Marketing Automation

Why it matters

• Lead nurturing: Moves prospects toward a buying decision without a person chasing each one.
• Productivity: Automates the repetitive send-and-follow-up work that otherwise consumes a marketing team.
• Measurable campaigns: Produces analytics on campaigns and engagement, so spend can be argued for with evidence.
• One view of the customer: Sales, marketing and service see the same interaction history.

The workflow

This sequence sits entirely inside the Contact to Lead stage, and ends the moment a qualified lead is handed to sales.

1. 01

   Lead capture

   Collect detail from landing pages, social channels and events, and store it against the CRM record.

2. 02

   Segmentation

   Classify leads by behaviour, demographics and engagement.

3. 03

   Campaign execution

   Run targeted campaigns against those segments through automated workflows.

4. 04

   Lead nurturing

   Deliver relevant content at the right point to move the lead along.

5. 05

   Evaluation and scoring

   Score leads on engagement and likelihood to convert, so follow-up is prioritised.

6. 06

   Handover to sales

   Pass qualified leads to the sales team inside the CRM for personal follow-up.

7. 07

   Analysis and reporting

   Measure campaign effectiveness and adjust.

Lead scoring is where marketing and sales either agree or quietly stop trusting each other. Define the scoring criteria jointly, and revisit them once real conversion data exists.

What you need in place

• CRM integration: The automation tool has to read and write the same customer data the CRM holds.
• Email and channel tools: Automated communication triggered by customer action rather than by calendar.
• Lead management: Capture, track and manage leads across their whole lifecycle.
• Segmentation: Build detailed segments from CRM data rather than from exported spreadsheets.
• Lead scoring: An agreed model for prioritising leads by engagement and fit.

Questions to ask vendors

Metrics and KPIs to track