With the ever-increasing demand on time, there’s an excitement raised with the very idea of the flexibility that marketing automation offers. But before we get into just what marketing automation is, let’s take a closer look at the benefits.
Marketing automation saves you time and money. Now, that’s great news! Studies show that businesses that have implemented marketing automation experience a reduction in overall marketing costs, improved productivity and increased sales. More great news!
But what does marketing automation actually mean? Basically, it’s designed to automate nearly all digital marketing activities. Sounds great, right? Of course, it does.
There’s no doubt that the speed at which business transactions take place has increased – dramatically. Online consumers have become accustomed to instant engagement and very few are willing to wait a lengthy period for a response or to complete a transaction.
Today’s online sophisticated consumers demand full engagement and they want it instantly. The internet means instant connection, so is it really too much to ask for instantaneous engagement? The short answer is – no.
Marketing automation has the amazing ability to help you automate not only your marketing but your sales engagement too. Even more great news! Marketing automation will help your business generate more leads, improve your engagement speed and ultimately increase sales.
To reap the many rewards of implementing marketing automation it’s advisable to complete an accredited digital marketing course so you can get your business automated now.
Benefits of implementing marketing automation
To experience all the benefits of marketing automation its key to implementing these tools through your entire digital marketing strategy. Marketing automation is able to solve any digital marketing challenges for all types of businesses, from SMEs to large corporations.
Marketing automation enables companies to reach more potential clients, engage with existing customers and improve turnaround time. Remember, it’s important with marketing automation not to appear spammy – keep it interesting and not pushy.
Here are some areas where marketing automation will benefit your business
- Digital marketing
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Lead generation
- Lead nurturing
- Website pages
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Retargeting
- Welcome messages
- Forms
Even more great news! Marketing automation will help your business generate more leads, improve your engagement speed and ultimately increase sales.
How to go about implementing marketing automation
Switching over to marketing automation may seem like a huge project, the main point is just get started. So, start with smaller automation projects and once you’ve succeeded move on to larger projects.
Here are some great tips to help you get started with implementing marketing automation:
- Use creative content – Marketing automation content has to be dynamic if it’s going to make an impression. Get creative, get smart and get leads.
- Secure buy-in – When introducing new concepts of technology, it’s important to ensure complete ‘buy-in’ from all stakeholders. Digital marketing automation can be costly and time-consuming, so you’ll need everyone on board.
- Set goals – Define your digital marketing goals before you start your marketing automation project. Set out your overall digital marketing strategy including incorporating marketing automation. Remember to also set out long-term goals.
- Undertake some research – Make sure you do lots of research on marketing automation before deciding which new technology to introduce. There are many great tools available and more marketing automation tools are being introduced all the time.
- Redirect focus – Although marketing automation is seen as part of an overall digital marketing strategy, it’s important to redirect focus on this aspect alone as it can get lost in the bigger digital marketing picture.
- Budget prudently – When introducing any new technology tools or features into your digital marketing strategy you’ll need to keep in mind that this all costs money. So, you’ll need to reallocate part of the company’s marketing budget for the implementation of marketing automation. Be sure to not underestimate costs as this can have a dire effect on the outcome.
- Tech training – It’s vital to make sure your entire employees receive the necessary training on new software and automation processes. Don’t assume the introduction of marketing automation will automatically run smoothly if you fail to train your team. Remember always to emphasize the benefits to them of the new technology.
- Analyze effectiveness – Undertaking a full assessment of the effectiveness of your marketing automation is key to making adjustments at a later stage. Tweaking your marketing automation strategy will ensure success.