So you have heard about Marketing automation and you want to implement it. What is the first thing you think should be done? Just kidding. That is why you are here right? so let’s begin.
In an earlier post on what Marketing Automation is, we did say something about marketing automation being a software that exists with the goal of automating marketing actions. That’s right, it’s a SOFTWARE. Ordinarily, these software’s cannot carry out marketing actions efficiently without the right strategy. Examples of these software’s are Autopilot, Act-On, Zapier e.t.c.
Implementing a marketing automation strategy can prove quite difficult. Even with all its benefits, it is a challenge for companies to get started with marketing automation. 61% of companies agree that the implementation process of Marketing Automation was difficult – B2Bmarketing.net and Circle Research “Benchmarking Report Marketing automation” (2015)
HOW THEN DO I GET STARTED?
GATHER AND ARRANGE YOUR CONTACTS: Create a strong user database. Spend time to search for all the contacts you have acquired over time. Contacts you have had some form of interaction with in the past. Once you have found all of it, import them into your marketing automation software. After importation, group them into segments depending on your relationship with them. E.g some may be retailers, bloggers, partners e.t.c Note: Do not start out by buying an email list. Many marketers in a bid to avoid the rigours of searching for acquired contacts from the past are tempted to buy an email list. Overcome that temptation. You don’t want to send emails to people who are not interested in your content. Buying an email list exposes you to that risk.
MAKE AN OFFER: The best way to fish is with a bait. Same thing applies to marketing. The best way to attract a potential client is with incentives. Understand your audience and how you can most effectively reach them. Put all your demographics into play. i.e Your audience age range, location, Interest e.t.c With this understanding, make an offer. Give your audience something they want. Give them something they would want to have in exchange for their contact details. An offer could be in the form of a really insightful content your audience needs and asking them to subscribe. Always exchange value for value. Content for information.
CAPTURE LEADS: The information gotten from the offer should be used to make a mailing list and add to your database. When potential clients accept your offer, they get to fill the form attached to its acceptance. This is where they give out their information which should include email address, name.
START ENGAGING: Now that you have collected email addresses of leads, send them a mail. Since they requested for information, give them a little more information that would engage them. You could start with a Thank you/welcome mail, then a customer on boarding mail and then move on to any form of personalized content. The goal of this step is to drive leads to carry out a specific call to action such as sign up, download, read more e.t.c.
OPTIMIZE WITH DATA ANALYTICS: To know what and what is working for you, monitor your marketing automation campaign. Focus on various metrics that apply to your campaign so as to know where to put in more resources and where to make adequate changes. Metrics could include Click Through Rates, Email Openings, Website Engagement, Number of Leads in different database segments, subscription rate, unsubscribe rate, conversion e.t.c.
Getting started with marketing automation may be quite difficult but with these step by step procedures, it should be quite easy for you to be successfully start a marketing automation campaign.
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