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A marketers to-do list sometimes can be never-ending. Sitting in back-to-back meetings, responding to the constant influx of email communications, and tending to other timely tasks can push off other important tasks. The solution: marketing automation. Marketing automation tools help reduce the to-do lists and help increase efficiency, making marketing initiatives more manageable.
Marketing automation utilizes software tools or platforms that enable the marketing team to create automated programs and communications and tasks that help a company stay connected to customers and remain top-of-mind. These tasks can include social media posting, email campaigns, chatbot communications and other automated activities that help nurture warm leads. Automated marketing can often be triggered by a consumer action. For example, a marketing manager could set up a system that automatically sends follow-up emails to customers that abandoned an online shopping cart. Marketing automation tools can track website visits through something as simple as a form submission. The system can not only respond to an email, it can also keep a record of communications saved under a customer or potential customer’s profile. Marketing automation tools allow sales and marketing to easily send specific, personalized communications after each activity in the sales process. The beauty of these types of systems is it allows companies to streamline personalized communications and to increase connections that help build customer relationships.
Current and potential customers are the target audience of the marketing automation process. Setting goals for marketing automation with the target audience in mind will help you build a better system of communications and outreach for generating results. Developing a chain reaction within your software that is based on the customers actions is one strategy. Another is to create specific timed communications based on key dates. Using marketing automation software with a CRM system will yield the best results. The CRM stores the entire customer history. From purchase records to phone conversation, the CRM has it all. When you integrate marketing automation with a CRM, it provides a complete picture and allows companies to cultivate that customer journey.
The complete profile of a customer is essential for sending targeted and personalized communications that are timelier and more effective. These systems will also work together for both external and internal communications. Internally, when the CRM is updated the automation software can be set up to send the new leads to the sales department with the potential customer’s complete profile. Externally, automation can be set up to send a text message to customers after a phone call asking about their experience and providing a call-to-action that will keep the potential customer engaged. Anticipating what communications or information a customer may be looking for and positioning the company as one that is attentive and cares about a customer’s needs, is more easily achieved with marketing automation.
Setting up marketing automation software is a first step. These systems are programmed to provide the sales and marketing team with reports, which allows the company to check if the automated marketing campaigns are effective. It is not enough to just set up marketing automation, it is important to analyze the results regularly. Companies can also use these measurements to help set monthly goals and review them against reports. If goals are not being met, the team needs to regroup and look at what needs to be done differently
To help meet the goals next month. Even small adjustments can make a difference. These changes should be specific to the company and its customers. Some may find that less communication is better, while others might find that increasing targeted communications generates better results. Reviewing, analyzing and improving actions based on the response and the company goals is essential to create a more effective marketing automation strategy.
If you’re interested in learning how you can automate your sales and marketing operations, ApostleTech offers multiple software solutions and integrations for companies in a variety of industries. Learn more about what we do and contact us today to help find the best solution for your organization.
