What is it, and Can It Really Help My SMB?
Marketing can be an easy or complicated matter, depending on how in-depth you go with your strategy. However, one thing that remains constant throughout any marketing strategy is the need for time and attention to every detail of bringing your products and services to customers when and where they need them. It takes a lot of time, but Marketing Automation is one way you can help drive your marketing campaign and keep things organized.
What is Marketing Automation
Marketing Automation is exactly what it sounds like. It is a way to take virtually all your marketing materials and strategies and group them into an automated system that does most of the leg work for you. Marketing Automation sends out automatic emails, texts, social media posts and manages other marketing needs for your business without you having to be there every step of the way.
How Do I Know My Business is Ready for Marketing Automation?
Not all businesses can utilize Marketing Automation to their fullest potential, and it is important to know when your business is ready for this significant leap. Here are some ways you can know your SMB is ready for Marketing Automation.
You Need a CRM
The first step in getting prepared for Marketing Automation is by investing in a CRM or Customer Relationship Management software program. This program will use customer data to analyze how they interact with the business. The information gained can significantly help you with your future marketing strategies.
Email Marketing
CRMs work in correlation with email marketing, so if you already have an email marketing campaign in place, you are well on your way to Marketing Automation. Marketing Automation, at its core, is an evolution of email marketing strategies.
Already Value Content Marketing
For market automation to work effectively, your SMB must already possess and value content marketing and use it regularly in all aspects. It seems like a no-brainer, but some companies place content marketing on the back burner, not realizing it can open up significant customer reach avenues.
Benefits of Marketing Automation
Improves Customer Experience
Your customer’s experience with your business is essential. A negative experience with a company tends to lead customers to tell, on average of 10 people, about it. In comparison, a positive experience tends only to entice customers to tell merely 3 people, so anything you can do to affect your customer’s experience positively will drastically increase your revenue potential. Marketing Automation helps improve the customer experience automatically by reminding them of items in their cart, sending out targeted emails based on their previous purchases, and much, much more.
Increases Scope of Existing Campaigns
Naturally, automation allows you to free up time while increasing the current scope of present marketing campaigns. Instead of manually creating every marketing material and sending it out, Marketing Automation keeps the task going, so you can reach more people with less work.
ROI on Staffing
Staffing your business is an expensive but essential task. Many companies staff specific people to enhance their marketing campaigns, but Marketing Automation can often do the same thing without you having to hire extra people.
Empowers Employees
Marketing Automation allows you to keep a close eye on marketing campaigns and where improvements should be made. Detailed reports provided by Marketing Automation allow employees to remain informed and empowered to make important changes to affect the business’s bottom line positively.
Increases Order Value Average
Customers go to your website often knowing exactly what they want. However, just as in a brick-and-mortar retail store, a perfectly placed suggestion can contribute to your customers purchasing more items than they originally intended. Marketing Automation accomplishes this automatically and has proven beneficial in increasing the average order value of customers.
Utilizes Predictive Behavior
Your customers have habits when shopping. They have certain types of products and services they like and those they do not. The average marketing campaign can have difficulty tracking and influencing customer behaviours, but Marketing Automation does this automatically. With Marketing Automation in place, your customers, over time, will be provided with useful information on new products they might be interested in based on their previous purchases and interactions. That is vital information that some marketing strategies, even the best ones, miss.
Marketing Automation is an eventual step that every growing company must take. SMBs have a substantial amount of marketability, and when all avenues are exhausted or marketing tasks become too extensive, Marketing Automation helps alleviate the marketing strain. If you have been seeking a way to improve your customer scope and grow your SMB to new heights, ensure you have all the tools in place for Marketing Automation and go for it. Your business potential is only increased by the use of this highly effective marketing strategy.
