Ashley from the WebFX Internet Marketing team tells you how to optimize your online presence with automated marketing campaigns in this video.
Transcript:
Computer: How’d you like to let me handle some of your marketing strategy?
Ashley: What? Who said that?
Computer: It’s me, your computer. I’m talking about automated marketing campaigns. Take a bunch of work off your plate and let technology manage some parts of your marketing.
Ashley: Yeah, maybe don’t use this computer to get started.
If the computer bit didn’t give it away, this video is all about marketing automation. You’ll learn what it is, the benefits, how it works, and get some pro strategies for automating your campaigns. To jump to any of these sections, check out the timestamps in the video description.
And this is your friendly reminder to subscribe to our channel for more videos. So let’s get to it!
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation means using different technologies to enhance your digital marketing strategy and simplify your processes. Automation technology gathers data about your audience when they interact with your business and handles tasks that you would have previously done manually.
One of the most common forms of automation is email marketing automation, in which you use a tool to automatically send customers emails based on different actions they’ve taken with your business.
So, for example, if a user fills out a form on your website, you can automatically add them to a bucket of people who receive a certain email drip campaign or set of premade emails from you.
If you’ve ever made an online purchase from a large retailer and started receiving emails with suggested items, you’ve been added to an automated marketing campaign.
You can use marketing automation technology not just for your emails but also for social media, online ads, your website, and many other aspects of your marketing.
On social media, automation may be something as simple as a scheduling tool that publishes content or a chatbot that responds to questions from your followers. You may use automation on your website to personalize your homepage for different audiences.
You have a lot of flexibility when choosing how to automate your campaigns, and you can choose as much or as little automation as you need.
Benefits of digital marketing automation
Automating your marketing doesn’t just benefit your customers. It benefits you and your team.
First, it’s a time saver. Like, a major one. If you manually send emails to everyone who downloads a guide or takes another action on your site, imagine having all that time freed up.
And with the right tools, you’ll have access to so many insights about your customers, like where they found your business, their industry, and more. Connecting your automation tools with your CRM data can make the details even richer. This will help you figure out what areas of your strategy to prioritize, leading to more optimized campaigns and less wasted spend.
On the customer side of things, with more data and time to fine-tune your campaigns, you’ll create content that connects with your audience. Instead of sending them irrelevant information, your targeted content will help you form more trusted, valuable relationships. The more trust you create with your audience, the more likely they are to come to you when they need your product or service.
Choosing your marketing automation tools
I can’t tell you what the right tool or combination of tools is for your automated marketing campaigns, but I can tell you how to go about choosing the right software.
You have to make sure the marketing automation technology you choose can actually do what you want it to. For instance, a social media scheduling tool isn’t going to do much good for your email automation. Basically, just know your goals before you spend money on a tool.
You may find a tool that only covers part of what you need, or you might fall in love with some tech that does a lot, like our MarketingCloudFX platform. If the tools offer free demos, give them a try until you find the features that you need.
Some tools can be pretty complicated, too, so you’ll want to consider the skills of those who will be using them and the level of technical support you’ll get. You don’t want to be stuck with something confusing that makes your life more difficult.
Budget is a major consideration, as well. Not all tools are the same cost, so you’ll have to look around and compare pricing to avoid breaking the bank.
And while marketing automation technology can help you see a better return on your marketing dollars, earning more revenue isn’t guaranteed.
Adding some cool software and more data to your strategy is great, but what you do with this new information is what matters most. Don’t assume you’ll have an immediate sales boom with automation and decide to spend way more than you can afford on your software.
You may want to consult with an experienced agency to learn more about implementing the right marketing automation solution for you.
3 marketing automation tips
1. Understand your audience
Digital marketing automation is nothing without the information you provide. Take some time to outline who your audience is and put people into different buckets for targeting.
For example, if you’re a bank and you offer services for individuals and businesses, those two audiences aren’t going to want the same emails or ads. You can use automation to reach out, but if there’s a discrepancy between the customer and the content, your marketing loses effectiveness.
No amount of technology can make up for a mismatch of customer intent.
2. Create content for different audience segments and stages
People are not computers. We aren’t meant to be identical units that all operate the same way.
If you have different audience segments, your content should cater to each one so you answer all possible questions, provide relevant information, and create a relationship that keeps people coming back to you.
Don’t just stop at content divided by different interests or industries. Even people looking for the same product are in different phases of their buying journeys.
The simplest way to look at someone’s journey is to break it down into top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel stages.
At the top, people get to know your business. This is where you establish your expertise and share informative, helpful content that mostly avoids being too sales-y.
In the middle of the funnel, people are considering their options. Here you’ll want to help people with their decision, and you may even throw your hat in the ring.
At the bottom of the funnel, this is where you seal the deal. Really emphasize your value and how what you offer can help your audience hit their goals or solve their problems.
A customer journey isn’t always linear and includes many touchpoints with your business. Just be there for your audience and provide valuable information. With strategic content, your automated marketing campaigns can bring you so much more value.
3. Check in on your results
Again, marketing automation takes a lot of manual work off of your plate, but this doesn’t mean you can stop checking in on your campaigns.
An automated email campaign may not be driving the best results. Your digital ad bids may be getting too high for your liking.
Don’t launch an automated campaign and trust that everything will work perfectly. You may need to tweak some parts of it until you find what really works.
Got any more tips for using marketing campaign automation? Drop them in the comments!
And before you go, take a second to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Revenue Weekly, our email newsletter, for the latest digital marketing advice.
Happy automating!
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