Discover how leveraging marketing and sales automation and AI can help overcome challenges while expanding into new markets.

Introduction

This article delves into the strategic use of marketing and sales automation, combined with artificial intelligence, to not only navigate but also thrive in these competitive environments. Focusing on a company that specializes in cloud-based customer engagement and virtual telecom solutions, we will explore the practical applications of these technologies in overcoming obstacles such as inefficient digital channels, high operational costs, and the critical need for generating quality leads. Side Kick is a sales automation and marketing automation tool, helping teams automate to scale.

About the Company

This company specializes in cloud-based customer engagement platforms and virtual telecom solutions designed to manage multi-channel customer interactions efficiently. Its product suite includes an omnichannel contact center, communication APIs, and a conversational AI platform. The services cater primarily to businesses looking to integrate advanced communication capabilities into their existing systems, enhancing both customer service and internal workflow efficiencies across diverse emerging markets.

Addressable Market, ICP, and Buying Personas

Addressable Market

The company targets the customer engagement and virtual telecom sector, focusing on emerging markets in India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The market includes businesses needing cloud-based solutions for multi-channel customer interactions and virtual telecom services, as well as companies seeking communication APIs for enhancing their software systems.

Ideal Customer Profiles

The company’s ideal customers are large enterprises and fast-growing startups that require scalable and robust solutions for high-volume customer interactions. These businesses are tech-forward and seek efficient integration with existing systems to enhance customer communication across various channels.

Buyer Personas

• CTO/CIO: Prioritizes technology integration and system robustness.

• Customer Service Director/Manager: Focuses on improving customer satisfaction and managing interactions across multiple channels.

• CMO: Seeks effective communication integration into marketing campaigns and values engagement analytics.

• CEO/Founder of High-Growth Startups: Needs scalable platforms that support rapid growth and fluctuating interaction volumes.

  
  

Sales and Marketing Challenges Faced

The company started looking for sales automation softwares, marketing automation softwares, B2B marketing agencies, B2B sales agencies, and more to solve the following challenges:

Expansion Challenges: They’re finding it difficult to expand/scale internationally, particularly in APAC countries. They’re restricted by language barriers and the limitations of a small SDR team, which is already responsible for covering multiple other regions.

Dependence on Junior Sales Staff: The company relies primarily on junior sales reps for outbound sales, which proved unpredictable and hard to manage due to difficulties in hiring, managing, and training.

Ineffectiveness of Digital Channels: Their digital channels (including email, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn campaigns) and events are not scalable or effective enough, specifically in generating sales qualified leads in the APAC region.

High Cost of Targeted Advertising: The targeted advertising strategies they’ve been trying expensive without satisfactory ROI, pushing the team to look for more cost-effective and efficient solutions.

Need for Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs): The company specifically needed assistance in generating BANT-qualified SQLs rather than just marketing qualified leads, to enhance productivity and focus of their SDRs, reduce sales cycles, close deals faster.

Side Kick’s Solution: Automated Outbound Plays and Custom Workflows

Side Kick pitches marketing and sales automation solutions to streamline their successful outbound strategies, liberate the team from routine tasks, and amplify ABM campaigns.

1. Automated ABM Campaigns: Side Kick proposed an end-to-end ABM (Account-Based Marketing) strategy using automated tools to simplify internal sales and marketing processes like identifying key stakeholders, automating email sequences, and executing LinkedIn campaigns.

2. Enhanced Lead Generation and Management: Side Kick suggested automating the enrichment and management of leads, so SDRs could focus solely on engaging with potential clients rather than manual, repetitive data entry or lead generation tasks.

3. Personalization at Scale: By leveraging AI and automation, Side Kick aimed to personalize outreach efforts extensively, from emails to LinkedIn ads, enhancing the likelihood of engaging in meaningful conversations with potential clients effectively. Email marketing automation and digital marketing automations can help them build relationships at scale.

4. Intent Tracking and Engagement Notifications: Side Kick suggested using AI to track news articles, job postings, and other relevant data to provide timely notifications to the team’s sales team, helping them step in and make connections with leads and accounts more strategically.

5. Integration with Existing Tools: The sales automation and marketing automation solutions would be integrated with the company’s existing CRM and digital marketing tools, ensuring seamless workflows and data consistency.

6. Cost-Effective Solutions: Side Kick addressed the concern about high operational costs by suggesting solutions that would fit within the company’s budget constraints, focusing on delivering maximum ROI with minimal budget increases.

   
   

About Side Kick

Side Kick is a marketing automation and sales automation platform that blends data extraction, intent data, and AI to automate and elevate outbound growth strategies.

Key Outcomes with Side Kick

• Reduce Sales Cycles: By extracting intent from every imaginable public and private data source, Side Kick narrows the focus to the most promising leads and opportunities.

• Increase Pipeline Velocity: Automation frees sales personnel from manual, repetitive tasks, allowing them to dedicate more attention to nurturing and converting each sales opportunity.

• Enhance ABM Engagement: Real-time identification of key events across all account based marketing accounts ensures that the sales team can take immediate, informed actions so they can build meaningful and lucrative relationships.

• Reduce SDR Dependency: Emulating what IKEA does for home building, Side Kick does for your growth strategies. The platform enables you to build your own SDR army with minimal need to hire, train, manage, or retain a large workforce.

Customizable Workflows Over 200 Ways

Side Kick offers over 200 customizable workflows to support any conceivable outbound goal, enhancing the capabilities of your sales team to:

• Target: Identify ICP matching accounts and leads with advanced data extraction and intent analysis.

• Enrich: Enhance the depth of information on accounts and leads using any public and private data source.

• Engage: Use AI to track key events and personalize outbound engagement effectively.

Scalability across Business Stages

Whether you're a startup looking to accelerate discovery, a scale-up streamlining successful strategies, or an enterprise expanding market reach, Side Kick tailors its offerings to suit your business’s specific stage and needs:

• Start-up: Accelerate discovery with controlled experiments to pinpoint and replicate successful outbound strategies for steady lead generation.

• Scale-up: Streamline your successful strategies, liberate your team from routine tasks, and amplify your ABM campaigns to unprecedented levels.

• Enterprise: Expand your market reach with advanced intent detection and streamline sales processes with direct integration into Slack/Teams, enhanced by dynamic ABM and event-driven insights.

  
  

If you're seeking scalable outbound plays for predictable growth, Side Kick is the marketing automation and sales automation platform that offers the tools and insights necessary to refine your strategy. By leveraging intent, automating manual tasks, and employing AI creatively, your team can focus on what truly matters—building relationships and closing deals.