Marketing is the backbone behind a company, and with technology continuously evolving, many businesses are jumping on the automation marketing bandwagon. Get a grasp on what marketing automation is and what this means for your business.
The idea that marketing can be transformed to increase operational efficiency and productivity is something all businesses are hoping to achieve.
With the automated marketing industry in the US predicted to be worth 25 billion dollars by 2023, the UK is soon likely to follow suit.
So what’s marketing automation?
Simply put, marketing automation is the act of utilising technology softwares to streamline marketing efforts and eliminate repetitive tasks.
What’s marketing automation offering over traditional marketing? Automation allows you to seamlessly control and run complex campaigns geared towards performance. Automated marketing is efficient across all elements of a campaign including email and social media marketing, website analytics, ad campaigns, and tracking for example.
Around 75% of businesses have been integrating some format of automated marketing into their strategies for some time. With businesses wanting to stay ahead of the curve and evolve with the industry, they are encouraged to adopt the system in the hope it retains rapid growth, but does it really work?
How is it changing the way we think and work?
It’s safe to say that automated marketing will significantly impact the way we work in more ways than one. So, what’s marketing automation going to change?
With the time and pressure being eased on repetitive tasks, this can allow more time for individuals to focus on more demanding and creative tasks, encouraging a more intuitive way of thinking.
As marketing becomes increasingly data-driven, there is often a struggle with data management, analysis, and measuring factors such as ROI and website traffic. One key way in which automated marketing will impact the way we work is through curating a database for all marketing data. This will make it a coherent and time-saving process, giving staff the opportunity to focus less on the repetitive tasks and more time on the higher ranking ones.
The benefits
The introduction of an intelligent marketing software is exciting for most businesses. Here’s the benefits of what marketing automation is and what it can bring to the table:
Personalisation – Delivering personalised and tailored experiences for customers such as email marketing can result in a number of benefits. These include a boost in sales revenue and engagement, better quality lead generation, improved conversion rates and a more focused marketing strategy.
Saves valuable time – Not only does automated marketing save time through generating a database, it can also be used to schedule campaigns ahead of time. Therefore, vacating time for staff to be more hands on with higher demanding tasks and projects.
Doubles productivity – The software does exactly what it says on the tin – it automates the marketing data. This means it aids in streamlining your data, resulting in less wasted time, and boosting the productivity of your team.
Consistent TOV – With the software working across all your campaigns and projects, you can ensure a unified tone of voice that reflects your brand. Remember, consistency is key.
Optimisation – Marketing automation is all about getting the most out of your marketing. Optimizing the customer experience, efficiency of the campaign process and results, and optimising your team’s time so they meet their full capabilities are just a few examples.
Understanding the benefits of what marketing automation is goes far beyond relieving your marketing team from repetitive tasks.
The challenges
With all things new and alien, it can be difficult to gage whether or not implementing automated processes into your strategy will really work, so here’s a breakdown.
Companies can go all in too quickly, resulting in a string of downfalls. Relying too heavily on marketing automation and changing the voice of your brand may result in you losing loyal customers if they feel the brand’s personal touch has been stripped. It’s essential not to replace the person-to-person interactions because that’s what customers connect with.
What’s marketing automation’s responsibility within social media? Something to bear in mind is that not everything should be automated. For example, with social media interactions, there is a fine line between being authentic and being robotic. Real-time tasks still depend on human interaction and creative initiative, as opposed to automated marketing.
Marketing automation isn’t a quick fix to boost your business. It requires a lot of time investment, experience, and trial and error before you can even consider reaping any potential benefits.
What we think
It’s important to understand what marketing automation is and stay up to speed with technology in the creative world, as this gives you an advantage over competition. In regards to marketing automation, we believe it works right when used in the correct context.
As impactful as marketing automation is for a business, a machine will never have the capacity to take over human intuition and creative ideas. That’s what keeps a business unique and differentiates it from its competitors.
What does the future of marketing look like?
What’s marketing automation going to change? The industry will only continue to progress with advanced technology, which is something businesses have to learn to adapt to. However, it is crucial not to jump in too fast and get swept away with the current, as this can have more of a negative impact on your business than good.
