Marketing Automation Is So 2019

Buying things you didn’t even know you wanted

Imagine you’re scrolling through Waste-of-Time-Book (Facebook) and you see a video review of a nice shiny golf club from the same company you purchased golf shoes from six months ago (I’m not a golfer either but stay with me here).

You watch the video, give it a ‘Like’ and go scrolling on your way.

The next day you’ve got some time to spare whilst waiting in the physio’s office before your appointment. You start scrolling through Facebook and you see a beautiful photo of the same, shiny new driver (golf club) that you’ve been eyeing off.

So, you give it a ‘Like’ and put down your phone just as you get called in for your appointment.

It’s now Saturday and you check your emails to find a 20% coupon code from the same store who’s two Facebook posts you ‘liked’ over the last two days.

You grab your phone (no need to print out the coupon) so you can pull up the email on your phone and use that coupon code in-store.

By 3pm you’re standing on the 17th tee with your lovely new golf club and two mates with whom you currently hold a comfortable 2-shot lead over.

The Magician Reveals Her Trick

What you didn’t know is that the golf store was using marketing automation to help give you a nudge to buy that shiny new golf club.

They were using a software platform which was able to associate your Facebook profile and the email attached to it with the email that you used to purchase that pair of golf shoes six month’s prior.

The automation software recognised that you’d ‘Liked’ two of their posts and then sent you an email with a discount code.

This all happened thanks to a little bit of pre-planning by the golf store. They had set up a campaign where an email with a coupon code would be sent to a potential customer when two rules were met:

1. Is a previous customer that has not purchased from the store in the last six months or more.
2. The customer has recently “liked” two or more Facebook posts.

These two pieces of criteria were met, a coupon code was automatically sent and just like magic, the golf store has made an extra sale and you are the happy owner of a shiny new driver.

Say It With Me: “It’s Not Creepy”

Now you might say that is a little creepy – and it is – or you could look at it as a much better way of serving a potential customer.

Instead of frequently bothering them with broader messages and playing the numbers to get sales, businesses can instead make contact with potential customers when the time is right and be there with a little incentive to help get them across the line.

The beauty of marketing automation is that it helps businesses connect with existing and potential customers with more personalised communications at the right time. This is a benefit for both the business and the customer.

But wait, there is SO MUCH more!

Marketing automation platforms are the gift that keeps on giving (how many more cheesy clichés can I fit into one blog post?).

Cliché as it sounds, it is the truth. A marketing automation platform can not only help win you more deals, sales and clients, it can also help do the heavy lifting from an administration and sales perspective.

Here’s a fancy graphic of the key benefits of utilising an automation marketing system in your business:

• Boost productivity by automating tasks including emails, social media posts and reminders for follow up calls.
• CRM integration helps you directly correlate marketing > sales/leads > revenue
• Improve your marketing efforts by providing a full view of the sales funnel
• Run more efficient and effective marketing campaigns
• Understand your customers better and market to them more effectively
• Real-time reporting on your sales funnel. Find out what’s working and what’s not.
• Save money on staff by allowing you to automate procedures that might have previously been assigned manually as well as allowing you to compete in your space whilst remaining lean.
• Increase revenue not only through reducing costs with automation but also by the increased ability to scale the business more effectively.

Should My Business Be Using Marketing Automation?

I think the example above and the pretty graphic are very explicit illustrations that demonstrate the potency of marketing automation. It’s smarter, more efficient and connects actual customers/clients with your business.

For me, marketing automation is the equivalent of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 9 or so years ago.

Some businesses saw its value early on, got in and reaped the rewards.

Now it’s not to say that those businesses couldn’t be shifted from their positions but if they were consistently improving their site’s content, acquiring quality links and all the other SEO paraphernalia that goes along with optimising a website well, they have the head start that other businesses starting now will find a challenge to outperform.

If You Don’t already, You Should Have FOMO soon

Businesses that make use of marketing automation will be the ones who will win at internet marketing over the next 2-5 years, and those who ignore it are missing out on a huge potential increase in revenue and efficiency in a busier and ever-noisier market place.

To this end marketing automation will be the norm in a couple of years for a lot of businesses as it will be part of a whole business marketing and internal efficiency push as the online space gets even more competitive. Only the businesses who push past traditional non-automated marketing will emerge stronger and ready for the new challenges and technologies lying ahead.

Let’s Talk!

We’re pretty excited about making 2021 the year of Marketing Automation.

It’s not a fad, it’s not the new best thing, it’s just the next logical step in making your business more efficient and marketing your products and services.

In my mind, if you want to grow your business, this needs to be a natural part of your digital marketing and sales process and it’s time to take that step.

I’d love to have a chat either in person or over the phone. To set up a complimentary strategy consultation give us a call (07) 5531 3810 or send us a message below to get in touch.