Pandemic or no pandemic, a reality of business is that the Show Must Go On. Over the past few months, businesses have continuously begun exploring new avenues to sustain themselves; some of those changes were hard and others tough love. In the new normal, as business leaders we are forced to make drastic changes to the ways we conducted business in the past.
Whether we like it or not, we need to stay in touch and maintain dialogs with our customers and drive sales while maintaining stricter control over marketing efficiencies. One critical component towards bringing these efficiencies to life is the use of Marketing Automation tools.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation is all about using software to automate marketing activities. Many marketing departments automate repetitive tasks such as email marketing, social media posting, and even ad campaigns -- not only for the sake of efficiency, but to provide a more personalised experience for customers.
What are the benefits of Marketing Automation?
Automating time-consuming, manual tasks around content creation, management and personalisation; campaign scheduling and execution; data hygiene; communication with sales; and lead nurturing saves time and improves productivity.
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Enhanced ability to generate more and better qualified leads
Marketing automation can combine multiple criteria, including demographic and behavioural data (e.g. pages visited, downloads, filled out forms etc) with a lead scoring system to generate and identify sales-qualified leads.
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A multichannel view of prospect behaviour
Marketing automation platforms integrate multiple channels and devices – including social media and mobile -- to create more comprehensive prospect profiles and holistic views of prospect behaviour.
Marketing automation software can help align sales and marketing efforts to ensure that sales reps are working with sales-ready leads while Marketing works on building relationships with early stage leads to enable sales to focus their efforts on the most highly qualified prospects.
Marketing automation systems can increase conversions. Forrester & Nucleus Research (a tech research firm) found that B2B marketers implementing marketing automation experience a 10% increase in their sales-pipeline contribution a 15% increase in sales productivity as well as a 12% decrease in marketing overhead.
How to know if you need Marketing Automation tool(s)?
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Your company has reached a stage where automation is needed
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Your company has outgrown its current marketing system due to rapid scaling and needs to consolidate data that currently resides across multiple platforms
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You have a small team and need marketing tools that optimise marketing efforts for better efficiency
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You need to have real-time access to marketing data
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You're using too many silo tools that do not integrate well with each other OR are too costly OR require expertise OR are difficult to maintain
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You're using tools whose strength is not what you're using it for. (e.g. CRM tools for eMail Marketing)
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You're starting an out-bound marketing approach and need tools to Plan, Execute, Report and Improve marketing campaigns
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You're transitioning to an in-bound marketing strategy and don't have tools to support it
What should you consider when choosing Marketing Automation Solutions?
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The platform should be easy to set up and easy to use
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The platform should be able to grow as your business grows, it should be able to accommodate more users without imposing huge costs on the business
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The platform should allow for high degrees of personalisation
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The platform should allow for easy customer experience journey transitions across the entire funnel all the while reducing friction (i.e. effectively manage the customer irrespective of his actions)
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The platform should allow for both hyper-segmentations and simple list management for better customer experience journeys
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The platform should allow (be flexible) to guide customers via different mediums (ex eMail Marketing, Blogs, Videos etc) to Inform, Involve, Motivate, Sell & Advocate
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The platform should allow for seamless integrations with third parties and APIs
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The platform should allow for data capture and in-depth analytics
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The platform should have good customer support
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The platform should provide regular updates and new product introductions
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The platform should comply with all spam compliance rules and policies
What tools should you consider? (Marketing Automation Tools VS Growth Automation Tools)
Choosing Marketing Automation Tool(s) should not be just about implementing sophisticated tools that automate the middle of the funnel (i.e. not focusing/ including the generation of new leads, data collection and analytics). When businesses follow this kind of approach to choosing a tool it is a quick fix rather than a long-term solution because it create a disjointed experience for prospects and customers as they move from Marketing to Sales to Customer Service. This heavily and negatively impacts the points of friction during the buyers experience journey that can stall and strain the long-term customer relationship.
The 6 most common areas where Marketing Automation tools are used
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Lead Generation
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Metrics and Analytics
While there are many tools, a that a few of the most widely used solutions that effectively address the entire Marketing, Sales and Customer Service funnel are HubSpot, Salesforce Pardot & Marketo. While their full MarTech Stack can be a little pricy, they have scaled down solutions that you can implement (at relatively reasonably prices) until your business grows enough to subscribe to their full solution
Caveat
If you are seriously considering implementing a marketing automation solution for your company you must remember that it is not a replacement for your marketing teams and human effort. Implementing Marketing Automation Tool(s) requires continuous and consistent efforts that extend far beyond just eMail Marketing. Marketing Automation is a great way to improve your business especially if your goal is to scale your business profitably and successfully
Conclusion
Good Marketing has the ability to set your company apart. While it can be hard to know what's working & what's not, it is harder to be on top of it all, all the time. Marketing automation tools help you stay on top of your marketing efforts and make marketing easier for you and your team. With Marketing Automation tools, you can save your money, time and effort to focus on other aspects of your business growth and success.
Related Reading: Marketing in a pandemic, Leveraging Sonic Branding, Defining your brand’s Tone of Voice, Conducting Successful New Business Prospecting, Making Marketing Budgets Work, Creating an Effective Growth Strategy, How to use Strategy Maps, Harnessing the PLOT Strategy Framework, Saying “No” and still Winning, Creating a Balanced Marketing Mix, Why Customer Centricity is the Soul of Business, How to Growth Your App Downloads, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Marketing, 8 Steps to Entrepreneurship, Marketing Tactics 101, Refocusing for Growth, eMail Marketing 101, Brand Imagery and the 5 senses, The Grandeurs of Viral Marketing, Why focusing on Outcome guarantees Success, Marketing Automation in Marketing Today, Why Typography Matters, The Fabulous World of Colours, Consumer Insights for Growth, The 12 Styles of Creative Copywriting, The 9 Startup Killers, How to craft your Brand Positioning Statement, How to Competitively Price Products for Maximum Profit, How to Rebuild Marketing Momentum, UXUI That Just Works, Marketing Tactics for Growth and Success, How to Define Your Brands Archetype, How to Leverage Affiliate Marketing, How to Work with Influences, Marketing Effectivness Report Free Download, How to Find Your Brand’s Name, Unleashing the Power of Experiential Marketing, How to get Personal Branding Right, Maximizing PR Opportunities, Defining a Brands Culture, Business Pivot Strategy, Getting to Yes from a No, Developing Successful Performance Marketing Campaigns, How to Map Customer Journey's,
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