‘Data is the new oil’

Isabel Menasch (GGKM) on Marketing Automation Software as a tool for staying close to the customer – especially at a time when personal contact is limited.

Anyone who has ever bought online is familiar with the experience: vendors record buyers’ purchase history, analyze what they are interested in and tailor how they advertise their offerings accordingly. “We have been implementing Marketing Automation Software (MAS) for about a year with a view to appealing to customers and collecting data on their purchasing behavior,” project lead Isabel Menasch explains. “This is fairly new in our industry – and fits in perfectly with our corporate strategy’s digital cornerstone.” MAS is helping with propagating Customer Thought Leadership ideas digitally and entering into a dialogue with customers. At precisely the right time, as our customers are also searching increasingly for product information online.

Every interaction is recorded in MAS

This approach involves teamwork by various departments: Marketing, the relevant sales units from the SBUs and IGCs, IT and the Sales Performance Team (CRM), as well as colleagues in Data Protection. At the start of the year, target groups and regions are narrowed down using the SBUs’ focus areas. The marketing campaigns are aimed at greater awareness of hybrid propulsion, for example. “And the appropriate channels, such as LinkedIn, YouTube or Google Ads, are selected on that basis with a view to appealing to existing or potential customers. Webinars are also very popular just now owing to Covid-19.”

Marketing Automation Software is helping with propagating Customer Thought Leadership ideas digitally and entering into a dialogue with customers.

And this is where MAS comes in: every interaction – clicking on the LinkedIn ad or taking part in the webinar – is recorded on the European SAP server by the software and awarded a score. “Above a certain total score, it makes sense to contact someone, as it looks like there is considerable interest in the MAN ES product and solution portfolio,” says Menasch.

The person’s contact information is transferred to CRM and assigned to the responsible sales contact in the region, who then gets in touch in person. Menasch is in no doubt: “That makes MAS a perfect example of ‘data is the new oil’: the more customer data is available, the better we can target the use of that information and appeal to prospects.”