Businesses of all kinds need to offer a product or service that meets a customer’s or client’s needs. But in this digital age, it’s becoming increasingly important for them to be able to promote themselves effectively and efficiently.
Over the last few years, automated marketing has proven crucial in achieving that goal. With the help of marketing automation tools you can promote your product or service no matter what kind of business you run. It’s easy to achieve your goals with automated marketing even if you need to optimize your multi-location marketing. But its relatively recent emergence means it’s a tool that not all marketers are familiar with or know how to utilise properly. We spoke to Amy Birch of Wired Plus, specialists in email marketing automation, to get some industry insight on that knowledge gap.
“Marketing teams and businesses knew that automation was the way forward, but they had no idea how to actually DO it,” she said. “Marketing managers and teams are brilliant at creating campaigns, concepts and marketing their products but can sometimes struggle with the logic and background of automation.”
Who is marketing automation useful for?
Amy adds: “A huge range of companies could benefit from some level of automation. It’s really tricky to pinpoint any specific type as it really is so wide. We encourage clients to think of their whole sales and marketing funnel and somewhere along the way there is a task someone begrudges, data is siloed, tracking is lost, customer experience could be improved – and it’s these parts of the funnel where we suggest automation is added.”
What are some predicted trends in marketing automation?
It seems automated marketing is here to stay, but what are some of the features that are set to shape its future?
Personalisation
According to data from Sales Force, more than half (52%) of consumers are likely to switch brands if their communications are not personalised. Various studies have shown that personalised emails benefit from a higher engagement and click-through rate than standard messages, so businesses must do all they can to connect with their customers on an individual level.
Chatbots
A lot of marketers see chatbots as a luxury, rather than an essential. But there are signs that attitudes are beginning to change. Brands are starting to realise that there is a return on investment to be had, as chatbots can improve engagement rates by answering questions outside of trading hours. That link to a business via a conversational tool is something many consumers value.
Omnichannel
The days of targeting customers through a single channel are long gone. In the modern world, businesses must adopt an omnichannel approach – for example through the website, social media, digital ads, trade shows and any physical stores. Every interaction can be converted into a valuable data point, and all of that information can be aggregated to shape future marketing campaigns.
