In the business world, having a high return on investment (ROI) and profits matter most. These are the dream goals of any business and they take time, effort and resources to accomplish.
Companies work day and night to reach a point where their investments start paying off. One of the most tried and tested ways to gain profits are through marketing efforts for a business. The more you market it and the better you market it, the higher your ROI. However, since marketing is not a one-size-fits-all thing, every business has to craft its own strategy.
Huib van Bockel worked as the Head of Marketing at prominent companies like Unilever and Red Bull. He explains the results of marketing very simply with this quote:
The highs are so much higher when you achieve something amazing and the lows can be really low.
That’s why businesses need a fix which can keep running the mill and earning profits in a systematic manner. First of all, the locations of two departments – marketing and sales need to be closer to each other.
Both of these departments provide each other with information and key insights, so why not make them work together? This is where marketing automation comes in. Automating the marketing process ensures that all departments are on the same page, and employees are aware of where they currently stand with their campaigns.
Every company has used emails as a key marketing channel at some point. Statistics suggest that emails can be 40 times more effective in getting new customers, compared to social mediums. There is no denying of the fact that emails in an inbox are more effective than tweets getting lost on the timeline. However, when you bring marketing automation into the mix, the results are better.
Venture Beat reports that 56% of companies currently use an email marketing provider and are 75% or more likely to be purchasers of marketing automation software over the next year. On the other hand, Over 75% of email revenue is generated by triggered campaigns, rather than one-size-fits-all campaigns. Automated email campaigns account for 21% of email marketing revenue. – DMA
These stats suggest clearly that marketing departments can use a combination of these effective channels to create something powerful.
Unlike traditional email marketing, marketing automation can help your company create the right content to be sent to the right person at the right time. When messages are personalized, they have the strongest impact.
What‘s better than relevant messages doing the job for you?  Marketing automation further eases the sales process by sending messages based on segmentation of the audience, customized offers and other content based on the likes, dislikes, income levels etc. of the audience. For example, a bride-to-be may receive a customized 40% off on her purchase from a wedding planning website based on her likes and browsing history, and a bridesmaid will may see discounted bouquets from the same website at the same time.
One of the best things marketing automation can do for your business is to combine every potential channel which brings in sales leads. Be it events, social media, live chat or blogging, you can automate all these processes to give you maximum benefit.
Today’s audience is widely dispersed on one channel or the other. If some people like discussing a topic at Quora, others like posting photos on Instagram and some others still like shooting videos on Snapchat.
Automated messages can reach this audience through their favorite method of communication. Marketing is all about utilizing the best medium to deliver a sales message. Your company or brand can gain greater visibility through this strategy.
Thanks to third-party suppliers, your company can also avail the benefits of a marketing automation software and in all sorts of pricing ranges. The software was formerly available and affordable for only the big players to operate in-house, but technological advances have brought this great tool to almost every B2B and B2C company.
Consumers can now connect with you, and ask you questions. Many brands have started using different service providing company (outsourcing) as a customer service tool to reply to consumer queries in real-time. Sucessful social media management requires some time and effort, and automation can teach you that over time.
On average 49% of companies are currently using marketing automation. With more than half of B2B companies (55%) adopting the technology.
Marketers need to have in-depth knowledge of their audience’s likes. This is the only way to engage with them.
Marketing automation software come equipped with a system that can segment traffic, gauge engagement levels  and provide analytics on a daily, monthly or annual basis.
You also don’t have to worry about being overstaffed or understaffed, because a big chunk of your required tasks are automated and running smoothly. When you know what is happening at what time, you can get more mileage from your staff and have time to brainstorm while operations run in the background.
Automated systems also give your company some great ROI by predicting the budgets for you. You can’t make wrong guesses or just launch a campaign and pray that it goes well. Automation software as well as most of the social media channels provide predictions and expected reach per post or per campaign. After sales are made, your automation software can go the extra mile to stay connected with a customers for post-purchase customer service. This is a huge benefit, because the business doesn’t stay limited to a one-time purchase only. You can also cut back on a sales manager, because automated emails and replies have you covered.
There are many marketing automation software available in the market today. Most of these companies want to sit down with you and hear out your marketing needs before pitching a package to you. You get to choose your system and its benefits follow the lead.
Microsoft has also recently launched a very flexible CRM system in the market. In the end, it comes down to the needs of your business. You can get continual support from a software of this kind, and create and run multiple campaigns simultaneously.
Once you have decided that you want to go with marketing automation, you must take a look at this 65-point checklist to ensure that you’re asking all the right questions.
