5 Tactical Ways to Strengthen Sales with Marketing Automation

This article is sponsored by emfluence.

Marketing automation isn’t just about deploying technology; it's about ensuring that strategy and execution are in sync across various roles within a company. The chief marketing officer (CMO) sets the overarching vision, marketing directors develop strategic plans, and marketing managers handle the daily tasks. Each role participates in turning ideas into actions that deliver real results.

In a recent MSDW podcast, emfluence president and CEO David Cacioppo discussed how various roles, from the CMO to marketing directors and individual contributors, collaborate to implement key marketing automation tactics that enhance customer engagement, build brand identity, and drive business growth.

Lead management and scoring

Effective lead management is essential for guiding potential customers through their buying journeys. However, one of the biggest challenges marketing teams face is managing and prioritizing leads effectively, according to Cacioppo. That’s where lead scoring comes into play.

For B2B companies, sales teams rely on CRM data to identify promising leads. Lead scoring models take into account user behavior, such as clicking on an email link, visiting a pricing page, or filling out a demo request form.

“So someone visiting a pricing page on our website is a buying signal,” he said. “Someone visiting to get a demo page is also a buying signal for us.”

By giving higher scores to these actions, sales teams can focus on the most important follow-ups and increase their chances of making sales.

However, lead management isn’t just about activity — it’s also about whether a company is a good client fit. Firmographic data, such as company size and industry, can help determine whether a lead is likely to convert into a long-term customer, Cacioppo explained.

Marketing managers play a critical role in handling this process under the direction of marketing directors. By using lead scoring models, companies can figure out which leads need attention right away.

Sync sales and marketing data for personalized campaigns

Effective marketing automation requires efficient collaboration between sales and marketing teams. By integrating CRM and marketing automation tools, marketers can create personalized campaigns based on sales priorities, customer behaviors and interests, and broader customer journey mapping, Cacioppo said. 

Cacioppo highlighted the importance of personalizing messages. "Email is a fantastic medium — it's a great way to communicate [at scale],” he said. “Emailing the same message to everybody is meh, it's okay. You really need personalization.”   

Cacioppo explained that marketing teams can use sales data to personalize messages, ensuring they’re sent from the appropriate salesperson and tracked back to the CRM. He noted that while gathering data isn’t very difficult, using it effectively in campaigns is crucial for success.

He also underscored the importance of sales and marketing alignment, particularly regarding communication with prospects. “What you don't want to do is deploy a bunch of stuff and have your sales team be oblivious,” he said. 

Nurturing stalled or lost deals

Not every lead is ready to buy immediately. Some go dormant, others lose interest, and some simply need more time. Cacioppo noted that it’s important to identify and understand the reasons behind lack of engagement.

Marketing automation helps revive stalled or lost deals by analyzing a drop in engagement and identifying the least engaged contacts or leads so marketers can develop targeted nurturing campaigns. Cacioppo added that marketing automation also enables businesses to adjust their approach based on evidence. If emails don’t work, companies can try other methods, such as direct mail, phone calls, or display ads. 

Marketing automation also ensures follow-ups happen automatically, pausing and restarting communication at the right times so no lead is overlooked.

Automated customer onboarding and retention

Cacioppo noted that businesses can use automation to improve customer onboarding and retention. In the case of onboarding, he highlighted how CRM data can trigger crucial actions.

“When an opportunity closes as won—especially if it’s the first time you’re doing business with someone—there’s an onboarding process that needs to happen,” Cacioppo said. Marketing managers can use automation to send welcome messages, training materials, or shipping updates. Automation ensures these messages are sent at the right time without manual effort.

And retention is just as critical, according to Cacioppo. Businesses can use CRM data to send proactive renewal reminders and customer satisfaction surveys.

“One of the activities that I feel gets left on the table far too often is a simple customer satisfaction survey,” Cacioppo said. He suggested sending an automated survey 60 to 90 days after onboarding to gather feedback, understand what’s working, and identify areas for improvement. 

“If you’re afraid to ask, you have a problem,” he added. “But if you don’t ask, you don’t know.”

By leveraging automation, businesses can create a smoother onboarding process, maintain engagement, and build long-term relationships with their customers, according to Cacioppo.

Tracking and measuring marketing ROI

A successful investment in marketing automation technology requires a clear understanding of ROI. According to Cacioppo, tracking campaign performance helps businesses determine which strategies are working and which need improvement.

While ROI is easier to track in e-commerce, it’s more challenging in B2B marketing where sales cycles are longer. To address this, Cacioppo said that companies should integrate CRM and marketing automation platforms to connect various marketing touchpoints, such as emails, ad clicks, website visits, and sales interactions.

By using CRM and marketing automation tools together, teams can track performance and compare different campaigns by adding email and engagement data into the campaigns entity within their CRM systems. 

“Then you start to measure campaign versus campaign for performance and really get a sense for which dollars are working the hardest for you,” he said.