Love at first byte: 7 reasons B2B Marketing needs AI

THE ENEMY IS AT THE GATE.

iOS, rising digital costs, cookieless world.

Quick, get last year’s sales to segment, find a few keywords, hire more phone callers, buy a pile of reputable leads.

Maybe even try talking dogs or shotgun ads.

Your sharp and eager sales staff should then get at least three quality leads out of 100.

That’s a tough way to make friends. On the phone, even the rock stars can come off hyper or robotic to a jaded public.

Working the shows gives you a one-on-one, but still the public plod down the rows, wary of the next sales attack.

Time to bring in Artificial Intelligence. Here are 7 ways it can reduce your marketing stress:

1.????More data. Used to be, to develop a business bond, you had to go where business owners go—networking, golf course (and lose), the Community Chest in five different cities.

But with recent advancements in AI technology, you can get all that data your office. And it’s a lot more than just demographics. There’s behavioral data--what websites they visited and when, where they engaged, what they bought (do they prefer blue widgets over green ones?)

And…You can get the same information on their employees. Their Linked In pages, what social media they frequent, hobbies. Can you say “account-based marketing”?

So, you can still join the Rotary or lose at golf, but now you’ll do it for the right reasons.

2.????Hit your hottest first. You can use AI to assign each prospect with a Lead Score. Then you just contact the highest first and work your way down. Below a certain score, you put them into a Nurture Campaign.

3.????Fresh data. Buyers Journeys are very fluid. AI can constantly update info by comparing existing data to new data in a closed loop. Then it updates it all so your data is up-to-the-minute, while your competition is running on last year’s data. That’s an edge on the market.

4.????More efficient. Much less likely you’ll spend your time (and money) on tire-kickers or someone who isn’t really qualified. You target your ad spend to those who have proven interest and sales. ?

5.????Market at scale. Once you have all the details on which businesses want what you offer, you can 3X your ad spend without flinching. Your sales forecast is much easier to obtain. ?

6.????Increase your Lifetime Customer Value. Analyzing your data, AI tells you who’s likely to be loyal. And since you’ll consistently give them promo that resonates, they will more likely stick around.

How does all this work out? Well, AI takes your previous year’s sales and finds the similarities—and the differences. Even if you do that already, you might be surprised at the granular level of buyer behavior that arise. It can all be segmented as you start to see your best Ideal Customer Profiles.

Then AI pulls in behavioral data from several sources and gives you, say, 100 bits of data on a prospect. Yes, 100. Wouldn't that allow you to craft some personal promo? And get a more precise ICP?

Once you know that they prefer blue widgets in the Springtime, you run a campaign in April on the benefits of blue widgets.?

Rinse and repeat.

Successful marketing impinges with the target audience. They feel like they’ve been heard.

The more information you have on that group, the more precise your communication can be. The more real you and your business become.

Had enough talking dogs and shotgun ads?

I’m here to listen.?