Customer data is critical to effective content marketing. However, only 45 percent of brands collect and consolidate information within a single, integrated database, according to a study commissioned by Forrester on behalf of Silverpop. The May 2013 research surveyed U.S.-based brands on their use of behavioral marketing automation to advance communication strategies and strengthen campaigns. Overall, marketers who adopt behavioral marketing practices increase return on marketing investment (ROMI), add contributions to sales pipelines and grow revenue streams.
Marketing automation is extremely important in the content space, as the practice tells brands where customers discover web content and what they do next. This insight inspires smarter campaigns that target prospects in ways that push them further toward opt-in actions and conversions. In addition to increasing engagement, behavior marketing also leads to loyalty upticks. Forty-two percent of marketers said customer satisfaction and loyalty increased due to taking actions with prospects based on their behaviors across media channels.
Most business owners care about growing profit margins, and the Forrester study shows that this objective can be achieved through content analytics and other automation software. Thirty-four percent of B2Bs attribute behavioral marketing to their total sales pipeline, and 26 percent of B2Cs say the same thing about their sales funnels.
Brafton recently reported on Knotice research that suggested traditional analytics practices like A/B testing and step-by-step progressions are no longer accurate. These tactics likely worked best for single-channel campaigns, but don’t have the depth to evaluate promotional efforts across the web. Gaining a better understanding of leads’ online behaviors helps tailor marketing content to the right demands, focusing on pain points not readily resolved elsewhere online.
