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( votes)Marketing automation is using software to streamline and simplify your marketing strategy. You can implement it on channels such as email, social media, websites, and ad campaigns.
By automating repetitive tasks like posting on social media or sending promotional emails through preset instructions (workflows), you can reduce the time spent on marketing, while having the same results.
Users feed the tasks and processes to the automated software, which then does the interpretation and execution.
Marketing automation is available as a hosted solution or web-based that does not require you
to install it on your server.
Benefits of marketing automation are:
- increased efficiency
- reduction of human errors
- automation and simplification of communication with customers
- it helps in lead generation
- better user segmentation and retention
- operating without the human element
- increased conversion and revenue
Businesses such as PaperStyle, an invite and stationery experts, realized a 244% increase in open email rate after automating their email marketing campaign targeting customers who were planning a wedding. Their revenue increased to 330% per mailing.
Opsview, a software company, implemented marketing automation software that categorized customers who wanted the enterprise product versus those who wanted the free version. They were able to achieve a 178% increase in revenue from the campaign.
However, your marketing automation may not be performing as projected due to some mistakes that you might be making. Therefore, here are mistakes to avoid if you want to excel in marketing automation.
#1 Lack of Appealing Content
The content you create for your marketing automation should be complete and appealing.
Boring content will make your subscribers ignore the critical marketing information that you want to pass.
Therefore, focus on the content and also use the specific data you collect to personalize the feedback to the customers.
Furthermore, your content should also support reading on different devices. Currently, people are accessing the internet using computers, tablets, and mobile devices, so make sure that the content you have will load correctly and be accessible in all devices.
You should segment the customers and send emails that are relevant to each group. Someone who purchased your service or product before and a new subscriber shouldn’t get the same newsletter.
Likewise, your blog should cover various topics and cater to users in all buying stages. For example – if you are selling a CRM software subscription, like Nimble, your blog can cover topics for the top of the funnel, such as marketing, operations management, productivity, and others.
For those at the bottom of your sales funnel, create a product guide with all the features. Or, write an article about the benefits of a CRM where you will offer a free trial as a call to action.
Create a strategic content calendar to cover all stages of a buyer’s journey with quality, relevant content to keep them interested in the next phase.
#2 Lack of Planning
Tools are here to replace manual operations. If there’s no organized work, the best software will not do the trick. If you implement an automation software without long-term objectives and a clear vision of the platform’s purpose, you’ll encounter setbacks.
For example, you may start using software without having strong content that will help in generating leads.
Automation increases speed and automates tasks that you program the system to do. Lack of planning can result in a high-speed automated mistake.
Therefore, you should plan on how to use a marketing automation platform to improve customer service. You must have clear goals to achieve with the platform.
A good plan will help you in setting up strategies to meet each specific goal. You can use re-engagement emails or send short messages directly to the client’s phone upon successful purchase and payment.
#3 Lack of Full Utilization of the Features Available
Marketing automation platforms often have several features and are a significant investment in your business. You should take the time to learn all the elements to utilize the platform to its full capacity.
Leverage the marketing automation platform to send internal notifications, schedule tasks, and reminders, create an address list for use by your sales team in the campaign, or when you want to retarget existing customers.
These components will help you to increase the efficiency of the platform.
#4 Becoming Too Aggressive In Your Campaign
You can become too aggressive with automation, which would scare potential customers instead of nurturing them.
Therefore, you should take care of the volume and frequency of the content that you deliver to the users.
Marketing automation is for generating leads and not scaring them off.
When you are using email, avoid spamming the contacts on the address list as it increases the chances of them unsubscribing, which may also lead to suspension of the account by the email service providers.
#5 Failing To Integrate With Other Technology in the Organization
You should ensure that the platform you are using integrates with the other company tools and databases smoothly.
Integration helps in communication with other systems that you are using in your business.
You should link the marketing automation platform with your database to create a personal experience for the customers.
Research by ResearchCorp shows that 89% of organizations using a marketing automation platform successfully have integrated it with an existing CRM system they use. The integration brings unity in the approach of data management and enhances interaction with your customers.
Most marketing automation platforms connect with other tools and systems.
Email scheduling software, for instance, can help you to manage email campaigns, and it also has excellent integration features for your sales team. Customer Relationship Management systems such as Nimble can help you in managing client interactions for current and future customers.
Additionally, if you are deploying marketing automation software across your company, make sure all your workstations support such advanced tools.
Having optimal operating systems will ensure maximum productivity for those using the marketing automation platform.
A slow machine will reduce the loading time of marketing automation software you use; it will result in glitches and errors, which will also demotivate your employees.
Therefore, you should set up firm foundations for your marketing automation. You can boost the operating speed of your computer with local disk cleanup, defrag, or similar methods, and protect your data with antivirus software.
Reap the Benefits of Marketing Automation by Avoiding Mistakes
To reap the benefits of marketing automation, you need to come up with a good plan before implementing the strategy.
Think about the processes that take away a lot of your time, but can be easily automated.
Ensure that the machine hosting the marketing automation system has regular maintenance, and protective measures are in place to protect data.
Finally, you must observe client data privacy as per the law requirements.
