In digital marketing, automation isn’t an entirely new venture, being used in many marketing tools and software to aid campaign activity. Most digital marketing strategies rely on these tools to research, plan and create content for campaigns, and therefore automation is seen more often than not. Developers and publishers of email marketing software, social media applications, website builders and so on all recognise the importance of automation.
An example of automation that is now commonplace for marketing is via email marketing. There are many ways emails can be automated and each has significant value, and they often involve the process of sending reminders. These could be date-based campaigns reminding contacts of an upcoming event, or perhaps time-based emails following users adding items to their cart on ecommerce websites.
Social media is another great example of where automation can be integrated into marketing strategies. Using chatbots to respond to user messages and scheduling posts ahead of time are common examples of automations in social media. There are even options for automating replies to users in comment sections.
When there are so many channels to monitor and control, it’s necessary to have a way of automating processes to ensure projects are delivered successfully. These days, there are opportunities for automation in almost every aspect of digital marketing. Why is this the case though? To answer this question, we’ll take a look at the top 3 benefits of marketing automation.
1. Timing is everything
Using automation for marketing processes essentially allows for activity to become streamlined. Timing is key in digital marketing and time itself is often a finite resource, when campaigns are fast-paced and can’t afford to fall behind. Therefore being more streamlined using automation allows for more time to be spent elsewhere, on strategy or analytics for example.
Freeing up manual tasks by using automations can mean time is spent on more critical tasks; digital marketing campaigns often require fast response times when adapting to audience behaviour so increasing availability for said tasks is ideal. Extra availability can also lead to wider marketing campaigns being deployed and more comprehensive analytics to further enhance content.
2. Reducing costs
Another benefit of marketing automation is the cost savings. Automation by default, is the process of tasks being carried out by a programme rather than physically by us. That instantly warrants the notion that automation can perhaps substitute for actual staff. While many automations exist to simply help and support marketers, some can nearly fill in as a traditional role.
Chatbots are perhaps the most obvious example of this, where they’re now seen in the majority of websites, particularly ecommerce. Customer service can be very expensive so having an automated chatbot rather than full-time employees is naturally going to receive attention from many businesses.
In some cases, particularly for small business owners, this could in fact be applicable. Marketing campaigns can be highly time-consuming, requiring research, planning and the time to actually produce the content. Scheduling this content ahead of time and gaining automated insights from campaigns can take the responsibility off small business owners, directly giving them the information they need.
3. Lead nurturing
Lead nurturing is at the foundation of any marketing strategy. It is a process that has become more complex as the digital landscape and consumer behaviour has shifted. The 3rd benefit of marketing automation is that it can help by contacting leads with follow-up emails or relevant resources and information based on their behaviour and where they are in the customer journey.
Monitoring a database of individual leads can be incredibly difficult when done manually, often resulting in nurturing not being as effective as it could be. Automation can be much more accurate and time-efficient. The customer journey is no longer linear and there are many distractions along the way, so having a pragmatic automated approach can generate better results.
Conclusion
Automation will continue to be integral to marketing strategies and campaigns as technology develops. It’s important for automation to be embraced as it has numerous key benefits for businesses, including freeing up time, reducing costs and improving lead nurturing. Digital marketing especially will see automation become core to its foundations, as the nature of digital seamlessly integrates with automated processes.
About Inflowing
Inflowing is a B2B marketing agency. We help B2B organisations do meaningful things with marketing. Whether that’s getting more leads, more visibility, or supporting their sales teams.
We’re an experienced team of marketers with an incredibly strong background in B2B. To learn more about B2B and improving your marketing, check out our other blogs or get in touch.
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