Staying up-to-speed with fast-paced technological changes is crucial for marketing professionals. Marketers and growth hackers know that online marketing automation allows you to approach processes—including campaign management, customer segmentation, and data integration—at a rapid pace, resulting in more efficient generation of relevant leads and higher revenue. Marketing automation hacks help marketing professionals get a better ROI because of the ability to utilize highly personalized relevant content, increasing the possibility of converting prospects into loyal customers.
AI and BI Solutions
One key element of automation marketing hacks involves employing BI solutions which will surpass the customer lifecycle, thereby improving the customer experience. BI solutions collect current and detailed sales data, making it a very influential tool. According to Marketing Technology Insights, more than 50 percent of companies have implemented online marketing automation with nearly 60% of B2B companies projected to join in on the latest hacks.
Amir Baluch, Founder of Investment Club Realty, LLC, tells Forbes CommunityVoice that, “AI implementation has many applications that are particularly relevant for developing small business growth through digital marketing, helping to improve areas of PPC, SEO, and SMM.”
AI is also beneficial for voice and text-based customer service solutions using chatbot technology.
CRM Implementation – Consider the Customer Experience (CX)
Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory company, says CRM continues to be the fastest-growing business software application, used to drive growth and improve the customer experience. Gartner also says, “Digital marketing analytics is a critical source of customer insight, driving personalization and product recommendations. Organizations that cannot effectively integrate their multiple online and offline data sources will create business intelligence (BI) silos and lose opportunities.”
Gartner recommends the following key components for IT and marketing professionals leading the infrastructure of their company’s marketing automation platforms:
• Analyze customer response and follow up on customer requirements.
• Develop processes, policies, and IT system configurations that center around customer empathy.
• Along with complying with government regulations, launch effective privacy guidelines that provide value to customers as opposed to merely benefiting the organization.
• Strengthen real-time capabilities which will grant a more flexible customer experience by examining considerable amounts of data mobility.
According to Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM platform with cloud-based applications for sales, service, and marketing, CRM platforms have increased lead conversion by up to 30% and customer satisfaction by up to 35%. Salesforce, with more than 150,000 companies across the globe using their product, stands strongly behind their statistics showing that by using their CRM, companies are gaining improved team collaborations, employee productivity, customer loyalty, and sales.
Email Marketing Campaigns
In a recent survey by GetResponse, nearly 50 percent of small businesses reported that they are increasing their email marketing spend from 2017. As expected, the largest cutbacks include direct mail and display advertising. Sixty-five percent of small businesses use email automation for tasks like welcome sequences and customer onboarding.
Marketing automation hacks, such as email marketing, allows businesses to boost loyalty, re-engage lapsed customers, customize email marketing campaigns, conduct A/B testing, build time-saving automated emails, retarget with the help of remarketing to reach people who have expressed interest in your products, and pull them back to your site once the visitor is ready to purchase.
Email Segmentation
One of the best ways to improve open and click-through rates is by sending relevant content to the appropriate audience. Once you discover which customers will benefit the most from your content, use segmentation which may include targeting customers in certain geographical areas.
Other segmenting techniques involve sending to:
• Potential customers who are undecided and have not made a purchase. (i.e., they may have visited the site or added items to your site’s shopping cart)
• First-time customers.
• Loyal customers who have frequently made purchases on a consistent basis.
• Lost customers who have made purchases in the past, but no recent purchases.
Your marketing automation tool will be your biggest helper in allowing you to discover the behavior of your buyers and potential buyers.
Mobile-Friendly
Nearly 50 percent of all email campaigns aren’t mobile-friendly, says Brandon Frere, CEO and digital transformation professional. And based on a 2017 report by comScore, nearly 70% of the time spent on digital media is on mobile devices. Research conducted by Google, the world’s top search engine, found that more than 50 percent of consumers dismiss brands with mobile sites that are not mobile-friendly, and the company also discovered that nearly half of smartphone users will not consider buying from brands with inadequately designed mobile sites.
Predictive Marketing
When you’re developing your marketing strategy, Marketo, a front-runner in marketing automation software, says that using predictive marketing will help companies gain a competitive edge. The software company explains that account-based marketing (ABM) gained tremendous force in B2B marketing during 2017. With predictive marketing, you can identify and target the right accounts by making algorithmic predictions that are driven by AI and leverage significant target accounts along with customer data to create personalized engagement.
As technology advances, keeping up with the latest marketing automation hacks can be a challenge for large and small organizations. It is important to keep in mind that detailed analyzation is key and doing what works is essentially the crucial element in defining your company’s goal of strategic success.
