Small business owners are always looking for ways to reach, contact, and connect with their customers and clients on a personal level. With tech constantly advancing, it is now possible to do so on many levels. We’re sure you will agree, marketing is a necessity but a time-consuming one. What if we told you there is a quicker, simpler, streamlined way?
Using marketing automation tools you can reduce your workload and help your business work efficiently and save time whilst increasing sales. There are so many possibilities, from sending targeted messages to customers at specific times to social media posting and processes. Marketing automation may seem like a frightening and scary thought but it doesn’t have to be.
So, what is marketing automation?
Marketing automation is a way of engaging with your customers at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way on auto-pilot.
Why use marketing automation?
You’ve heard about it, and it’s been highly recommended but you are still not sure why you would consider implementing this. The benefits most certainly outweigh the costs when you look at the return on your investment. There are several key reasons why businesses should start using marketing automation that we want to share with you.
First, it saves time.
By automating some of these tasks, you can save time and focus on more important activities.
Second, it improves customer service.
If you use marketing automation, you will be able to send out automated messages to customers when they need them.
Third, it allows you to scale up quickly.
With marketing automation, you can easily add new features without having to hire additional staff.
Fourth, it makes your business more efficient.
Marketing automation allows you to do more with fewer people. Finally, it helps you reach your goals. By using marketing automation, you can track how well each campaign performs and make changes accordingly.
What does marketing automation do?
Marketing automation is for businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to large corporations. It can be easily implemented with little learning. Here are some examples of how you can use marketing automation in your business.
Builds long-lasting relationships
It’s unlikely someone will purchase from you the first time they come across your business, services, or products, it takes time, trust, and consistency to get there which is where marketing automation comes in. Send personalised emails to nurture add value and educate your audience on what you do and have to offer them. By sending strategic emails at the right time you increase your chances of conversions.
Helps you follow up on hot leads
Strike your leads while they are hot! This can be difficult to stay on top off especially when you are busy managing other areas of your business. Marketing automation has the ability to follow up with website visitors who visited your services pages, those that abandoned their cart, clicked a specific link, and more. Matching their actions with a timely email could just be what they need to purchase from you.
Follows your customer’s journey online
Data as you know gives you insight and is a valuable tool when creating a strong marketing strategy. The more you can learn about your customer, i.e. their interests, pain points, etc, the better. Marketing automation allows you to follow your customer’s journey online, they leave footprints that you can follow and use to understand them better and what marketing activities and assets are driving the highest conversions.
Puts your social media on autopilot
Tech is such a wonderful thing, especially when it does the work for you. Tools like Later, Plann, and Buffer allow you to schedule and automate the posting of your posts. Automatic posting saves time, allows you to create in bulk, helps your consistency, and also helps you think more strategically when you are considering your marketing approach instead of the random moments of inspiration.
Where do I start?
Identify your marketing steps and look at how you can enhance your services or products before attempting marketing automation and really looking at what message you are trying to portray. Look at and identify your system. For example, You receive an email, you write a reply, you ask questions, and you send information.
It takes time but by introducing marketing automation to your business you will learn exactly what your customer wants and needs. Marketing automation uses triggers that are either pre-built or customised depending on what you need. Once you have identified these the implementation scheme will be simple.
To choose the right marketing automation software, consider these three things:
1. Does the software integrate with other systems?
2. Does it include a campaign and landing page builder?
3. Are there any limitations on how much data you can store?
4. Does it include stats and reporting?
Need help with marketing automation?
If you think this task is time-consuming why not have a chat with Supportal to see what we can do for you today?
