In today’s digital age, people have the power to do research and educate themselves on the kind of products and services available and then make decisions. Earlier, the marketers had a great influence upon the buyers and as far as the buyers were concerned, they had no other choice but to take the marketers’ word for it.

1. Identify Prospect Intent with Marketing Automation Software
In today’s digital age, people have the power to do research and educate themselves on the kind of products and
services available and then make decisions. Earlier, the marketers had a great influence upon the buyers and as far
as the buyers were concerned, they had no other choice but to take the marketers’ word for it. However, with the
advent of the Internet and its paraphernalia, the baton of power is now with the buyers and the marketers have no
choice but to listen to them.
Today the B2B marketing world is so competitive that to gain competitive advantage the marketers not only have
to target prospects and customers with the right messages at the right time but also identify and qualify sales
opportunities by measuring the online behavior of the prospects and customers. In such a scenario, having a good
marketing automation platform can help make things easier.
Wikipedia defines marketing automation as “software platforms designed for marketing departments and
organizations to automate repetitive tasks. Marketing departments, consultants and part-time marketing
employees benefit by specifying criteria and outcomes for tasks and processes which are then interpreted, stored
and executed by software, which increases efficiency and reduces human error.” In short, marketing automation
helps in moving leads from the top of the marketing funnel to the bottom of it by converting them into sales ready
leads. Here is a look at the features of best of the breed marketing automation software.
Campaign Execution - Uses wide range of built-in tools to create, manage and track campaign elements (emails,
landing pages, workflow, social media, etc.)
Campaign Triggers - Uses sophisticated campaign triggers (based on intelligence) from website interactions, social
media activities, forms-fills, etc. to enhance lead nurturing.
Social Media Intelligence - Tracks and correlates disparate prospect interactions with social media, websites,
emails, etc to get deeper insights into prospects.
Campaign Intelligence - Converts anonymous website visits into sales opportunities by correlating all related
online activities.
Actionable Intelligence – Gets complete lead data, from company details to decision maker’s contact data.
Besides, the company level intelligence and buying intent (derived from browsing behavior) makes it easy for the
marketers to act upon their leads.
Seamless integration - Easily integrates with the sales CRM system, ensuring a smooth transition of leads from
marketing to sales.
Thus, a best of the breed marketing automation platform is a perfect partner for the marketers as it delivers an
unprecedented level of intelligence about prospect intent and his/her purchasing tendencies.
Read more on - Lead Generation, Lead Management