Three Benefits of Using Marketing Automation to Connect with Consumers

Twenty years ago the marketing trend was email marketing. Ten years ago the trend was social media. Five years ago, marketers learned the power of video marketing. In the marketing industry today, the new trend is marketing automation. The newest marketing tool is here and predicted to be valued at over $7 billion by the year 2025. Why is this trend projected to be valued in the billions? It helps marketers make data-driven decisions in real time. In this post, we will reveal three benefits of using marketing automation to connect with consumers. Why is marketing automation having such success as it becomes mainstream? Because it is a simple, yet powerful solution. Marketing automation gives business a powerful, data-driven connection with consumers. This technology creates pathways to generate more leads, increase revenue, and send personalized and highly relevant communications to your customers.   Marketing automation is now becoming the primary strategy around which successful businesses are structuring their marketing plans for 2019. Understanding how to create highly relevant content based on consumer behavior is dramatically improving the overall customer connection that businesses are so eagerly looking  to develop. Not only are businesses able to create these tailored experiences, but marketing automation also allows them to develop this content faster than ever before. Not yet convinced of the power of marketing automation? Here are three benefits of using marketing automation to help your brand or business connect more often and more deeply with your audiences: 1. Ability to create hyper-relevant content and experiences for customers, based on their behavior: According to a research study by SmartInsights and Communicator, 59% of top marketers say they use marketing automation to improve customer experience and the relevance of their communication with customers. Marketers used to think it was a pipe dream to have the ability to connect with customers, both current and potential, on an individual basis. Now, with marketing automation, there is no reason that this dream cannot be a reality. How can this happen? Consumers are now constantly telling businesses exactly what they want to see from them, based on their behaviors and engagements. Customers leave breadcrumbs for marketers to follow through the web pages they’ve visited, in the ads they’ve clicked on, the lead form they’ve submitted, and their recent purchases. The role that marketing automation software plays is to capture, analyze, disseminate, and report on consumer behavior.  The role of marketers is three-fold:
  • Create content: Determine the exact kind of content each customer is looking for.
  • Design distribution flows: Create an automated track designed to move customers down the marketing funnel towards conversion.
  • Identify timing: Understand the correct moment to give each individual consumer the kinds of content they are looking for based on their behavior.
2. Create A Coherent Experience For Customers: At the heart of marketing automation is the goal to achieve top-of-mind awareness with consumers in a relevant manner. This can only be accomplished through consistent, targeted and timely messaging across a multitude of channels. Imagine this scenario. A customer searches the web for a product or service your company offers. They click on a search result and land on your blog post. They are then intrigued enough to click on the call-to-action button at the bottom of the post. It takes them to your landing page offering them a free demo. They fill out the lead form with targeted data points. They then are sent a “thank you” email and are now in your database and are properly segmented based on their information. You can now send them custom content that is centered around the initial product or service for which they searched. This personalized content can come in the form of email nurture campaigns, blog content, social media posts/ads, PPC ads, remarketing content, display ads, promotional emails, video ads, invitations to webinars or events, phone calls from sales reps, and more. All this content is designed to create a coherent and relevant customer experience based on what the customer told you they wanted. 3. Build Stronger Customer Relationships: In today’s marketplace, by the time a consumer turns into a customer, a large amount of data has already most likely been collected. Businesses then have an enormous opportunity to strengthen that customer relationship with increased value-adding content. Too many businesses focus their efforts on customer acquisition, only to neglect the one audience that already trusts and values them. Using marketing automation to identify when and where customer audiences need to be engaged is paramount to building lasting relationships with customers. Ideas for current and past customers include:
  • First-purchase anniversary
  • Birthday promotional email
  • Exclusive customer only bi-weekly newsletter (content not provided anywhere else)
  • Post-purchase campaign (send helpful videos, blog posts, discounts for additional purchases etc.)  
  • Up-sell and cross-sell campaign flows
  • Customer win-back campaigns
Marketing automation is not reserved for the so-called “big guys” or the Fortune 500 list.  This marketing strategy can, and should, be integrated into the marketing mix of companies of all sizes.  Simon Sinek is quoted as saying, “People don’t buy what you do —  they buy why you do it.” Consumers are shifting towards wanting to understand the “why” behind what a business does before they are willing to make a purchase. In today’s crowded marketplace, using marketing automation is the only way to truly and accurately communicate with targeted audiences at the pace necessary to guide customers down the marketing funnel.    

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