The marketing landscape transforms as quickly as the technology that supports it. We have seen the evolution: from billboards, product-centered flyers, and then paid ads on social media, to more recent market-driven, insightful content marketing. Staying on top of your marketing game depends largely on how quickly you are willing to adapt to and embrace new technology.
Destination: Data
Data-driven marketing continues to storm through the industry. According to an Oracle survey, in 2022, with marketing budgets increasing compared to previous years, marketers are looking to invest in more — and better — technology. At the top of the shopping list is a Customer Data Platform (CDP), followed by 32% of marketers who want to implement a segmentation and targeting solution.
As much as traditional spray-and-pray strategies such as billboarding, sponsorships, and bus stop posters worked in their day, the natural course of marketing has brought us through Pay-per-click (PPC) and Social Media Marketing (SSM). The latter boasts precise metrics based on KPIs and, as is to be expected, has come about because of its weighty benefits.
The thing is, manual marketing is labor-intensive. A Casted report revealed that as much as 82% of a marketer’s working hours are focused on creating content. This leaves little time for the essential task of compiling customer data or segmenting audiences effectively, which could explain marketers’ keen interest in acquiring this type of SaaS (software as a service). When a marketing department concentrates its efforts on quality content production, it needs to automate data compilation and targeting to balance the time scale.
Data and Content Automation
With the advent of machine learning and AI, a wealth of opportunities have opened up for the marketer. Content automation, as a general concept, is a marketing method that reduces dependence on human intervention and instead, uses technology to significantly speed up marketing efforts. Nothing short of revolutionary when time is of the essence for marketing departments. Maximizing performance is a key challenge for 38% of marketers according to the Oracle survey, making content automation a valid inflection point for marketers willing to adapt to the times.
What Are The Benefits of Content Automation?
Scalability and a high ROI stand out as key benefits. Marketers understand the importance of proving ROI, which is why two-thirds of marketing departments in the present year are investing in technology that enables this proof. But content automation simply makes your life easier. This is not only on the marketing side of things but also for the B2B buyer, who experiences a seamless journey from initial brand awareness through to purchase. The advantages of content automation include:
- Traceable ROI
- Time efficiency - when a machine takes the place of a person, almost instant results are noted.
- Money saved - operational costs are reduced
- Money earned - because of the precision of such tools, marketing efforts are focused only where they obtain results
- Improved content - you know what works and what doesn’t because of the quantifiable metrics, meaning every batch of content you produce will be more effective than the last
- Professionalism - organized, contemporary, and effective, putting your brand’s best foot forward to potential buyers
- Improved customer journey - your customer is no longer overwhelmed with a barrage of irrelevant ads from B2B companies that don’t interest them, but rather they see and engage with the content that most interests them, inviting them into and down to the bottom of your marketing funnel
Market-focused Content
The beauty of content automation is that it takes the guesswork out of marketing. The last one of the above bullet points is the crux of content automation functionality. It turns the spotlight away from product-centered, spray-and-pray attempts to sell products, and puts it on the consumer. One of the tools that allow us to do this is Mindpath.
The mechanics of segmented brand positioning that Mindpath uses — often referred to as STP (segmenting, targeting, and positioning) - involves collecting and categorizing data from potential leads, based on who is visiting your Website. Then, It automatically identifies and shows them content according to what they are interested in. This can be as specific as targeting the CEO of a Company.
Mindpath
One such tool already on the market that enables effective STP is Mindpath. A custom-developed SaaS, Mindpath works — as the name suggests — by getting into the minds of B2B buyers and creating a content path that accompanies them through the sales funnel. When nine out of ten B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions, providing relevant, targeted content forms part of a winning strategy.
Mindpath identifies high-intent buyers and then targets decision-makers at those companies with valuable content automatically. This influences the right people at the right time, increasing the likelihood that your brand will be seen, heard, contemplated, and ultimately, sold. It appeals to all of the benefits of content automation — helping you trace ROI, saving time (as it is programmed just once), and then you can sit back and let the data roll in, and your customer doesn’t see your promotion as spam, because what they read is something that truly appeals to them.
The Verdict is In
Gone are the days of billboards and sponsoring local golf tournaments. Technology advances help us to adapt to change, a necessity in the 21st-century marketing world. What we are currently seeing is a clear trend toward content automation, with marketers citing it as their second most important investment for the year, after customer data profiling. This is only to be expected when it can prove ROI, save marketing departments precious time and money, and improve the customer experience.
Finding a tool that integrates the top two items on a marketer’s wishlist is closer than you think. In fact, just a click away. Mindpath serves to collect and categorize customer data, identify leads, and target them with personalized content that they actually want to read, meaning your product or service is the one piquing their interest, especially if your competitors are not yet ready to invest and adapt in revolutionary marketing tools.
The result? Business at scale.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help you automate your B2B Brand positioning in front of the right audiences, please contact us at info@mindpaths.co
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