Recently, David Baker of agency Razorfish, wrote an article on MediaPost called “The pace of marketing automation in 2010”.

Return Over Investment has forever been the driving force in B2B marketing, David writes. In recent years, it is increasingly so, I might add, since the adoption of Marketing ROI across businesses is increasingly becoming important.

However, David says that what he calls “more progressive digital channels and methods of reach” force us to not only measure ROI at the conversion stage but also at the lead quality stage. As a result, lead scoring has to be adapted to a more “complicated sales cycle and attribution”.

Secondly, David looks at that the combination of sales and marketing and the need and challenge of the integration between a sales agent and “the web experience”. People these days increasingly use online channels, look for information on the web, are multi-tasking and omni-channel and thus dispose of more information sources.
Managing and optimizing the funnel

At the same time, however, people also have better tools to cut through the noise and filter all the information in function of their needs and preferences. And the truth is that we don’t know what they look for and have limited insights in what information and sources they allow and when and how they want to interact with our businesses.

So it’s also by definition more challenging to manage the way in which we synchronize the data we obtain from the web experience and digital footprints of our customers, communication, support, sales interactions and so on. Or, as David puts it, to manage and optimize the funnel.

Since buyers increasingly control interaction, communication and information gathering, are more connected than ever and are also more demanding, businesses have to do more research, track better and find new and better ways to gather and combine metrics, data and the insights and information obtained by them.

It’s what David calls the challenge of “data quality”. As he writes: if you believe in the concept of lead recycling, then you will realize how important data quality is in taking an extended view and investment in managing leads longer, even if they aren't ranked high in your "ready to buy" scale.

A different way of looking at leads: influence

According to him the way we look at leads will thus change. From a focus on where people will people and how much they will or might buy to how much influence they have in the buying decision and what other people are involved in this decision.

Remember that in a connected world, people increasingly rely on their peers.

David wonders if one can accurately mine "intent to buy" through unstructured data sources?  How will LinkedIn and other B2B social networks influence lead scoring and value?  

And it’s not about reach but about the “real-time simulation of social networks to gauge influence and engagement”, he adds.
The buying journey has become more complex, more difficult to track but maybe most of all more social.

Before people decide to buy something they go through a whole process of information gathering, interacting, informing and so on.

Cross-channel is key

It has always been like that but today it’s even more so. I already often explained that this is one of the reasons why content has become so important in the whole B2B process.

But it’s not about content alone. Nor is it only about dialogue, participation and relationships.

From the lead perspective it’s also a matter of having the right tools, processes, people and data to adapt and optimize the lead management and sales cycle (or better, the buying cycle).

And that’s why a holistic and cross-channel approach of mining data, combining them and integrating online and offline customer experiences and analytics is so important.

Whether you succeed in doing this or not, however, is more than a question of tools, it’s a matter of strategy and people.
And of course of acting upon these changes by optimizing your marketing automation and lead management strategy in function of all these changes. But the right tools are a necessity.

The author is an interactive marketing consultant and experienced blogger. You can connect with him via Twitter or visit his blog.