How marketing automation can revolutionise your business

Remember when they told you in the future robots would be doing everything for us? Well, the future is now.

Many tech-savvy businesses have already jumped on the automation bandwagon to streamline their business and develop their sales pipeline.

So what is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks
– Wikipedia

It can take the form of email marketing, integrated CRM databases, customised landing pages, lead generation forms, retargeting campaigns, lead scoring and customer lifecycle management.

Here’s how marketing automation can perform, streamline and measure tasks to increase your business’ operational efficiency:

1. Build your database

Data is the key to successful marketing automation. Make sure you start with accurate, relevant information and build on your database whenever possible.

Integrate your social platforms, website enquirers and your existing customer database (CRM) into the same central marketing database
Launching a new product or service? Ask for expressions of interest
Add a Client Dashboard to your website
Running a campaign? Require an email signup
Produce a company e-newsletter
Include as many customer interactions and behaviours as possible

Before long, designing database cultivation into your business’ marketing activities will come naturally and as a result the data pool will be a valuable tool for new business and client retention.

2. Nurture your list

As with any data, it’s only useful if it’s up-to-date. Make sure you take care of your marketing database and it will grow into a precious, business building resource.

Integrate your CRM to automatically update database entries on every customer interaction
Prompt customers to update their profile when they log in to your website
Use database cleaning tools to manage entries that have opted out or are erroneous
Keep your customers connected with useful, quality content
Don’t disengage your customers by sending out too much or too little marketing material

The easiest way to maintain accurate data is to regularly engage with your database with valuable communication and be active in updating the entries.

3. Customise your message

Now that you have an up-to-date, active database of customers, you can target your communication with personalised content unique to each individual customer.

Include personal details (eg: name, account type, allocated account manager) in all customer communications
Make use of the location and time your customers receive the communication
Structure newsletters with articles based on customers’ areas of interest
Suggest related products or services based on customer account activity
Match the communication with the customer’s database interaction (eg: ‘Thanks for requesting a call back’)

Information that is tailor-made for individuals will allow for more direct communication. The less generic your message, the more chance your customers will remember it and value the interaction.

4. Streamline your communication

This is where marketing automation really comes into its own. Once each process is set up, you’ll spend less time contacting customers and more time running your business so you can sit back and watch your marketing machine go!

Ask customers to complete their purchase from an abandoned shopping cart
Welcome new customers with an onboarding series
Wish your customers a Happy Birthday
Contacting new prospects? Send them a follow up email about what was discussed
Upsell a related product or service to new customers after a week
Reward your best customers with VIP offers
Remind customers when it’s time to renew a service
Get valuable feedback from your customers
Retarget customers after they leave your website

Let's look at a basic example: Prospect Nurturing

Each process is set up with a trigger and subsequent actions forming a completely automated communication system complete with in-depth analytics reporting.

Getting the message right is key, but when the whole process is automated it’s almost too easy.

5. Evolve your strategy

Now you’re up and running with marketing automation – what’s next? Time to measure, test and adjust. Use A/B testing and analytics to evaluate where your automation can improve.

Experiment with tone of voice and language for different customer segments
Experiment with different platforms and marketing channels – not just email
Test out different win back incentives or offers to see which works best
Low email open rate? Test different subject lines
Low email click rate? Consider a different Call To Action
Customers asking the same questions? Include a help or demo email
Adjust your marketing communications based on customer feedback

Understanding what’s worked and what hasn’t will help you get the most out of your automated marketing engine.

6. Increase your revenue

Marketing automation creates more engaged customers, more pipeline and a more effective sales team. But does it really work?

Marketing automation drives a 14.5 percent increase in sales productivity and a 12.2 percent reduction in marketing overhead
– Nucleus Research

While automation is a great tool for lead generation, prospect nurturing and customer engagement, it’s only part of your marketing toolkit.

The need for the old-fashioned hard graft when it comes to brand awareness and business development will always exist, but with the help of automation, you’ll be able to streamline your marketing approach and improve its effectiveness.

Research has found that Business to Consumer (B2C) marketers who are using automation- including everything from birthday emails to cart abandonment programs – have seen conversion rates as high as 50%. – eMarketer

So what are you waiting for? Getting started with marketing automation is not as difficult as you might think.