Without an effective marketing strategy, your business will find it immensely difficult to grow and thrive. At the same time, it’s undeniable that especially without a large and significant marketing staff, finding the time to build and execute that strategy can be difficult and seem impossible.
So what if we told you that you can automate a large part of your marketing efforts? As its name suggests, that’s exactly what marketing automation can do for your business. According to HubSpot,
“Marketing automation refers to the software that exists with the goal of automating marketing actions. Many marketing departments have to automate repetitive tasks such as emails, social media, and other website actions. The technology of marketing automation makes these tasks easier.”
A wide range of studies and surveys show just how powerful the concept can be. No less than 91 percent of its users agree that related technology is very important to the success of their business’s marketing implementation. Marketing automation drives sales productivity by almost 15 percent, while reducing marketing overhead by more than 12 percent.
The statistics make it clear: implement it the right way, and marketing automation has the power to transform your business. Here is how.
Build a Better Social Media Presence
Social media has become a vital part of the digital marketing mix. Across industries, businesses and organizations of all sizes successfully use Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other networks to reach and engage their target audience.
The problem with social media, of course, is the time it takes. Success requires multiple posts a day, along with a high response rate and integrated social listening capabilities. But what if you could automate your posts?
It’s easily possible. A wide range of tools now allow you to schedule posts and updates ahead of time. Meanwhile, similar tools comb the internet for you to search for brand mentions and relevant conversations. The result, ideally, is a more automated strategy that increases your chances of social media success.
Nurture Leads Towards the Sale
Of course, a significant amount of attention on marketing automation is still focused on email marketing. That’s because in many ways, it’s the core functionality of the concept. Most email tools and platform allow you to automate your messages based on specific actions your audience takes, increasing your response speed and quality.
Imagine, for example, a curious member of your target audience asking for more information about your business on your website. They expect an answer from you within an hour, and may be far from ready for the sale. In fact, research shows that only 25 percent of all organic leads are actually ready for your sales pitch.
Now, imagine an automated flow of emails that not only acknowledges the new lead immediately after the sign up, but also sends a sequence of messages (spaced properly, of course) that deliberately and subtly nudges them toward a sale. By the time they’re ready to buy, they’ll remember you as a valuable resource thanks to your emails.
Automate the Marketing-Sales Handoff
Finally, much has been written about the dangers of not aligning your marketing and sales efforts. Before you know it, both areas send different and even conflicting messages. Even more often, your sales department or professional simply doesn’t know when they should reach out to a lead to make their pitch.
Now contrast that with a system that can automatically score each lead based on their interactions with you. Opening a nurturing email adds points to the scale, as does visiting your pricing website. Once a certain threshold is met, your sales department gets an automated reminder to make their pitch. And because they use the same system, they can align their messaging with the automated emails your marketing team has set up previously.
That, in a nutshell, is the beauty of marketing automation. It accomplishes two goals at once: reducing the manual time it takes for your email and social media efforts, while maximizing the effectiveness of your messaging. As a result, it can transform your business and elevate its growth.
To learn more about how to improve your marketing strategies and grow your business, give us a call at 661-702-1310 or visit www.SmallDogCreative.com!
