Often marketing can fall to the bottom of a to-do list in a business. There’s marketing we all know we should be doing, but are we performing these activities consistently and efficiently?
If your business neglects these important tasks, it might be time to automate the marketing system.
Marketing automation solutions are designed to help organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive marketing tasks.
Nowadays there are many companies that offer marketing automation software platforms and technologies. Some of the most popular choices are Hubspot, Salesforce, Marketo, Zoho, Eloqua and IBM.
By automating repetitive marketing activities, you will be able to reduce the time and money you spend doing the same thing over and over again. Therefore, you will be able to use your time smarter focusing on converting leads into customers and customer into passionate customers.
Here are 10 activities marketers should automate:
1) Data collections
Each one of your customer segments expect a different experience with your brand. If you are treating loyal customers, one time customers and prospects all the same way, you are probably not serving any of these groups with the exclusivity they deserve.
Upon collect and analyzing data from multiple marketing channels and aggregating it in one place you will be able to understand each one of your customers segments in deep and then treat them accordingly
Some popular data collection points that can help you to understand your customers are: Website forms, online searches, mobile use, social media, etc.
2) Content creation
Upon classifying each of your customers segments by demographics and behaviors, you will be able to create content that is relevant for each one of them.
As an example, many companies have “We miss you” email campaigns focused on reactivate customers that become inactive after opening a new account.
3) Target users that abandoned your shopping cart or online form.
If someone has already been into your website, added products into their shopping cart or started filling out a form on your website but then left for some reason, there are good chances this person is interested in your product or service. Use an automatic re-marketing campaign to reacquire these customers before they go to a competitor.
4) Welcome or activation programs
Make a strong first impression. Automating welcome or activation campaigns will allow you to introduce your company better, explain how your customer can get the most out of your product or service and collect additional customer information.
5) Collect reviews
Collecting and analyzing your customers` feedback is essential to provide a great service. By the way, the only way to know if your customers are happy with your company is by asking them.
6) Birthdays messages
Buyers are people. Even companies are made of people. Interact with your customer in a personal way and let them know you care about them. A simple birthday greeting can help you to differentiate your company from your competitors.
7) Sales emails
Automated sales emails are a great opportunity to educate your customers about your products and policies, offer upsells and finish transactions in the event the customer missed any steps.
8) Post sales email
Remember to ask if your customers are happy with your product and if they can tell their friends about you. Don`t miss the opportunity to retain your customers and find new ones through word of mouth and social media referral.
9) Events
Use automated event tools to send invitations, confirm if your guests are coming and remind them about dates and times of upcoming promotions or events.
10) Customer lifecycle
People change in many ways. They get married, change interests, make new friends and have new priorities. Use automated tools to understand how your customers are changing, and adjust your offer to satisfy this changes. For example, if you have a B2B business, you shouldn’t use your marketing money on people that went out of business.
I hope this article will give you some ideas for improving your marketing efforts, reduce the time you spend in repetitive marketing work and help you do marketing more effectively.
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