B2B marketing automation strategies refer to the use of technology and software to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks in the marketing process. This includes tasks such as lead nurturing, email campaigns, social media scheduling, and data analysis.

There are many great marketing automation tools available for B2B lead generation. The best tool for your business will depend on your specific needs, budget, and goals. The following are some of the more popular options:

• HubSpot - Offers a complete suite of inbound marketing tools, including CRM, email marketing, landing pages, forms, social media management, analytics, and more.
• Marketo - Provides advanced lead management features like scoring and nurturing as well as account-based marketing capabilities.
• Pardot - A Salesforce product that offers email campaigns and landing pages/forms creation tools with advanced reporting features.
• Eloqua - An Oracle product that provides robust database management capabilities with advanced targeting options using customer data insights.
• ActiveCampaign - Provides a range of email marketing automation tools, including behavior tracking, lead scoring and segmentation based on user activity.
• Infusionsoft by Keap - Provides a comprehensive suite of sales and marketing automation tools, including CRM, email campaigns, lead capture forms, and e-commerce integration.
• Mailchimp - Offers a range of email marketing automation features, including personalized emails based on user behavior and demographic data.

These tools allow businesses to automate repetitive tasks in their marketing process to improve efficiency, increase ROI and generate leads at scale.

There are several different types of marketing automation that businesses can use depending on their goals and objectives:

• Email Automation - Automating email campaigns based on triggers such as website visits or downloads.
• Lead Scoring - Assigning scores to leads based on their behavior or demographics so that sales teams can prioritize follow-up activities.
• Social Media Automation – Scheduling social media posts in advance to maintain a consistent presence across multiple channels.
• Campaign Management - Creating targeted campaigns across multiple channels (email/social/ads, etc.) using integrated software platforms like HubSpot or Marketo.
• Analytics & Reporting - Using software to track performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates (CR), and return on investment (ROI).

A persona is a fictional representation of an ideal customer based on real data about their behaviors and demographics gathered through research methods such as surveys or interviews.

In B2B marketing automation, personas help marketers understand their target audience better by creating detailed profiles of their ideal customers' key characteristics, such as job title/description/role within an organization/company size/industry vertical/age/gender/income level, etc.

By developing buyer personas, marketers can tailor their automated messaging more effectively, thereby attracting more qualified leads while improving conversion rates over time.