Proper implementation of a marketing automation strategy, that is aligned to your marketing goals and objectives can boost your sales and improve productivity. Companies with marketing automation generate 2x more leads than their counterparts (Redeye & TFM&A Insights). Still contemplating which automation strategies can help you? Here are 7 marketing automation strategies that are sure to boost your profits!
1. Lead Nurturing – Assembling a massive database of prospective leads is only the first step in your marketing campaign. Not every lead will be willing to convert into paying customers. 96% of the visitors who come to your website are not yet ready to purchase (Marketo). Some prospects will require to be nurtured over a span of time with interesting and relevant content before they are willing to purchase. Lead nurturing, as the name suggests, is the process by which your marketing department establishes engaging communication with your prospective leads, keeping them interested until the time when the lead becomes sales-ready. Lead nurturing works as a valuable marketing automation strategy only when helpful and continuous content is sent to the prospects. 66% of buyers say that consistent and relevant content communicated by both the marketing and sales departments is a key aspect in their purchasing decision (Genius.com). Lead nurturing strategies are most effective with the help of drip marketing, which we shall discuss in the latter part of this blog. Make the most of marketing automation by nurturing and nourishing your leads, ultimately converting them into prime customers.
2. Lead Scoring – Stop wasting your time running after prospects that will not convert anytime soon! Scoring and ranking your prospects is an important marketing automation strategy which is essential in identifying those leads that will convert and generate revenue for you. As mentioned earlier, not every lead will be willing to immediately purchase your products/services. While lead nurturing helps in developing those leads which are not yet willing to purchase, lead scoring helps in segregating leads into those that will immediately purchase and those that require to be nurtured. According to a study conducted by Garner, 70% of leads are lost because of poor and ineffective follow-up. Lead scoring helps marketers segregate leads, ensuring that the sales team can effectively follow-up with the same. Once you identify your leads, implement a constructive lead scoring system that ranks leads based on scope of conversion. While we firmly believe that not a single lead should be wasted, lead scoring will help you prioritize between prospects which are on the verge of converting and leads that will require a longer sales cycle. Lead scoring is a great marketing automation strategy that will definitely boost your profits.
3. Drip Marketing – Drip marketing is a smart and advanced marketing automation strategy that is commonly used for lead nurturing of prospective customers. It refers to the marketing process whereby meaningful messages are “fed” to prospective leads, usually via email marketing automation. Studies indicate that drip email open rates are 80% higher than single sends (Martech). A drip campaign is the best way to improve customer engagement, as it is all about your customers and their online behaviour. Make the most of marketing automation by designing a drip marketing campaign, that will effectively engage your customers. Setting up a drip email campaign is very easy and convenient, especially with the help of marketing automation tools. All you need to do is create some interesting and relevant content and automate the content to be sent at certain predetermined occasions, depending upon actions taken by prospective customers. These drip emails, when sent over a particular period of time, helps in developing and nurturing relationships with your prospective leads, which in turn ensure that you can easily close sales at the required time.
4. Personalized Content – Content marketing can help you boost your conversion rates by 5 times, according to Aberdeen. A successful marketing automation strategy is subject to powerful content that speaks to your customers. Customers today are no longer satisfied by the “one size fits all” approach and require content that is relevant to them particularly. This has created a big need for personalized content. Sending content which is irrelevant to your customer can result in the loss of that customer. Hence it is of utmost importance to identify your customers’ characteristics, requirements and behaviour before tailoring content for them. Your target customer group needs to be carefully analyzed before a content strategy is created which is personalized to their requirements. Personalized content, which is sent when customers take certain actions, for example, when they sign up to your newsletter or check out a particular service, can help driving customer engagement and also convert potential prospects into buying customers. Personalized and customized content communicated to relevant customer groups on a timely basis can be a valuable marketing automation strategy which will definitely boost profits.
5. CRM – “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all” – Michael LeBoeuf. Keeping your customers happy and satisfied is the ultimate policy that will always keep the profits rolling in. Implementing a competitive CRM system into your marketing automation strategy is a great way to keep a track on your customer data and interactions, thus ensuring that you can offer an improved customer lifecycle and customer lifetime value to your buyers. An effective CRM system creates a centralized database where you can not only store all information pertaining to your customers but also access and utilize the same to create compelling marketing campaigns. Implementing a CRM solution can offer myriad benefits for both your buyers and employees. Apart from storing information, a CRM system can also track emails and phone calls, add notes, schedule meetings and follow-ups and much more. Once you understand your customers’ behaviour and preferences, you can easily up-sell and cross-sell to them, thereby increasing your revenue.
6. List Segmentation – List segmentation, as the name suggests, refers to dividing and breaking up your email contacts list into smaller homogeneous groups which share some specific characteristic. These lists can be divided on the basis of anything ranging from demographics to interests. Marketing automation makes it easy to sub-divide your email contacts list based on common characteristics. Once this is done, personalized content aligned with particular characteristics and objectives can be communicated to the segmented lists. As discussed earlier, personalized content is a key aspect in a successful marketing automation strategy and list segmentation allows you to send the most relevant content, at the right time, to targeted lists. Why even opt for list segmentation? According to a HubSpot study, targeting emails to particular buyer personas can increase your email clickthrough rates by 16%. By segmenting your email lists into smaller, well-defined groups, you can effectively drive more responses and conversions from your prospective customers. List segmentation is one marketing automation strategy that is sure to boost your profits!
7. Website Visitor Tracking – Website visitor tracking is one of those utterly important marketing automation strategies that you just cannot afford to ignore! As the name suggests, website visitor tracking refers to automation tools which track and trace the steps and actions your visitors take on your website. This can help you understand the various pain points of your prospective customers and tailor your content accordingly, resulting in higher engagement rates. Moreover, you can also identify where your customer is in the purchasing journey and accordingly provide them relevant content which will accelerate the sales cycle. For example, if you notice that a particular visitor spent more than the average amount of time on one of your services page, you can send him/her additional content on that particular service along with some offers. Marketing automation makes this entire process extremely easy. With the help of website visitor tracking and marketing automation, you can automate the end-to-end process, starting from tracking the customer’s activities to sending the customer relevant content.
An efficient marketing automation strategy, when implemented properly, can do wonders for your revenue figures! Once you get the hang of marketing automation, nothing can stop you from boosting your profits and productivity. Read on to know how these 5 brands effectively used marketing automation to achieve some grand figures.