The Power of Automation to Supercharge Your Marketing Efforts
While many of us have been taught that superpowers are a matter of fantasy - something limited to comic books and movies - they aren't for today's marketers. Modern technology has enabled these professionals to do more than ever before, and in some cases, more than was ever imaginable only a few decades ago.
And a lot of it is thanks to automation - from systematic email campaigns to ultra-precise audience targeting and segmentation, marketers now have the power to maximize their reach and generate sky-high ROIs with ease. Let's explore the technology, its applications, and its game-changing benefits for marketers.
Five Common Applications of Marketing Automation
Automated technology has practically infinite uses in the world of marketing. To give you just an idea of its potential, we've compiled the following list of five common applications.
Cold Sales - Outreach and Follow-Up
Cold sales can benefit from automated marketing in a number of ways. The most notable are email outreach and follow-up - while the traditional process can take time and effort to manually compile, programmatic campaigns make it easy to reach out en masse with personalized messages and track scheduling.
Considering the fact that it takes some recipients up to ten emails before finally responding, this can go a long way in streamlining the process.
2. Nurturing Campaigns for Qualified Leads
It's no secret that nurtured leads are better than those that aren't. At the end of the day, prospects who have been qualified and connected with are easier to sell and less costly to move through the funnel.
Automation tools make it easy to run sophisticated nurturing campaigns and keep in touch with leads throughout the entire buying journey.
They can be built as multi-channel campaigns with customized triggers, messages, and content - all without manual supervision.
3. Sales Involvement Triggered By Lead Scoring
Most businesses undertake some form of lead scoring to identify their most valuable prospects. Automation makes it easy to trigger a response or alert when these leads reach a certain score - enabling sales reps to take a proactive role in the process.
This helps to ensure no opportunities are missed, and that leads are approached with personalized messages at just the right time.
4. Reengagement Emails
Losing the attention of your prospects? Try re-engagement emails. Data shows that as many as 45% of recipients read them, while even more could possibly be reached with the right strategy.
Marketing automation enables businesses to streamline this process, setting up predetermined thresholds that trigger a sequence of re-engagement messages designed to prompt a return.
The best part? The process is completely automated, ensuring that no prospects slip through the cracks.
5. Onboarding Workflows
Getting a sale doesn't mean that you've made the most out of your relationships with prospects. A lot of the value comes after purchase when they're onboarded and taken through a journey of learning about the product. If new customers find that getting started is too confusing or difficult, they may end up leaving prematurely.
Automation helps to avoid this issue by providing prospects with triggered messages and walk-throughs that make it easier for them to learn about and take full advantage of their purchase.
This can result in more engaged customers with longer lifespans and higher ROIs.
Why Invest In Marketing Automation?
While it is fairly accessible in terms of cost, marketing automation still requires an upfront and potentially ongoing financial commitment to be taken advantage of. Some businesses use this as their excuse for not jumping on board, but there are plenty of reasons why it should be seriously considered.
Lowered Effort and Improved Outcomes
Firstly, automation can help to significantly reduce the amount of effort required for a given task. This results in a lower cost-per-lead and increases the return on investment.
So, while there is still an upfront financial commitment required to get started, it's important to keep in mind that the long-term investment can easily pay off.
Ongoing Nurturing
Most website visitors don't take the action you'd like them to the first time they stop by. A lot of them are likely interested but need a little push to venture further into the funnel.
That's where automation comes in. By providing a series of triggered messages, businesses can nurture leads over time and keep their products on top of their minds.
Resource Savings
Nurturing isn't alone in the family of marketing processes capable of being enhanced by automation. In addition to engaging leads, it can also save a considerable amount of time and resources by automating mundane tasks such as data entry and list segmentation.
The result? More of everything for marketers to work with in reaching their campaign goals.
Improved Metrics
Better efficiency virtually always equates to cost-effectiveness, and marketing automation is no different. By enabling businesses to track their key performance metrics more effectively, it can help them identify the areas where they are most successful as well as the ones that need improvement.
This can help to make sure that campaigns are always running at optimal efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in improved ROI and better results.
Better Customer Experiences
Finally, when done right, marketing automation can produce a much better customer experience. From automated messages to personalized recommendations and offers, customers are more likely to feel valued and engaged if they're interacting with a business that puts effort into their customer experiences.
This can eventually lead to higher customer retention and improved customer loyalty, which are always valuable objectives for any business.
To sum up, marketing automation provides an efficient way for businesses to manage their campaigns and nurture leads. It can help to reduce effort and costs while increasing the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes. Though there is an upfront investment required, the long-term benefits it provides can far outweigh the cost. For those looking to get more out of their campaigns, automation is certainly worth considering.
