We use marketing automation to solve big business pains 

Putting marketing automation at the centre of your 2018 growth marketing strategy 

Imagine, instead of sitting looking at a spreadsheet for a couple of hours each day, updating it with customer details, segmenting data and removing dead-end leads, you could instead be offering creative ideas for business growth or spending time building stronger relationships with new customers.

That’s the basic benefit of marketing automation. Using the right software, a system can be put in place that identifies key actions from existing and potential leads, constantly updating the data you’re collecting, nurturing targeted leads in the sales process with specific content, removing uninterested leads from your data lists and more.

Marketing automation can be as technical or as simple as you want it to be. You need it to save you time though, be able to integrate it into your CRM, have it collect and utilise data in the right ways, manage multiple channels, personalise your leads and – most importantly – improve the quality, frequency and volume of them.

As part of a creative, bespoke inbound marketing campaign, marketing automation can help to refine its impact and seriously boost a business’s overall growth potential. It’s can also be as flexible as you need it to be too, and can be altered alongside the changing wants, needs and tastes of your consumers.

Personalisation is key when implementing marketing automation

For all the incredible benefits marketing automation can offer to a business investing in inbound, it’s by no means a perfect solution if you buy the software and expect it to magically churn out quality lead after quality lead on a daily basis.

A lot of work not only has to be done to implement marketing automation into your existing way of doing things. It needs to closely follow the habits of your target audience and buying personas to consistently evolve along with them to generate and nurture better quality leads on a more regular, consistent basis.

That’s why personalisation is such an essential part of the marketing automation process. Having software that only works to fire out emails to people on your data lists is not only a skin-deep approach, it’s also likely to turn off the people who matter to you most and discourage them from doing business with you in the future.

In 2017, 90% of companies said they wanted to implement an approach based on personalisation but less than 20% were actually doing it. It can be tough to achieve that perfect balance, but perfection isn’t really something you should be working towards.

Automation should be an ever-evolving process alongside your inbound marketing strategy. Work hard at it and you can build an internal system that refines the way you do business whilst also creating a fantastic, personalised outreach strategy that targets and attracts people most likely to become long-term brand advocates.

Marketing automation can be especially effective in certain industries

Let’s get this straight: marketing automation is a fantastic strategy that can be hugely beneficial for any and every business across a huge variety of sectors should they wish to implement it as part of a wider inbound marketing approach.

Where we say it can be beneficial in certain industries, we mean that it can be especially effective in industries where constant communication is an absolute must. Consider the recruitment industry, for instance. It’s an area where recruiters have to manage huge sets of data lists on a daily basis to try and best match the right people with the right positions.

At the same time strong relationships have to be constantly cultivated with commercial enterprises to assure them that you have the recruitment solutions perfect for them, that you’ll be able to provide them with a consistent stream of high-quality employees and, for want of a better phrase, aren’t ‘wasting their time’.

It’s a very relationship-heavy industry from all sides, which is why a personalised marketing automation strategy complemented with an inbound approach can be an excellent way to segment potential employees in unique ways to better keep them informed and match them with the opportunities that may be right for them.

Five ways marketers are using marketing automation

Almost 40% of those using marketing automation say it’s something they are going to invest in over the next 12 months. There’s a lot of interest from brands in the possibilities automation can provide, certainly when they’re looking at a long-term growth strategy.

Plenty of Fortune 500 companies in particular have invested in marketing automation in some form, in efforts to refine certain tasks and achieve specific business goals. Some of the most common ways marketers are using automation include:

• Collecting better lead data: With the impact of GDPR on most business’s minds, many have invested in marketing automation to collect people’s data in more open, transparent ways.
• Segmenting that data: Businesses serious about their growth and who treat GDPR with respect will be dealing with a lot of data. Automation can segment lead information in specific groups depending on the actions they take.
• Nurturing leads: With that data properly segmented into what stage people are at in the buyers’ journey, leads at certain stages will be sent content specific only to them; perfect for cutting down spam.
• Managing channels: Marketing automation can be great for managing your various inbound marketing channels such as those on social media, email and much more besides.
• Managing accounts: Marketing automation isn’t only great for lead generation. It’s also great for managing the accounts of your clients and streamlining internal departments to make sure they’re all on the same page.

Want to know more about introducing a marketing automation strategy to your business?

Talk to Six & Flow to learn more about marketing automation and how it can help boost business growth.