Research from Ascend2 shows around 84% of businesses investing in marketing automation are seeing successful results. The tools and software designed to automate elements of your marketing campaign help to speed up processes which may have taken hours before. Human error is removed and time is saved when the right tools are put in place.
Tedious and repetitive tasks, which people often get bored of and therefore less focused on, can be carried out by machines and software. With Software as a service (SaaS) more prevalent than ever, it is easy to find the right tools for the job and ensure your marketing operations are managed effectively by virtual resources. Elements of your campaign which can easily be automated include:
- Social media: curation and sharing of third-party content can easily be organised with the right tools, as well as scheduling and distributing evergreen brand content.
- Email marketing: standard mail-outs such as transaction reminders and upsells can easily be automated.
- Sales and ad performance: personalized offers for individual audience members and customers can be generated, for direct engagement.
Automation has been a buzz word over the last twelve months. Many marketers have grasped the need to make the most of it but the number actually doing it is limited. Understanding the term automation is key to making a success of it. It is not as simple as finding an app and everything is done, the automation process involves tracking, analysis, experimentation and tweaks along the way. You want a fully optimised automated process, not just something which runs on its own and you have no control over.
Automation is not about flipping a switch and seeing great results. It’s about a calculated approach and knowing what should and what shouldn’t be automated for your particular campaigns. Like all of your marketing efforts, automation needs a concrete strategy behind it. Time needs to be allocated for A/B testing, selecting the right tools and optimising them for your business.
What tools do you need for your Automation Strategy?
Return on investment and efficiency need to go hand in hand in successful marketing. Many marketers find that automation is the missing piece which connects the too. It supports consistent and relevant content sharing as well as keeping your sales and acquisitions pipelines.
There is on solve-all automation solution, in fact there are thousands of options out there which can be the difficulty, but if you know your business and your audience you can locate the right tools to suit them. Organising your marketing automation stack is unique to each business, but you are likely to want tools to allow for the following:
- Consistent and regularly tweaking and changing of activity to suit your data or changes in your business.
- Time and energy to dedicate yourself more efficiently to the core of your business, removing the need to busy-work and repetitive tasks.
- A good balance between full-on autopilot and high-impact. Maintenance should be necessary but low level, so you aren’t spending too much time over it.
- Quality metrics you can utilise for the benefit of your business and its growth.
The right level of automation for your business is something only you can know. Maximising the benefits of the right tools will position you effectively for growth and allow for rapid development. Automation is something many marketers claim to know all about but not so many are actioning it. Make sure you do to remain ahead of your competition.
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