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94% of workers say their job includes repetitive tasks that take up way too much time. I know first hand that includes marketers. There have been so many times over my career that I’ve been stuck sending emails to leads, entering data, or distributing content when I wanted to do something more innovative and productive with my time.
The good news is I seldom get caught up in those doldrums anymore with automated marketing. By implementing AI and automation into my workflow, I have way more time to strategize, create, and plan future campaigns.
Let’s take a look at how automation has changed the face of marketing, and how you can start implementing it into your own process!
What is Marketing Automation?
When you think of automation, a creative field like marketing probably isn’t on the top of your mind. However, marketing automation has the ability to free up your time for more creativity, and make campaigns far more effective.
By utilizing tech and software to handle repetitive tasks, marketers can automate
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Posting
- Lead Nurturing
- Customer Segmentation
- And More!
Let's say a user signs up for a newsletter on your company's website. Once their email address is captured, a marketing automation tool automatically could send them a welcome email instantaneously.
Over the next few weeks, the automation will take over nurturing this lead by sending emails based on the user’s interests and engagement levels. If the user isn’t engaging with the emails, it can automatically adjust the kind of content being sent.
The system can even send an alert to the marketing team if a promising lead is losing interest, so they can swoop in and save the day with a phone call or more personal message.
Whatever you automate, it eliminates human error and frees up your time to focus on the parts of the job you enjoy.
What Can Marketing Automation Do For Your Business?
Besides the obvious benefit of taking over the repetitive tasks that make you want to scream, there’s a lot that automation can do to improve your business outcomes.
- Boosts Efficiency - Activities like lead scoring, lead nurturing, email marketing, and social media scheduling can all be automated, saving hours of manual labour. This increased efficiency allows marketing teams to focus on developing innovative strategies, creating compelling content, and analyzing results to continuously improve their campaigns
- Increases Conversions - Automation allows teams to highlight the most qualified leads as they come in and ensures that marketing materials are both timely and relevant. With automatic follow-ups and a birds-eye view, far fewer leads will fall through the cracks
- Personalization - By collecting and analyzing data on customer preferences, behaviour, and purchase history, automation tools can segment audiences and deliver tailored messaging and offers. This will help your customers feel seen and valued, leading to loyalty and referrals
Your entire workflow can be transformed, leading to more effective campaigns, and happier team members.
How To Implement Effective Marketing Automation
As wonderful as it would be for the implementation of automation to be, well, automated, that isn’t the case. This transformation, like any other step towards digitization, takes time and planning.
I’ve been able to distill the process down to four simple steps, each of which is integral to the success of the automation project as a whole.
Step One: Know What To Automate
As fun as it would be to have your entire marketing strategy deployed and managed at the push of a button, there are quite a few things that do need that human touch.
When you’re starting your automation journey, you’ll want to make sure you’re picking tasks to automate that are repetitive and simple. This will ensure you make a huge impact on your project for both your team and your bottom line.
Make a list of every single task your marketing team is responsible for, and highlight anything time-consuming and able to be automated. This is where you’ll want to start.
Step Two: Find the Right Software
Once you’ve decided what exactly needs automation, it’s time to choose the software that will become an integral part of your team. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing the right tool, especially since there are nearly infinite options.
- Ease of Use - Look for a user-friendly interface and a platform that offers a smooth onboarding process for your team. This will make the transition easier and lower the chances of employee pushback
- Integration Capabilities - Make sure the software you choose can integrate seamlessly with your existing platforms like CRMs and analytics tools. This will only become more important as you include more automation in your workflow
- Scalability - While a smaller software might be great for your team now, you don’t want to have to switch to something new as you grow and expand. The perfect software will be able to handle an increasing number of contacts, campaigns, and workflows without compromising performance
- Industry Needs - Some industries have automation software designed specifically for them, like real estate or e-commerce. Take some time to look into the options for your specific requirements
You must give this stage the time it needs. Rushing into sub-par software can cost you valuable time, resources, and the buy-in of your team.
Many platforms will have the option to test out their software with a free trial. This can be invaluable as it lets you try the system out for yourself and put it in context for your specific brand.
Step Three: Get Your Team Onboard
Now, we both know that automation will ultimately make your team’s job way easier, but the process of learning how to use this tech can be more than a little daunting. If you spring a new workflow or tool on them without the training and support they need, your team isn’t going to use automation well, if at all.
Employee pushback is one of the biggest barriers to digitization across the board. To combat it and ensure your automation efforts aren’t a waste, you need to take the time to get everyone up to speed.
If you’re dealing with pushback from your team, there are steps you can take.
- Communicate Benefits - If your team thinks things are changing just to change, there’s no way they’ll stick with automation. Ensure they know exactly how these processes will improve their lives, including streamlining processes, reducing manual tasks, and allowing them to focus on more strategic and fulfilling roles
- Provide More Training - Make sure every single member of your team is 100% ready and able to adapt to the automation. They need to build up skills and feel confident
- Address Fears and Concerns - If you don’t respond to employee feedback, they are going to assume the worst. Make sure there is space for questions and answer them as quickly as possible
- Encouraging Learning and Growth - Continuous growth is a cultural thing. Offering opportunities for personal development, upskilling, and encouraging team members to stay up to date with industry trends will make them more open to changes related to automation and anything else
Whatever you do, make sure your marketing team has lots of time to play around with the new system and give them space to experiment and get comfortable. This will ensure they care about the project and give them the skills to use automation properly.
Step Four: Keep Growing
Once the automation tools are in place and your team is on board, it’s easy to sit back and relax. But automation is a continuously evolving field, and you need to keep up the momentum to stay ahead of the curve.
Schedule regular check-ins with your team to discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and what could be improved. Assess the data to see how your automation efforts have impacted the company’s bottom line. Regularly research new automation tools and technologies to see how they could further improve your processes and workflows.
By staying on top of your analytics, you’ll be able to nip any issues in the bud and ensure that your team stays on the path to innovation and success.
Getting The Most Out of Marketing Automation
Tip One: Start With a Customer Journey Map
There are opportunities for automation at every stage of the customer journey, but before you know where to implement it, you need to have a full understanding of said journey.
From awareness to purchase and beyond, map out each step of your customer's experience with your brand. This will help you identify pain points, gaps, and opportunities for automation.
Tip Two: Integrate Your Systems
Marketing automation works best when your various systems work together seamlessly. It may take some work on the back end, but integrating your customer relationship management (CRM) system, email marketing platform, social media management tools and other tools
This will ensure that your data is accurate and up-to-date, and that your communications are consistent across all channels.
Tip Three: Go Slow
Trying to automate everything at once can lead to a huge, tangled mess. Instead, start small and focus on automating a few key processes at a time. This will allow you to test and fine-tune your automation strategies before implementing them on a larger scale.
The Bottom Line
Implementing automation into your marketing process may seem overwhelming, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the initial challenges. Starting small and focusing on automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks can gradually transform your workflow and set your team up for success.
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