MarketingAutomation.net

On the Buzz Marketing for Technology blog, Paul Dunay discusses the four traditional “P’s of marketing” (product, price, placement and promotion) and how they stack up against what he deems the four “C’s of B2B marketing.” The four C’s proposed are:

• Content
• Connection
• Communication
• Conversion

These fit in much better with the longer, more complex sales cycle many B2B marketers face. Selling B2B products requires relationship building and continuous engagement between the buyer and the seller. While some of the traditional elements, such as pricing, do play a part in the decision making, I think everyone would agree that buying a high-priced business product or service is a different process than grabbing that pack of gum that’s on sale in the checkout lane.

Dunay mentions B2B marketing can be seen as a marathon, not a sprint. Well, I don’t know about you, but I think running a marathon is pretty exhausting work! Not to mention that many reps are working multiple deals at the same time, trying to find time to give enough attention to each prospect while still pursuing new opportunities.

Think of a marketing automation system as the water stations along that marathon run. True, nothing can replace hard work and personal engagement, but with a good nurturing program and automated email rules, you can take a break once and a while. Custom email messaging can be personalized from each sales rep and sent out at predefined times or triggered based on prospect activity. This allows you to continue to build that connection and keep the communication frequent while freeing up time to work on other tasks. With alerts in place, you can easily see when a prospect converts or becomes active again so that you can follow up with a personal call.

Boosting your traditional sales techniques with a little bit of behind-the-scenes help from marketing automation will ensure you’ll cross the finish line in record time.