For a business to implement marketing automation regardless of size is not always an easy process. There are so many solutions that offer lots of new features to suit whatever type of business you run. In this post you will discover how to apply marketing automation, and you can use it to maintain the efficiency of your marketing processes and activities. Before going too far, there is a need to understand exactly what marketing automation is.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation simply refers to the processes that include automating your marketing efforts using solutions. The system is often activated by a consumer action, which could be subscribing to a newsletter, or making a purchase. A good marketing automation software seamlessly engages consumers without any need for human intervention.

Market automation can be instrumental in capturing and nurturing qualified leads and also improving user adoption. Imagine a situation where a customer makes a purchase at 2.00 am and immediately gets an email thanking them for the purchase. There is obviously an automated message set up for that specific action by the customer. Now you can get a sense of how important it is.

According to data Forrester, the marketing automation software spending in the industry will increase to an unprecedented $25.0 billion yearly by 2023. This is in stark contrast to the 11.4 billion dollars that was spent in 2017.

There is also a big increase in the adoption of marketing automation. According to a report by Hubspot, over 70% of marketing leaders are making use of a marketing platform as part of their strategy.

As you would imagine, there are several examples of marketing automation that any business can choose from. Email marketing automation is one of the major types which includes welcome emails, and reminder email marketing. You can also set up marketing automation for birthdays and special days for your clients. Newsletters, product updates and launches, and surveys are other examples of marketing automation technology.

For those that want to try their hand at this useful system, there is quite a few automation marketing software to choose from. Prospect.io, Hubspot marketing automation, Moosend, Salesforce, Omnisend, ActiveCampaign, and InfusionSoft are all good examples of software that can be of use to most companies and their strategy.

Types of Marketing Automation

There are two types of marketing automation – Internal and External automation. As a business, you require both of them to keep your marketing activities and process running smoothly.

Internal marketing involves activities that are directed at your staff while external focus is directly on your customers. The former exists to motivate and empower your employees, basically satisfying them so they can provide great customer service. On the other hand, the latter promotes your goods and services to encourage better patronage.

1) Email Automation

Email automation operates in such a way as to send out marketing emails in response to preset triggers from the customer. It helps to remove a lot of redundancies and contributes to a much smoother workflow. A good marketing automation platform for emails contains email templates that any member of the marketing team can customize.

2) Digital Marketing Automation

This refers to any technology or software platform that is created for businesses and marketing departments to market more effectively on several online platforms including social media, email, and websites.

With these marketing automation platforms, marketers can manage confusing multi-channel marketing strategies from a single tool. It also helps with lead generation, nurturing and scoring, and marketing ROI measurement.

Implementing Marketing Automation For Improving The Current  Data

1) Automatically Segmenting Current Data

Automated segmenting of customer data is necessary for the present landscape. It helps to make sense of jumbled-up data and creates some patterns and sense from it all.

2) Personalized Outreach Based On Segmented Data

The customer of today’s marketing world is bombarded with messages from advertisers. This has made them cultivate an indifferent air to content from brands. A good way to break through this wall of indifference is to segment and personalize your messages.

Implementing Marketing Automation in 8 Steps

While choosing is the first and relatively easier step, how implementing marketing automation is a lot more complex and requires a few tools and a good knowledge of how it works.

Going through the marketing automation implementation of your marketing automation solution is beneficial in many ways. One is to save time that would have been spent manually setting up these processes. It also saves you money in the long run while also increasing your revenue.

To make this entire process easier, there are a few steps that can help with a successful implementation. Here they are:

Step 1 – Make A Plan For Implementation

It is common for businesses to be so excited about their spanking new marketing automation tool that they do not take any time for careful planning but dive right in, sending emails, and so on. This is problematic in the long run because it is the way it is set up that will determine what can be achieved with it in the future.

It is a good idea to write down a plan that details:

1. What you would require from your IT team in terms of email configurations, including tracking code?
2. What permission and benefits should users have?
3. Which integrations are important from the beginning; third-party tools or CRM software?
4. Do you want your data to be structured? Do you want to use tags, lists, or segmentation?

Step 2 – Choose the right Marketing Automation Software

Choosing the right marketing automation tools and software cannot be overemphasized. There are a bunch of marketing automation vendors and software to choose from, so what you eventually go for should be dependent on:

1. Features: Many automation platforms have a similar set of tools including website visitor tracking, lead scoring, and so on. You would have to choose the one that works best for your purposes.
2. Integrations: Any marketing automation vendor would have software that can integrate into more than one CRM system. You will need to figure out which of these integrations are critical to your company and its sales goals and then add them to your documented plan.
3. Ease of use: Choose one of the marketing automation tools that have an intuitive interface that will not leave your staff feeling overwhelmed. Also, be mindful of software that works for your business type, for instance, Hubspot is popular for B2B businesses.

Step 3 – Integrate Software With your website/App

Your website may be already fixed with reliable CRM software that provides your sales automation needs. If this is not the case, then there are a few automation software that you can integrate with your website including Hubspot, and Salesforce.

Step 4 – Import Required Data

Since you have created marketing automation workflows and set up your CRM plan for your customer journeys, then you can now create custom fields, lists, and tags that you need before importing your database. You might also want to test import a few records to make sure that everything is in the right order before going ahead with thousands.

Step 5 – Filter Unnecessary Data (*Data Cleaning)

Cleaning data when you are migrating is a good idea. This is especially essential that you import data manually from a spreadsheet. It is to ensure that your data is error-free.

Step 6 – Integrate Marketing Automation Software With CRM

Having an implementation plan that does not connect to your sales CRM is not the best use of your resources. The best way to stay with your customer through all the stages of customer acquisition is to have your CRM and your platform communicating constantly.

There are so many things you can do with this connection since the purpose of setting up a MarTech stack in the first place is to acquire new customers while also engaging the customers that you have.

Step 7 – Automate Data Segmentation

Because you have laid out your implementation plan, you should have a good idea of the data that you are interested in reporting on and how you want to do that. With this in mind, the next step is to look for how to segment this data through automation on a mass scale.

Step 8 – Personalize Data Segmentation

Personalization and segmentation are similar concepts but also quite different. After you have segmented your data, the next step should be to make your data speak the language that your customers would relate to. An instance is collecting the date of birth of your customers, but you can personalize that data by sending an automated email on their birthday.

Tips For Marketing Automation Implementation

1) Establish your goals clearly

Before implementing any marketing automation solution, you should determine what your requirements are and what goals you are trying to accomplish. In a lot of cases, the marketing platform that you get can replace some tools you are already using.

2) Choosing The Right Software

Choosing the right tool is a great way to get your implementation process to a great start. Here are some tips to look out for:

Ease of use

Usability is an important factor, you need to choose a solution with a simple and easy-to-understand interface. The users (your staff) should not find it hard to grasp and use.

Integrations

For successful marketing automation, your solution needs to easily integrate with third-party systems including Salesforce, Adwords, and so on.

Support

Whatever solution you choose should be from a vendor with a rock-solid customer service support system.

Pricing

Usually, the pricing models of marketing automation vendors vary, just make sure that you consider all the costs involved before shelling out valuable resources. Also, consider if your company can afford it in the long run

3) Create A Detailed Plan

When it comes to marketing, having a solid plan in place is non-negotiable. This holds true for implementing your automation plan. Once you have figured out what the implementation process would require, write out a detailed plan and get started!

4) Start Slowly And Build Out Effectively

It is tempting to go out swinging, using all the tools at your disposal at once while trying to make it work at once. Resist the urge, deploy only what you need right now, and then add more features as you get better at it.

5) Hire A Marketing Consultant If Required

Finally, it might be a good idea to bring in a professional to help with your implementation. Marketing automation requires technical know-how and skills that your organization might not have in-house.

Conclusion

There may seem to be a lot to learn about marketing automation at first. However, you now understand 8 simple methods for using marketing automation to increase sales for your company. Thoughtfully picture how it will feel to unwind after everything is in place. You can definitely cut your to-do list down with the use of marketing automation.

Marketing automation may help you save time, energy, and money while facilitating internal operations such as email marketing, advertising, and retargeting. It can also simplify and improve the lives of your consumers. A marketer’s best friend, in fact.