Do you use marketing automation? Many small businesses still have not tried marketing automation and do not know the benefits it provides. Other businesses have tried one or two marketing automation tools then decided it did not work for them.
One thing people do not realize is that every marketing automation solution is different. You may have to try several solutions before you find the one that is ideal for your business. Most solutions offer free trials for a limited time so you can see how they work for you.
But maybe you're not convinced. Do you even need marketing automation? Will it really benefit your business? What can it actually do?
1. Personalize your marketing campaigns for greater effectiveness.
Personalizing your messages has a huge impact. We don't just mean adding your contacts' names to your email subject lines. If you provide messages that are targeted to meet each contact's unique needs, you will build engagement and loyalty. Your customers and leads don't have to sift through useless messages that don't interest them. Instead, they receive messages that provide them with information and promotions they actually need. Sales increase and customers keep coming back.
Marketing automation enables you to personalize messages and campaigns for each of your individual contacts. Your solution will track each contact's history and activity and will use this information to send out messages that appeal to their needs. If you have a lot of contacts, it would be impossible to do this kind of personalization manually. Marketing automation makes it not only possible but also efficient. Increase sales without increasing workload.
2. Save time with automated tasks.
This is the benefit you hear most about when you research marketing automation. It sounds too good to be true. How much time do you really save? How much you get out of marketing automation depends on how much you put into it. If you set up your automated processes thoroughly, you will be able to reach out to more leads than you ever thought possible.
Daily communication is tedious and it takes up a lot of time. Much of your regular communication can be automated: appointment reminders, birthday messages, promotional emails, social media management and so on. By automating these communications, you will reduce your workload and the time spent sending messages over multiple communication channels.
3. Improve lead nurturing and conversion.
One of the biggest challenges businesses face is connecting with leads and turning them into customers. In many cases, lots of people visit your website but few actually interact with your content and even fewer purchase anything. Marketing automation helps reduce that gap. While it would be impossible to connect with each lead manually, marketing automation targets each of these leads.
When you set up automated lead nurturing, you greatly increase the amount of leads who will be personally targeted while visiting your website. Your automated solution tracks every lead and makes a connection with each lead who signs up or downloads. Once that first connection is made, the lead will be additionally targeted based on their interactions. Without marketing automation, many leads slip through because staff simply do not have time to connect with them all.
4. Make the most of your resources so you can compete with larger businesses.
Especially in small businesses, resources are at a premium. You don't have a huge budget to work with, you don't have a large staff or a separate employee for each task and you don't have a lot of time. Marketing automation enables you to compete with larger businesses who have bigger budgets and many more staff members.
Marketing automation enables you to provide superior customer service, lead nurturing, follow-up, and much more. It gives you an edge over other businesses who do not use marketing automation. It reduces the need for extra staff members, saves you time and keeps your budget tight since many solutions are highly affordable.
5. Gain more data than you ever had and use it effectively.
Marketing automation collects and uses data. A lot of data. It also uses this data very effectively to better target your customers. Every interaction is tracked and all contact information is stored for future use. After each marketing campaign, you can view very detailed reports that help you optimize your campaigns.
All the data marketing automation collects and uses enables you to find out what your audience responds to. Use this data to boost engagement, improve conversions, make more sales and build loyalty.
Not sure? Try it for free.
As previously mentioned, most marketing automation solutions offer a free trial. Trying the solution is the best way to see if it has the features you need and determine its ease of use. Also, make full use of customer care staff. Their job is to help you learn how to use the marketing automation solution and gain the most benefit from it.
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of SimplyCast's all-in-one solution. Ask our staff for a free demo so you can learn how to create the best automated campaigns ever.
