If your holiday wish is to create the most cost-effective, results-achieving, sales-skyrocketing marketing plan ever (and become the company MVP), we’re about to tell you how.
The tactic we’re about to discuss consistently produces astounding results. Companies who use it see an average of 10% or greater increase in revenue in only 6-9 months. They experience an average increase of 451% in qualified leads. 75% of companies who do this achieve ROI within 12 months — 44% see it in just 6 months.
So what is this amazing marketing tactic?
Two words: marketing automation. WAIT!!! Hey — were you just going to bounce from this article? Then stop. Right. Now. If you hear the words marketing automation and your brain instantly turns off, you are exactly the person who should be reading this article. Because there’s a reason more than 85% of top-performing companies do it. That reason is: IT WORKS.
P.S. Marketing automation is not SPAM.
If you weren’t about to bounce, we apologize. *End rant.*
ANYWAY, below is an explanation of just a few goals marketing automation can help you accomplish.:
Obtain better metrics. Increase conversion.
Marketing automation enables you to compel your audience to perform the behaviors you desire. Through dynamic content and other programs, you will be able to set up rules that react based on how prospects behave when visiting your website or landing pages, interacting with you on social media, or receiving your e-mails. When a rule match occurs, your marketing automation software will instantly create personalized content exactly when it is needed. The result is increased engagement, conversions, and sales.
Make your team more productive. Save valuable time.
Say good bye to many time-consuming, cumbersome, manual processes. Marketing automation can eliminate many of these tasks and save your team lots of valuable time. Plus, it never takes a sick day or holiday. Marketing automation technology can also help out in the human resources, customer service, and billing departments – but that is info for another article.
Utilize multiple channels more easily.
Your prospects most likely use a wide range of platforms. Marketing automation allows you to easily reach them wherever they may be spending their time online and in a way that is appropriate for that channel.
Expand your database. (And use it to the fullest!)
Marketing automation removes the need to have individual employees stay on top of updating databases. It streamlines the workflow, allows for clean data exchange between departments, and basically enables you to build the massive comprehensive database that is 100% necessary for success in today’s competitive global marketplace.
Nurture those leads.
According to extensive research, your customers don’t want to talk to a salesperson until they are 50-90% of the way through the sales cycle. Marketing automation allows you to build personalized nurture campaigns that will direct prospects down different paths based on which actions they take. You can also score these leads according to these actions and their demographic data – then you can provide them with the content that is most relevant to them and their position in the buying cycle.
Align sales and marketing efforts.
Marketing automation technology requires you to set rules to implement a lead management process. This forces sales and marketing teams to discuss which customer actions and qualities best demonstrate interest and what messaging will be most relevant for key audiences. Marketing automation also provides the sales team with increased information on the prospect’s previous actions when using your website, receiving your e-mails, visiting landing pages, etc. This makes it easier for the salesperson to gauge where a prospect is in the buying cycle when they pick up the phone to talk to them.
Time it right.
Marketing automation will help you detect prospects’ cues and send precisely the right message at the right time. Your relationships with potential customers and the content you send them will be set up based on their level of readiness to buy, ensuring the communications they receive are appropriate (and never pushy).
Recover lost sales and conversions.
There is nothing worse than when a prospect comes one click away from downloading a whitepaper, filling out a contact form, or – worst of all – making a purchase. Marketing automation will ensure these individuals are contacted with friendly, individualized reminders that will often convince them to complete the desired action.
Keep your customers happier. (And keep more customers.)
After a customer purchases a product or service, you can enhance their experience by providing additional tips, information, discounts, rewards for brand advocacy, and so much more. All of these methods strengthen your relationships and boost customer satisfaction.
Increase your revenue.
In sum, marketing automation enables you to fully leverage your database of prospects. It helps you send them the perfect message at the perfect time. It allows you to easily conduct multichannel conversations. Most importantly, all of this allows you to produce more conversions and improve sales. That is why so many leading companies are making marketing automation their top priority.
Need help writing your 2018 marketing plan?
We’d love to help you.
STEP 1: Print out and read our whitepaper Everything You Need to Know About Marketing Automation (Including the many ways it will pay for itself by making and saving your company money), found here: L34_Whitepaper_MA_101A. Save copies to share with bosses and team members you’ll need to convince to get on board with marketing automation.
STEP 2: Call us! Our number is (315) 882-1166. Or contact us any other way you feel comfortable. We’ll get together with you, explain everything about marketing automation, discuss your goals and challenges, quote costs*, and help you design a strategy to knock it out of the park in 2015. We’ll even help you by writing the automation portion of your plan. (We won’t tell if you won’t.)
STEP 3: Present your plan and wow everyone. If they don’t adopt it, at least you’ll be seen as a forward thinker. If they do, get ready for a fun year. Prepare yourself for meetings where you’ll need to explain marketing automation by brushing up on your vocab with this marketing automation cheat sheet.
*Oh, yeah. About costs. You’re probably wondering if marketing automation is expensive. And, based on the results statistics, you’re probably assuming it is. GOOD NEWS — it isn’t. In fact, for many clients it is only $200-$300 more per month than they are already spending. (Up front, that is. It will really MAKE you money when you consider the money it saves and the ROI). If questions about cost are the only thing holding you back, we urge you to contact Lake34. We know you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Because people always are.
