Marketing automation in B2B enables marketing processes to be managed automatically across multiple channels. With marketing automation, companies can target their visitors with automated messages via email, the web, social networks and SMS.

Marketing automation in B2B

Above is a diagram explaining how the scenarios work in marketing automation, based on behavioural scoring and profiles. Messages are sent automatically, according to sets of instructions called workflows.

The limits of B2B marketing automation

Some companies install marketing automation mechanisms while their maturity on the subject is “under construction”. They deploy technology for technology’s sake which leads them to use tools that are either oversized or unsuited to their needs.

Another pitfall to avoid with marketing automation tools is that they give marketers the ability to create multiple scenarios. One of the dangers is to multiply the different types of scenarios to a point of unmanageable complexity, which no longer makes any logical sense.

Another common shortcoming of companies is that they spend as much of their budget as possible on the technology part. When it comes to creating content, they do not have the resources. This is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done. The ideal way is to start by creating your own content and then use marketing automation technologies with the right scripts, depending on your needs.

Finally, it is important to be aware that the number of marketing automation solutions is following an almost exponential curve, as is the number of solutions belonging to the “martech” category. Just look at Scott Brinker’s infographic on the martech landscape, it is an excellent barometer of the exponential growth of marketing technologies. A true Moore’s law: 150 solutions in 2011, 1,000 in 2014 and almost 7,000 in 2018!

The incredible complexity of the martech landscape is a real challenge for today’s marketers. To decode technology, marketers need to develop a meta-expertise and a decoding capacity. This is what will enable them to avoid doing technology for technology’s sake.