Automation Technology Increases Value for Marketing Campaigns

Until recently, marketing professionals have been skeptical of automation — leery possibility of being made obsolete. In 2020, these fears have proved to be unfounded and it has become obvious that marketing automation software is essential to carry out any multi-faceted digital marketing plan. Utilization of this new technology has simplified the setup, maintenance, measurement, and follow-up process of marketing operations. Optimizing the use of marketing automation software allows businesses to consistently provide valuable content and to programmatically nurture relationships with past, present, and prospective customers.

What options are out there?

According to marketing maven, Neil Patel, 67% of enterprise marketing teams are using some form of automation software. For these professionals, the real problem is deciding between the different types of solutions that are out there. A few examples include:

• Content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Sitecore, and Adobe AEM are popular tools for automating website content.
• Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact give consistent structure to email strategy,
• Social media is no longer “spur of the moment.” Brands employ services like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule out posts in advance
• Teams use project management software (Asana, Monday, etc.) to track tasks and timelines.
• Full-service automation outlets (Hubspot, Pardot, SharpSpring) hope to be a “one-stop-shop” for all digital marketing needs.

What platform is right for your business?

The number of options for digital marketing automation is enough to make your head spin. One potential way to decide is to look at the current inefficiencies of your marketing processes and identify which technologies would have the biggest impact. For example, email marketing has existed for years, but in 2020, it’s capable of very powerful marketing support. A company that is sending emails to leads one-by-one might consider adopting an email marketing platform like Mailchimp to streamline their sends while maintaining consistency. Automating lead generation and email creation gives marketing teams the ability to develop an email campaign that will sustain them for a year — rather than reacting to leads as they come in.

In the same way, a company or team might be trying to determine what website content their customers find most compelling. However, it is often difficult to ensure the right article appears on the right customers’ journey. Automatic content personalization can be achieved with software like Sitecore or Pardot. Returning viewers and first-timers will see different content based on past interactions. What’s more, this sort of automation can optimize a website’s search engine ranking based on keywords that are important to the target audience. Whether sending an email, personalizing content, or improving search, marketers can use automation to free themselves up from these tasks and create a repeatable, yet constantly improving marketing approach.

Insight-driven marketing decisions.

Marketing automation is not only helpful due to the streamlining of their activities, but also because of how it captures data that can be further used to improve the process. When an automation platform is used to its fullest ability, a company can benefit from gathering customer data. An email marketing platform can measure engagement by documenting which viewers opened an email, who clicked, etc. Information like this can help marketers understand the behaviors of their audience, segment groups of customers based on email clicks, trigger a personalized email campaign per customer-type, and ultimately allow for a greater chance of converting a sale.

When data measurement is automated, professionals must learn how to map the information to properly understand a customer’s journey. This can be as simple as a Hootsuite data analysis revealing that a certain customer type comes from Instagram before landing on the company website and making a purchase. Other automation software like Hubspot can show a more detailed journey made up of audience interaction with emails, social media, website blogs, and more. Fine-tuning the customer’s journey can ensure that the audience is receiving valuable content. This process further fosters a trustworthy B2C relationship and drives sales.

Bringing the Process Full-Circle

Ultimately, marketing automation allows business owners and professionals in the field to take a step back from the tedious task of customizing messages one-by-one. With automation tools, one can see who is interacting with a campaign to greater define audience segments. When was this person interested? Did this person or type of person convert? How should we follow up so that they might convert?

Marketing professionals now have more time to set a plan, analyze data gained from automation software, and follow up with the customer. In the end, this gives businesses a bird’s eye view of marketing techniques that are working as well as which methods require a new approach. A company’s marketing renaissance begins with selecting systems that will allow marketing teams to streamline, optimize, and plan current and future marketing campaigns.