15 Ways Marketing Automation Will Enhance Your Organization’s Marketing Efforts: Part I

By JOHN FOLEY – February 2, 2017

Marketing takes time, focus and effort. That’s why your organization needs to make the most of every minute and dollar spent on marketing. How can you do that? With marketing automation.

Here are the first 7 things you can do with marketing automation that will make you wonder how you ever got by without it:

1. Create Marketing Campaigns As Individual As Your Customers

With marketing automation, you can build your marketing campaigns based on your customers’ needs and behavior, taking into account everything from demographics to purchase history. Instead of one marketing campaign, you can run several, each perfectly tailored to its recipients. For example:

• A series of autoresponders for new members of your mailing list
• A “we’d love to welcome you back” campaign for customers who’ve drifted out of touch
• An information series about a new product just for customers who perfectly fit the target demographic
• A drip campaign for customers who’ve shown an interest in buying

When you craft campaigns with your unique customers in mind, you let them know that your organization understands and can answer their needs.

2. Deliver The Most Relevant Content All The Time

We talk about relevancy a lot these days, but what does it mean? Essentially, it means content that really matters to your customers. Relevant content answers a question, fills a need, is directly related to their life or business or is worth spending the time.

Content that isn’t relevant will be overlooked at best, and could damage your reputation with your customers at worst. Of course, what is relevant to each customer will differ, and that’s where marketing automation comes in. You can set content schedules based on a wide range of demographics. Whether they’re loyal customers or new prospects, looking for a new product or have just completed a purchase, automation makes sure your customers only see what really matters to them.

3. Save Time

No more paper trails or chasing marketing tasks to make sure they got done at the right time. Instead, get automated and you can pre-program your marketing tasks to make sure everything happens in the right order and to the right timescale. From sending out emails to scheduling a customer service call or sending out an event reminder, get it done with marketing automation and free up your time for other tasks.

4. Build Your Brand Voice

Your brand voice is vital when it comes to attracting new customers and building loyalty with existing ones. Your brand voice lets your customers know who you are and what you stand for. Keeping your brand voice consistent can be a challenge, especially when different team members are producing marketing content. That’s where marketing automation comes in. Because content is pre-loaded and ready for publication, each piece can be reviewed before it goes live to be sure it enhances your brand voice. You can also check that different content pieces play well together and build on each other’s message before hitting “send”.

5. Make Social Media Easier

Social media is an instant and cost-effective marketing tool that puts your content right in front of your customers. And if your customers are mobile, social media is a great way to get your brand front and center. But like all marketing, social media takes time and effort. Take some of the pressure off with marketing automation. By pre-scheduling posts, you can make sure your social media channels are always fresh and active. You can also send outposts that are tailored to your audience. For extra oomph, use your social media stats to figure out when posts are most likely to get clicks, likes, views, and shares, and use marketing automation to build a schedule based around those times.

6. Build Relationships With Customers Old and New

Building good customer relationships goes beyond providing quality products and services. Building relationships means staying in touch post purchase – this keeps your business fresh in your customers’ minds and makes you stand out from the competition. Use marketing automation to set drip campaigns that are triggered at different times post-purchase. For example,

• A “how was your experience?” campaign immediately post purchase.
• A “handy tips and tricks” campaign for a recently bought product or service.
• A “do you need anything else?” campaign for a couple of weeks post purchase.
• A “hey, how are you, here’s something we think you’ll like” campaign to highlight new products.
• A “haven’t heard from you in a while, what do you need help with?” campaign for customers who haven’t been in touch for some time.

When you automate, your marketing messages will always match where your customer is in their relationship with your business.

7. Talk To Your Customers About Their Experience

Do some customers order once then never return? Have you noticed that some customers aren’t taking advantage of all the features your product offers? With marketing automation, you can set trigger points such as a recent purchase, a certain amount of time elapsed from the last contact, the way they use your products or services, or most recent upgrades. And then send out messages based on those trigger points to ask your customers if they need any further help and support, and check in with them about their experience. Gathering customer feedback gives you valuable information that you can use to boost customer retention in the future.

But wait, there’s more! Check out Part II here for 8 more ways marketing automation will enhance your organization’s marketing efforts!