Small businesses from every industry will benefit from investing in marketing automation. There is no simpler way to ensure that critical marketing processes are carried out flawlessly and efficiently. Marketing automation gives businesses the tools needed to automate tasks and workflows which are a part of the sales and marketing process. This includes prospect and customer profiling for landing pages, the scoring of leads, sending automated emails and online recommendations in support of lead nurturing. There is no better way to drive up customer engagement than through setting in place a sound marketing automation strategy. Here we are taking a look at 12 reasons why marketing automation works for small businesses, and not just for the big players.
1) Marketing Automation Shortens The Sales Cycle
Marketing automation provides the opportunity to nurture your clients with a focus on closing the deal. This eliminates the gap between your consumer expressing an interest in your company, and their decision to buy. For example, commercial studies show lead conversion to be up to 75% quicker since adopting marketing automation. With a boost so big, you cannot afford to miss out on today’s leading automation technology.
2) Strengthen The Bond Of Existing Relationships
Both your upselling and cross selling opportunities increase when you make use of marketing automation. By using your customer data to instigate behavioural triggers, cross-selling and upselling to existing customers is boosted. According to Our Social Times, up to 50% of all new business sales come from actions making a part of marketing automation procedures. This is a clear indication that the measures which you automate are a great asset to improving customer relations.
3) Detailed Customer Metrics
At the heart of any marketing automation practice is the collection of valuable user data. When a prospect leaves you their contact details through a form or otherwise, software can then begin to track that visitor every time that they access your site. This data then allows you to setup actions based on your choice of triggers. SMEs are capable of gauging the interest of their prospects and their engagement, rather than waiting patiently for the response to their mail.
4) The Time And Money Savings Of Marketing Automation
With marketing automation set in place, communication with hundreds, or even thousands of contacts is made relatively cost-free and easy to manage. Cloud-based marketing automation platforms like HubSpot give SMEs the convenience of managing their marketing remotely. Experienced marketing agencies such as JDR can advise you of the best marketing automation solution for your needs, doing away with separate CRM, CMS and email management applications.
5) Marketing Automation Suited To Any SME
No matter which sector you are based in, or regardless of your personal preferences, you will find marketing automation solutions best suited to you. Workflow from HubSpot allows you to craft beautiful emails without ever needing to fuss with code. Their innovative platform allows you to capture workflows in an easy-to-understand manner, while letting you setup web hooks, score leads, rotate leads, and manage your data in bulk by property updating and value editing. Alternative tools give varying functionality, but few give as robust and comprehensive marketing automation as HubSpot WorkFlow. With these tools at your disposal, micromanaging your workflow has never been easier. Find the best automation solutions suited to your business by working with a HubSpot partner like JDR. We are experienced system developers and can custom-build a HubSpot solution that matches the precise needs of your business.
6) Goal Orientated Growth
When you embark on the goal-orientated process of marketing automation, you have given yourself the easiest way to track your progress. Once you have implemented any form of automation, time and focus is freed up which allows you to better assess you growth. A single automation campaign takes less expense than most people consider, and continues to be an asset for long into the future. Once you are completely satisfied that your business goals are met, then you can upscale if you so wish.
7) Clever Customer Interactions
Marketing automation allows you to automate mundane interactions which do not require the devoted attention of a staff member. Many routine communications can be put on auto-pilot, saving you both time and money. In addition, these routine communications can be shaped into a valuable source of consumer data. Partnership with a marketing agency will reveal the most lucrative strategies for transforming your day-to-day customer interactions into a rich source of detailed customer information.
8) Automatic ROI Reporting
If you are an SME that wishes to stay on top of the finer aspects of growth, then you will be pleased to know that many marketing automation solutions supply detailed ROI reporting based on pre-set conditions. These allow you to be informed of the slightest fluctuations in revenue, and make the appropriate adjustments where and when necessary. Remote access to the profitability and performance of any marketing campaign truly puts the power in the hands of the SME no matter where they are, or when they need it.
9) Streamline Your Workload
Through automation of your marketing practices, you will effectively be streamlining the workload of your employees. This reduces the risk of human error while also allowing for a focus on the bigger picture, rather than the trivial details. Through creating your marketing model as an action-plan which gets carried out automatically, you can rest assured that there is no margin for error.
10) Improve Customer Retention Rates
By understanding your target market through the detailed analytics supplied by your marketing automation platform, you will be capable of crafting content which improves your customer retention rate. Automate multiple marketing procedures, allowing you to split-test advertising campaigns without sacrificing your marketing budget. Once the automation solution has been setup, it is relatively easy to implement new strategies, while comparing the data to that of other campaigns.
11) The Possibility Of Workplace Collaboration
You marketing automation solution can be broad enough to include workplace collaboration, if you need it. This extra dimension of functionality is excellent for employers with a large staff base and varying departments. Collaboration has shown to increase both productivity and employee retention. By collaboratively managing your employees, you are supplied a concise overview of the progress of any given project at any given time.
12) Follow Hot Leads Immediately
A study from the Harvard Business Review shows that you are at least 60x more likely to acquire a customer if you follow-up on a lead within one hour, as opposed to following up after 24-hours. Marketing automation allows you to follow up on filtered hot leads immediately, giving you the best chances of conversion.
Marketing Automation – Brand Building on Overdrive
When you begin to intelligently implement marketing automation strategies you effectively put your brand building and customer acquisition into overdrive. Marketing automation platforms such as those provided by HubSpot make the practice of enriching your customer base easy, actionable and simple to maintain. Even non-technical users can leverage their industry expertise towards fine-tuning their business’s marketing efforts. However if you want to ensure the optimal automation for your business, there is no better advice to be found than the insights of an experienced marketing agency like JDR; working with a suite of market-leading tools to secure the best results for your business. Contact us to find out more.
