June 30, 2023
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5 min read
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It’s busy out there. The landscape is rapidly evolving, and businesses are constantly seeking ways to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance productivity. For marketers– we’re in luck! There just so happens to be a $4.62 Billion market dedicated solely to these concerns. This is where I would typically insert the smiley face with sunglasses emoji, but I’ll hold off.
The concept of marketing automation emerged during the 1990s as businesses started leveraging email for customer communication. The first marketing automation solution was introduced to the market in 1992. Fast-forward to today, around 80% of companies are expected to adopt automation within the next 24 months according to a study conducted by Salesforce. We believe this number will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years thanks to the Internet’s new best friend: artificial intelligence.
So what exactly is “marketing automation?” What are the benefits of using it? Why is using it so important?
We’re glad you asked.
Let’s dive into a few key benefits of leveraging marketing automation software and how it affects a company’s overall marketing system.
By leveraging automation platforms, marketers can save hours by eliminating manual, repetitive, tasks (sending emails, scheduling social media posts, updating customer records, etc.), allowing teams to focus more on strategic and impactful initiatives. Zapier data states that “marketers can save an average of 25 hours per week using automation.” Furthermore, 46% of marketers use automation for team communication, 42% use it to identify and target customers, and 38% use it to schedule email sends.
Most of BlueByrd’s email campaigns are automated (newsletters, blog announcements, etc.). We also use a tool for social media management, which allows us to schedule and analyze data for each platform we post on all in one place, saving us the time of logging into each platform.
For customer relationship management (CRM), we import all of our customers, leads, and vendors into HubSpot, allowing for seamless data synchronization and automatic customer record updates. Since keeping customer records updated and accurate is crucial for effective marketing and sales operations, eliminating manual data entry can also help reduce simple human errors and, in return, save us time. If you’re looking for ways to better align your marketing and sales processes, we can help.
Marketing automation platforms provide a centralized hub for managing and executing marketing campaigns across multiple channels. This eliminates the need for switching between different tools and systems, ensuring a streamlined workflow and reducing the chances of errors or miscommunication. With all campaign elements in one place, teams can collaborate effectively and efficiently.
These platforms also collect and analyze data from various touchpoints, providing valuable insights into campaign performance, customer behavior, and trends. These insights, therefore, help companies make data-driven decisions, optimize marketing strategies, and improve overall ROI.
Sprout Social, for example, is a social media management platform that allows for automated scheduling of posts. BlueByrd uses this for many of our social clients since we can interact with our target audience and pull all the data for every platform in one place. Using the data in the Reports section, we were able to showcase how we helped a leading manufacturer and supplier of custom casting solutions grow its following on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in 2022, garnering over 100,000 impressions and 4,466 clicks organically (check out our blog: Tips to Effectively Grow Your Organization’s Social Media for Free).
Businesses can now streamline their lead generation and nurturing processes by implementing automated lead capture forms, landing pages, and lead scoring mechanisms. This allows companies to effortlessly capture and assess leads.
We’ve set up many different forms on our webpages, such as our eBook pages, so we can then implement a workflow to assign these leads to certain lists. From these lists and submission pages, we can see anyone who has ever downloaded our eBooks, including which ones they’ve downloaded so we can deliver personalized content to them.
Taking this a step further, it’s important to sort and prioritize leads based on their level of interest and engagement. This can be a daunting task if you’re doing it manually. Fret not— marketing automation software simplifies this process by implementing lead-scoring mechanisms where leads are assigned scores based on predefined criteria, such as web visits, email interactions, or form submissions. This automated lead scoring helps prioritize leads and allows marketing teams to focus their efforts on those with the highest potential for conversion.
Moreover, personalized content and messages can be delivered through well-designed nurturing campaigns, tailored to each lead's behavior and position in the buyer's journey. This automated approach ensures continuous engagement and nurturing, even during busy periods when marketing teams are occupied with other high-level responsibilities.
For example, to give a warm welcome to our new clients, we’ve set up personalized emails that will automatically send when someone reaches the customer lead status in HubSpot. Communication like this typically results in higher engagement and heightened customer satisfaction. Happy customers mean a higher chance of becoming loyal customers, which then means more revenue ($$).
Marketing automation platforms offer workflow automation features that facilitate collaboration and streamline processes. These workflows are a lifesaver for organizations of all sizes, small to enterprise, as they help maintain better organization and collaboration across departments and facilitate timely, personalized communication with customers (like the welcome emails to new clients we mentioned earlier).
Teams can even set up automated notifications, task assignments, and approval workflows to ensure smooth communication and accountability. This eliminates the need for manual coordination and minimizes delays, enabling teams to work more efficiently and productively.
BlueByrd is a certified HubSpot partner and uses the software for many of the tasks we listed above. We’ve set up custom notifications for when people submit forms, visit certain pages, and download our eBooks. This allows us to do our homework, so we can begin our nurturing process as soon as possible.
Marketing automation significantly enhances efficiency and productivity in your organization. By leveraging this software, businesses are able to optimize their marketing operations, drive better results, and focus their efforts on strategic initiatives that lead to long-term success.
However, it's important to note that while marketing automation offers numerous benefits, its successful implementation requires strategic planning, ongoing optimization, and a deep understanding of the target audience. Human creativity and personalized touch will always remain essential to complement automated efforts and build meaningful connections with customers. If you’re looking for guidance on how to properly set up your marketing automation platform or simply need some help with the overall strategy, let’s chat! Our team is always armed and ready to meet your business goals.
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