All About Marketing Automation and How It May Help Grow Your Business

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    According to a recent study involving marketing, 75% of marketers admitted to depending on at least one automation tool. This means that three out of four companies are already using marketing automation to grow their businesses.

    If you're not already using marketing automation, now is the time. If you wait any longer, your competitors are going to leave you behind.

    Marketing automation is the future of customer interaction. In many ways, strategies associated with automation in marketing make business more personable. Plus, they make it easier for your business to do more in less time.

    To learn more about marketing automation, keep reading.

    What Is Marketing Automation?

    Marketing automation is very simple. It is what it sounds like: the automation of the marketing process. This means that marketers are using software to help simplify tasks that they need to accomplish throughout the day.

    Marketing automation came about because of the increase in repetitive tasks in marketing. Employees started noticing that they were doing the same tasks over and over.

    And, as the business grows, they're performing the same tasks even more often so that they can reach a wider audience.

    For example, let's think about emails. Marketers send emails like crazy, and it was a hassle before automation.

    Now, your employees can set up different kinds of emails that can automatically send whenever some kind of trigger promotes them. The most common example is welcome emails. When a customer signs up to a mailing list, an automated emailing system can automatically send a welcome email.

    The marketer doesn't have to do anything.

    Marketing automation saves time, energy, money, and sanity. It's a win-win for everyone, too.

    Marketers get to focus on less repetitive tasks, and customers get quicker responses when they need them.

    What Is Marketing Automation Software?

    Marketing automation software is the software that allows marketers to do the things that they want to do. It works in the background to make sure that all of the commands and procedures are working as they should.

    That email marketing system that we used as an example would be a kind of marketing automation software.

    There are plenty of kinds of automation software for marketers to use. However, your team should be careful not to involve themselves in too many kinds of marketing software. Too much technology can become overwhelming and costly.

    So, as you're choosing your marketing automation software, you should focus on what you need. Then, find technology that your team could use to solve its problems.

    If you're having trouble choosing the right software for your company, call us. We can help you create the best automation strategy.

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    How Does Marketing Automation Work?

    Earlier, we mentioned triggers. Triggers are the actions that set off an automation cascade.

    In other words, triggers are the things that cause your automated task to start.

    You can set triggers in your marketing automation system, and they can be whatever you want them to be. It could be a comment on a social media platform or a visit to your website. The customer could have left something in their cart.

    You get to decide. After that, you can choose what you want the trigger to do.

    For example, you may want to send an email to someone that left something in their cart. This email may tell the person what the item is and why they should go ahead and buy it now rather than waiting.

    Another common example is the birthday email. You are probably familiar with the mass of emails that you get on your birthday. All of them come from companies who are offering discounts just to wish you a happy birthday.

    These kinds of emails encourage you to buy from the company and make you feel good about yourself. It's beneficial to both parties.

    So, in sum, marketing automation is like a row of dominos. You can choose how many dominos there are and when you set them off.

    How Can Marketing Automation Grow My Business?

    Marketing automation takes a lot off of your teams plate. All of those mundane, repetitive tasks can become optimised quickly and easily.

    This leaves your team of employees with more exciting tasks that may change from day to day. With that, there are a few benefits to switching to marketing automation:

    1. You save time
    2. Your team becomes more efficient
    3. You can integrate multiple platforms
    4. You can collect data easily

    The first one is time, and this is a major one. Remember, marketing automation can take over any and all tasks that your employees have to repetitively do. So, if your team has to do a task more than once, they can give that task to the marketing software.

    Over time, your team will input more and more tasks. Then, they'll be left with variable tasks like social media management, current company projects, or something else.

    They don't even have to work on something related to marketing if their help is needed elsewhere.

    With this shift, your team will become more efficient. Your company will be able to send emails while your team is having a meeting about something completely different.

    And, don't mistake this for lacklustre customer service because your team can still focus on the customers while they let the automation system take over the harder tasks. In fact, it's going to be better for your customers.

    Your team of employees will have more time to come up with amazing online content, including how-to guides and FAQ pages. Your team will be able to make more material for your customers.

    In sum, your team will be able to do whatever they want/need to. They'll have more time than ever, while they're accomplishing more than ever.

    Marketing automation also allows you to integrate platforms and collect data. You'll notice that many kinds of automation software can pull together multiple pages and platforms.

    For example, a social media automation system can bring together Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and more.

    With this, you'll be able to collect data about frequently asked questions, highly liked content, and more. In response, your team can make more informed decisions about how to interact with your company's customers. In turn, you'll form better relationships with them and bolster your reputation.

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    How Does Marketing Automation Affect the Customers?

    The customer journey is the number one thing that your employees should worry about. They want to make sure that each and every customer is having good experiences every single time they're interacting with your business.

    We should note that these interactions do not have to happen with employees. These interactions include chatbots, social media posts, web visits, emails, and more.

    Each one of these touchpoints crafts the entire customer journey. In turn, they craft each customer's decision.

    As we discussed earlier, marketing automation only makes the business' relationships with its customers better. But, we never fully explained why.

    Well, marketing automation makes it easier to fit in more touchpoints with each customer. Without automation services, your team of employees would have to work to email each individual personally.

    So, small changes like automating birthday emails make the customer's experience with the business better. They're receiving more attention from the company's employees, even if it's an automated email.

    Others think that this philosophy doesn't work because customers know that businesses are automating emails these days. But, statistics stay that customers don't care. In fact, personalisation is what matters.

    Emails with personal subjects are opened 50% more often than other emails. So, as long as you're personalising the automation process, customers are on board with automation.

    Overall, marketing automation only helps a business' relationship with its customers.

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    What Are Some of the Best Practices for Marketing Automation?

    Now that we've convinced you that marketing automation is best for your employees and your customers, it's time to talk about what you need to do to practice the best marketing automation strategies.

    First, you should always have goals. Your team should never start an automated process without setting goals first.

    Without goals, your team won't be able to see whether or not the marketing strategy is working. If it's not, your team is going to want to discontinue the practice. However, they won't know to do this if they don't know that there's a problem.

    Next, you should always keep an eye on the competition. Your competitors are using automation, too. And, you may want to see what kind of tips and tricks they have for great automation practices.

    Lastly, you should take your time. It's going to take more than a day to implement an entire automation procedure for your business. You need to work slowly and add things on as time progresses.

    How to Get Started With Marketing Automation

    The time for marketing automation is now. This is the thing that your marketing team has been missing. And, you're going to notice a difference once your team gets started.

    If you're interested in starting today, look no further than Lift Strategies. Give us a call today to discuss what your goals for your marketing automation strategy are. Our digital marketing services may assist.

    We look forward to working with you.

    Owen is a business consultant with extensive experience in corporate affairs, external relations, strategy, marketing and engagement. He consults with clients to understand the challenges they face and create solutions to overcome. Owen holds an MBA, Master of Business, Bachelor of Business, Diploma of Investor Relations, and certifications in corporate innovation, digital marketing, and product management.

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