Marketing automation is the automation of repetitive tasks, which on the one hand saves you a lot of time and on the other hand allows you to offer customers a personalized experience. Because the number of digital channels through which you can reach customers has become gigantic: Google and Facebook ads tailored to your target audience, a personalized email, a text message, to even your website that adapts to the needs of your customers.
To provide your customers with the best possible experience, you have no choice but to start automating. And very personalized at that. Because the time is over when you send out one e-mail message to your entire customer group, even if you greet them at the top of your e-mail with their first name. Your customers know that you know their first name and want to receive a much more personalized email these days.
To apply marketing automation, you first need to start defining scenarios that you can run automatically. From a simple thank you email after an order or reservation to more complex automations like making your website look different depending on which channel (e.g. Google or Facebook) people reach your website.
There is a wide range of tools and software to automate your marketing processes, from chatbots to social media planners. Based on your goals, determine what your business needs in the short and longer term.
At the same time, the links that are clicked on in emails, ads and web pages are very traceable and linked to only one person through marketing automation, so you can start sending your automated actions and content in a very targeted way.
Your existing customers from your CRM system are an ideal starting point to start segmenting your marketing automation. Ideally, your CRM already exists over detailed information per customer.
If you want to make a strong commitment to social media, then automation for posting your content is crucial. Not only does this save you a lot of time, you can also very specifically set up which content must be shown when people click through to your website.
Unlike social media like Facebook and Instagram, you have complete control over your email newsletters. You have one email address per customer or prospect, and you can send them an email directly without going through social media or paid ads.
You can also start informing website visitors further by, for example, sending a personalized email when they have visited certain pages, sending a text message when a form is filled out, or contacting them with a customized proposal.
With marketing automation, you execute your content marketing strategy as efficiently as possible. You do not just send the same email to everyone in your address file, but focus on the customer journey. Depending on the stage of the contact (orientation, consideration and information, decision, follow-up) you share targeted information that responds to this. This way you create maximum value for the recipients, who find the information that is important to them at that moment. They will build a good relationship with your brand and will trust you more when making a (future) purchase.
Marketing automation is also very informative for you yourself. Because you can follow what the prospects do, they segment themselves in the different phases of the sales funnel. You can follow their journey from ordinary visitor to your site, through getting contact information and following up search queries to "sales qualified lead". And the best of it? Once your automation is set up, your visitors do most of the work themselves. The rest is done automatically.
Automation: it is impossible to imagine life without it. Nowadays the possibilities for (internet) automation are unprecedented and unlimited. Where in the very beginning only the possibilities for a web store or e-commerce could be used, today it is possible to include your entire administration virtually as CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) in your website.
Think for example of calculation systems or synchronizations with your business software or cash register or the automatic preparation and printout of quotations, invoices, reminders. But also process automation and automation in the form of internet sales is one of our qualities. From SMS to VoIP services, where complete online management is possible: automation saves you a lot of money and delivers all the more!