“There will always, one can assume, be the need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.” So wrote preeminent business management consultant and author, the late Peter F. Drucker.

With our access to big data, marketing automation tools, a plethora of smart software, and ever-stronger integration across these tools it’s easy to believe that Drucker was prescient.

For evidence, look no further than the omnipresence of online shopping behemoth Amazon and the multi-billion-dollar success of Cyber Monday sales. Even the big box, office-supply retailer Staples is putting more emphasis on marketing through e-commerce and shrinking its physical retail footprint.

And growth is not limited to the business-to-consumer (B2C) market. The Hangzhou-based international business-to-business (B2B) online giant Alibaba Group is connecting Chinese manufacturers with wholesale buyers around the world.

In every case, we can buy with little more effort than clicking on a marketing message (an ad or email), navigating a website, loading the items we want into our digital shopping cart, and entering our PayPal or credit card information. Can it be, then, that just as machines have brought obsolescence to scores of human workers in other industries, so too marketing automation is the handwriting on the wall that spells the demise of the traditional sales force?

Make no mistake, businesses are turning to software and placing ever-greater confidence in the power of marketing automation. In February of 2013, marketing industry analyst Raab Associates reported that B2B marketing automation vendors would see sales grow 50% during 2013 to revenues of $750 million.

But while marketing automation can take over many tedious and mundane chores and while customers are ever-more willing to buy direct and without the aid of a salesperson, the human touch is still critical. Consider your own frustration when you have a question or problem and can’t get through to a person. Look at the number of websites adding chat tools to facilitate communication. Even Amazon has created a Mayday button that connects Kindle customers with live technical support in as little as 9 seconds.

marketing automationThe bottom line is this: Customers--even big business customers--still are people, and people like to deal with other people. This is especially true in B2B sales where products and services can be expensive and complex. Decision makers need answers to their questions--answers not always anticipated in brochures, videos and FAQ pages--with a degree of specificity only a one-on-one conversation can provide.

Marketing automation, with its capacity to bring greater control, management, and analytical insight, may be a godsend to businesses with a chaotic marketing and sales process. But it is only one variable in the equation for successful selling.

Free your marketing team to focus on strategy and creative content

Before you can have sales, business decision makers need to know about you and your products and services. And typically, they need to hear, see or watch your message several times before they can even be counted a prospect.

A single post, a sporadic tweet or status refresh, an annual website update, a revised brochure, and an occasional email just won’t cut it. In the 21st century, marketing and sales efforts must be concerted, coordinated, coherent campaigns. They need to present the best single message you have to offer, support your unique selling proposition and be seen across the sites your prospective customers frequent.

This is a tall order that requires the full attention of your marketing team. They need to be totally engaged in strategic planning and message development. And they need to be repurposing that message for blogs, emails, brochures, webinars, podcasts, social media and videos. They shouldn’t be frittering away their time with mechanical tasks such as tweeting, posting to social sites, and sending emails.

It’s time to automate the mechanical components of market outreach. As Marketo explains on their website. it “lets marketers focus on the strategic and creative elements that improve marketing return on investment.”

Marketing automation software can:

• Distribute your message across multiple social sites
• Send out requested marketing materials
• Provide search engine optimization
• Format sales and landing pages
• Manage leads and schedule follow ups that help nurture budding relationships
• Schedule and send follow-up emails
• Track the results from marketing campaigns--providing insight into what’s working and what’s not
• Assist the people responsible for closing sales by enabling them to track and manage data on qualified leads as they work their way through the sales process
• Provide sales reps with easy access to marketing materials

Stay tuned to discover where inside and field B2B sales reps fit into the new marketing equation. And to learn more, read our free white paper, Human Touch in a Digital World. 

About the Author

Jeff Kalter is CEO of 3D2B, a global business-to-business telemarketing company that bridges the divide between marketing and sales. He leads customer acquisition programs for Fortune 500 companies, and is passionate about building strong business relationships through professional phone conversations.

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