We live in an automated world. Stores have self-checkout machines, hailing a cab has been replaced with the tap of a smartphone, and self-driving cars are now in our foreseeable future. So why not automate your marketing strategy?
Marketing automation “helps organizations manage marketing efforts across multiple digital channels, automate manual processes, and track results”. This software platform allows marketers to reach leads and prospects at all points of the sales funnel, getting the most valuable message to the right person at the right time. Here are the top four reasons that you should adopt marketing automation in 2016.
1. You will get maximum visibility for your content
Now more than ever, organizations are putting a substantial amount of time and effort into their content marketing strategies. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 51% of B2B firms plan to increase their content marketing spend for 2016. Marketing automation perfectly compliments any content marketing plan, as it ensures that the right people are seeing all of this content that businesses are spending money on. Through features such as targeted email and automated social media posting, marketing automation ensures that your content is getting maximum visibility.
2. It takes (a lot of) the work out of lead nurturing and assessment
Most businesses will agree that out of all of their objectives, generating new leads is among the highest priority. While traditional lead nurturing takes a lot of guesswork and energy, marketing automation instinctively sends strategic messaging to leads that show genuine interest in your company. Using lead scoring technology, marketing automation software analyzes where a lead is at in the sales funnel, how the lead engages with your organization, and then it interacts with this person accordingly. The catch? It is up to the marketer to create the strategy behind the process. Not to worry; most marketing automation programs offer many forms of resources to get your plan in action.
3. It benefits customer engagement
Not only is marketing automation beneficial to lead nurturing efforts, but also to the overall customer experience. With a lot of the time consuming administrative efforts being automatically taken care of, marketers now have more availability to focus on consumer engaging tasks such as responding to social media comments or speaking to customers on the phone. Additionally, automated emails make everyone feel noticed and important, especially if personalized information is included. This form of relationship building not only increases the trust of your customers, but also adds to their lifetime value.
4. Real time analytics are available
One of the best aspects of marketing automation is that it gives you real time access to data and analytics, so you can optimize your strategy accordingly. This ensures that you have immediate insight into the performance of your campaigns, and can make adjustments going forward. Most marketing automation software also offer A/B testing, so you can feel confident when launching a campaign.
Are you interested in boosting your marketing plan with automation? Starkmedia has integrated marketing automation software such as Pardot and Marketo onto websites for our clients. For more information, contact Starkmedia today.
