Read This if You’re Considering Marketing Automation
For businesses, finding ways to integrate marketing automation into their efforts is fairly commonplace. And why not? In addition to improving organizational workflow, many of these solutions provide valuable analytics which can be used to better understand customer behavior.
However, some are still reluctant to embrace these tools, concerned that messages may be poorly targeted.
What Is It?
Whenever you start researching buzzwords like “Marketing Automation” it’s easy to get flooded with conflicting interpretations or advertisements from services trying to do it for you. For most, the first thing that comes to mind is the ability to schedule posts or send email targeted email campaigns. While that’s not wrong, marketing automation generally refers to a larger scope. These platforms all play a part in the larger picture using software which manages, executes and measures repeatable processes. The end result is a marketing effort that is more efficient, including valuable insights on where your customer’s interests lie.
Personalization
One common concern is that marketing automation could come off as impersonal. But quite the opposite is true. These tools allow users to segment lists based on any number of criteria (or even behaviors). For example, customers who clicked on certain informational links can be segmented to receive communications based on what they were interested in.
So how do these processes fit into your organization? These repeatable, targeting processes generally offer access to valuable reports. Marketing people help to interpret this data and provide sales departments with warm leads, for follow-up.
Implementation
As mentioned, there are no shortage of marketing automation platforms and tools to use. But the success of these tactics is largely dependent upon the big picture strategy. And that’s an area which is different with each company. One thing remains constant, however: these tools are just one part of the strategy that can support customer relationships. Marketing automation works alongside traditional sales and marketing to compound efforts and strengthen customer relationships.