Marketing automation is an extremely powerful tool, but due to the vast number of things that it is capable of, some people may feel overwhelmed when considering using it. Whether you're looking to grow your business or get more signups for your newsletter, here are the four major steps involved in a typical automated campaign. While automation software is capable of much more than just the fulfillment of these steps, you use this guide as a rough outline in order to generate ideas that fit within what your brand is trying to accomplish.
Target Content
The golden rule of communication is that people tend to pay attention to things that interest them and filter out what doesn't, so why would you try to communicate with those who just see your output as noise? Marketing automation gives the ability to target specific audiences that are already interested in what you do or what you offer, and you can use the data they volunteer to you through a signup form to create a better profile of your desired audience member.
Engage Audiences
Targeting can lead to better engagement with your desired audience. In the engagement stage, potential customers are aware of and may be seeking our information about your offerings, so why not oblige? By sending your audience regular updates or additional information about your industry, their brand awareness will increase and, as they're also learning about your field in general, it won't seem to be as much of an overt branding exercise. Allow your audience to connect your industry to your brand – the best communications and advertisements have nothing to do with the name of the company that is offering them.
Convert Leads
This is the step where members of your audience stop being leads (potential customers) and start becoming actual supporters or buyers. Conversion is generally seen as the goal of any marketing campaign; everyone, in every industry, is looking for a higher conversion rate, because it ties directly into their customer or client base. With the use of automation, you can nurture your customers through a steady stream of engagement until they decide to make the leap to conversion.
View Analytics
Each automated channel offers reports that contain metrics relevant to a given campaign. For instance, email reports can give you an overview of how many people opened your email versus how many were sent out. These reports, which compile and analyze all the data of a given campaign automatically, are a great help in doing engagement research and campaign validation, so you are able to easily understand what may have worked, and what could be improved for future campaigns.
You now understand the four key stages of any automated campaign, but of course, these aren't all that automation software can be used for. Sign up for a free 14-day trial and discover for yourself how marketing automation can help you target, engage, and convert potential customers!