day-to-day sales and marketing
tasks.
7. 7 / Pardot
CRM
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
Business Goals
(What are you
trying to achieve
with each of
these tools?)
• Track sales opportunities as
they move through the pipeline
• Manage and track sales team
activity
• Better understand the pipeline
of prospective sales
• Forecast with accuracy
• Manage potential, new, and
existing customer relationships
• Manage and automate prospect
interactions
• Measure marketing ROI and
improve marketing accountability
• Improve lead generation and
report on campaign success
• Streamline campaign creation
• Automate communications and
marketing programs
• Better align marketing and sales
• Opportunity management
• Sales forecasting
• Account management
• Task creation
• Sales process reporting
• Email marketing
• Lead nurturing
• ROI and campaign reporting
• Scoring and grading
• Forms and landing pages
• Social posting
Primary
Features
Offered
8. You have to break
down the barriers between
marketing and sales and
start thinking about your
revenue engine as an
integrated model, from
lead generation to lead
scoring and all the way
through the funnel.
- Tyler Lessard, CMO at Vidyard
8 / Pardot
9. 9 / Pardot
Why Have a Single
Source of Truth?
The B2B sales cycle has changed. It’s no longer
a traditional funnel, but a complex process with
branching and overlapping paths that represent B2B
buyers’ tendencies to conduct their own research
to the point of purchase, and then constantly re-
evaluate those choices over time. Buyers are no
longer telling companies exactly what they need to
complete this research process, but they do expect
companies to anticipate their needs and have the
relevant, personalized content they’re looking for –
right when they need it.
This personalization falls on both marketing and
sales’ shoulders. Fortunately, using data collected
by a marketing automation tool, sales reps and
marketers have access to complete, 360-degree
profiles of each of their buyers, giving them the
exact information they need to personalize every
conversation. This data becomes the “single source
of truth” for companies, helping to create a single
sales, marketing, and engagement plan for the entire
lifecycle of the customer.
“It makes very little sense to spend time and energy
trying to orchestrate a bunch of different, independent
systems,” explains Billy Cripe, CMO at Field Nation.
“Synchronization is a productivity drain unless it’s done
behind the scenes.”
With the ability to provide so much added insight into
buyer activities and sales and marketing performance,
it’s no wonder that marketing automation and CRMs are
often penned as the “dynamic duo.”
The following pages detail some of the reasons why
a single source of truth is essential for both your
marketing and sales teams. Take a look to learn more
about the benefits of creating a powerful, multi-purpose
tool that’s capable of supporting both marketing and
sales initiatives.
three
10. Achieving Marketing Success
For the marketing team, the benefits of integrating
marketing automation with your CRM extend far
beyond easing tensions with sales. It also cuts down on
the tedium of manual lead qualification and assignment,
helps marketers track their ROI, and makes it easier to
target and segment marketing communications. Let’s
take a closer look at each of these.
Improving Lead Generation
Before we can get to lead qualification and assignment,
first things first: you need to generate leads. While sales
reps previously relied mostly on leads generated via
their own cold-calling methods, marketing automation
makes it possible for marketers to step in and take
some of the burden off of sales’ shoulders. With
automation, you can run sophisticated lead generation
campaigns, collect buyer information using forms and
landing pages, and automatically route this information
into your marketing automation and CRM tools so that
the most recent, actionable data is easily viewable for
both parties.
Automating Lead Qualification and Assignment
A common sore spot between marketing and sales
teams is poor lead quality. With no system in place to
score and grade leads, many marketers are left relying
Among B2B marketers, the
number one benefit of marketing
automation is generating more
and better leads.
-Pepper Global
on their gut when the time comes to pass a lead to
sales — or they pass over every lead that comes along.
This can lead to frustration on both sides, and often
ends with marketing-generated leads being dismissed
altogether.
However, with the data gathered via a marketing
automation system, marketers can automatically score
and grade leads so that only the most qualified get
passed to sales. Lead score measures interest in your
product or service, while lead grade reflects how well a
lead fits your ideal prospect profile. When leads reach a
qualification threshold that’s been agreed upon by both
the marketing and sales teams, they can be assigned
to sales reps automatically. This cuts down on manual
processes and ensures that lead assignment is fair,
efficient, and effective.
11. 11 / Pardot
Sending Targeted Messages
Modern B2B marketers recognize that buyers want
different, targeted content at each stage of their
research — but many have difficulty providing the
personalized content that their buyers demand at
scale. Marketing automation addresses this pain point
by collecting detailed, behavioral data about each
buyer. Having a complete view of your buyers’ activities
and interests gives marketers the ability to send
targeted messages and lead nurturing emails that are
personalized to buyer pain points or stage of the buying
cycle. Creating one-to-one email communications or
segmenting based on criteria like industry or product
interest adds a degree of relevancy to your emails,
helping to increase engagement levels with once-generic
marketing content. Dynamic content lets marketers scale
the process by allowing you to create a single template
that uses smart rules behind the scenes to plug in the
offers most relevant to each prospect segment.
68% of successful marketers cite
lead scoring based on content and
engagement as most responsible
for improving revenue contribution.
-The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups
Tying Revenue to Campaigns
Which sounds easier: reporting on campaigns when
the performance data is spread across multiple
tools, or reporting on campaigns when the data
has been aggregated in one system? The answer is
pretty obvious. With campaign and tracking metrics
constantly updating in your marketing automation
and CRM tools, reporting on campaign ROI is a much
more straightforward process.
Marketing automation’s closed-loop reporting
functionality gives marketers the ability to tie closed
deals back to the campaigns that created them,
making it possible to attribute revenue to campaigns,
track marketing spend, accurately measure ROI,
project revenue, and make data-driven marketing
decisions.
Boosting Sales Performance
A marketing automation tool opens up a world of
new data for marketers to explore, both demographic
and behavioral. But this data doesn’t only help
marketing — it’s also essential to sales success. Real-
time insights into prospect activities and sales funnel
trends supplement the data already available in your
CRM, ensuring that your sales team is always privy to
the most relevant and actionable information.
12. can stay up-to-date on their prospects’ activities and
interests, giving them the ability to “strike while the iron
is hot” instead of wasting time chasing down dead ends.
Nurturing Leads to Sales-Readiness
Recent research indicates that buyers are more than
two-thirds of the way through their research process
before they even reach out to sales. This growing
trend has brought lead nurturing to the forefront of
marketing and sales strategies because of its ability
to ensure that buyers are getting the information they
need, when they need it. Using lead nurturing, marketers
can automatically “drip” valuable content to leads
over time, nurturing them to a sales-ready state. These
sophisticated campaigns can adapt and branch based on
how a prospect interacts with your messages.
With nurturing running behind the scenes, sales reps
don’t have to waste time pursuing leads who aren’t yet
ready to buy, and marketers increase the value of their
database by engaging with these early-stage leads that
might have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
Personalized emails generate up to
6 times higher revenue per email.
-Experian Marketing Services
Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits that sales reps
will see when their CRM is working in tandem with a
marketing automation tool.
Tracking Prospect Behavior
Integrating marketing automation and your CRM gives
you the opportunity to go beyond basic demographic
information and delve into detailed behavioral tracking,
so that sales reps can view which pages their prospects
are visiting, what types of content they’re interested
in, and where their prospects are in the buying cycle.
Prospect tracking and analytics make it possible for sales
reps to see a log of all touchpoints with their prospects,
from files downloaded to email correspondences and
more. This prospect activity history provides unparalleled
insight into exactly what leads are interested in, allowing
your sales reps to tailor their phone calls and sales
pitches accordingly. It also helps sales pick up right
where marketing left off, creating a seamless journey for
your customer.
Utilizing Real-Time Activity Alerts
With marketing automation, your sales reps will receive
real-time alerts whenever a prospect takes a specific
action on your website, like visiting your pricing page
or downloading a white paper — or if they click on
a tracked link in an email. By having this detailed
information delivered in real time via email or CRM, sales
13. Lead nurturing also gives marketers and sales
reps the ability to automate communications
with prospects who are actively engaging in the
buying process — by making it appear as though
emails are personalized, one-to-one messages
from each sales rep. This increases the relevancy
of sales emails and reduces a lot of the heavy
lifting for sales reps when it comes to follow-ups.
Accessing Lead Information in One
Central Interface
With lead and prospect information available
in both your CRM and marketing automation
systems, your sales reps can see everything
they need to know without leaving their CRM.
This includes all data collected through your
marketing automation system, from social profile
information to the emails your prospects have
received, what they’ve been clicking on, what
they’ve signed up for on your website, and more.
Sales reps can use this information to tailor their
conversations to the needs of each individual
prospect.
If they find a lead isn’t ready to buy yet, they can
quickly “recycle” that prospect by adding them
to a marketing-approved nurturing track right
from the CRM.
14. Salesforce for B2B
Marketers: The
Complete Guide
Looking for more details on the marketing
automation features that matter to you?
Check out our Complete Guide for a full rundown
of Pardot features like lead nurturing, lead
qualification, and ROI reporting — and learn how
they’ll integrate with Salesforce CRM.
GET FREE E-BOOK
15. Creating One
Unstoppable Tool
So you’re sold on the benefits of building a single
marketing and sales ecosystem, but you’re not
quite sure where to start when it comes to adding
marketing automation. Let’s take a look at each stage
of integration — from preparation to implementation
and beyond — so that you can get a better idea of
what it takes to transform marketing automation and
your CRM into the dynamic duo.
Preparing to Integrate
When implementing a new technology, it’s important
to think about the new processes you’ll need to
create and the business goals you are trying to
achieve. Preparation is often broken into two stages:
defining your goals for implementation and mapping
out a plan of attack for the integration itself.
15 / Pardot
Triggered email messages average
70.5% higher open rates and 152%
higher click-through rates than
“business as usual” marketing messages.
-Epsilon Email Institute
Communicate with Your Sales Team
Integrating a marketing automation system with
your CRM is all about sales and marketing alignment,
so your sales team should have input from the very
start. Your sales reps may be very comfortable with
your CRM and may not see a need to introduce a new
system, so make sure they understand the benefits
of marketing automation and how it can help them
close deals faster. It often helps to pull a small group
of sales reps in during the implementation process,
thoroughly train them and allow them to see results,
then let that sales rep sell the rest of the team on
marketing automation.
Your reps are the ones who are on the front lines
when it comes to selling your product, so they should
have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t.
Hopefully you are already speaking with your sales
counterparts frequently.
four
16. Here are some questions you may want to use to
help establish realistic goals and processes after
implementation:
• What constitutes a qualified lead?
• How often would sales reps like to get alerts of
prospect activity? What would be their preferred
method of delivery?
• Dive deep into the current sales cycle and what
it takes to close a deal. Who are the different
stakeholders you are selling to, and what obstacles
do you encounter at each stage of the sales process?
How could lead nurturing supplement their processes
with targeted messaging?
• Which content and lead generation campaigns are
producing the most qualified leads today? Which
aren’t working?
• How will lead follow up be handled? When a lead is
assigned, will a task be created in the CRM?
Working through each of these questions will help ensure
that your processes run as smoothly as possible after
implementation.
Communicate with Your Vendor
Marketing automation vendors deal with implementations
on a daily basis, and should be able to help you decide the
best configuration to meet your needs. Talk to your vendor
about your goals for the integration. There are lots of
questions you can ask to determine which marketing
automation system is right for you, but here we’ll focus
on questions specifically about the CRM integration:
• What is the timeframe for integration?
• What am I responsible for during the integration?
What is the vendor and/or implementation
specialist responsible for?
• Which system will be the master (the CRM or
marketing automation platform)?
• How does de-duplication work?
• What fields and modules will be synced?
• What happens during the initial sync?
• How will it work after that? How often will it sync?
Will it be manual or automatic?
• Are there limits to record syncing and how much
will this cost me?
• What information will be available to me via my
CRM’s mobile app?
Understanding the answers to each of these questions
will give you a solid foundation as you move into the
implementation phase.
16 / Pardot
17. Implementation
When it’s time for implementation, your marketing
automation vendor or implementation specialist will
help guide you through the technical setup. This
process will vary depending on your vendor, but
normally doesn’t take too long. Before you know it,
you’ll be ready to start optimizing your new system.
Let’s move on to the fun part!
Post-Implementation
Once you’ve completed implementation, don’t wait
to start exploring the new features at your fingertips.
Training your sales team, optimizing your new
system, and evaluating your progress are all equally
important steps when it comes to ensuring that
you’re getting the greatest return on your marketing
investment.
Train Your Sales Team
In order for your marketing automation tool to reach
its full potential, it’s essential that your sales team
knows and understands the system’s capabilities
and how they will benefit from using it. Spend one
to two hours teaching your sales reps how to use
the system, and make sure they understand how
their processes might change moving forward (note:
you may need to revisit this step as you get more
comfortable with your new system).
Optimizing Your System
One of the most important steps after implementation
is to secure buy-in from sales (even if they’ve been
involved from the beginning), so you’ll need to be able
to demonstrate value right off the bat. Start by using
your marketing automation system to build simple lead
nurturing programs, qualify leads using the default
scoring and grading models, and automate the lead
assignment process. Once your sales team starts to see
the value in these capabilities, move on to a few of the
following:
• More advanced lead scoring
• Deeper segmentation
• More targeted drip programs
• More granular ROI reporting
Building a sales and marketing power-tool using
marketing automation and your CRM is all about finding
the processes that work best for you and your team, so
don’t be afraid to experiment until you start seeing results.
17 / Pardot
18. As you begin to explore the more
advanced capabilities of your system,
be sure to stay vigilant when it comes to
data quality. Take a look at the list below
for a few quick data cleanup tips that can
help you optimize the efficiency of your
system:
• Make sure forms adhere to best
practices
• Use import validation
• Implement internal data guidelines
• Use required fields and dropdowns
• Consider data cleanup tools. (For a
list of recommended tools, visit our
blog post on the topic).
Keep your data clean.
Once you’ve had your new system in place for a few
months, start using the reporting features in your marketing
automation system to see the impact on your ROI.
Lifecycle reports can give you a glimpse into the health of
your sales funnel, opportunities created, and the average
amount of time that prospects spend in each stage of the
buying cycle, helping you gauge the efficiency of your
marketing efforts while simultaneously pointing out areas
of improvement.
Evaluation
It’s important to seek out feedback from marketing, sales,
and management every three to six months to see how the
integration is being received. Consider placing marketing
and sales on a nurturing track to regularly poll them for
feedback, and be sure to revisit the following areas on a
regular basis:
• Has lead quality improved?
• What deals are closing and why?
• Which lead generation campaigns are performing
the best? Why?
• What content are prospects looking at? Are there
any gaps in content?
• How successful have the lead nurturing campaigns
been?
• What features/content/campaigns are being used?
Which are not being used? Why not?
18 / Pardot
19. 19 / Pardot
Soliciting feedback is one of the best ways to make
sure that you’re always getting the most out of your
system. The only way to consistently improve your
efforts is to constantly evaluate your past campaigns,
adjust based on results, and move forward with an
optimized strategy.
Conclusion
Businesses that have integrated a marketing
automation system with their existing CRM to
create one sales and marketing ecosystem have
seen proven results when it comes to ROI, sales
performance, marketing and sales alignment, and
more. That’s why it’s no surprise that the automation
industry is growing (and is predicted to grow even
more over the next few years).
In fact, according to Forrester Research, 58% of
top-performing companies (companies in which
marketing contributes more than half of the
sales pipeline) have already adopted marketing
automation. With this growth will come an even
greater investment in marketing automation and
CRM systems, helping your marketing and sales
teams close more deals, track their impact on
ROI, and adjust their strategies based on past
performance.
20. LEARN MORE
Your customers are smarter, more capable, and better-
informed than ever before. This new breed of consumer
demands a better breed of marketing, and the Pardot
platform has the capabilities to get you there.
Pardot is B2B
marketing automation
by Salesforce.
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