5 Pillars of Marketing for 2018: Marketing Automation
A panorama of new technologies opened up for us in 2017, as promising as any science fiction film. With Google Home and iPhone X, your devices can now recognise your voice and obey verbal commands, have optical security features and even do the shopping for you. As technology impacts the way the world perceives, implements and engages with marketing and advertising, we must question our own roles in marketing.
In our series on Trends in Marketing for 2018, we will provide a no-nonsense guide to marketing automation concepts and give tips on how to use it to your advantage.
Firstly, what is marketing automation?
Before you race off to Google, let us define what marketing automation is not:
[if !supportLists]1. It is not Email Marketing
Although the channel most commonly used to automate marketing tasks is email, there are many other channels relevant to automation such as social networks, landing pages, lead generation and marketing management activities, to name a few. With the click of a button, you can schedule posts and communications, ensuring your messages hit the market at just the right time.
Automation is a great way to draw potential customers to you through various information platforms, increasing your conversion possibilities.
2. It's not just software
Marketing automation is a tool that, while requiring the support of information technologies, is not just the software that was sold to you at the last marketing conference you attended.
Any marketing action, automated or not, must follow a strategic planning process and be aligned with your goals for the year. Marketing automation makes it easier to deliver relevant and personalized information to potential customers, helping them advance in the stages of their purchasing process.
3. It is not simply the means to an end
Automation is an important part of your marketing plan, not simply a means to an end. Effective marketing strategies need to be constantly analysed and updated to achieve successful results, and automation gives you the data to refine your strategy.
Automation saves you time by organising and synchronising your marketing campaign, while ensuring targeted, relevant communication reaches your intended audience.
4. It’s not a set-and-forget strategy
For your automation actions to generate desired results, dedicate quality time in planning and development. Many companies overlook this detail because they believe that automation can do all the commercial work of the company on its own.
Automation works as a supplement to your sales strategy, allowing you to create communication channels and identification of your potential customers, but the work of approaching and closing sales still falls to your sales talent.
5. It is not spam
What characterises spam is that not it reaches your inbox without warning or solicitation, but irrelevance and lack of context. When the content of the email is a topic that resonates with the customer, they will find it even in the midst of a mountain of junk mail, open and read it.
By properly implementing marketing automation, your company can appropriately deliver valuable content for your clients based on their tastes, aspirations and the challenges they experience that directly connect with your offer.
In conclusion…
Marketing automation enhances your marketing strategy by channeling content across digital platforms to more effectively communicate with your existing and potential client base, enticing them through the stages of the purchasing process.
Why should marketing automation be important in your marketing plans for 2018?
The power of implementing marketing automation in your plans is as follows:
[if !supportLists]• [endif]Attract, connect, engage and convert buyers through different marketing channels
[if !supportLists]• [endif]Integrate existing marketing tools and actions to amplify results
[if !supportLists]• [endif]Build rational flows, manage your social channels and monitor reactions to your content
