As a small business owner, you’re constantly forced to focus on both big picture stuff and the day-to-day… so what should be your main priority? Definitely not scheduling out your social media posts or sending an email to someone who visited your website.
However, this might be something that falls in your lap if you don’t have a marketing specialist. The cure to this problem is not necessarily hiring another salaried position though, it can be as easy as implementing Marketing Automation or finding an agency that can implement it for you. Marketing Automation is software that helps you prioritize and execute your marketing tasks in a more efficient way. This can mean scheduling and creating social media posts, sending emails to leads, and keeping track of your online forms. Does this sound like a dream come true? It can be for some business owners.
How to Use Marketing Automation
Instead of your typical cold emails to a mailing list, marketing automation helps to segment your audience into interested parties only. To do this, you create a workflow which is triggered by certain actions someone takes online. As an example, here is what an automated workflow could look like:
Step 1: Attract Strangers
Create a LinkedIn Ad specifically targeting your ideal audience through class, profession, or other demographic features. This ad should link to a landing page hosted on your website’s domain.
Step 2: Convert Visitors to Leads
Those that visit this landing page are then prompted to fill out a contact form which is hosted on your marketing automation platform. This form should include very limited info so people don’t abandon the form.
Step 3: Close Leads and Create Customers
With your marketing automation platform, you can set up a trigger to immediately send out an email to these people when they enter their contact information. This email should contain more information about your brand and include an offer or call-to-action for them to finish the process.
Step 4: Delight Customers and Gain Promoters
When customers fill out this much information, they expect to receive something in return- usually to be delighted in some way. By sending them a coupon, e-book, or other promotion, you are solidifying your presence as an expert in your industry and the best option for their business.
Marketing automation is definitely helpful, but only to a certain extent. Over-automating your marketing is a dangerous game. Keeping the marketing process individualized and somewhat impromptu is the nature of good business. No matter what, every business should give marketing automation a try and see how they can use it to reach their potential customers. It’s just the newest phase of inbound marketing and finding the best audience for your business.
Contact us today to learn more about our Marketing Automation plans and how we can help grow your business!