Automating routine marketing activities is the dream of directors and strategists around the globe. It sounds so good in theory! You set up a marketing automation system and then move on to activities that need human attention.
The problem with a marketing automation service is that the time needed to set them up can outweigh the value you get back.
So, how can you use marketing automation to actually save time? Below are three types of marketing activities that definitely benefit from the cold, calculating touch of a robot. But remember… moderation is key to most things in life, including marketing automation services.
Marketing automation workflows are fantastic for administrative marketing activities. You can use them to segment contacts, update prospect records, send internal notifications, update a CRM, and so much more.
Email blasts are one of the most common marketing automation services used. You can trigger drip campaigns based on a certain framework and never have to worry about pressing that “Send” button more than once. It’s simple and allows you to initiate campaigns based on the interactions of an individual, rather than a group.
Marketing automation workflows really help you bring lead nurturing to the next level. If you want to increase administrative output with minimal effort, marketing automation workflows are the way to go.
Pre-qualifying leads can save your marketing team a lot of time. You can segment these new leads to appropriate lists and then send them down separate marketing automated workflows. No manual tagging is required.
The biggest benefactor is your sales team. They’re the ones who will be enjoying it the most. Regularly receiving clean batches of prioritized leads is a huge leg up. The appended information about a contact’s interactions is the icing on the cake.
Now when your sales team starts their communications they will have plenty of data to draw from. It also slashes handoff time between marketing and sales. So, if you like plucking low-hanging fruit and promoting harmony between teams, then lead prioritization should be a huge plus for you.
A marketing automation solution is all about moving individuals towards your goals. It’s important to remember that it’s all too easy to get lost in a tangled mess of branches and forget about the whole forest.
Contact reporting is one way to keep things straight and extract some real insights. A marketing automation system can append information about an individual’s website interactions to a contacts record. From there, you can quickly splice together comprehensive reports based on interactions leading to goals and trace the individual paths backward. This can help you identify the heart of a marketing campaign and figure out how to iterate.
Remember that it’s people that drive your marketing activities. Seeing the entirety of a person’s interactions is far more powerful than each anonymized part.
Marketing automation services open up all kinds of opportunities. Some of these opportunities can save you time, some can amplify efforts, and most of them do a little bit of both.
Just make sure that you are setting your expectations correctly. Marketing automation can do all kinds of great things. Understanding that marketing automation should only apply to activities best suited for a robot will help you quickly get the most out of it. And know, like anything, marketing automation is best in moderation.
If you’re interested in learning more about marketing automation systems or need some consulting help, let us know.