The Benefits of Marketing Automation Tools: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, businesses face a number of difficulties. There are several moving elements that might be tough for one person or even a team to handle.
You're probably already familiar with automating your email marketing, but did you know you can use marketing automation tools to automate a whole lot more, from social media posts to website content?
Marketing automation solutions are one of the most effective ways to develop your business and increase sales. These tools allow you to automate numerous activities, allowing you to focus on more significant goals like revenue or customer retention.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we'll augment our intelligence.” – Ginni Rometty
We'll take a look at 10 advantages that come with using them in this blog post!
What is marketing automation, and how does it work?
Tasks that are time-consuming to complete by hand can be automated with the right tools. Marketing automation can be done by either a service or software product, and it can be used to handle a huge range of tasks.
You can set up automated triggers that let the software know when certain actions have been carried out, and then send relevant emails or social media posts.
Marketing automation tools can have huge benefits for your business, such as:
- Increase sales
- Streamline repetitive tasks
- Use your time more effectively
- Expand your audience
- Low cost of implementation and training required
- Improve customer experience through personalisation
- Build relationships with new leads
- Gain a deeper understanding of your customers
Another small example of what you can do with marketing automation tools is to automatically send out customised SMS messages to your customers on their birthday, and this could include a birthday discount code or offer.
What types of marketing automation tools are there?
There are various different types of marketing automation tools, including:
Email Marketing Automation – this includes sending automated emails to specific people or groups. You can set up triggers that automatically send out promotional newsletters and product updates when certain events happen (such as a purchase), so you don't have to manually create them yourself.
Content Marketing Automation – can be used to automatically create and publish content, such as blog posts. This saves you the time of creating them manually and ensures that your company stays up-to-date with current news in your industry.
Social Media Marketing Automation – this includes scheduling automated messages on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook so you don't have to manually post them yourself. You can also automatically start conversations with new leads, like adding people who follow your business on Twitter to a separate list in order for you to engage with them later (if they don't already subscribe to updates).
Customer Journey Automation – this allows you to monitor your customers' journey through your website, including tracking their actions and sending out relevant messages. This way, if a customer visits one of the particular pages on your site that they're most interested in (such as an opt-in page or another thank you page), then you can send them automated emails based on this action.
Advertising Automation – can be used to automatically create and manage ads on social media or other platforms. You can set up automated messages that are sent out when the ads go live, as well as set their budget for you by tracking how many people click through them (and then changing this accordingly).
Loyalty and Referral Marketing Automation – this is used to automatically create and send out messages based on a customer's actions. For example, if they purchase something from your website you can use this tool to trigger automated emails like “We hope you enjoy your new [enter product name]! We think others would love it too – check out our other products here.”
Customer Service Automation – is used to automate different aspects of your customer service, such as resolving issues that are reported through social media sites or support tickets. This can be done by automatically creating a message for the person who submitted it, and/or forwarding this on to someone else at your company (such as another department).
SMS Marketing Automation – this includes sending automated messages through SMS or text messaging. You can send promotional offers and updates to customers by sending them a text message.
What are the benefits? Why should you use automation tools
Many marketing automation tools allow you to track activity and engagement in real-time so that you don't have to constantly check up on things yourself.
You can also use marketing automation tools to develop a detailed understanding of your customers and their needs, find out exactly how they interact with your website and what they respond best to.
Knowing your clients allows you to adapt your offers to fit their needs, which increases customer satisfaction and interaction levels, both of which are beneficial for your business.
Let's look at some of the specific advantages of marketing automation tools, just to get started!
- Increase Sales with marketing automation tools
- You can streamline repetitive tasks
- Your time can be used more efficiently
- Your team can connect their work together, improving communication
- Your customer experience can improve massively
- Low cost to implement and train your team
- Customer service can improve with personalisation
- It's an investment that pays for itself time and time again
- You can collect, track and nurture new leads
- Gain a deeper understanding of how customers interact with your content
1. Increase Sales with marketing automation tools
The entire process of re-marketing to old leads can be automated, sending a sequence of emails that automatically follow on from one another. This type of automation is extremely effective because it's designed to be specific – you don't want your messages going out haphazardly.
2. You can streamline repetitive tasks
Reduce the overall amount of time employees or teams spend on routine activities. This frees you to focus on more vital issues such as revenue generation and business development. This also aids team collaboration.
3. Your time can be used more efficiently
When you free up your time by using automation you can use your time to focus on what really matters. This is a great way for you to take care of your employees as well, so that they can focus on the more high-value tasks, such as closing deals.
4. Your team can connect their work together, improving communication
You'll have an easier way of sharing data across the company and marketing teams so that everyone is informed about what's going on at all times. This leads to better decision making as well!
5. Your customer experience can improve massively
By using marketing automation tools you can deliver a more personalised experience to your customers, which makes them feel like they're valued and important.
6. Low cost to implement and train your team
Marketing automation tools are extremely easy to implement and you can train your team up in a matter of hours. This saves time as well since there's no need for lengthy training sessions before the implementation process begins.
7. Customer service can improve with personalisation
You'll be able to track each contact or customer across all channels – email, social media, phone and live chat – in real-time. This means that every customer is given the same level of attention whether they're contacting you via email or through your website messaging service!
8. It's an investment that pays for itself time and time again
The ROI on marketing automation solutions is typically extremely high, so you'll quickly see the return on your investment. Just by freeing up time for your business and allowing you to focus on higher-level tasks, marketing automation tools can save your company money in the long run.
9. You can collect, track and nurture new leads
You can use tools to identify potential clients before they're even aware of having a need for your product or service. This saves time both by prequalifying leads, and then automatically nurturing them from the time they're first identified.
Here's an example of a situation that might arise and how your automation process could trigger:
- If someone downloads a free guide from your website, your program automatically sends an email with a link to download the guide
- Your lead opens the email, clicks on the link to download their guide, and spends some time looking through it
- The second email is automatically sent when the lead opens their email and clicks the download link
- The software sends an email with helpful information on the subject of the free guide
- The software sends another email, this time with a one-time limited offer for a product connected to the free guide
- They go for your offer and click the link to your website
- They leave your site before completing the purchase, your software sends a reminder email to go back and buy your product
- They go back, complete the purchase and you've just made a sale!
Another approach to follow and nurture new leads is to show relevant advertising on social networks to visitors who have arrived at your website but have not yet completed a purchase or contacted you.
10. Gain a deeper understanding of how customers interact with your content
Marketing automation tools are able to track every click or interaction that users have with your website, so you can easily see which pages need improving. This allows you to deliver more targeted messaging and advertising campaigns.
Tools can provide you with comprehensive information on the most popular kinds of content, as well as the ability to delve into details for each article. You'll be able to see exactly where and why engagement levels are good or low!
The advantages of automation are obvious. You may considerably enhance your internet presence and reach out to your consumers more effectively by automating your marketing. Just be careful not to get too carried away – automate too much and you risk turning your content into a sales pitch!
Using these tools to send endless messages might turn visitors off. You should instead create and follow a process that leads people into your sales funnel by presenting relevant content, nurturing their relationship with you and providing offers at the appropriate time.
The bottom line: Marketing automation tools can help you do more with less, saving time and money.
With just a few clicks of the mouse, you'll be able to create custom messages that are delivered at the right time for each customer who contacts your business.
As we've mentioned in this article, it's important not to get too carried away with marketing automation – overuse might turn visitors off!
So take care when using these powerful tools and make sure to follow a process that will lead people into your sales funnel by presenting relevant content and offers at the appropriate times.
If all of this sounds intimidating and you want help enacting these principles, let us know. Our small team of digital marketing experts are ready and waiting to partner with you to create a stellar content or marketing plan.
